About the Babaylan Mandalas
The babaylan mandalas were created to share symbolism of not only the spirit of the Babaylan, but also the noble traits of the Pilipino, pamamathalaan and babaylanism: pakikipagkapwa • pagbabalikloob • magandang kalooban • karangalan • kagitingan • Inang Bayan • Mutya • Bathala • Diwata • Community Service • The 5 Elements • 5 archetypes of the Babaylan • Sacred Numbers • Masculine and Feminine Principle • The Source • the Cosmos • Universal Love • Sacred Interconnection • … and more that you will see with your Inner Eye and Heart.
Beginning over 400 years ago, the coming of Westerner colonizers shaped the identity of Filipinos. As the gold of our ancestors and the motherland were wrested away and loaded upon Spanish galleons to be delivered to the conquerors’ home across the seas, so too was the richness of Filipino identity and spirituality replaced with dysfunctional perceptions of the superiority of the Westerner’s race, religion and ways and the innate inferiority of the indios.
Filipinos today who awaken and stand strong in their identity, history, heritage and the center of their being(Loob), find their inner light, their inner gold. The Babaylan Mandalas and all their symbols of the 4 elements and baybayin scripts represent the reclaiming of the Filipinos’ Inner Gold… We know when the Babaylan Spirit rises within any one of us when She guides us to help our Kapwa find their own Light and precious gold within.
This is a fine art image which is part of the Babaylan Mandala Series by CFBS co-director and multimedia artist Perla Daly.
