Art Therapy Graduate Students’ Mandalas Based on Kellogg’s Great Round

Abstract

This quantitative study investigated whether a “mandala set” consisting of 143 mandalas drawn by art therapy graduate students depicts archetypal patterns and stages as defined by Kellogg’s “Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of the Mandala” and if these patterns explain events in their professional development. Eight standard mandalas were included to evaluate the reliability of the raters. The results demonstrate that all patterns were present but that seven archetypal patterns representing six stages occurred most frequently: stages 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 11. These stages relate to career directions, professional identity, struggles, untapped potential, transitions and change, fragmentation, and chaos, and directions. The process could be used for assessing graduate students’ professional development.

Keywords:

• Archetype
• mandala
• Great Round
• Kellogg
• professional development

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Renée van der Vennet

Renée van der Vennet, PhD, ATR-BC, LCAT, is Professor Emerita at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY.

Anna Ciancio

Anna Ciancio, MS, LCAT, is Senior Counselor II at Horizon Village Terrace House, Buffalo, NY.