Grace is within you: Grace is the Self.

She earned her doctorate in 1993 from the University of Port Elizabeth (now known as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). Her thesis was a phenomenological and analytical study of the use of mandalas in therapy to explore the in-between space. Her research aimed to find a solution to the dissolution of humanity brought about by the personal, ideological, and political crises in South Africa, which resulted in a divided human being.

The mandala symbolises the Self in a world that is constantly changing. It represents the possibility of change within the individual and collective psyche.

Each person is a mandala, a seed symbol of the Self. After the massacre at Wounded Knee, Black Elk spoke of the loss of the centre and the death of the sacred tree. These words resonate deeply in a world where darkness seems to prevail.

Mandalisation, or individuation, is a progressive clarification of the structures of consciousness. It leads to a renewed perception, transformation, and mutation of creative living in a diaphanous world free from time. This process aims to bring about wholeness, where humans participate not as a part but integrally. We must know the present situation in all its manifestations to achieve this.

Louisa Punt-Fouché’s research on mandalas has evolved and has become a cultural and psychological phenomenon, especially in the context of catastrophic events in the twenty-first century.

Her work has resulted in luminous ink drawings that feature chanting poetry, daring humanity to become one with nature and dream of a new world order based on interbeing.

The verses in her polyphonic songs recreate the diamond mandala, which shimmers with infinite angles of light and encompasses all possibilities of being.