The picture is an image of stars falling out of the sky as snow and then falling to earth as crystals. From the point of view of alchemy my thinking is creative when it is focused on the cosmic or starry dimension of my life. That is the source of solutions to my issues. Alchemically, my thinking on earth is a fallen and hardened kind of thinking that fills my inner life with crystallized memories instead of creative images. To free myself of hardened memories I can use the power of the mandala to energize my inner life. Finding an issue is the first step.  Maybe it’s money or health or food or my love life. Whatever the case, the question what would make me happy is a way to find an issue to ground the mandala of my transformation If I wish to change something in my life a good method is to ask myself a series of questions that help me to change. It is always useful to begin a series of questions by starting at the earth level of the mandala. The question that puts my mind at the earth or ground level is, what is the issue behind my wish to change? This question limits my thinking to one focus. Having only one focus is useful to me. It prevents me from being overwhelmed when things actually begin to change.  Finding the issue behind my wish to change something in myself is very grounding when I am beginning the process of sorting out the tangled webs of feelings that flow through my unconscious life.To find an issue a good question to myself is, what would make me happier? Ask the question and then write a bit about it.

(Republished from Dec 2008).