My mandala today is the unfurling fern frond spiral that seems to draw me as I draw it; it emerges from me when I am working in a classroom as the teacher. Tonight, we are working on our final portfolios.

I had students thinking of a name for their book/portfolio, then went directly to pulling an image at so-called random from our journals to put at the center of our soul map mandalas, and in my journal, I immediately saw the word “fern.” I knew it referred to the living shape I first saw in “Holding It Close.”

I like that it is a close to or echoes Mom’s soul shape, which is the nautilus.

I like that it has emerged spontaneously and that it came out of the energies in the classroom setting.

I see that it creates a clear pathway for the students to move to center along with me.

I think it peculiar and true that I can move the same drawing or writing project from class to class, school to school, and the emergent unspiraling frond is the same one.