Up: [[Mandalas]] Related: [[Spiral]], [[The Self]], [[Ego]] Created: 2026-06-30 Updated: 2026-07-02 The Great Round is art therapist Joan Kellogg’s map of the developmental stages she believes we progress through on our path of [[individuation]]. Kellogg developed her map after analyzing and codifying thousands of mandalas made by her clients. Her contention was that mandalas reflect the relationship between [[Ego]], which is the centre of consciousness, and [[The Self]] which is the centre of the psyche and resides in the unconscious. What’s different about this map, compared to other maps of psychological development, is that Kellogg supports Jung’s assertion that our personal growth happens in cycles of [[spiral]]s. We participate in micro-cycles of stages of the Great Round many times in our lives. ### Stages Each stage of the Great Round has a name, and each stage provides both challenges and opportunities for growth. During each stage, *we tend to experience certain feelings, cognitive and motor functioning, and even ways of viewing reality*. (Fincher, p. 30) > [!Orbit] Susanne F. Fincher in *The Mandala Workbook* > Stages of the Great Round reveal the ego’s experience of the flow of energy from the Self. Energy is high in stages when ego is closely aligned with the Self. Energy is low during stages when it is withdrawn from ego into unconscious processes. (p. 26) There is also a month linked to each stage, in demonstration of the twelve stages mirroring what is happening in the natural world. | Stage | Name | Month | | ----- | -------------------- | --------- | | 1 | Void | January | | 2 | Bliss | February | | 3 | Labyrinth | March | | 4 | Beginning | April | | 5 | Target | May | | 6 | Dragon Fight | June | | 7 | Squaring the Circle | July | | 8 | Functioning Ego | August | | 9 | Crystallization | September | | 10 | Gates of Death | October | | 11 | Fragmentation | November | | 12 | Transcendent Ecstasy | December | Note that the stages are not fixed. Each stage includes a bit of the stage before and the stage after. ### Using the Great Round An excellent book by Susanne F. Fincher, called *The Mandala Workbook*, shows the archetypal patterns of mandalas constructed at each stage. When a mandala is spontaneously constructed, the pattern that was used mirrors that individual’s developmental stage. When the pattern is deliberately constructed, the individual is supported in their growth at that stage. ![[Mandalas - Fincher diagram.webp|400]] From *The Mandala Workbook*, p. 25 Kellogg developed the [Mandala Assessment Research Instrument]() (MARI) to provide art therapists with a tool that reveals a visual of an individual’s psyche.