Rose mandalas: “Small impulses that do us good – carry us, heal us and hold us.” Interview with Marlene Mankau and Anna Marguerita Schön

"We all know the rose as a symbol of beauty and love, but for us it also symbolizes self-confidence, strength, self-love, happiness and joy of life. It teaches us that tenderness and strength are not mutually exclusive - we can accept our own tenderness and still go through life courageously and strongly." With their coloring and gift book " Rose Mandalas " , Anna Marguerita Schön and Marlene Mankau want to give their readers personal moments of well-being in text and images - little breaks in stressful everyday life to blossom internally and externally.

You describe the coloring and gift book "Rose Mandalas" as a project close to your heart, where you yourself felt yourself blossoming while writing and drawing. What inspired you both to create this project, and which readers are you addressing with it?

• Anna Marguerita Schön: The original idea was to create another rose project for the publisher, based on the guidebook “ Rose Medicine ”. The wonderful rose theme had stuck with us. I knew that I wanted to create something new. When I met Marlene, we stood in her rose garden and I heard about her talent for drawing, we very quickly had our project in mind. It should be poetic, meditative and creative. A feel-good project in text and images!
• Marlene Mankau: I love drawing and I love roses, so it quickly became clear to me that this would be a project for the heart and soul. The inspiration for the drawings came mainly from nature, my own garden and working with Anna and her beautiful texts. The book is aimed at readers who also enjoy the beauty of roses and want to do something good for themselves. It should be a pleasure, it should take you away from the often stressful everyday life and invite you to blossom like a rose yourself. We hope that our book will be given to many wonderful women and not only read but also used.

Hardly any other plant in the world has been described, sung about and revered as often as the rose. For thousands of years it has had a firm place in almost all cultures, where it is considered a symbol of beauty and love. What does the rose represent in your work?

• Marlene Mankau: Of course, the rose in our book also stands for beauty and love, but also for self-confidence, strength, self-love, happiness and joy of life. Every rose is unique and beautiful, just as it is! We hope that readers can apply this to themselves.
• Anna Marguerita Schön: The rose has always fascinated me. Because it teaches us that tenderness and strength do not have to be in opposition to each other, but that they are interdependent. We can be gentle and at the same time live our courage and our strength. The texts for the rose book did me good even when I was writing them. Being able to pass them on to our readers makes me really happy. Marlene and I were amazed at how my texts and her wonderful drawings found each other. There was an immediate picture to match every text, and vice versa. As if they had just been waiting for each other.

In your book you combine mandalas, zendalas, as well as inspiring illustrations and inspirational texts about the rose. What exactly does that mean and how do you find a suitable path to meditation?

• Marlene Mankau: The book contains many coloring templates; some of them are very detailed and playful, others offer larger areas that readers can pattern themselves and invite them to be creative themselves. The inspirational texts inspire you to immerse yourself in another world and find ideas for the coloring templates. I think you can find the right path to meditation if you take your time, allow yourself some peace and quiet, and listen to your own needs.
• Anna Marguerita Schön: I have found that both pictures and words have their own power. Sometimes all you need is a small impulse, an idea, a thought that does you good and that carries you, heals you and holds you. We want to invite our readers to treat themselves to moments of well-being - whether by looking at a picture, by meditatively coloring it in or by reading the inspiring, soothing lines.

When coloring in the lovingly designed illustrations, it's all about listening to yourself and following your own impulses. Are there any preparations or prerequisites that should be taken into account when painting meditatively?

• Marlene Mankau: No specific preparations or prerequisites are necessary. I can only recommend that everyone take TIME for THEMSELVES and paint as they please. It is best to put the smartphone far away or switch it off and listen to your own gut feeling and individual needs. Pencil, colored pencils, fineliners, ballpoint pens... there are no limits to your own creativity.

The rose is not only fascinating because of its beauty and variety, but also contains over 400 valuable ingredients that are used in both folk medicine and pharmaceutical research. What connection do you see between rose meditation and rose medicine?

• Marlene Mankau: The rose meditation also has a healing effect. It encourages you to relax, reduce stress and feel good in your own skin.

In addition to the book “ Rose Medicine ”, the audio CD “ Rose Dream ” and the blog “Rose Moments ”, further collaborations are planned in the rose series from Mankau Verlag. What projects in the name of the rose can we look forward to next?

• Marlene Mankau: I hope there will be many more! But we don't want to give too much away yet...
• Anna Marguerita Schön: ... but perhaps we can already say that a rose project is also planned for the coming year 2022: a big book that we are already very much looking forward to. Here, too, it will be about blossoming and feeling good with the queen of flowers.

Book tip:
Anna Marguerita Schön / Marlene Mankau: Rose mandalas. Blossoming with the queen of flowers. Personal rose moments: Meditative painting with powerful inspirational texts. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition January 2021, hardcover, thread-stitched, 21 x 21 cm, with bookmark, 96 pp., 20.00 euros (D) / 20.60 euros (A), ISBN 978-3-86374-583-7.

Link recommendations:
More information about the coloring and gift book “Rose Mandalas”
To the reading sample in PDF format
To the blog “Rose Moments”
More about author Anna Marguerita Schön
More about illustrator Marlene Mankau
To the Internet forum with Anna Marguerita Schön and Marlene Mankau
To the Facebook page of “Rosenmomente”