I thought I would draw attention to Inner Vision as it is a fascinating in depth piece on visual journals by art therapists Barbara Ganim and Susan Fox
Visual journaling has its roots in the early work of Carl Jung, who practiced creating images in his journal every day. He would begin by making small circular drawings in his notebook, which to him seemed to correspond to how he was feeling at that moment. Jung believed these images rose spontaneously out of his instinctual inner world as sacred symbols, to lead him to the voice of his higher self. Fascinated by the results our clients obtained when they drew images of how their emotional reactions felt inside their bodies, we began researching exactly how imagery is perceived by the body and mind. That’s when we discovered the extensive work that had been done in the areas of sense perception, split-brain functioning, and body-mind thought transmission. Our own recognition that imagery is a language inherent in each individual was verified by our findings: imagery is the body-mind!s first or primary means of inner communication.
Jung also encouraged the use of Mandalas in therapy. http://www.netreach.net/~nhojem/jung.htm
http://www.abgoodwin.com/mandala/links/european.html
Thanks for that link Sharon! Fascinating insights. You should see what’s happening on the Fabric Artjournals with this too—quite a range of styles, mediums and interpretations!