The circle and the square are often used together to signify the expansion of energy (circle) and the holding of energy to examine it (square). The combination of the two forms – circle and square – enable you to hold an issue steady to examine it, or to generate new energy for a project in a controlled manner. The Far Eastern mandalas and yantras use this combination in an linear form, the Native American Medicine Wheel works with this concept in a spatial manner. I’ll show you the process in these ancient Far Eastern yantras that are still in use today.
The action of creating and holding can be simple or extraordinarily complex. 
Here is a classic Yantra that diagrams the energies of the creation process – any creation process. The core issue is at the center (the dot). How it has expanded is shown by the star tetrahedron, which represents the poles of the issue as it expands. That the issue is a full field is shown by the circle surrounding it, which blossoms out (the petals) to an initial range of action, pausing (the next circle) before flowering again (next set of petals). That the energy of this situation will continue to expand is indicated by the outer double circle.
Now, to hold the issue in place to examine it, you need to put a square around the circle. However, it is easy to get boxed in when you pause energy to examine it. So it is important to have a contained door (those knobs) on each side, signifying you can exit and re-enter via the energies of North, East, South or West.
Now you can choose an issue, place it in the center of the form to examine it, watch how it expands energetically, and hold it still to comprehend how to work through its issues. Simple yet profound! Give it a try!
But what if you are caught up in a situation that is clearly imbalanced? Aha – the sacred geometry visionaries have graphed that as well. The diagram is called the Sri Yantra – “The Most Highly Honored Yantra.”
This great Yantra graphs how the eternal processes of the universal energies are always self-balancing so that when a situation gets unbalanced – it must eventually self-correct.
In this diagram, you also find the center point from which all emerges emerge. Aha – but in this situation, the energy was being driven to manifest in an imbalanced way, signified by three descending triangles. At that point, there is a strong reaction, and there is a powerful upward thrust (or reaction), creating an upward triangle. Then there is a downward reaction, and another upward reaction. Gradually, gradually, the two sides are forced into a state of balance, and we are once more, in the final form, in the presence of the balanced star tetrahedron. This diagram, with its expanding circles inside the square with four doors, shows you how you can hold still a problem for analysis. That is: how is your problem the result of imbalanced energy? What is the energy you need to bring in to balance it out?
This Sri Yantra gives us hope – especially when we are looking at the polarized energies in Washington and elsewhere – that, should we let the energies just take their course, they will eventually balance out. Of course, this process could be long and painful – the universe has a different sense of time than we humans. So if folks would just try to balance out their radical/reactionary views, realizing that an imbalanced stance is always destined to manifest its opposite, this process of achieving balance would be less painful and more easily achieved!
The Buddhists are known for their extraordinarily complex mandalas, in which they graph a whole complex of energies. Here is one of their famous sand mandalas for your enjoyment. The monks will spend weeks creating this graphing of the universe, entirely out of colored sands. The process of creating it is a spiritual discipline and process of enlightenment for them. When finished, they will hold ceremony – and then, representing the temporality of all life, scrap the sand off the table and offer it to the earth.