Walking a Sacred Path

Wanted to quickly share some quotes from the book I just finished reading at naptime, Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool.

First, a quote of a quote (Nietzsche): "You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."

And another quote of quote (a Buddhist analogy from Robert Lawlor): "Time is like a necklace of square beads of tangible objects, or moments of events, and to be absorbed by this succession of limited frames is maya or illusion, whereas only the inner thread of the necklace, the unimaginable continuum, is reality."

Jewish prayer (the "Shechehiyanu"): "Thank you, God, for preparing me, for sustaining me, and for bringing me to this moment so that I can truly celebrate what is." (I like and often use/say the Serenity prayer and this reminds of me of that.)

And, finally, from the author herself: "Opening to the sacred is a profound, life-changing process. It frees enormous energy that needs to be channeled back out in the world in service. If the focus is back into the self, then the act of seeking can become an addiction."

Tenth Anniversary

Well, a couple of months have passed since M and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. I've been meaning to post about it since July! To honor this big anniversary we built a 3-circuit labyrinth in the woods in front of our house. We walked in to it separately to symbolize our separate paths and then met in the middle.I had chosen two passages from the UU Hymnal Singing the Living Tradition to use as a vows renewal of sorts and we read them in unison in the middle.

We come together this morning to
remind one another
To rest for a moment on the
forming edge of our lives,
To resist the headlong tumble
into the next moment,
Until we claim for ourselves
Awareness and gratitude,
Taking time to look into one
another’s faces
And see there communion: the
reflection of our own eyes.

This place of laughter and
silence, memory and hope,
is hallowed by our presence
together.

-------------------------------

May the light around us guide our
footsteps,
and hold us fast to the best and
most righteous that we seek.

May the darkness around us
nurture our dreams,
and give us rest so that we may
give ourselves to the work of
our world.

Let us seek to remember the
wholeness of our lives,
the weaving of light and shadow
in this great and astonishing
dance in which we move.

--Kathleen McTigue

I cried! Then, the kids each walked in separately to join us, just as they joined our marriage during the second five years of it and we all walked out together as a family. I'd made a flower wreath for myself to wear in my hair and I'm glad I did, because it made me feel special :)

LabOrinth

This week I was super excited to get my pre-ordered copy of Pam England's new booklet, "LabOrinth" in the mail ("when the labyrinth becomes a labOrinth: metaphor, map, meditations, & rituals for labor and postpartum"). It was an interesting little book. I really connect with the labyrinth as a metaphor for birthing (I've posted about this here before) and I use it as a teaching tool in my birth classes as well. Most couples seem to connect with it as well though I think on the surface it feels a little "New Agey" to some of them. Labyrinths are actually ancient (oldest found is 3500 years old!) and have been found in many cultures and places. According to the booklet, they were used by midwives in England 500 years ago as tools for healing. And, centuries ago, mosaic labyrinths inlaid in the floors of churches were walked by pilgrims on their knees (those who could not actually make pilgrimages to the Holy Land in person, would crawl through the labyrinth in the church on their knees as their pilgrimage). I use the crawling example in class to explain that in the "labyrinth" of birth, you can go at your own pace and speed and you can even crawl if you need to! Anyway, it is a cool little book and I recommend it. I love Birthing from Within's materials and ideas.

Based on reading this booklet and on the cover of the Birthing from Within book that I'm re-reading, I drew a little sketch of "kiva woman" and a womb labyrinth that I wanted to share. Though I'm crafty and creative, *drawing* is not really a talent or skill of mine, but I liked my little picture anyway, even if it isn't polished!

The Sacred Path Companion

For Christmas I bought my mom the book The Sacred Path Companion. After she finished reading it she lent it to me and I finished reading it yesterday. This is a book of ideas about walking the labyrinth "to heal and transform." It was interesting overall and I want to try the exercise she suggests about working with perfectionism (and maybe the one about "critical voices" too). For perfectionism, she suggests an "amplification" technique in which first you walk the labyrinth tempting yourself to stray outside of the path, but not actually doing so--experimenting with balance, etc. so you almost leave the path. Then, she suggests walking it again though this time walking all over it randomly without following the path. This is a dramatic concept for me to consider since I would never consider stepping out of the path. Even though the boundary is just a line of stones, it feels discreet to me--like it cannot be stepped over/breached. It would almost seem like a violation of the spirit of the place to me. But...the idea is an intriguing one. She makes the point several times that there is no one right way to walk a labyrinth.

This book is primarily focused on the Medieval Eleven Circuit Labyrinth--the type that is found on the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France (built around 1200) and on the floor of Grace Cathedral (an Episcopal church in San Francisco). My mom's labyrinth is an older, simpler design labyrinth called a Cretan (or Classical) Seven Circuit Labyrinth.

Labyrinths & Birth Art

Several years ago my mom and I attended a session about labyrinths at the Speaking of Women's Health conference in Columbia. They have a small labyrinth on the grounds of Boone Hospital. Labyrinths are not mazes. There is only one path to the center and the same path back out again (though the route is circuitous). They can be used a walking meditation, a spiritual pilgrimage, a metaphor for life, prayer walks, healing, balance, etc. There are several historic churches with labyrinths on their floors and apparently there is a move to include them on the grounds of hospitals as a tool for healing and renewal. More about labyrinths here and an example of one of the many books on the subject here.

This summer my mom built a labyrinth on their property (in a dry pond bed, which is the perfect recessed nook for a labyrinth--it has a bank around it that separates it from the rest of their place). Special people in her life have contributed rocks for it and she adds them to the "inner circle." This picture was taken shortly after she completed it and it has changed somewhat since then--different bench, etc. Anyway, she has really created something special and it has a palpable sacred energy there. It is also the most effective walking meditation tool I've experienced. Anyway, I hadn't walked it in a while because I'm always "too busy" to take a few moments to do so. Over the Christmas holiday "break" in normal routines, I was able to start taking a daily walk on it again. L made a finger labyrinth using beads and sculpey for my mom for a Christmas present. It turned out so good, I decided to make one for myself!

This picture shows the detail on my little finger labyrinth. It was really fun to make.

All my labyrinth walking and sculpey labyrinth making further inspired me to draw two womb labyrinths. I have long wanted to learn how to draw a labyrinth like this and have found Pam England's LabOrinth concept a really powerful metaphor for the journey of birth. So, my fabulously talented husband figured out how to draw one of that style and then showed me how--he is a much better "visual" learner than me and he just stared and stared at one that Pam drew and then said, "I think it is drawn like this" and drew it--starting with a complicated system of concentric circles bisected by lines in a way that I never would have figured out on my own. My brain doesn't "see" like that. It was cool. I felt like he was a genius to figure it out! :-) After he showed me what to do, I caught on right away and drew this one:









And then, thinking about two pregnant friends of mine and about a song we sang at a blessing way for one of them, I drew this one:

I had SO much fun indulging my creativity a bit that week. I forget how fulfilling it it is make something. I've let a lot of my crafty-energy disappear after having children and sometimes it is so nice to create something pretty that I can hold in my hands. Of course, having children certainly requires the use of creative energy and is also creating "something pretty" to hold in my hands (and hug, and tickle, and snuggle too! What a bonus! ;-), but there is something about just simply making something you like and that you can finish in an hour or so that is just FUN. The thrill of creation AND completion!