Tales From The Labyrinth

Seventh Holy Night 2007 ~ Reflection and Anticipation

In less than an hour...
2007 will be a year in the past...

I am grateful
for all the journeys I took this past year...

Inward journeys that brought me more here...
outward journeys that connected me with more of the world...

I am more at ease in being human than I ever thought possible...

I see all that happened this past year,
and await the unknown with anticipation of knowing that it will be a discovery,
and wonder where the days to unfold will take me...

I ask that my life get bigger
and at the same time,
more simple...

That open even more to the possibility of joy,
of contentment, and compassion...

I am grateful for all of you that I've met, some only in word, but for the ways you've expanded my world and helped me to see more of the beauty that is so easily found, if we but look...

The last few hours of 2007 were spent feasting with good friends this evening...

I keep attempting to recreate my Provence experience of Corey's French Husband's mussels... and tonight... I came close...

a little bubbly...
how I love French Champagne...

and a Turkish desert, Irmik Helvasi,
made by Emily to sweeten the end of the evening...

Thank you
for spending this year with me!
I look forward to the new year to come...

Seventh Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

 

Sixth Holy Night 2007 ~ Warming and Cooling

This morning...
in my dance practice
I noticed how I move in and out
of warming and cooling...

Emotions flare, flame, and ignite...
as I move my body,
following my breath,
a cooling happens
and the fire of my passion
begins to meld into the shape of my feet,
my hands
and the beat of my heart...

And then...
the music changes...
I am frozen,
numb,
nothing moves in this land of ice...
frigid,
I reach for the next breath
and the heat of my heart
begins a slow thaw...
a warming
as muscle fibers stretch
and begin to twirl,
leap,
and cascade into a melting steam
of self and other
moving as one...
we begin again...

Sixth Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Photo: beginning art piece of warming and cooling... watercolor, sea salt, acrylic, and pearlescence, so far...

Fifth Holy Night 2007 ~ Freedom and Lawfulness

Oh the freedom
that breathed through my being
the day I left the rigid rules and regulations
I’d imposed upon my body and psyche
along the road,
way back there where the bend
happens near the dark wood…

You will still find structure,
organic and bendable
allowing my spirit to move
in and around,
feeling the limits and places to stretch
into potentials hereto unknown…

My body delights
in all the ways we now can dance,
move and rest,
find silence,
sing,
create in all ways becoming known,
seeking
the divine in each breath
taken
then released,
stepping between
and through the pillars
of freedom and lawfulness…

Fifth Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Photo: Steps to the mansion of imagination...
Longcross Hotel, Trelights, Port Isaac, Cornwall, England.

Fourth Holy Night 2007 ~ Vertical and Horizontal

Above me,
below me,
to the right of me
and to the left of me...
My heart,
the sacred center point of all crossing...

The root meaning of the world "sacred" is to consecrate, dedicate to a divinity, or revere as holy, secured against violations. Geometry means the measure of the earth. Thus sacred geometry is the consecrated, holy measuring of the earth, of architecture, and of our bodies; it is about right relationship~the golden mean. The golden mean is about parts being in relationship to each other and to the whole.

When the source of all that is looked out in all directions...

intersecting and connecting with the mirror image of itself...

a portal was opened,
revealing the shared space of self and other...

on the horizontal plane...

and on the vertical plane...

and through this opening, the vesica,
the almond shaped all seeing eye,
this mandorla of all new beginnings...
makes way for the Christ Consciousness
to emerge...

spirit into matter,
matter a vessel for spirit....

and beauty is born,
in all directions...

Fourth Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Photos: Sacred Geometrical proportions, the vesica above the main-West entrance at Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France depicting the emergence of the Christ consciousness, dogwood blossom in our garden.

 

Third Holy Night 2007 ~ Movement & Stillness

I step…
into the labyrinth

and as I begin to move…
Stillness drapes my shoulders,
quiets my mind,
and all the world is a holy place…

With each twist and turn,
with each curve that my body takes

this stillness moves down
into the souls of my feet,

kissing the path beneath…

Earth below me,

sky above me,

are all the sounds I need…

This place of movement and stillness
I now find where ever I go…

wherever life takes me
into the labyrinth of life…

Third Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Photos: Our Santa Rosa Labyrinth with 12 Holy Nights of Inner Christmas candles in the heart space, pond and sundial at Real Goods in Hopland, California.

Second Holy Night 2007 ~ Desire & Fulfillment

Desire and Fulfillment
dance
in and out of the ballroom,
in and out of the light
of the full December moon
and carry me more fully
into this place of knowing
the way home…

Desire
is my true compass north…
With every yearning,
with every wish,
I discover where my heart is leading me…

Fulfillment comes
when I drink deeply of what is,
turning into the river of life,
allowing past desires that have come into fruition
to be enjoyed,
shared,
brought close to my heart
in an ever widening awareness
of the abundance
that is always
in the palm of my hand…

Each fulfillment
births a desire,
each desire grows fulfillment,
and the garden is full of fragrant flowers
that bloom,
even in Winter… 

Second Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Today marks my one year anniversary of blogging!!! Thank you everyone who comes and visits, seen and unseen! I love receiving your comments, and if you just visit with no words left behind, why, that fills my heart as well! I am so grateful for all these weavings of connections, bringing us around the world together... it is a gift beyond measure...

First Holy Night 2007 ~ Solitude & Intimacy

In my solitude
I drink deeply of soul,
I go to the source and I am filled...

My aloneness
is where I find the earth beneath my feet,
and the beat of my heart
to carry me through the twists and turns
of life...

In knowing myself
every changing,
I can dance with others
letting their love
and laughter,
tears and visions of the world
move with me,
coloring the beauty found
in everyday living...

This feast of friendship,
this intimacy of self and other
becoming trees in the forest,
dappled in shade and light,
where life flourishes
and grows
in all ways precious...

Photo: Solitude candle in the heart space of the labyrinth.

First Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Christmas Eve...

...when all were a stirring including a Christmas Peep!

The elves had arrived...

bringing great cheer...

knowing that St. Nick soon would be near!

Slippers were donned while toes sighed with relief...

giggles released in an all knowing belief...
for scurrying and flurrying had found the couch at long last

and all could settle in for an enormous repast...

and sing joy and laughter into the night
with friends of the heart held ever so bright!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Photos: Our Peep by sweet friend and artist Trish of Sweet Nellie, our dear friends and neighbors that warm our hearts so,  and our home awaiting the feast of friendship to share on Christmas Eve Night 2007...

Winter Solstice Planting

What seeds
are you planting
this shortest day
of the year?

When all life
sleeps deep
beneath the
Winter night blanket
of dark velvet,
where a tiny spark,
like stars in the vast sky,
ignites,
cradled tight
within the earth
and dreams of reaching
the light of day,
finding
the path back
into world...
Singing the joys
of Spring, Summer,
Fall, and of the blessings of Winter...

Photos: The Buddha watching over light seeds that will only thrive and grow in fertile darkness, Winter Solstice labyrinth walk in our Santa Rosa Labyrinth, and Christmas Caroling with friends and neighbors, organized by Ulla and husband.

To view the Winter Solstice at Newgrange Ireland, click the link below and download the archive. It is long, but well worth being included in this five-thousand-two-hundred-year-old event.

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Solstice2007

This Season" ~ Writers Island

One of my first memories of this season as a child was putting out cookies and milk for Santa Claus before I went to sleep on Christmas Eve. I could not believe when I awoke the next morning that I could only find  crumbs on the plate and an empty glass of milk beside it! The story of Santa Claus had to be true!!! For many years this activity sparked wonder in me, fired my imagination, and gave me a sense of the greater mystery to be found in the unseen world around me...

All these years later... I find this same wonder, imagination, and mystery when I discover something new that adds to my deepening of all that this time of the year holds...

For the past five days, since December 12th, I've been visiting the blog of my artist friend Mo'a Boyles... There I've been learning about Mo'a's Icelandic homeland tradition of the journey of the thirteen "Jolasveinar."  Each day one Jolasveinar, also known as Yule Goblins, Christmas Men, Christmas Elves or Christmas Lads comes down from the mountain until Christmas day... Mo'a has felted each figure and gives a little story about the particular characteristics and antics that appear with each one.

What once was a scary story, is now a benevolent one, and children leave a wooden shoe out on the window sill each night for each Jolasveinar to leave a gift, or a potato, depending on whether they've been "naughty or nice!"

I find myself each day, hardly being able to wait to click on Mo'a's blog to see who has arrived. As when I was a child, my imagination dances with delight at the wonder and mystery Mo'a has created for us to enjoy.

To see these precious Jolasveinar,
and learn more of their story,
please visit Mo'a's blog at:

 Leikur og List

© This Season" ~ Writers Island

Photo: I don't have a pair of wooden shoes... 
only my plastic garden clogs... do you think this might be why I got potatoes ???