Tales From The Labyrinth

Stepping Into A New Cyber Home...

For those of you who may not yet know,
I've moved to a new Cyber Home!

Tales From The Labyrinth continues
~HERE~

www.lealabyrinth.com

Please come and join me!

I look forward
to sharing more adventures
and wondrous discoveries
with you along the path!

Spring Equinox 2011

The night
of the Full Moon of March
and Spring Equinox eve
was full of fierce wind and storm
and torrential rains...

But the morning rain
opened into an afternoon
of sunshine,
calm, and a beauty unimagined
as people
came together to walk the labyrinth...

for this change
of season
and to offer prayers
and healing for the people of Japan
and all affected by the quakes and tsunami...

Little Pikachu of Japan...

on the hand of the youngest son of a friend of mine
danced in and out of the labyrinth
as even the adults...

found a time for play
and levity...
in between the silence
and the time out of time...

to touch the heart
of self and each other
and those around the world
in loss and sorrow
and in the joy of our day together...

Another
surprise of the day
was harpist Christine Tulis
joining us
with music divine
and the poetry of Rumi...

 It was a feast
for body, mind, and soul...

And when
the day was complete...
this infused water
from the copper Dragon Singing Bowl...



went back to the earth
with our love and prayers
for Japan
and for our precious world...

February Flours...

In India...
there is a tradition
of creating intricate designs out of flour
or chalk powder
at the entrance or stairs to the home...
a symbolic gesture of blessing
and of good fortune...

While in the the East-Bay and City on Saturday
I found these tin templates at
the Tail of the Yak
in Berkeley...



The flower of the heart,
one of my favorite symbols to contemplate
and make,
came home with me...
and I spent this morning
creating good fortune...

and blessings
around the house...

and in my labyrinth...

and my day
was truly blessed
and full of Sonoma County
February flours of beauty...

Winter Solstice 2010

Winter,
long this night...
Dark velvet sky holds
this new point of light,
new beginnings
deep in slumber sleep,
heart beat felt
in ice dreams
where summer heat
melts into spring,
into fall color memories
and the way your finger tips
melt into mine...
No sound fills
this empty cup
this empty plate...
I sip
and nibble slowly
of this long winter night
and taste the first light...

Prayers for our Water

Today,
Tuesday, May 18, 2010,
people around the earth
at 7:00 PM
will be joining the Thirteen Grandmothers
in praying for the our waters...
with extra focus on the Gulf...
Join them,
where ever you are...
Touch water
and give thanks for this beautiful
life giving liquid that is so vital
to the cells of our being
and well-being of our planet...

The Thirteen Grandmothers
There will be another global focus on water
on June 5th, World Environment Day

Also, visit the Worldwide Circle of Labyrinths Website for
information and inspiration
for using water with labyrinths.

Veriditas Global Healing Response for Haiti

Friday, January 22, 2010
Veriditas Global Healing Walk for Haiti
Santa Rosa, CA USA
 
It is dark,
wet,
and cold here…
I am alone…
I step forward and light
the heart space…
blazing light sizzles in the damp night
connecting me in circles ever expanding
as I step onto this lone path…
I walk in silence,
my heart full of thoughts
of those who’s night is ever deeper,
where even though the sun shines…
their despair reaches…
searching for meaning to a world turned upside down,
shaken and broken...
their humanity seen by those who will look…
Walking this path…
I reach back, touching the hands of those walking
around the world,
weaving our love to hold that which is no more,
to that unknown
where all life ends and begins again…
Asking for compassion,
humility,
sustenance,
love,
healing,
recognizing our face in other,
being present with this step,
and the next…
holding our light,
gently…
so others may find their way home…

A New Year Down Under

While I've been underground...
there's been lots and lots happening
Down Under with my Australian Labyrinth Friends!

In December they held their first
Parliament of World Religions!
Here they are painting the Santa Rosa Labyrinth
with dots... this was to honor the art
of the Aborigines of Australia.

Then, Lorraine and Geoff Rodda
sent me these beautiful pictures of their
candlelight walk
this first week of 2010
in their Santa Rosa Labyrinth
overlooking the bay...



As twilight deepened...
the stars came out... above and below...

Surrounded by such beauty...
all gathered to walk and greet the New Year...

Lorraine placed Kangaroo Paw flowers
in the heart space...



 grown in her garden...

Singing
to this new year
glory bursting into song
this beauty star
shining...
lighting the heart-path
home...

Photos: Lorraine Rodda.
Thank you Lorraine and Geoff for the beauty you share from all the way Down Under!

Winter Solstice 2009

Long,
these nights
of Winter...
Rain dancing in the shadows
lit by stars of wonder,
this light born anew...
Joy...
a seed in my heart,
kindled
by this deep rest,
when all is silent,
all is holy,
all is possible...
Wake,
from dreams of slumber
and live this gift of life,
this path of twists and turns unknown...
Be the sound that is you...
a precious spark
singing into the coming dawn...

The following link will take you to the YouTube recording of the "Golden Ratio OM in the King's chamber of Great Pyramid" this was recorded by Patrick Flanagan at 7.8 HTZ,  which is believed by many to be a perfect vibration for balance and wellbeing.

Global Om

Solstice Light in the heart space of our Santa Rosa Labyrinth. Global Om link sent from Meryl Ann Butler.

The 2009 Labyrinth Society Gathering

11th Annual
International Labyrinth Society Gathering Retrospective
by Lea Goode-Harris, Ph.D.
Into the Labyrinth: Creating Space for Spirit
October 8-10, 2009
at McMenamins Edgefield Lodge Portland, Oregon

Stephen Shibley and the fantastic Labyrinth Network Northwest created a beautiful space at the legendary McMenamins Resort to host the 2009 TLS Gathering. Our opening ceremony was led by Judith Tripp as we made sound from water filled bottles from McMenamins’ home brewery and wove our way through the seven-circuit outdoor meander-spiral labyrinth.

The large Blackberry Hall held the vendors, silent auction, and space for our main speakers, workshops, and TLS annual meeting. We also viewed the soon to be released beautiful TLS Labyrinth DVD, member images, and pictures from the first World Labyrinth Day. The surrounding classrooms beckoned us to explore the labyrinth through a variety of mediums from a host of exceptional workshops which included: story; lecture; guided imagery; artistic expression; ceremony; sound; silence; and movement; as well as practical applications for creating space and building labyrinths. The outside meadow offered three different labyrinths to walk by day and illumination by night.

 

Other labyrinths were scattered over the beautiful bird and flowered filled grounds of Edgefield, surprising and beckoning you to enter, slowing down to drink deeply of that very moment. The music of Infinitia Art Ensemble and One Root brought us into dance and deep contemplation. And for those adventurous souls… there was even a scavenger hunt throughout the Edgefield halls and amazing murals.

   

I was honored to be one of the featured speakers this year (Spirit Sightings) along with Jim Buchanan (Connecting Spirit and Creativity) from Scotland and Ronald Esquivel (Geometries and Energies) from Costa Rica. Jim gave us the opportunity to go inside the labyrinth from our left and right brain in his pre-gathering workshop, entitled Drawing Down the Sky.

 

Ronald gave us a lesson where compasses and colored pencils twirled in the discovery of “Feeling the Energy of Sacred Geometry.

 

My pre-gathering workshop offered Co-creating a Poetree Labyrinth to Express the Spirit of the Seasons, which we donated to the TLS Silent Auction.

 

Post Gathering activities included the beloved workshop “Creating Your Own Personal Prayer Labyrinth" with Kimberly Saward and Lisa Moriarty. There was also a tour of the Columbia Gorge and waterfalls, with our last stop at a beautiful retreat center with two labyrinths, one of stone and the other mowed into a large expanse of grass.

 

 

On Sunday a group of us experienced five of the beautiful labyrinths in the Portland area at a school, hospital, spiritual center, church, and private garden.

You can read all about that tour and see pictures from the artfull OpEdNews article written by TLS Founding Member Meryl Ann Butler: 

Exploring Portland Labyrinths: An A-Mazing Journey

Throughout the entire gathering, there were many opportunities to be active, renewing friendships, making new ones, networking, learning, teaching, and to just relax and enjoy the company of other labyrinthers from all directions. In closing, Eve Hogan led us in song and farewells until next time, when we will gather once again to connect in wonder and discovery as we share the paths we walk in the labyrinth of life.

Please enjoy here a few more photos from the TLS Gathering!

   

 
 

 

aDRESSing The Situation~The Women of Juarez Mexico

Artist everywhere today... are sending the dresses they made off to Stampington and Company with the hope that our heARTs and voices will bring more attention to the plight of the women of Juarez, Mexico...

I find that there are usually at least two sides to every story... So my dress has two sides and my story comes in the words that follow...

Bring a light
to the darkness of night that veils
the tears, the loss, the fear…



Bring a light to the seven silver sisters
watching from the night sky
so they might point the way for us all to start again...

Bring a light
to the sacred hearts...



even when life seems lost and broken...

so that the tears shed might transform...
becoming seeds of hope scattered to the wind...
taking root in the fertile soil of the soul...

Bring the light of day to hearts made whole...
where women may grow and flourish
like the flowers of a garden

their beauty a radiant sun...
bringing life giving joy to all men, children,
and women everywhere…

Bring a light, a voice,
and the song of our hearts...
now and forever...

It's because of Stephanie from the Mango Studio and Rodrigvitz Style that I first heard about the women of Juarez, Mexico... Thank you Stephanie for BEing one of those links so that we don't forget what matters to the heart...

And I am forever grateful to Monica of a Girl Gone Thread Wild for inviting us to bring our heARTs together and give voice to these women who have touched us so... Every woman deserves a beautiful dress and the birth right to walk and dance in the world, free of fear, harm, and with respect and dignity...