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!

March 20th ~ Worldwide Circle of Labyrinths for Japan

This Sunday,
March 20, 2011
on the Spring Equinox...

people around the world will be walking labyrinths
to remember the people of Japan
and all of our planet affected by
the earthquakes and tsunami...

If you can,
walk a labyrinth near you
with the intention of connecting with others
and offering our prayers and open hearts...
You can find a labyrinth near you through the
Worldwide Labyrinth Locator

If you do not have a labyrinth to walk,
you can make a finger labyrinth,
or draw one in the sand,
or near a stream or pond...

For more information on labyrinths,
how to make them and ideas
for how to use them in connection with water
you can visit the Worldwide Circle of Water Labyrinths
created for the 2004-2005
Indian Ocean Tsunami

Into The Maze

The labyrinth has never let me down...

Over the years,
these unicursal paths
have held me through the impossible...

Yet...
this time...
our labyrinth disintegrated around me...



a reflection of my known world crumbling,
the lines of my well worn path in life
blurred,
torn apart,
becoming a part of the chaos
of my heart and soul...



Yet, the removal of the last remnants of earth
and blue star creeper,
like the twinkle in Milt's eyes...
have set the stage
for something archetypal...
the lines have become three-dimensional
and the maze of the labyrinth is evident.



The maze
within the labyrinth is revealed.



And even though my world is tilted...
I know that the path
will reveal itself when it is time...

And for now...
the maze of our labyrinth beckons
me to  allow for this unknown...
for the confusion
of the mind,
for the possibility of choices,
and trusting what may seem like mistakes...



allowing the depth of this vast underworld
to lay the foundation
of what is yet to come...

Walking Backwards

All my life...
I've seemed, in retrospect,
to do things backwards...

So when I was whisked away on Wednesday on a Magical Mystery Tour by my dear friend Elizabeth, I was quite surprised to find myself stepping over the threshold of one of my favorite of all labyrinths, the beautiful outdoor terrazzo Chartres Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco...

The stones are now lovingly worn and cracked in places, where thousands of feet have walked, danced, skipped, and prayerfully and playfully walked over the years...

This place is home to me, where Kimberly, Laura, and I searched to find ourselves weekend after weekend,
for years and years...

This is the place that fourteen years ago whispered me, "go home and write..." birthing me from its spirals,
nudging me into life setting the stage for the Santa Rosa Labyrinth yet to come through me...

This past Wednesday, which was auspiciously also Kimberly's Birth Day... Elizabeth and I shared the labyrinth walk beneath the vast blue skies of San Francisco with a young woman visiting from Tawain and a gentleman who was walking the labyrinth backwards... Carrying wind chimes...

It was Elizabeth who figured out that he was moving ever so slowly backwards, to not make the chimes ring, the slight breeze upping the ante of his spiritual practice...

So when he offered me the chimes... I couldn't do it. I couldn't force myself to turn around and walk slowly backwards and not make sound. I could not restrict my movement, but walked purposely forward, letting each step ring a sound, enjoying the feeling of my feet solidly moving forward... for within these winding paths is where I've most come to grips with the rules and have-to's in my head that have dictated most of the internal and external movement of my entire life.

Elizabeth took this picture of me walking backwards, my forwards, on this beautiful February day... who knows, maybe sometime I'll try it forwards, my backwards, and I will see then what I might discover...

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.

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...

Juarez Women~ADRESSing The Situation

When I don't know what to do...
When there is nothing I can do...

I turn to the creative flow...
and surrender to what emerges...

My dress and story is ready to travel on July 1st...

Please join in Monica's vision by visiting her blog, Girl Gone Thread Wild, for all the information you need to add the voice of your heart to this plight of missing women in Juarez, Mexico... to the women and girls, for our sisters, mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, aunties, cousins, nieces, girlfriends, lovers, neighbors...

This Duet

I am myself,
moving
ever towards
the center
that is right here...
Time
envelopes us...
away,
together,
the way your hands move,
haunts my heart
and finds movement in my feet...
The shape of
your tears
find the river of my soul
and we are this room,
these duets
of love
in all stages of leaving
and coming together
for the last time
in this breath of beginning
again
and again...
This pearl in the palm of my hand
is our dance,
luminous light
found in the irritation
of being human,
this joy
of matter
opening
into the infinite
space of our bodies,
this duet
of love...

Photo: Pearl found this morning on the hardwood floor at Soul Motion Body Prayer, during the "last dance" with my partner...

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.

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