The Map of the Labyrinth

You have arrived at a check-in station where you can examine a pathway before you step onto it or share a pathway that has worked for you. There are endless spiritual tools, but the pathways to the New Earth mimic the pathways found in the Labyrinth.

• They are interconnected, creating a single pathway.


• You can't get lost, even though you may feel like you are.


• The return path is designed to lead you back to your own sacred center.
  

One of the most potent pathways available to us is surrendering to the stillness, but "being" is not easy to "do".

When I first created the Prairie Labyrinth in 1995, I was excited to have a walking meditation in my own back yard. I was never good at stopping the spinning gerbil wheel of my mind in traditional sitting meditations. Walking the labyrinth gives me permission to move more than my feet. It provides me with a map to safely wade through the dump of my interior landfill. Instead of trying to push the weight of my thoughts away so I can float into the void, I remain grounded to consciously sift through the junk with heightened awareness and curious detachment- as if I have volunteered to pick up trash along the highway.

The pathway into the labyrinth is associated with release. This gives me permission to reflect on all of the issues, worries, old patterns and yes, even the garbage, that keeps my thoughts spinning. But somewhere close to arriving in the center, a shift occurs. It's as if the vaccuum bag of my mind is being emptied. When this occurs, my breathing slows down and I usually stop or sit down. I don't have to struggle to get to the "void". It encompasses me.

"Being " in the center is being in the state of receiving. Receiving to me means filling up or taking in the fullness that is always here. But I have to be present to receive it and soften my attitude to merge with it. You might identify with the attitude that I'm talking about. It's that part of me that believes I have to be strong or perfect or do it right or have the answers or pretend I am invincible... when I am not. And the wonderful thing is that when my mind shuts up, I am filled up with the Presence that disolves the illussion that I am separate or "doing" my life alone. The weight of having to "figure it all out" lifts, leaving me with simple acceptance and pure gratitude.

The pathway out of the labyrinth is associated with renewal. The reversal of twists and turns back into my life provides me with adequate time to realign with the realizations, the insights, and the truths that have spilled out of my heart to lighten up the path before me.