maiden spiral and redwood tree
I had been actively looking for my soul’s purpose for quite sometime. I was “trying really hard” to figure it out. Thinking and thinking, but not breathing and just letting ideas come in.
I kept repeating in my head that I would never figure out what my soul’s purpose was. And then, someone gently pointed out that that might be a harmful thought to keep repeating. It wasn’t an intentional mantra; it was an unconscious one. So I stopped “trying to figure it out.” I just started following the impulses and thoughts that made me feel most alive.
Then a singing buddy of mine said, “I think you should meet my friend, Patria.” I easily manifest connecting with her and set up a tea date to go to her house. She’s lovely. We have tea. She says to me, “Would you like to come walk my labyrinth?” Sure, I reply, not knowing that my life is about to change.
We wind our way down into the forest behind her house and as we round a corner, I catch my first sight of the triple spiral labyrinth — the walking pattern that will influence the rest of my life.
We enter by bending down to go through an archway created by two trees, and head in. I don’t remember much about what hers looks like, but what I do remember is thinking, “I want to be doing this every day.” And then, “I just met this woman, I can’t just show up on her property every morning. Hmmmm, I wonder how I could walk a triple spiral labyrinth every day?” And I continued walking.
By the time I walked out, I knew that my triple spiral labyrinth was to be located in the back of my property, underneath the redwood tree and the oak trees. That was on Wednesday, February 2nd 2011. I spent the next few days researching triple spiral labyrinths. I didn’t find any online because as it turns out, this is a brand new walking path, but I did find a picture of the pattern. So I head out to my area, clear away some fallen branches and start collecting pine cones to use in place of the rocks. Having gathered a substantial pile, I start trying to lay them out in a spiral. I pick one up and place it, go back and get another and place it, realize that the angle is wrong, so I try again. I keep trying and trying, but the angle is just plain wrong.
In tears of frustration, I head in to my beloved husband, who asks what’s wrong. Sobbing, I hiccup through my story about how I can’t build this labyrinth. He looks at me gently and says, “Oh honey, it’s just math. I can help you with that. Let’s plan on laying this out tomorrow after meditation.” And we did.
It took an hour and a half of easy, playful collaboration. That was the beginning. I started walking the labyrinth and then blogging about my learnings. And then I invited friends to come walk it. As they were walking, I started seeing things through the metaphor of life.
The triple spiral is the Celtic symbol for life. And people were doing things, moving their bodies, tripping over things, etc. at transition points and in specific spirals that spoke to me of life patterns, so I started speaking to my friends about what I was seeing. The results were amazing. I was seeing and reflecting back situations that they were either in the middle of trying to figure out, or had been puzzling about for years. My insights helped them to understand things that were happening in their lives, and how to go about moving through them.
I now have a business using my coaching skills, combined with my triple spiral labyrinth. I am changing lives. I’ve had people on the labyrinth who were at the choice point between chemo and hospice — the sort of decision that needs quiet and peace to be able to hear the answer, to be able to hear the still, small voice inside. By listening to my inner voice in someone else’s labyrinth, I was able to hear my own still, small voice. And I offer that to others. I now know what I’m here to do. And I got here by being open to possibility, available for new and different adventures and by being willing to step out and do something completely unknown. I didn’t know how to build a triple spiral labyrinth when I started this, and I now help others find and build their own triple spiral labyrinths.
