The Labyrinth Guild of New England Photo Gallery

Following The Thread Into the Labyrinth of Life
Keynote Address © Lea Goode-Harris, Ph.D.
Labyrinth Guild of New England & Regis College,
June 4, 2005

Why did Ariadne give Theseus a thread to unwind into the labyrinth and guide his way back out? Do we really know the way out of the labyrinth? Is it always the same path that we took in? How can the labyrinth teach us about living a creative life in unique ways? How can we recognize the thread of our soul, following it into the labyrinth of life?

These are the questions I pondered in preparing my time with you this morning. As well as sharing with all of you, some of my labyrinth adventures and insights, I wanted to learn something new for myself in preparation for our time together today.

How do we recognize the voice of our creativity, so that we can live a creative life?

The labyrinth in its emptiness and in its complexity holds it all, inviting us to step into discovery, inviting us to step more fully, into life…

This space, this emptiness that at the same time is so full, has been the cauldron, the crucible, the vessel for my own life explorations and growth. This emptiness has also been a place of extreme comfort and familiarity. From the creative space, came the Santa Rosa Labyrinth, the Snoopy Labyrinth, and all my other artistic and scholarly endeavors.

To begin to address the questions in my talk today, we can start with curiosity. That was the main ingredient for the making of the Santa Rosa Labyrinth. If there is only one thing you take away from my talk this morning, I hope it is to have your curiosity dusted off, re-awakened, and revitalized. And, if your curiosity is already active, then I hope we move this morning through some paths not yet discovered or explored. When I think back to the moment that the inspiration for the Santa Rosa Labyrinth came to me, it was sparked by my curiosity, welling up from my unconscious.

What does it mean to be curious?

For me, it means to wonder and to ask as many questions possible. I encourage you to ask questions, of others but most of all, if you are not doing so already, ask questions of your self.

Then notice, do the answers ring true for you? In everything I say today, listen with curiosity and listen for what feels true. And also, pay attention to what I say that does not fit, or might even make you uncomfortable, for these are all clues for discovery, about yourself, about me, and about our time here together.

It helps if we examine our beliefs- what we believe - or want to believe - is true. Take notice of what you want to believe. And, take notice of what challenges your current belief systems. These threads may very well be the clue for where your soul is guiding you to explore.

We might think of this time we have together as an alchemical experiment. So, to the ingredient of curiosity, I would now like to add our imaginations. As I prepared for this talk, I thought about all of the visual images I could project on to a screen for you to see and illustrate my points. But I realized, that what I really wanted was for us to use our imaginations. To let my words and ideas, evoke images for you in the many different ways available to us.

We live in a time where there is so much stimulus that our imaginations don’t always get to do the job they do so well, which is to speak to us in the language of our unconscious mind. I am a very visual person, so my images are primarily visual. But not all of us receive images in a visual way. Some of you may receive images through your body, kinesthetically, others may hear extra sounds when listening to my voice through your auditory processing, or have your olfactory senses activated. Others of you may receive images through, or may even have the sensation of taste. Be curious and open to the many ways your imagination can express.

First Labyrinth Walk

When I first started thinking about curiosity in relation to this talk, I remembered my first time of stepping into a labyrinth. Do you remember your first step into the labyrinth? Where were you? What were you feeling? What do you remember about that moment? If at some point today you were to write about it, what would that memory look like? Would it take shape as a poem? A story? If you were to color it? What would colors would describe those feelings and memories? What medium would you use to portray your foot taking that first step? Or, the first time your finger settled into the grove of a finger labyrinth?

The real gift of that first time is that we all had beginners mind. You didn’t know what to expect. There is a danger when something transformative becomes too familiar, or Dogmatic. We loose the way of curiosity and repeat the same patterns over and over again. And paradoxically, as only the labyrinth can show us, we sometimes need repetition and structure, especially in the times we find ourselves living in. We live in stressful times and we need a container to hold the range of emotions and feelings and overwhelm that we sometimes experience. And the mystery of the labyrinth can hold all of this for us, teaching us how to hold it ourselves.

My first experience with the labyrinth completely changed my thinking, and marks a paradigm shift for me. It wasn’t exactly a comforting experience. I have had many comforting labyrinth walks since; and don’t know what I would have done without the labyrinth at certain points in my life. However, my first walk turned my world upside down.

What does this mean?

How do we mark and make sacred, these upside down moments in life? How do we integrate these experiences into our everyday lives? The times that are dark and difficult?
And in holding on to the comfort of sameness, what happens when we become locked into the same path over and over again?

And does the labyrinth really show us the same path over and over? Or is it our holding on to our belief that it is the same path?

I have come to wonder if the path coming out of the labyrinth, is indeed the same one I took in? Think about what happens when you drive somewhere. It is the same road, but the view and focus of your destination is entirely different. Is it really the same path? I wake up almost every morning in my house, but is it the same day as yesterday? No. It is something entirely new.

Watch for where we become caught in labyrinth, and what was new to us becomes dogma. Do our labyrinth walks become a maze, where we are caught in the same pattern, over and over again? And if we are caught are we really missing the entrance to the labyrinth, and in doing so, missing the entrance to the center?

Let us turn to the most well known myth of the labyrinth to explore these questions some more…

But first, I am going to pass around this ball of string. Take your thread and pass it on to the person sitting next to you. This is your thread, your Ariadne’s creative thread for your time at this conference. You can tie the string around your wrist, use it as a bookmarker, or anything else that comes to mind. Using the string in this way is often a symbolic gesture that is done to celebrate the birth of a child, or a marriage. This string is meant to be a touchstone for you to remember today, what you are birthing new in yourself. At some point, you may want to use the string to tie a prayer bundle on a bush or tree, or use it in a piece of art-work, again commemorating your time here today.

The Myth of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, Ariadne, & Theseus

I was curious about the Theseus, Minotaur, and Ariadne story from the first time I heard it. If each of you were to come up here and tell us the version you know of the legend, I can guarantee that there would be several, if not many, different versions, told here! I find it interesting that in other myths, there is usually a core version, with little variation. But with the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur, there are many variations. Remember… Listen for what rings true for you!

Each version weaves a story that has meaning. Even though you may have heard this story many times, listen to it today as if it were the first time. I like to tell the myth and think of the different characters as aspects of my own personality… I also like to remember that the principle of the feminine, or the masculine, is not limited to gender. I believe that we each have an Ariadne part, and a Theseus part. And yes, we have a Minotaur part to discover as well!

You can explore the entire myth in this way. Be curious? Wonder… who you might get to know in the story today… What characters do you feel comfortable with? Who do you not feel comfortable with, and why? I wonder, who is Ariadne in me, who is Ariadne in you? How about Theseus, or the Minotaur? What about Daedelus, the inventor of the labyrinth, and his son Iccarus who flew to high, or King Minos, Queen Pasiphae, mother of the Minotaur, daughter of the Sun, wife of Minos?… and what about the God, Poisiden?

At the time of this labyrinth myth, the bull was sacred to the Cretans and the labyrinth was not only the lair of the Minotaur, but the sacred Dancing grounds, of which Ariadne was the priestess. If the bull was sacred to the Cretans, then what did it mean to be part man and part bull? What does it mean now?

The version of the story that I am most familiar with starts with King Minos angering the God Poseidon, by not paying homage as he had promised. Poseidon takes revenge by causing Minos’s wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with a white bull, she eventually giving birth to the Minotaur from this union.

Daedelus, who was originally from Athens, builds the dancing grounds and lair for the Minotaur, known as the labyrinth. There, the Athenenes pay homage to Crete and King Minos by sending seven young men and seven young women every nine years (some versions say every year) to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Theseus, the son of the King of Athens, agrees to be included in the next round of youths to be sacrificed, with the intent of destroying the Minotaur, and freeing the youth of Athens from this tribute. Theseus also promised, upon his return to Athens, to replace the black sails of his ship with white sails, signaling to his father, his safe return.

Somewhere in the story, after Theseus arrives on Crete, Ariadne falls in love with Theseus, and gives him the ball of string to find his way into, and out of, the labyrinth. For reasons we cannot know, Ariadne helps Theseus, betrays her father, her half-brother, and her sacred order, and leaves with him, sailing for Athens, after he defeats the Minotaur. Some stories tell how Theseus ties Ariadne’s thread to the lintel of the entrance into the labyrinth, other versions say that Ariadne holds the thread throughout the entire journey. Regardless, in almost all the telling of the myth, Theseus reaches the center, vanquishes the Minotaur, finds his way back out of the labyrinth, and sails away with Ariadne. I do however, know of one story where Theseus and the Minotaur actually strike a deal, and the Minotaur is still living, last heard of somewhere in the southern United States… but that’s another story!

As they sail towards Athens, they stop on the isle of Nexus. There, for reasons not known, Theseus leaves Ariadne. Here the story varies, some versions have Ariadne dying, others have her found by the god Dionysus, who takes Ariadne for his wife and she becomes one of the gods, immortal.

Theseus sails on to Athens, where he forgets to raise the white sails as he promised, signaling to his father that he returns safely. The Athenian King, thinking his son dead, falls from the cliffs. Theseus, bereft of Ariadne and father, takes his place as King. And the story sifts on down to us through the ages, where we fill in the blanks, trying to make sense of the gaps and spaces of the story that just don’t make sense, that remain a mystery to us, evoking our imaginations and our own stories...

Integrating The Story

So… how do we integrate this story into our everyday lives? In preparing for today, I wanted to focus mainly on Ariadne and Theseus, and some on the Minotaur. As I began to write, I realized that I am more familiar with Ariadne and the Minotaur, than I am with Theseus. I discovered that I actually have a problem with Theseus. In this myth, right now, he is really my Minotaur, my scary unknown.

Lets first visit the Minotaur and Theseus…

This is how I interact with the characters, so that they have personal meaning for me. Who is the Minotaur in me? The Minotaur in you? Where am I caught between worlds, half man, half beast, immortal in my prison? Bellowing into the night my isolation, caught between religions and paradigms, descendent of gods and humans, alone in the world of men, cast from the realms of the gods, creature of the dark…

There is no place for me, the center is my lair, and here I will remain, throughout all time…waiting for the moment when I am finally seen, and released, transformed into my essence…for I am that which I do not yet know about myself, to be me is to not know where I belong, for my awkwardness, my not knowing where I belong, is the path to knowing me…

Theseus… Golden haired, bronze warrior of the sun, athlete, beloved son above all else, witty, crafty, brave, eager for adventure and facing the unknown, challenging and defying death. Captures the heart of Ariadne, slays the Minotaur, finds his way in and out of the labyrinth, escapes with Ariadne, and forgets her on an island, sails home and forgets to raise the white flag, while his father jumps from the cliffs with despair…

Where is Theseus in you? Where is Theseus in me? I think about the places in my life where I become cocky, believe I have arrived, already learned that lesson!!! Or darn it, I’ll learn that lesson if it’s the last thing I do, so I don’t have to learn or experience it any more! Bring on the challenge now, for I am invincible! Exploring Theseus in me I began to ask myself... Where am I arrogant, so sure of myself that I leave my heart behind? Where do I forget what is important? What do I do with this space that is created in the loss of my Ariadne, the loss of my father, which means I must now step into the place of King, as I am no longer prince of my youth? Where is there meaning in the empty glory that rides down through time, that I slayed the Minotaur? What good is this aloneness, this untouchableness? What am I without the thread of Ariadne? For how do I find my way alone through the maze of life?

In some ways, I find that Theseus and the Minotaur are two sides of the same coin. One a warrior of the sun, the other, a monster of the dark. They both are untouchable, the Minotaur in his lair, Theseus in his forgetting and aloneness. Warrior and Monster. They need each other to exist and to move the story forward.

But the Minotaur and Theseus would not be a story without Ariadne… Where is Ariadne in your life? Where is Ariadne in me? What does it mean that she holds the thread that we all need to find our way in and out of the labyrinth? Who is Ariadne to us? And what does Ariadne’s thread represent for us? Why did she seemingly betray her father and her half brother? I do not believe she was a fairytale princess, but a woman wise and knowing in the initiate ways of her religion.

Priestess of the labyrinth, weaver of connections, the feminine, the intuitive part of me that moves through time, able to move in and out of the labyrinth with ease…Ariadne, who shows the masculine warrior the way in, and the way out of the initiatory maze of the labyrinth. I, Ariadne, speak in the language of images, the unconscious is my world. To speak in the world of men, I need the masculine to carry my message forward, carry my person out of the dark realms and secrets of the labyrinthine corridors that I know so well, the mystery of the labyrinth, are brought out into the light of the world, carried on the sword of Theseus, following my string into the light of day…

What does it mean to follow this thread of Ariadne into life?

To further explore Ariadne’s thread, I would like to invite you to take a labyrinth journey with me, in the vehicle of your imagination. Make yourself comfortable. You might want to place anything you are holding, with the exception of your red thread, for you are going to need this thread for this journey, everything else place beneath your chair…

Following the Thread
Guided Visualization © 2005 Lea Goode-Harris, Ph.D.

Taking a moment right now to settle into your chair, feel the floor beneath your feet. Begin to pay attention to your breath and the gentle rising and falling of your chest. Notice the beating of your heart as you become more aware of your breath and the rising and falling of your chest. Feel comfortable letting your eyelids grow heavy and you can listen to my voice as we take this journey together…breathing in, breathing out…no matter where you go, my voice will go with you. Open your eyes anytime you want, and close them again when you are ready, like right now, just let your eyes gently close as we journey here together…

Find yourself standing at the entrance of a labyrinth, your labyrinth. You look around and notice the time of the day, it might be morning, it might be afternoon, it might be the evening, but it is your time… all the time you need to explore the winding paths of your labyrinth…Your intellect is also invited to walk the twists and turns of the labyrinth as far as it wants to go, or can sit at the side and watch and think and do all the things it does so well… or settle into even more of a comfortable position and read a book… or even take a nap… while your unconscious mind journeys into the labyrinth… for you have all the time in the world to discover now what ever is most important…

As you gaze around, sense that you are alone with yourself… feel safe and aware that this is a place just to be…it is good to feel safe and to have the space to be…take a moment to be with yourself and breath in this sense of space… take the time… all the time to fill your lungs with the delicious sense of time to be with yourself, alone…body relaxes… as hands begin to open…In the opening feel a presence come near you… as if a dear and beloved friend is joining you… Could it be Ariadne, placing a string into your opening hand?…

Feel the string in your hand… you may sense a pulsing…or a vibration…or it may feel light as air…take a moment to breath in the confidence and security and absolute safety that comes from connecting with the source of all that is…

Feeling the thread, feel the gentle pull to step into the labyrinth. Ask a question as you enter the labyrinth… the form of the asking may be an image… or it may be in words…you know the question…something your soul is longing to know…As your spirit moves with the spirit of the labyrinth, let the path enfold you, a comforting feeling to be held with so much room to move and discover…moving into the twists and turns of the labyrinth let your question walk with you…allowing the path to carry you both towards the center… I wonder what the answer to your question might be, just as you wonder where the meandering path might go, where it might take you… It is safe and comfortable to move into the familiar unknown…Hold this awareness of the unknown with curiosity and remembrance as you move to the right… to the left and to the right again…you can even bring your awareness back to this room as you make a turn away from the center of the labyrinth. Notice yourself sitting here… feet on the floor…string in your hand… and take a moment to send a blessing to your body for bringing you here so faithfully…breathing comfortably as you move in and out of the labyrinth…that’s right…breathing in… breathing out…and with your next breath you turn to the right and move right back into the labyrinth for when you turn to the right what is left is left and when turning left what is left is right…that’s right… you know the right way… the right turn and the left turn… sometimes you move with curves, sometimes with a straight path, but with each turn to the left or the right…you know the way…deeper and deeper, into the labyrinth…the way unfolds before you…coming around to your path into the labyrinth… moving along to the right and to the left, and then right again…right to the center of your labyrinth.

Step into the center of the labyrinth, taking a moment to sense that you have never ever left this center place…it is your center and is with you always. Invite your whole self to join with the spirit of the labyrinth at your center place. Notice the image that emerges when you join with the spirit of the labyrinth…the answer to the longing of your question, coming from the source of all life… don’t try to understand it now…just notice your image with all of your senses…what it looks like…smells like… what it feels like…sounds like…even tastes like…wonder about your image, unfolding before you at the center place, and discover your own answer, right now, right here at the center of the labyrinth…at the center of your labyrinth…

Take a moment to be with your discovery feeling peace and a sense of belonging…and the ability to commune with the labyrinth in all the ways that are available, through all of your senses…through your body…let this knowing… this peace and belonging fill your heart, opening to the labyrinth like a beautiful flower opens to the morning sun or the soft glow of a moonlit night…here in the center place is the moment to feel the essence of life pulsing in you…

With this pulsing…time arrives to leave this labyrinth walk… thank the spirit of the labyrinth for joining you at the center. You can leave the labyrinth in your own fashion, following the path back out, or taking a direct exit. It might be the first time you have ever taken a direct exit. It might be the first time… in a long time…that you take the winding path back out. But the wonderful thing you realize right in this moment, is that you know the way out of the labyrinth. Give yourself the time to savor this knowledge… take the time to notice as you return, how the path is different, even though it is the same path that you took into the labyrinth, or if it is a direct exit, how it looks as you leave the labyrinth, knowing that there are always options open to you, no matter where you find yourself in the labyrinth, knowledge that you know the way back, for you hold the string of discovery and remembering in the essence of your being…for in this place there is all the time you need to find your way back…for the labyrinth you have made today… is your own story…and the thread is your remembering the way back and the essence of who you really are… for you are the thread and your story is the labyrinth, ready for discovery any time you choose…

As you exit the labyrinth greet your intellect and together turn around and give thanks for your journey… take a moment to remember the images you bring with you... as your intellect joins with your unconscious mind you can remember what ever is most important and your images will become more meaningful… The string in your hand will help to remind you of this experience. Notice through all of your senses your connection to the world within you and the world around you. Notice how you feel refreshed…invigorated as you leave the labyrinth… give thanks for the images and awareness you bring with you…with all of your being take notice of the people around you, fellow travelers, now, and the sound of my voice, bringing your full awareness back to this room, this conference, the chair beneath you, feeling your feet resting on the floor. And now, bring your awareness all the way back, and open your eyes when you are ready…

*****

Welcome back from your journey. You may want to take some time today to write about your experience, or express it in some way in the workshops you take part in throughout the rest of the day. Use your red string as a touchstone to help you remember.

As we move towards the end of our time here, we can continue to integrate what you just discovered on your labyrinth journey into the final themes of today’s talk.

What did you discover today? Was there something new for you? What was your labyrinth like? Was it a familiar labyrinth, or a labyrinth you have never before traveled? Did it look like a labyrinth, or did it look like a maze? All of our labyrinths are above ground. We don’t need a string. We trust the path. The labyrinths we all walk are a gift in these times that we live in. I have long wondered about the labyrinth that Theseus entered. If it were a labyrinth like we know, why did he need Ariadne’s thread to find his way back out?

What does Ariadne’s thread mean? Who holds the thread in the story? Is it Ariadne?, or does Theseus, tie it to the lintel into the labyrinth? If on the lintel, or doorway, this suggest entering a building or structure. Is this labyrinth above or below ground? If below ground, what does that mean?

I believe he needed a string because the labyrinth he entered was really a maze. He needed Ariadne’s thread to find the way out. Theseus also might have needed the sting to find the way in, for if he were walking a maze, he would not know the way to the center… I believe that one of the gifts of the labyrinth, is to teach us how to navigate the mazes we encounter in life. It is our remembering our story, the thread of where we have been, that the path through life is revealed.

We always talk about the thread helping Theseus to find the way out, but I never hear anyone talk about the thread helping the walker to find the way in, Patrick Conte does. In his book the genesis and geometry of the labyrinth, he talks about the string having memory. He says that it is in the unraveling of the ball of string that shows Theseus the way in to the labyrinth. I find his theories and pictures to be fascinating. What I also found fascinating is that as much as Conte is knowledgeable about the labyrinth, he does not recognize the Labyrinth movement. He writes it off as new age fluff. Conte even disses Sig Lonegren in his work, which is in a roundabout way, a complement, as Sig is the only labyrinth expert in the labyrinth movement that he recognizes. With this omission, we can see the split. Left brain-right brain. Masculine-Feminine, and the lists of opposites that shake our world today become more evident. The labyrinth seems to be all about opposites, even in the myths, and I believe this is one of the areas that we have yet to make many more discoveries.

So when we come up against such disparities, what do we do? It is so easy to take sides, which is at the root of much of the conflict we see in the world today. No tolerance for another’s opinion or view of life. Does walking into the labyrinth translate into no tolerance for the person who is walking out of the labyrinth? Their view of the world may be very different than the view of us walking into the labyrinth! I believe that the labyrinth does not rid us of opposites, but provides us with a container to hold the tension of opposites. It is through the tension that we find a new way in and out of the labyrinth.

I found as I prepared for this talk, that I was literally walking through a maze. Everywhere I moved there were dead-ends and false starts, obstacles thrown my way, like my computer crashing with my talk not backed up, even though I knew better, aging parents that need a different type of attention than they did just a few months before, and the every day ins and outs of living. What I found was that I had to let go of my agenda and move with what is. That is extremely hard for me, especially when I know what I want.

It was only when I slowed down, let myself move into a meditative space, and allowed for the space where I could listen for, and hear, my creative voice that I began to sense the thread of Ariadne, leading me through my maze, creating my own labyrinth as I found the way to the center.

What I found in following Ariadne’s creative thread for this endeavor was that I needed the aspects of Theseus to bring forward the elements of transformation that I believe the Minotaur represents in parts of this talk. I needed to face my own fears, my clumsiness, and my personal struggle to bring words to what I intuitively know.

I wondered as I typed the words for this paper, did my Theseus kill my Minotaur in this process? I don’t believe so! For they both feel quite alive in me, and I am aware of the tensions that they represent as well as the unknown aspects of myself yet to be discovered. I needed Theseus to assist me in bringing my words forward. What this has taught me, is to look for the mazes in our lives that we are possibly avoiding. Where we become caught in walking the same labyrinth over and over again? And in the ease and comfort, ignore the mazes that we yet need to explore? Where is my Minotaur hidden? Where is your Minotaur hidden? What does it mean to slay the Minotaur? Does it mean that he is dead, or does it mean he is transformed? What could this transformation mean for you? For me?

As I prepared for this talk, actually only six days ago, I found something new that has relevance to my own life. It has to do with one of the versions of the union of Ariadne and Dionysus, after Theseus leaves her. And, it has to do with my childhood and my early years of adulthood. I grew up in the vineyards of California, growing wine grapes. I have sensed that there might be a connection between wine making and the labyrinth for they both deal with alchemy and transformation. According to some legends, Ariadne and Dionysus had three sons. Their first-born was Oenopion (which means wine-face), and it was Oenopion who brought the art of winemaking to mankind. This is new information for me, and something I will need to explore. I am so excited to make this discovery, so thank you! If it hadn’t been for this talk…this might not have been a discovery for me. This information and its relevance to my life, is a gift that I take with me.

Where do we take our gifts found in the labyrinth and expand them into our every day lives? Where do we forget our gifts? And maybe more important, what makes us forget our gifts? Where can we witness with more compassion each other? And, again, where does our Minotaur dwell? How much tolerance do we have for each other’s Minotaurs? How can we use what we learn in the labyrinth to enhance our quality of living and our responsiveness to each other?

By traversing our own stories and following the thread of our remembering, tapping into our creativity, we bring forth our gifts, out of the maze of our labyrinth. We follow the thread into the labyrinth of life.

I would like to end with a poem and a blessing…

One step,
one simple step
forward
and the path unfolds,
unknown…
I become the thread
winding, twisting, searching…
I am Theseus,
blade drawn,
muscles straining,
stalking the centre lair
where transformation awaits…
I am Minotaur,
bellowing into the lonely night
lost between worlds,
the meeting of earth and sky,
man and beast waiting…
I am Ariadne,
weaving, spinning, heart yearning,
story lost in the centuries,
captured in stone
lining shore and hill,
deep within cathedral spires,
spinning across paper with compass poised…
I become
that moment
when time stops
and the world begins anew,
born from the path beneath my feet,
taken with that first step…

And, as we step into the rest of our day together,
I ask… the Creative Spirit of All life
to bless this gathering of people,
bless the work and play and community we share.
May our joy, our sorrows, our humanity, and our humble gratitude
be a gift back to life, to ourselves and each other, and to all that we hold dear.

Thank you.