Equinox Labyrinth walk March 20, 2013

'Solvitur ambulando'
St. Augustine


'It is solved by walking'...
This is a reflection on the first Labyrinth walk offered by Interfaith CommUNITY of Mesa, AZ and myself as facilitator.
The walk was hosted by the Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park on E. Broadway Road in Mesa, AZ. They have a beautiful Chartres labyrinth right next to the Memorial Garden. They provided a room for us for starting and closing ceremonies, folding chairs at the labyrinth to wait for eachother and offered light refreshments as well! How wonderful!

We walked with 14 people. Some people signed up in advance and had to cancel due to life circumstances and some people signed up the night before and some the same morning and other people just showed up. And it was All Good!

What people have shared after our walk gave a beautiful insight in everyone's place in the Labyrinth of Life.

*One person had found more clarity about whether to stay in the Valley or to move back home (because she heard me say when she was doing the finger labyrinth "oh, you're back too soon' and that became relevant to her question),
*one said she was comforted by walking with so many others,
*one said she had walked the labyrinth many times in grieving about her mother but she felt more light and joyeous this time,
*one said 'because of the sand in my sandels I took them off and then wanted them on because all of a sudden I realized 'I do not have to suffer' and being brought up in a Catholic Church that was really imprinted in my thinking, that I have to suffer first before I can enjoy!
*one said she felt very loved in the labyrinth
*one said she had 5 relatives on the premises amongst them 2 of her sons and she invited them all to walk with her. But then she said 'it became to crowded, I felt to enclosed, so I thanked them and said they better go now...'
*one said that this was really a special day for her since on this exact day her husband passed away and she always spend the day in rememberance of him for more than 30 years now.

Personal reflections

I am very greatfull about our labyrinth experience yesterday having it as a group. Seeing all of you walking the labyrinth was a great delight and very touching. Knowing that All is Well and that everyone is on his or her own journey in such different ways but that we're all connected by being fellow travellers through Life, has opened up so much Gratitude and Joy...

And for me it is the deep knowing and the confirmation that my ministery is about 'walking around'. That's what I always said and believed to be true for me: I do not need to establish a church in a certain place or time, my ministery is 'a Walking Around Ministery of Love, Light and Laughter'. That's what I said in my ordination 'speech', I can hear my self say it.

At that time I had no idea how that would work out, but I was sure it would be great!

And now it has come True and I was realy laughing out loud this morning when it dawned to me that by facilitating labyrinth walks I was exactly doing that! Both in a spiritual and physical form: walking around...

Talking about that our words have Power!

'Chronos and Kairos"
In preparing for this Labyrinth walk I came upon a phenomona that was already familiair to me but came ALIVE this time for me. I read it with new eyes, with 'magic eyes' so to speak. Isn't that amazing that some many things are outhere already -ALL ready- for us but that we only see them when we have the right eyes to see them... For me every time that happens it brings back the rememberance of the true meaning of the sayings of the little Prince, a book by the French writer Antoine de Saint Excupery, in wich he says: "the realy true things you can only 'see' with your heart"...
What came alive to me was the fact that the ancient Greek used two words for the measurement of 'time': 'Chronos' and 'Kairos'. And where 'Chronos' is know for it's lineair, numeric time (look at 'chronologicly' for instance) 'Kairos' is the other aspect of time, a more qualitative, instinctive, intuitive aspect. It is defenitely a right brain activity where the Chronos aspect is a defenite left brain activity.
Wow!
Connecting to the Labyrinth now it means for me that the walking time in the Labyrinth is Kairos time. It is a time to appreciate our intentions and choices of spending our time. It gives us the opportunity to transcend numeric time and it opens us up to another zone where we can connect to the Divine.

The Vernal Equinox
In the Vernal or Easter Equinox the sun stands right above the equator, which means that there is perfect balance between day and night. The sun enters into the sign of Arius and sunlight becomes equal with the dark growing into dominance entering the Summer solstice. At this time we begin a new solar round an this is the time to plant new seeds and set new intentions that are expected to bear fruit sometime in the near future.
But it is complicated. The keyword here is Balance! 

5 parts of walking the Labyrinth
1 preparation
drop your physical baggage (at first I was reading accidentely 'carbage' ha ha) like key chains, car keys, cell phones, watches (Chronos) or other noisy items
2 letting go
letting go of the daily activities and circulating thought in your life
the walk in is a time of letting go of your burdens and give them to God
3 illumination
the center offers itself as a place of meditation and prayer. In the center you simply receive what is there for you. Relax and wait for whatever 'comes to your mind'. Allow God to speak to you.
4 union
during the illumination you are deeply aware of God's touch and presence. On your way out you have time to think about God's power and Presence. It is the walk out that helps you to empower you and feel His direction in your life.
5 implementation
this represents your live outside of the labyrinth. It is the place where your Insight is carried out and effects your daily live.

For the closing ceremony I chose a song by Susan Boyle 'I AM who I was born to be..'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6AgxgPt6dE

and a poem by C.S. Lewis:

“It may be hard for an egg

 to turn into a bird: it would
 be a jolly sight harder for a bird
 to learn to fly while remaining an egg.
  We are like eggs at present. 
 And you cannot go on indefinitely
  Being  just an ordinary, decent egg.
We must be hatched  or go bad.”

And as Susan Boyle is singing:
....And so here am I
open arms and ready to stand
I've got the world in my hands
and it feels like my turn to fly...

Let's go fly....