Thanks to everyone, near and far—whether you could join us in person last Saturday or not—for helping us "Open the Circle." The story of that evening is told beautifully in photographs. A couple come from Stephanie Engelsen and a couple from Debi. But most of them come courtesy of Patty Taylor.
The photos describe the rhythm of the evening very well on their own...
People have approached labyrinths in many ways—sometimes as artlessly as possible. You don't have to bring any expectations with you. Kids naturally are drawn to enter and to play in them. Over the centuries sometimes they have been sites for dancing—sometimes ceremonially and sometimes just whimsically.
There are three simple parts to walking a labyrinth: you walk inwardly to the center; you are in the center; you walk back out again. That simple archetypal rhythm has been associated with many things—as a form of birth/re-birth, for instance...and so as an opportunity to return to one's own center.
There's a potential fourth step as well—and that's whatever recollection or preparation one chooses to do before entering the labyrinth. It seems natural, sometimes even inevitable, to find affinities between the twists and turns of the labyrinth and the twists and turns in one's own life.
So gathering oneself, paying attention to how one feels—including how one's body feels in the moment—can be very helpful. Often someone brings a question or an intention—not an expectation—to one's walk. People have had surprising experiences. And very ordinary ones. It's all alright.
We'll have a brief gathering at 6 pm to help us prepare to walk the labyrinth. But you can walk (or not walk) any way you'd like. You can walk when others are in the labyrinth, and/or you can come back a little later to walk all on your own.
The labyrinth is taking shape, as you can see. And, in fact, there's a secret code already embedded in it.
Debi's holding the key, and Joyce is laying down the code—in longs and shorts, whole-pavers and half-size ones. It's literally morse code.
To produce the half-pavers—for the code and to help with the turns in the labyrinth—Marco clefts them deftly. What appears on the right to be a relic spun-steel fire extinguisher is really a future prayer gong.
These beautiful fly ash pavers come to us from CalStar Products. We love them not only for their colors and earthiness, but because they're manufactured with such ingenious, green, and sustainable means. Listen to their story yourself.
CalStar donated a pallet of these pavers to Red Egg for our labyrinth—through our friend and CalStar CEO, Tom Pounds. (You can meet Tom in the link above.) We had a blast at CalStar's headquarters in Newark when Tom showed us the pavers being made.
This paver is being inscribed for Joyce. Its place is in the inner circle. It is one of the most common Native American sun symbols. Notice that it has seven rays—epitomizing the seven energy centers in a person and the development of those centers. This symbol represents the healing arts—and a peace-loving person.
We hope you'll consider bringing your own additions and inscriptions to the circle.
Here Chris and Dennis begin to lay out the decomposed granite for the pathway—a surface that can be walked barefoot, if one wants. The beautiful top layer comes courtesy of winter storms on the coast.
Chris tamps the decomposed granite above. Marcy's iPhone video might take a moment to buffer. Hit play, let the buffering do its thing, come back in a moment or two, hit replay, and turn up the sound if you want to hear Dianne enjoining the males towards a blood offering.
Dennis has begun to walk the wheel,
...and other critters, too.
And if you decoded what's written in these pavers, this is what you'd find:
For his birthday, Chris wanted to go on a long dayhike. And so I humored him.
First, there was about 3 hours of trailwork he felt he needed to do along the hidden way from our cabin into the wilderness. Yes, those are poison oak roots in his hands. He actually likes doing this kind of stuff.
And then we came to the public Turner Creek Trail, which has just been groomed (just like I like it) because the VWA obtained a grant from the Monterey Regional Parks District and coordinated the trailwork with the Forest Service, a hired trail crew, and private volunteers.
Of course, I wasn't just humoring Chris by going along on this hike for his birthday. I had a hidden agenda of my own...
...these wildflowers.
Aren't they beautiful?
I'll just be quiet now, and you can enjoy them on your own.
Our goal was the heights,
...and the wildflowers all along the way.
Chris says that when "devil" appears in a place-name, it often means that homesteaders knew the place was used as a refuge by native people and for ceremonies. When you stand on Devil's Peak and look out across the Ventana range, you can see why.
We stayed up on Devil's Peak until nearly sundown, which meant that we walked home by moonlight with our flashlights off. I was humoring him all the way.
And he says it's one of the best birthdays he's ever had.
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 9:07PM 
