The labyrinth is one of the symbols I’ve been exploring in my ongoing inquiry of the transitional/liminal phase of initiation (see previous blogpost for more on the three phases of initiation.) The labyrinth represents the maze of great confusion we enter when we have lost our identity. It is a twisting journey of discovery, transition and reclamation, the unrelenting longing to find one’s center or the Self – who we really are when we shed the limited outer identity. The labyrinth is also seen as a trap, prison, or obstacle, and conveys the real dangers of getting lost in the chaos and confusion of the in-between. We have all had moments where we feel we have no compass and no sense of direction – the challenge of the in-between times is profoundly complex and it’s easy to feel bombarded by the psychological task of this phase of change. Yet, wrestling with the chaos of this maze is necessary to connect to and discover our eternal divine nature and the one who walks the labyrinth comes away transformed by the journey and the encounter with the Self – more deeply rooted in one’s authenticity.
The mythic stories of the labyrinth tell us that not many enter the winding maze and make it out alive. The myth of the Minotaur at the center of the Cretan labyrinth is one of those myths. Many Athenians attempted to enter the labyrinth and slay the Minotaur but never made it out. Theseus was the exception, for the goddess Ariadne (feminine consciousness) fell in love with him and in her wisdom gave him a roll of golden thread to hold onto while he wound his way into the center, a thread that would also lead him back out. So what guides us through the labyrinth? What can we hold onto in the dark, twisting turns of our own evolution? What is our golden thread?
Imagination.
I think it’s rather timely to pay homage to our friend Imagination – with five planets (Sun, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Chiron) currently in the sign of Pisces, the ruler of imagination and the realm of the unseen, it is an important time to honor our imaginal dimension. Mythologists Michael Meade refers to the realm of the imaginal as “the world behind the world” and asserts that in times of uncertainty it is vitally necessary to connect to the “otherworld of imagination,” to access the eternal thread of existence and the capacities of creative renewal. In fact it is exactly during these times, when our identities are thin, that the veils to the otherworld are most accessible to us. He goes on to name the essential support our imagination offers us in liminal times writing that: what can be found at the edge of hopelessness and in the depths of despair are the images hidden in the soul, the core imagination that waits to be found when all seems hopeless and the end is in sight…Hope springs eternal as long as people can find a sense of mythic imagination that can create ways to hold the ends and beginnings together.
Imagination offers an evolving, “emergent truth” that supports us in making meaning of the chaos of change. As Meade writes, “we are lived through by energies, ideas and emotions that flow from the unseen world behind this world.” In a culture that lacks an imaginal or soul perspective, we are often naïve to the energies of the otherworld that initiate our consciousness through dramatic life experience. In fact, as Meade states, “What we call the world is a reckless story, a wild, star-crossed narration being told through the breathing green garment of Nature and revealing itself in the tragedies and comedies of earthly life.” It is essential that we adopt an imaginal point of view to creatively and meaningfully emerge from big life changes, for if we are disconnected from the soul during life’s initiations, these experiences are taken literally rather then mythically, the creative potential of the liminal is lost and the individual is left in the meaningless of the void.
In the undifferentiated sea of the unseen (pisces) our roadmap comes in the language of the feminine: intuition, images, visions, dreams, somatic sensation and body symptoms. Listen carefully to the messages, to the reality trying to live its way into your consciousness. It is only with deep collaboration with the realm of the unseen and by engaging imagination (the organ by which we perceive the imaginal realm) that you can feel the soulful thread of meaning winding through the loss, helplessness and confusion you might feel.
In a world where we are all learning more and more about manifestation principles it’s easy to catch yourself saying, “how do I make this or that happen?” The answer is you don’t MAKE anything happen. Our dreams are unfolding, they are organic, they are being lived through us and we are here to open, trust and follow the images.
What thread of imagination is weaving its’ way through your life? What dream image is knocking at the door of your consciousness? What vision is wanting to be lived through you?
Image: Labyrinth in Finland
References: Michael Meade, The World Behind The World: Living At The Ends of Time (Seattle, WA: Greenfire Press, 2008)