About a month ago, I saw a list called "This Is The Most Spiritual Place In Your Home State" on the Huffington Post Religion twitter feed. I was curious so I clicked on the link, and found where you can go through as, according to the author of the article Yasmine Hafiz, she chose certain places in all 50 states and D.C. as the most spiritual place. If you are curious, the link is here.
As I was going through the list, I found that in Montana, there is the Redsun Labyrinth. About the time I found out about this labyrinth, I was scheduling Artist Dates each week. I thought this would be a perfect Artist Date. To remind you...
The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore
something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly
“artistic” — think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the
imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the
play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well
of images and inspiration. When choosing an Artist Date, it is good to ask
yourself, “what sounds fun?” — and then allow yourself to try it.
So last week, my friend April and I sojourned to Victor, Montana, about a two and a half hour drive from Kellogg, and found the Redsun Labyrinth. I had to do a bit of research to find out what exactly one does in a labyrinth. Once we arrived, we picked up a brochure, and here is some of the information from the brochure:
The twisting symbol of the labyrinth has been traced back over 4500 years. It occurs in different cultures, at different points in time, in places as diverse as Peru, Arizona, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, Crete, Egypt and India. The design of the labyrinth symbol consists of a single meandering pathway that leads from the entrance to the center. Throughout the world and throughout history, it has been carved on wood and rock faces, woven into the design on blankets and baskets, laid out on the ground in the desert and on shorelines, in colored stones or tiles on the floors of villas, churches, and cathedrals and cut into the living earth on village greens and hilltops.
The labyrinth-spiral in the Christian tradition came to represent a spiritual journey, the winding path of the soul through human life on a pilgrimage to the sacred center and union with the Divine.
I came to the labyrinth seeking God. It is a time of prayer and meditation. It is a patient, waiting time on what the Lord has to say to me.
I am still processing my sojourn through the labyrinth. As you stand inside the labyrinth, you gaze out at the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. As I looked out at the beautiful mountain range, this is some of what I wrote down:
"What bitter root do I have in me I need to let go? What Do I need to release to make me love others more? Search me, O Lord, and know my heart. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Let go of things I don't need. Bring in things I can use to make others loved. That is my lesson from the Labyrinth today."
It was interesting sharing this time with a friend, because our experiences were so totally different. She saw things in the labyrinth I did not see. I saw things she did not see. We focused on different things. Our sojourn was together, yet we each took our own paths. I think that is part of the beauty of this spiritual exercise. To find our own path.
As you walked along this path, there were signs with quotes on them. As we started reading the signs, and looked up and realized we had a greeter at the end of the path, perfectly framed in the archway.
The deer stayed a few minutes, then by the time we reached the archway, the deer was gone. But it was a beautiful thing to be greeted by the deer.
Below are some of the quotes I liked that were on the path to the labyrinth.
Here I am entering the Redsun Labyrinth.
After our time at the Labyrinth, we drove down to Victor, and sat at a picnic table and talked for a couple of hours about many things.
It was a rich, full day that "fed our creative work by replenishing our inner well
of images and inspiration."
Just the kind of day we wanted it to be.....and more.
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