A Candlelight Labyrinth Walk

One of the most beautiful memories I have is walking the Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in the Candlelight.  Perhaps one day I'll write about it ...

but for now ... let me tell you about the candlelight labyrinth walk I offered this past weekend to a group of spiritual seekers steeped in the sounds of sheer silence.  The photos do not do this labyrinth vision of light justice ...

While it wasn't the cathedral, the dance of over 100 candles gently invited our pilgrims onto holy ground ... as the last person rounded the first corner, I felt the familiar tug on my heart to join the community in this walk ... dearest God, here I am, yes!

two steps forward and one step back ...

o how like the journey of life!  

Two steps forward moving in rhythm o so slowly ... 

one step back, two steps forward, one step back ... 

I surrender into a meditation of "release"  

and there it is, the great expanse

 

two steps forward nothing ...  nothing ...  

                                                      one step back nothing ... 

                                                       a great expanse of space in the nothing-ness as 

I reach the rose "window" center ... 
the center of God ... the center of my soul ... 
and I am at home ... within myself.  


I "receive" ... clarity,
love and strength for the journey 


 
 
And I "return" 
with each dancing step of the pilgrim
I am filled with the Love of God!
Amen!

Light a Candle

I often feel like a slave to my computer! Gratefulness.org is a wonderful website for those of us who like interaction in the midst of our emailing, blogging, and surfing ... I've been praying the hours with the angels for awhile but yesterday I lit a candle and posted a prayer.  If you want to light a candle yourself and post a prayer, I invite you to comment with your candle initial and I will visit to pray with you. After you light a candle or not, I send you on your way with this Celtic blessing ...
 
May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm the self at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it splash upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, 
     and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines, and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you, soft under your feet as you pass along the roads, 
     soft under you as you lie upon it, tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen.