Spiral Path Are Divided Into Three Parts, Reflecting the Stages of the Labyrinth Journey
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The invitation You are invited on a journey. This journey is like any other journey in that it will take you through unexpected twists and turns and low places and high places, but it is unlike any other journey in that the final destination is not physically far from where you are now. The destination is your own heart. This journey is like a pilgrimage or labyrinth (which is a symbolic representation of a pilgrimage). You are walking a spiritual path, stepping away from the noise of the outside world and becoming still in your walking so that you can listen more deeply to the whisperings of your Soul. The labyrinth has three stages. As you walk into the labyrinth, you RELEASE what is weighing you down and what no longer serves you. This is not a direct path and some days the release will feel easy and some days it will feel very difficult. When you reach the centre of the labyrinth and have emptied yourself of all that you needed to release, you are ready to RECEIVE. This centre place is where you listen to the God/dess of your understanding, your own Soul, the Sacred, or whatever you choose to name the Source of your most authentic wisdom. Again, it may not come easily and you may need to sit in silence for quite awhile before any wisdom comes. No worries - there is wisdom even in the silence, even in the doubt, even in the emptiness. Just listen. And be patient. When you feel that you are ready to leave the centre, you rise up and begin to RETURN. You return with whatever you have received at the centre and you carry it with you back out into the world. You return with wisdom, with strength, and with a new sense of divine assignment. The lessons in The Spiral Path are divided into three parts, reflecting the stages of the labyrinth journey. For the first 7 lessons, you will practice the art of releasing. You will write and make creative messes in your journal, releasing whatever has been holding you back. For the next 7 lessons, you will practice receiving, believing that what comes is the right gift, the right wisdom. For the last 7 lessons, you will practice the art of returning, bringing your gifts back into the world in which you serve. You may emerge a changed woman, or you may simply have opened your heart in a fresh way. For each lesson, you will receive the following prompts: • A journal prompt that will guide you in a regular writing practice. • A creative prompt that will help you access your less logical, more creative right brain. This may be a collage exercise, a mandala, or intuitive art journaling. All prompts will be simple and you don’t need to be an artist to do them. heatherplett.com - page 1 • An embodiment prompt that will help you remember to engage your body as well as your mind and heart. Again, these prompts will be simple and can be adapted if you have mobility challenges. It’s important to remember that each journey will be different. You must not compare your journey to anyone else’s, because each of us walks a different path and we are all meant to receive different guidance and wisdom. If you begin to notice that you are being too critical of yourself (“this is taking too long” or “why don’t I understand something that seems so simple?” or “why is my creative journal so messy?” or “why does everyone else seem to get there before me?”), it will be important to pause, take a few breaths, pat yourself on the head if you must, and say with gentleness “I am taking the journey in the best way that I can and whatever happens is the right thing.” Before you begin your journey, there are a few things you may wish to do: 1.) Clear space on your agenda. A journey doesn’t happen by accident at the fringes of your life. It has to be intentional and you need the appropriate amount of time. Cancel some commitments if you need to, tell your family you won’t be available to them for one hour (or even 15 minutes if that’s all you can find) every day, or set aside an evening each week when you go on a date with yourself in a coffee shop. You know what you need to do - now you just need to make it a priority and do it, even if it means waking up half an hour before your family fills the house with their noise. Guard your time carefully. 2.) Commit to a physical (embodiment) practice as well as a contemplative one. Along with the creative and journal prompts, you’ll receive embodiment prompts and I encourage you to do them. Don’t just take a FIGURATIVE walk, take a LITERAL one - every day if you can. Or dance. Or do yoga. Just pick something that helps wake your body up and quiets your overactive mind. To avoid setting yourself up for failure, keep it simple (a walk around the block every day is a good place to start). 3.) Set an intention for the journey. Why are you on this path? Are you seeking openness, deepening, clarity, or guidance? How do you wish to walk? With a spirit of openheartedness, tenderness, vulnerability, freedom, curiosity, longing, or comtemplativeness? Or choose a mantra that will help bring you back to your purpose. A mantra might be something like: “I will trust the journey” or “Whatever happens is the right thing” or “The outcome is not my responsibility” or “I am open to what comes” or simply “I am enough”. Or find a special quote. Here’s an example: “Every time you don’t follow your inner heatherplett.com - page 2 guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.” - Shakti Gawain 4.) Take something with you on the journey. Find a token or symbol that helps you honour the journey you’re taking - a talisman for your pocket, a symbol that you wear as a necklace, a stone you keep on your desk, etc. It might be the symbol of a labyrinth or spiral, or perhaps it’s a word that helps you set an intention for the journey. Keep it close at hand so that you have a regular reminder that you are committed to this self-discovery journey. 5.) Talk to a trusted friend or two and invite them to join you or at least to hold you in their hearts as you journey. You may wish to hold a special ceremony before the journey begins - a blessing ritual where they give you a gift for the journey, a quote that has inspired them, or their words of wisdom. You can also mark the end of the journey with this special person (or people) and share with them some of what you have learned. (Note: If you have nobody that you trust enough to share this with, contact me to see if you can be placed in a small group of others journeying through The Spiral Path.) This journey is your own, but you are never truly alone. There are other travelers on the path, other spiritual seekers with open hearts. I invite you to be in conversation with some of these others when/if it feels right to do so. Join the Facebook group or ask to be placed in a smaller group, or invite your friends to sign up for the journey with you. (Note: The Spiral Path would be great content for a women’s circle or book club.) Do what feels right, but don’t be afraid to reach out. It is possible that this pilgrimage may open some past stories and old pain that you have been carefully guarding behind locked doors in your heart. That’s important work, but I encourage you to do it gently and with the right kind of support. If you need to, please seek out help. Perhaps a therapist, a healer (eg. Reiki, art therapy, etc.), a coach, or a spiritual director might help you journey through the toughest spots. If you don’t know of one, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to offer suggestions. Or ask in the Facebook group to see what others recommend. Here’s what you’ll need to work through the prompts: • A journal of some kind. You may wish to do both the writing and the art-journaling in the same journal (on opposite sides of the page), or you may wish to have separate journals for each. For the creative prompts, try to find a journal with heavy paper so that markers don’t leak through. (Tip: I always tear out a page in my journal and tuck it behind the page I’m working on to avoid leak-through.) • A pen or pencil that you enjoy writing with. heatherplett.com - page 3 • Markers, paints, and/or crayons. The creative prompts are simple and can be done in a variety of mediums. Suggestions are given, but you can adapt in whatever way suits you. • Old magazines, collage items, or images printed from the internet. • A circular shape or compass for making a circle when a mandala is given as a prompt. A bowl from your kitchen may do the trick. Consider making a template with heavy stock paper or plastic that you can tuck into the back of your journal for repeated use.