bookofmirrors | Oct. 18th, 2005

Today was my day with

blckwngdorcl. We actually ended up working in reverse to what

lunenoire and I did last night. We started out at Starbucks, where I decided to test

elephantankh's claim that Starbuck's Verona coffee was designed to go with chocolate. I tested this theory with toffee chocolate chunk bar concoction and a chocolate espresso brownie. I give it a thumbs up. Starbucks is going to rue the day that he told me they'd make a pot of French press if I asked for it. I think I'm personally responsible for several of the employees learning how to ring up that particular purchase, and to make it.

Just doing my part for the society of coffee. ;)

Possibly more on that later, in the form of a segue. Possibly not. It's later than I had intended, as far as when we came home tonight. I blame

bulwerk.

Anyway, from there, we went off in search of a labyrinth. We had originally planned to go over to the outdoor labyrinth at St. Philip's Cathedral, but in my cursory perusal of websites prior to leaving, I discovered the Dancing Bear Labyrinth, which looked really cool on the website. Plus, it was closer. So, we headed in that direction. (Ummm... more or less... today seemed a lot about driving about with questionable purpose.) But when we got there... I dunno. I don't wanna diss the labyrinth. I mean, it was pretty, and obviously built with love and whatnot... but the neighborhood looked chaotic, to say the least.

blckwngdorcl and I didn't think the energy met with what we had in mind for today. So, we ended up going to St. Philip's, anyway. (A few years back, we had walked the indoor labyrinth with some of the DTG gang, but had been unable to find the outdoor one at that time. That was a good experience, and I had figured out where the outdoor one was since then.) So, we started walking it. Actually, I sat down on a bench, and ran through some grounding and chakra-clearing exercises and whatnot. I didn't really have a question when I started. Based on my own experiences, as well as some things that

blckwngdorcl and

barefoot1342 have said, I decided to go through the labyrinth barefoot.

This, I think, became instrumental for the messages I received.

The path itself is lined in bark shavings, separated by grass. The bark shavings hurt my feet sometimes, so I ended up walking moreso on the mounds of grass to protect my feet. However, it was difficult walking that way. The ground was uneven, and it made me stumble even more than walking the path itself. I observed this process for a while. The sensation of my feet against the bark, often unpleasant... the uneven feeling of walking on the softer grass and losing my footing... how my mind wandered... how I seemed to have "What Child is This?" verses running through my head almost the whole trip to the center. Shortly before I got to the center, I began to get the message that my journey was teaching me. When I got to the middle, I didn't really get an answer to anything, I think mostly because I already had it experientially. "Just keep walking the path, even if it hurts." In the center, I just stood and experienced the power and energy of that place. Ancient and irrefutable, strong, wise, and balanced. As I left the center, I did as I had learned. I kept my feet to the ruts of the path, walking on the sometimes-sharp pieces of bark without hesitation. And they stopped hurting. There were a couple of times that they did hurt, and I walked on for a few steps with a piece of wood imbedded uncomfortably in my foot, and contemplated the merit of walking the rest of the way with it there, but decided that it didn't serve me to do so. So, I brushed it off by rubbing my foot on the grass, and kept walking. Another revelation. It's OK to use the grass as a tool when you need it. There were even times that the path got so narrow that I couldn't help but walk on the grass. This was OK, too. I didn't lose my footing at these times. (I didn't think of it at the time, but after a reading at Applebee's, I think perhaps that was a metaphor for getting help when I need it.) There were places on the path where I felt a child's sheer joy at being there, and was tempted to skip and run through the rest of it. I chose not to, though, and didn't feel hampered by that decision. Instead, I walked steadily, and just allowed myself to feel that joy.

Afterwards, when I came out of it,

blckwngdorcl and I sat down on a bench and shared our experiences. Then we went over to a tree that shaded the area - a HUGE tree. I contacted it for a while. It was ANCIENT. It felt completely old. If I had to imagine what the energy of Destiny of the Endless felt like, it would be like this tree. In its own time, having no care for the time of the mortals around it. Understated and undeniable power, like a mountain. Completely neutral, in a way that felt benevolent at the same time. (I think this last part is more due to my own filters. Nothing malicious was coming from the tree, and even though nothing benevolent was coming from it, either, my default assumption leans towards benevolence.)

Afterwards, we headed over to P&D, where, unfortunately, nothing wanted to come home with me.

Then, we took a very meandering path towards dinner, as my fickle whims pushed us to and fro on the decision-making process. We went from Sandy Springs to Kennesaw via the Perimeter Mall area. It was the ...er... scenic route. Although, in contrast to my usual M.O., I wasn't lost this time. I just couldn't figure out where I wanted to go. The erratic path wasn't unpleasant, though.

We ended up at Bugaboo Creek, and had an enjoyable meal there. After that, we made it late to

tc_borderpagans, where the topic was faith. I was surprised and pleased to find that someone else (

meadowhawk) also has a system in which deity is imminent, transcendant, and universal, simultaneously, and without paradox. Another Libra, I might point out. ;)

From there, I was ready to go home and enjoy the comforts therein, but was "coerced" by

bulwerk to go to Applebee's. We chatted with the usual crowd.

naa_tualle pulled out his tarot deck, which I recognized as the Hanson-Roberts deck, since

blckwngdorcl also has this one. I half-jokingly asked him to do a birthday reading for me, which he did. He had to readjust to doing a reading for someone besides himself, but apparently, his cards were enjoying the stretch, and based on his reactions to the spread, it was giving off a LOT of energy. Basically, it confirmed and amplified the metasymbology reading I referenced in my previous post, and seemed multi-layered in that it applied equally to work and home. This should be a very exciting year. :)

I also think that this post by the ever-insightful

gaeasson (with all due respect to Ken Schoolland) also applies heavily to me in the coming year.

Anyway, we're now home, and I think

blckwngdorcl and I have sufficiently settled down enough to go to bed.

Until next October!