Rock Path of Ponderings

Tonight is the initiation

of my backyard Labyrinth!

It is finally done!

And what will I do?

I will light twelve tiki foot torches

for my first official evening prayer walk!

Why twelve?

Cause there was a discount

on sets of six

...sorry,

wish there was a more

mythically based reason

then economy

but there isn't...!

It has been a grueling journey

to make this lovely weaving

path of rocks in the North 40 of my yard!

I don't really have 40 acres

(where I could actually

use a horse to check fence lines)

but relatively speaking

my yard is large,

intimidatingly so, for the desert

endless inches of gravel

and rocks and

things that don't grow well

and things you don't want to grow

at all.

(Like scorpion weed, which

all I have to do is look at

and I am covered in wet welts!

Pretty!)

When I moved here, ten years ago

my focus of designing

the barren space

that was my yard

became just the arch of my sight

from the kitchen window...

(hey, I had to start somewhere)

and it sort of worked

if I couldn't see the North 40

it wasn't really there

(ah, how we love denial!)

I planted and planted...

and made water features

and hauled in rocks

and more rocks

for the garden stations

of growing things.

Seems I OVER planted

and became OVERwhelmed

with my OVER growing green things

and was soon OVER it

and stayed in the house

or somewhere else..

ugh!

I love labyrinths, having walked two!

One in Maui and the other Taos.

Both changed my path significantly.

Why not one of my own?

But was the North 40 big enough?

Maybe! If I was creative about it!

So I began my research!

A daunting amount

of information is available

on variations, designs, circuits,

history, material and resources.

The only thing I was clear about

was I wasn't purchasing anything!

This playground is 'operation free'...

that of course meant, ROCKS...

Havasu's best

and most plentiful crop

(...so to speak.)

First of all what is a labyrinth?

It is a single path

or unicursal tool for personal,

psychological

and spiritual transformation.

A single pathway

leading uninterrupted

to a central position,

which is only half the journey

as to return to the outside,

one must

retrace the route back out.

It was relayed to me that

before entry the opening

one must have a question in mind...

take in, expect an answer and then

walk out with an illuminated mind.

Twice, I had that experience!

That magic in my own North 40...?

Absolutely!

My own walking prayer circle!

Because I am not great

with measurements or calculations or

lay outs, nothing level or perfect

in my house or yard...

(ask any of my friends,

and they will agree uproariously.)

had to be something simple and more organic,

no complicated series of back and forths,

which I am sure I would have

got lost in, myself!

The book I ordered and followed,

had many examples of labyrinths

from all over the world...

which were stunning

and artistically beautiful,

hard to choose ...and begin!

With spray paint

I informally sketched a Chakra-vyuha,

or seven circuit seed pattern.

Had to do this twice...

as I got lost before I got started.

Very confusing!

Then came the rocks!

100 and 100's

of rocks had to be collected,

to make the 13 foot wide path complete!

Not a hard task as I came to rock gathering

by a long heritage

of "born to be rock gatherers,"

my mom...my grandma

and great grandma even?

(maybe)

Every summer my mom had

us kids down at Lake Superior

collecting anything that was loose

and easy for us to retrieve and haul home!

We filled the yard,

made slopes, lined gardens

and ponds

and complained about every one

that was rolled into place!

I hated rocks!

The family joke was that these rocks

positioned into place

never really had a home as they

were inevitably moved

the following summer

to another part of the yard...

much like the Greek character Syphus

who rolls the stone up the hill

just to find it rolling back down.

Year after year!

So, I love rocks now

and have spent my adult summers

doing the exact same thing,

(I know, I know, "the apple doesn't,...")

So in the building of this creation,

I begin to eye rocks

from my other "rock areas"

repositioning them in the labyrinth line

dismantling gardens and steps

just to reach my goal...

there is supposed to

be magic in the process of creating

as well as the walking.

but I begin to get obsessed

and ....just want it finished!

Over desert hill and dale

I carry a varitey of grey, brown stones,

up slippery sand shifting sides of

embankments,

down the wash, to throw them

up to a lower level

then carry them

to be piled in the wheel barrow

(which is very wobbly, old

and in need of repair)

often it would veer left or right

dumping them before my desintation!

Crap!

My fingers ripped and arms scratched,

my dog and cats

looking on with a mixture of

sympathy and terror.

(for my sanity?)

Close to the end,

I dream about "my midnight

sneak runs" to surrounding neighbors yards

so many rocks just laying there,

unused and unappreciated,

okay, so they might be holding up

a section of gravely yard or wall,

but I just bet they would rather be

a part of something more grand...

like a labyrinth?

And then near the end of end

maybe just 100 to go...

my Stone people started

to look very tempting, just yards away

for the taking...hmmm?

But a friend intervened

with his truck

and we found a rock wall in the middle

of nowhere...

and it was...ah....done!

To be done wasn't enough...

I wanted the challenge of

a Stone sculpture as

tall as me...to finish it!

Though it fell over four times that day,

it now stands like a pillar of prayer

and the guardian of the path.

The torches of twelve?

On a sentimental note...

think I will light them as a

ongoing blessing for and to

a varying selection of twelve people,

I love and honor

and miss and believe in and pray for...

surrounding the circle path

with their light and grace,

as I walk and ask and ponder

in reverance...

"Where can I get more rocks?"

Pam Piper Rain