Lady of the Labyrinth

My partner and I have just returned from a weekend of sacred dance with June Watts deep in rural Wales. We stayed in a lovely early twentieth century house set in a delightful wooded valley. Lambs in the fields, swathes of daffodils in the gardens, everything bursting with life in the sunshine. We created a traditional seven circuit labyrinth in the garden and danced to honour Ariadne and explore Her myth. Beloved Ariadne, source of creativity in nature and human culture. Some words of Homer came to mind, Diadalos created a dancing place for Ariadne of the lovely tresses. How the Goddess loves the dancing place!

We remembered how the Greeks had spun the myth to discredit the Minoan way. The bull turned into a monster, The labyrinth as a place of human sacrifice. Ariadne portrayed as the betrayer. We danced for truth, for beauty, for Ariadne. One dance I found particularly evocative. Set to an ancient melody with an unfamiliar rhythm it became our processional dance for those who would leap the bull and find life.

One final thing made the weekend perfect. The secluded spot meant it was possible to experience real darkness. I live close enough to the city to be bathed in light pollution at night. At home it is never possible to experience real darkness and the utter beauty of star light. The human heart yearns for the peace and beauty of real darkness. To enter the dark is to enter the labyrinth, to walk an unknown path, to feel the Goddess there beside you and at the still centre touch timeless eternity.

Happy Oestara

Vernal Equinox folklore relating to hares can be found in both Celtic and Saxon traditions. In Wales the Vernal Equinox is sometimes known as Gwyl Canol Gwenwynol. In that land a story is told of Melangell and the hare. Though the story is from Christian Times it seems to evoke a much more ancient Goddess of Protection. It is said that Melangell was an Irish princess who lived about the turn of the 7th century ce. She fled her native land in order to escape a forced marriage and settled in a beautiful valley in mid-Wales. One Spring day Prince Brychwel Ysgithrog of Pengwern Powys was out hunting. He started a hare and gave chase with his hounds. The hare darted across the fields to the place where Melangell lived and hid beneath her skirts. When the prince arrived on his horse he tried to drive his hounds forward but they would not move closer to Melangell. Chastened by the power and beauty of Melangell he gave her the land of the valley as a place of sanctuary for any woman, man or animal that needed protection. It is said that to this day hares are respected by the hunters of Cwm Pennant and are never ever killed.