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By Root 165 0

so pressing or present, ask yourself, “What do I need more clarity on in my life?” “What feels unresolved?” “What does life (or God) seem to be inviting me to learn more about, or deal with, right now?” Breathe into the questions and be open to what comes up; it may be a very familiar issue or one you haven’t given much thought to. Pay attention, though, to the energy of the issue or question: If it feels alive and juicy to you, it’s a good one to walk with.

Here are some possible intentions:

Prayers for a particular person or situation. You may pray for someone as you walk or simply hold that person in light and love. You can also use labyrinth time to pray for events, people, or the planet itself.

The upcoming or past year at a birthday or anniversary. You can use the walk to reflect on the past year or walk into your dreams and goals for the upcoming year. (See Chapter 9.)

Working with a particular emotion or state: gratitude, grief, confusion, fear, forgiveness. You can walk with a particular feeling, bringing it into sacred space for healing; you can investigate the feeling as you walk, asking for guidance in understanding it better; you can surrender it to Spirit as you walk. (See Chapter 10.)

A relationship issue. You can walk with a prayer for healing a particular relationship; you can have an intention receiving guidance for helping it to grow; you can walk with the purpose of understanding a particular relationship issue from a “God’s-eye view.”

A spiritual question. You can have the walk be a way of understanding or healing a spiritual issue: trust, love, grace. (See Chapter 10.)

Vocational issues. “What do I want from work?” “Does this job fully engage me and use my strengths and capabilities to my advantage?” You can bring these questions into the labyrinth, and/or ask for help in an upcoming meeting, job interview, or dealing with office politics in a way that has integrity for you.

A creative project. The labyrinth is a wonderful place to bring a creative project into, walking for guidance on how the project should be unfolding. Walking when you’re creative is a very powerful way of dealing with blockages. (See Chapter 9.)

A particular event and its meaning for you. Momentous events and life transitions—beginnings and endings of relationships, jobs, and school; life phases such as a child leaving home; dreams lost and dreams realized—can be brought into the labyrinth for support, guidance, and understanding. These events can also be worked with ritually in the labyrinth for deeper guidance, support, or celebration. (See Chapter 12.)

After you gain clarity about the issue, think about how you can state it most concisely as an intention or question. Phrase it in a way that allows for the most open-ended exploration and learning. For instance, if you are struggling with resistance to opening up to your partner, you might state “I want to learn more about my resistances to intimacy” rather than “How can I be less resistant?”

You also can phrase your issue as a question. I often prefer to ask questions, remembering that someone once told me that God doesn’t ask us to know the answers but to love the questions. Loving a difficult question, such as “How can I allow the sexual abuse I’ve lived through to be a teacher for me?” through a walk—rather than demanding an answer—allows for a deeper, more reflective part of our minds and hearts to be engaged, which ultimately opens the door for new answers and healing.

You may also work with your intention as an image, or a gesture, or by reducing it to one word. An intention for the healing of the relationship with an estranged friend could be condensed to repeating your friend’s name or the word “healing”; holding an image of healing light connecting and surrounding the two of you; or walking with your hands gently touching your heart to invoke healing. If I find I am resisting an uncomfortable issue or a feeling, I walk with my hands open, palms up, before me in a gesture of opening and surrender.

SUPPORTING INTENTION WITH LIGHTING AND MUSIC

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