INSPIRED BY THE ANCIENT SACRED STONE RITUALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
The contemplation of celestial things will make us speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when we come back to our human affairs.
Cicero
Chiseled into the bedrock atop a sacred mountain in the clouds of Machu Picchu is a ritual stone, each corner points to the Cardinal Directions. The surface is angled so precisely that the sun creates no shadow at the moment of the Equinox. It was believed that at this moment the sun was resting at the midpoint of its journey and its energy could be yoked to the stone through ritual. Tethering the sun here ensured it would always come back to the center.
Astronomy was the first science and architecture followed. With no written language or wheels Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was built entirely by humans who carried stones, weighing up to 50 tons, up to the 8,000-foot ridge and fitted them together perfectly without mortar. Our stone age ancestors studied the movements of celestial bodies and developed architecture to precisely track and celebrate these movements. These architectural phenomena were imagined, developed, and executed with wisdom and knowledge shared over many generations. There were no blueprints or instruction manuals.
Going back as far as 5000 years we find sacred stone monuments the world over: medicine wheels in Alberta, petroglyphs in New Mexico, pyramids in Giza and in Chichen Itza. All were built with an astronomical focus on the Equinoxes – the days the Sun rises precisely in the East and sets precisely in the West – the days when light and darkness are equals.
Considering the importance of these dates to our ancestors it’s surprising that most in our modern day give them little notice. The Autumnal Equinox is Thursday, September 22nd.
CREATE A LABYRINTH TO EMBRACE THE EQUINOX AND COME BACK TO YOUR CENTER:
Make a Labyrinth: Mindfully walking a Labyrinth is a wonderful way to—literally and figuratively—come to center. Making one in nature adds to that contemplation and creates a gift to the world. You can create it in the sand at a park, from stones and shells at the shore, with sidewalk chalk in a driveway, or even by mowing your lawn into the pattern.
Here is a very simple guide for creating a six-foot labyrinth using two lines to guide the pattern for your borders. Your initial lines can be made from string, or drawn with chalk, or in the dirt or sand. When you are happy with them you can cover your lines as your heart desires. You will need string, chalk, or a sturdy stick and a measuring tape. Plus, whatever found items or colored chalk for the final borders.
The first line begins in the center with a hook like a candy cane.
Stand in the center of your yet-to-be-composed labyrinth and face due west.
Create the hook with the short side on your right – coming around in front of your feet with the long side going on your left for 3 feet.
Then circle the line in a three-foot circumference around the center.
Leave a one-foot gap at the bottom.
The second line begins one foot to the left of your center.
It circles once around the top of the cane in a one-foot circumference.
And then a second time at a one-foot circumference until it reaches the low end of the cane. Leave a one-foot space there.
If you make one – take a picture and share it with us!
