an african Labyrinth through a disco tunnel

My plan for today was to drive up the coast, then 2 gals I stay with suggested something very new to me. The ride was far but did not feel long and no time was wasted. I love new things and to me on a journey we go...

We drove in land, the temperature was 35 Celsius/ 95 Fahrenheit, the cold air from my7 air con blowing our hair humming to 70's rock music. I stopped at a very shady gas station where I used the toilet. The toilet walls were grey with a stench of urine, I washed my hands with dirty brown water coming directly from the streams that flowed off the majestic mountains that enclosed us in this gas station. Three more hours of driving , through a hole in a mountain with masses of reeds and water on either sides of the road and baboons that followed. We reached the klein Karoo, a dessert where I am from, a dessert with  mountain slopes.

Through the dessert heat we rode, the doors of my car seemed to disappear and it was as if we were mounted on horses and no car. Reaching a dirt road following a omen an omen being a sign that read "Labyrinth"  Yes I to was surprised a Labyrinth in Africa. As we approached a farm house we stopped next to 100 baboons that were being rehabilitated, already my world began to feel surreal. Cantering on my horse, sided by 2 ladies, in a sloped dessert with a clear dark blue sky. I halted as we reached a dilapidated farm house with no doors. My doors came back and I got out of my car.

We were welcomed by a lady in her late sixties, wearing a faded white T shirt with a picture of a baboon and worn jeans. As she walked us to the labyrinth, through the shady trees she explained " to walk the Labyrinth is a journey, you are to walk it in silence, crossing whatever road and where ever it may take you, It is a spiritual exercise to centre you. On your journey you may pick up a crystal and place it where you choose. Once you reach the centre of the labyrinth you may sit in one of its petals and meditate, thereafter you follow the labyrinth out. The purpose of this is not to think with your mind but with your intuition" 

Now without sounding like a tree hugging hippy or some 

self help spiritual "guru" I found this journey opened me and I was taken to this African labyrinth for a purpose. This is how my journey 

went:

I normally shy away from these exercises but I made a decision to let go and let in. I was very excited for the first 5 minutes of my path, the excitement subsided and my stomach began to churn. I felt a very sharp pain and at this point I picked up a rose quartz crystal and automatically held it to my tummy. I kept walking slowly, I became a wanderer. I placed the crystal at an edge of one of the paths and as I walked the pain subsided. I felt calm and taken, taken away from myself or my worries. Again I kneel ed down to pick up a crystal and held to my core, almost as a heeling effect, ironically i placed this crystal on a corner directly opposite from the last. Strange. I decided to walk with my eyes closed and see how I would be guided, always afraid and always opening my eyes just before the turns. I took in the leaves that were at eye level, the sky, the ground and I reached the centre. After 11 circuit Chartres i reached the flower shaped centre and chose a shady petal to seat myself. No there were no lovers to meet me, no medieval crate, no direct contact with God. 

There was some sort of presence :

  I thought of nothing, i felt a connection and for the first time in my 30 years I felt grounded, i felt centre. Even if only for a moment this is a feeling I will always draw from. I journeyed out of the centre and made my way out with my eyes closed. 

As I waited for the others to complete there way, i sat on a rock smoking a cigarette whilst being bitten by red ants. I suppose I deserved the ants as I was smoking a fag in a "sacred" place. Progress not perfection right? 

We were all very serene after this experience and drove back silently for a few hours. We stopped for ice cream and continued to drive. The scenery and the silence was beautiful. As we drove through the mountain pass we turned up the music and danced for an hour in true outrageous style. I was told that it was unbelievable what I could do behind the wheel. Crazy dancing monkey robot I became, concentrating that my legs would stay still. I loved this part of our drive, it completed the journey. As we raced passed cars people lured into our windows laughing and smiling at us. It was great, it was soothing It was powerful.

The start of my day through the vineyards. Saddled on horses through the dessert. A journey to my centre through a labyrinths soul. A club scene in my car through the tunnel mountain. Today was worthy of all sorts and dreams.