myths/stories

Ariadne’s Labyrinth

I knew it the moment I saw him. I knew he was part of my soul, that tall, masculine young man, Theseus, who stood out among the youths sent from Athens to be sacrificed in my homeland. Our eyes met, and, at least for me, it was love at first sight. I was shaken to my very core - it was like catching a glimpse of a part of myself I did not yet know - and I simply could not bear that he was meant to be sacrificed to my shadowy brother, the half-human, half-beast Minotaur.

Minotaur, if you are familiar with the legend, was the result of a broken promise. My father, King Minos of Crete, son of Zeus, asked Poseidon, lord of the ocean depths, to help him by sending a clear sign that his claim to the throne was favored by the divine powers. Poseidon agreed, and promised to send a bull from the sea as that sign. My father, in turn, promised to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon both in affirmation of his loyalty and in recognition for his favor. And so it happened: a stunningly magnificent white bull rose from the waves for all to see, and my father was duly crowned king.

When it came time to sacrifice the bull, however, my father simply could not bring himself to do it - he would much rather keep the magnificent animal with his herd and breed it. So he sacrificed his second-best bull instead. Poseidon was neither fooled nor impressed. After all, if you promise your very best, nothing less will ever be true, much less enough, and when you are less than true to Poseidon - and to your own deeper self - you are likely, though unwittingly, to create a lot of trouble for yourself. So it was for us: my father’s punishment was that my mother, Pasiphae, fell madly in love with the bull. In due time, as they say, she gave birth to my half-brother, Minotaur (‘Mino’s taurus/bull’), with his human body and bull’s head and hooves, who, it turns out, survives only on virginal flesh - and hence the sacrificial victims, which we demanded from Athens as ‘spoils of war’.

We can so easily, I must admit, skim along in relative comfort within the reality into which we are born. I had not given much thought to the center of the dark labyrinth in which Minotaur was hidden away, though I had explored, even danced, partially into it; until, that is, the day I set eyes on Theseus. On that day, I knew I had to find a way out of my comfort zone, so to speak, and to somehow help him back out of that labyrinth, for I knew he must enter it. Still, it occurred to me that the fates might be against us, as his name, Theseus, means ‘he who lays down.’ On the other hand, he looked more the heroic type, so perhaps he was meant to ‘lay down’ in some other manner, rather than as a sacrifice?

So I contrived to meet him, and, as it turns out, he had come with the intention of killing Minotaur and freeing himself and the others. I promised to help him in this task if he promised to take me as his bride. He agreed.

When the time came, I gave him the ball of golden yarn that I used in my explorations of the labyrinth. I held on firmly to one end as he entered the labyrinth and unrolled the yarn as he made his way through. By the way, did you know that in Greek we call my ball of yarn “clew” - from which your English word “clue” is derived? So this thread was Theseus’ ‘clue’, a tenuous and indispensable life-line to guide him back out from his encounter with the half-beast, half-human part of myself that lives in the deepest shadows. I stood there interminably, tense beyond all description, holding the yarn, imagining him in the dark, and eventually following the thread back out, winding the yarn back into a ball, as he followed his, his clue, his ‘feminine intuition.’

“Tense” hardly does that time justice. Anxiety, confusion, hope, courage all gripped me. At last, he did return safely and we were then masculine and feminine united in harmony. My feminine intuition had brought him safely back to me and his masculine courage and heroism had confirmed what I knew in our first meeting: that he was part of my soul. We left Crete together, I as his bride and he as my groom.

As the yarn flows through your fingers while you work on these labyrinth-like accessories to wear in your hair, consider, please, the heartful and soulful partnership that is the uniting of feminine intuition and know-how with masculine courage and heroism as you explore the maze of life.

Yours in raveling and unravelling,