Crete, in the age of myths. Beneath the palace of King Minos lies the Labyrinth, a maze so intricate that no one who enters can find the way out. At its center lives the Minotaur. Every few years, young people from Athens are sent in, never to return.
Then the Athenian prince Theseus arrives, determined to end it. Ariadne, the king's daughter, falls in love with him and gives him a simple gift: a ball of thread. He ties one end at the entrance, unwinds it as he walks into the darkness, defeats the Minotaur, and follows the thread all the way back to the light.
A thread, not a map
What strikes many readers is the simplicity of Ariadne's solution. She doesn't give Theseus a map of the whole maze. She gives him a way back: one continuous line to follow, step by step.
On days when you feel lost, overwhelmed, scattered, unsure where you're going, you don't always need the whole map either. You need a thread.
The rest of the story
Myths are rarely tidy. Theseus sailed away with Ariadne, then left her on the island of Naxos. But her story didn't end in abandonment: the god Dionysus found her there and made her his wife. Titian painted their meeting in Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–23, National Gallery, London), with Bacchus leaping from his chariot towards her. Lost on one shore, found on another.
A thread meditation
1. Sit comfortably and breathe slowly for a minute. 2. Imagine a thread in your hand: its color, its texture, its weight. 3. Picture yourself in a quiet corridor, a little dim, a little uncertain. You don't know the way. That's all right. 4. Follow the thread, one step at a time. With each step, breathe in. With each step, breathe out. Don't think about the whole maze, only the next step. 5. Notice the light ahead, growing stronger. Walk towards it slowly. 6. Arrive. Step into the light. Open your eyes.
Your own thread
What's one small, steady thing you can follow today? A walk, a page, a breath, a letter. You don't have to see the way out. You only have to follow the thread.
A thread to hold
The First Letter is a short sensory meditation on receiving a letter: something simple to hold on a scattered day. It's free to read or listen to, with a sample of my magazine, "(meditating) On Art". One thread, back to yourself.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi