Ariadne, Goddess of the Labyrinth*

Poem by Rosalie Hendon

“For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit rises….The woman’s place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it is ancient, and it is deep."

                                                                                                             - Audre Lorde, “Poetry is Not a Luxury

Pray to her for answers,

and she’ll just lead you deeper.

Don’t be afraid--

all good things are borne in darkness.

Roots and streams and

stars and moon and tides.

Be quiet in this darkness.

Listen.

Walk on.

There’s only one path.

The goddess of the labyrinth guards the entrance.

She weighs your soul,

sends you on the twisting path.

Never a straight line

(too easy, you’d learn nothing)

but instead curves, always.

Unpredictable, surprising

you can only follow.

You can only go on. 

Worship her in the darkness.

All the wisdom we cannot know,

cannot see, can only feel.

In the earth’s womb,

sense the answers you will never find

under bright sunlight.

The truths that are revealed by intuition.

No harsh logic.

Magic. Faith.

A healthy reverence for all miracles larger than us,

larger than mountains.

Trust. Descend. Deepen.

The labyrinth was never a punishment.

You only imagined the monster at its heart.

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* The Minoan civilization preceded the Greeks by a thousand years. We cannot decipher their language, but from their art, we know that their society was egalitarian. Women were priestesses. The labyrinth was sacred. Bulls were sacred. Ariadne was likely a goddess, and only later did the Greeks demote her to a princess enthralled by a Greek mortal.