Many guided meditations ask us to visualize ourselves walking down a path. Like roads, paths are meant to lead us to a particular destination, but they are very different. Paths keep us close to the environment we are walking through and invite us to engage with the trees and the earth, the sky, sea and the meadow wildflowers.
Pathway that ends at sunset – Harris Beach, OR
Perhaps you choose in your meditation a pathway which leads into the forest. The forest is a common symbol for a place of mystery or challenge or the unknown. It can also be one of those thin places where the curtain to the divine opens and invites us in.
The “Enchanted Forest†is often where we are lured by Sophia to places we would rather not go. Among the trees we are challenged to confront our fears as well as our hopes. The forest pathway leads us to new discoveries about ourselves.
Land’s End above Sutro Baths – San Francisco, CA
Although I live in the city, many parks and coastal pathways provide opportunities to venture into wooded areas. When the morning fog is swirling around the trees and the sun is coming up in the east, I see wonderful rays of light shining through the branches of Monterey Pine, Cypress and Eucalyptus trees. I used to refer to these shafts of light as God Rays but I now call them either the breath of the goddess or her light beams. (The metaphors are basically the same, but the paradigms they represent are diametrically different.)
Whether we see these light rays as symbols, signs, mystical moments or simply the results of specific weather conditions, they are a source of beauty and blessing. May the light enter directly into our hearts and souls while leading us down the pathways to new revelations and wholeness.
Strawberry Hill at Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park
Luminous Light,
leading us from wisdom to Wisdom,
may we be drawn into the comfort of your presence.
Make the gloomy night of our souls
beautiful and bright.
Enlighten the fragile fabric of our beings.
Ever transformed by the light of Sophia-love
we become light rays revealing
pathways to peace and joy.