I have been so focused on sewing skirts for 3 Old Men that I haven’t really had time to get out to the place that is my center: the Labyrinth.

Here’s what I’m seeing:

Why is this the most beautiful spot on earth for me?  Let us count the ways.

1. It’s a labyrinth.  Duh.
2. I built it.  By myself, with my own two hands.
3. I designed it.  It includes a couple of features that I have seen nowhere else in my research:
   1. The western path, i.e., a path of bricks that lead from the center to the west.  Sometimes, you need to take the high road home.
   2. The hidden path, i.e., there is a fully paved path leading from the entrance to the center.  I dug a trench, laid out the full walkway, allowed myself to walk the path to the center and back once, then covered it and laid out the labyrinth over it.  So there is a path straight to the center—but we can neither see it nor use it.
   3. The center is an omphalos: a navel, an axis.  The black granite circle rims a ceramic bowl that I made—and the cracks that happened as the clay dried are now golden hieroglyphs.
4. It’s green.  Green and white are the only colors I’ve used down here, although the spider lilies that show up right about now are a lovely and welcome surprise.
5. It has a firepit.  I cannot over-extol the virtues of a firepit.
6. It has four points: the gate at the eastpoint; the Richard Hill “Sun” sculpture at the southpoint; the Brooks Barrow limestone bowl at the westpoint; my earth sculpture at the northpoint.  Each offers a post at which you can hook into their specific energies.
7. It, further, has a sculpture of the Belvedere Apollo (near the southpoint); and a sculpture of the Dancing Fawn, stand-in for  Dionysus, at the northwest point. You get to choose.
8. It has a sound system.  Yes, it does: two in-ground speakers, one up by the entrance, the other in the ferns by Dionysus.  At certain points in the evening, it’s nice to be able to walk the labyrinth and be able to hear even the quietest pieces no matter where you are.
9. It has a great view of the full moon—but you have to get out of your seat by the fire and go stand in the labyrinth.  This is a feature, not a bug.
10. It has an energy that you have to experience and cannot be described.  Arrive early, an hour before the sun sets.  Sit.  Watch.  Listen.  Then we’ll light the fire.