The Eternal Spiral Return
The Eternal Spiral Return
–master motif of the soul’s journey–
the path of life–of heart, mind and soul.
From birth to mid-life the spiral moves out, expanding and extending until reaching the mid-point. There the direction reverses and the journey outward turns back inward–the soul back to its Source.
In my Jungian writings under Return to the Whole as well as in Higher Ground, I use this spiral as the principle archetypal motif of the soul’s journey. Similar to the Labyrinth and the Mandala, the Spiral Return can cause a shift in consciousness–the movement from one level of awareness to another. The effect of meditatively tracing the outline of this motif can be centering, calming and balancing. As awareness returns to center, receptivity to more inner ways of knowing are heightened. If there is a problem to be resolved, some circumambulatory movement around a center helps the problem be seen from other angles.
So if you can’t walk a labyrinth, or if you’re not inclined to create a mandala, you are welcome to print this enlarged version of the Eternal Spiral Return and experiment with it.
February 4th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Nice metaphor for Jung’s account of the human life cycle… and it really does work. Interesting that the first, outward moving spiral starts by moving to the left and is anti-clockwise, while the second inward moving spiral starts by moving to the right and is clockwise. I suspect that this may contribute to its psychological effects.