Spirals

In our trips to canyons and Anasazi ruins in the Southwest, I’ve always been curious about the numerous spirals among the petroglyphs on canyon walls. So I was fascinated to come across a detailed explanation of spirals in Partnering with Nature by Catriona MacGregor. I’ve been slowly reading this book (which I wrote about earlier here), usually just a couple of pages in the morning out on the porch with a cup of coffee.

She began by telling a story of watching an osprey with a fish in its talons. Instead of flying directly to its nest, it made ever-expanding circles…spiraling outward. “During this time, the image and meaning of the spiral was integrated into every cell of my body….It seemed that everything I looked at—each blade of grass, each tree branch, and even the trees’ very trunks—rose up from the ground as joyous spirals before my very eyes….It was as if I had seen the wizard behind the curtain—the magic that gracefully weaves itself through all existence.”

Catriona notes that spirals are everywhere, “from luminous spiral galaxies ablaze in dazzling colors to the tiny spirals at the tips of our fingers. The spiral is simultaneously a structure and a movement.” She points out that spirals can be both creative and destructive, as in the movement and shape of a tornado or hurricane. At the same time, the spiral connects us to all life forms on Earth—it’s the blueprint of existence. DNA, which contains the genetic instructions needed to create cells, protein, and RNA, is spiral-shaped.

Catriona suggests that the reason spirals are found in ancient art and at sacred sites around the world is because the shape reflects the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. “The spiral itself is infinite, which links it to the Creator (who is also infinite), and yet the spiral is also found throughout the universe in all ‘limited’ life forms. Thus the spiral, in effect, is capable of going from the physical realm of the material world to the world of spirit, and ultimately the birthplace of all creation. The spiral unites us with all life, with the Creator, and ultimately with our deepest selves.”

Just a day or two before I read Catriona’s pages on spirals, I’d led a meditation at the beginning of my yoga class that focused on the seventh or crown chakra. For each chakra, I focus on a seed sound or bija associated with the chakra, (AUM for the seventh) which we chant.  We also hold a mudra or hand gesture, and visualize a geometric shape right at the chakra. The shape associated with the crown chakra is a spiral, which we visualize circulating endlessly inward right above the head. The crown chakra is ruled by the principle of unity, the interconnection of all things. So meditating on this chakra allows you to connect to a place outside of time and space, a place of wisdom, higher knowledge, bliss.

I wrote an e-mail to Catriona about that synchronicity while we were staying at Trish’s sister’s house in Atlanta. We drove to Orlando that day to stay at our daughter Megan’s house, en route home to West Palm Beach. The next morning, sitting at Megan’s kitchen counter, I read Catriona’s response, which included the spiral image above. I looked up from the image and noticed a ceramic plate on the counter a couple of feet away. It was made by Megan’s roommate. I did a double-take when I looked closely at it.

Here it is below…another spiral!