Last week I visited Quinta da Regaleira in the beautiful
town of Sintra outside of Lisbon, Portugal.
This UNESCO palace and extensive grounds was full of mystery, mysticism
and intrigue. What fascinated me most
was the Initiation Well. It is a stone tower that descends through nine spirals
27 meters into the earth.
It is believed
that various rituals and initiation rites took place here for practitioners of
Tarot and Free Masonry or even the Knights Templar. The intention, we were
told, was for the initiate to move from the known, the light of day, down
through nine spirals into the depths of their own selves, darkness and the
unknown. We entered through a stone portal and began our descent in silence
circling deeper and deeper into the earth. The act of walking the narrowing
spiraling inward well brought me into a contemplative quite place in myself. We arrived at the bottom where the four
cardinal points of the compass are inlaid on the floor and gazed up at the
small circle of daylight.
The way in is
not the way out. We headed into the
subterranean tunnels. First we arrived
at another well, similar to the first but more crudely built. You think you can ascend here but the path is
blocked. It is a false exit, a trick.
Another tunnel led to a grotto- opening onto a waterfall spilling into a
green pond, but this was also not an exit.
We then moved into an unlit tunnel, further into the unknown, true
darkness and mystery. This short tunnel
led to the side of the pond and the true exit – a balancing act of crossing the
green pond via 15 stepping stones.
I
made my way across with fingers touching the stone wall on my right only to
have the wall end and still 4-5 stones to go.
Fear rose up. Though I have
fairly good balance, I felt trepidation at taking these last few steps with no
support.
I found the whole experience a poignant metaphor for the
spiritual journey. We leave the known
and venture into the depths of our own beings to encounter whatever is there;
to know it, experience it and embrace it entirely. There are often false exits and trick
stairways until at last, overcoming our fear, we carry all we have understood
and become back out into the light of day.
This is why we practice yoga: to know the depths of our own being and
all that is in us so that we can live fully and completely; at one with
ourselves.
