The symbol and metaphor of The Golden Thread resurfaces for me every once in awhile. It’s a lovely image, and a beautiful reflection to work with.

Though this is always a powerful and helpful metaphor when we need it, it’s a timely one for the Energies of Now, with the biennial Mars Retrograde that just began on 17 April.

Some link The Golden Thread metaphor with the mythic story of Ariadne.

Here’s the short version of Ariadne’s tale, or one of them:

Ariadne secured a ball of yarn — sometimes said to be silver, sometimes gold — to help her beloved, the hero-warrior Theseus, find his way back out of a most challenging and complex labyrinth.

Theseus’s Hero’s Journey required him to enter the labyrinth, kill the Taurean half-bull, half-man minotaur of Crete, Asterion, who was housed at its center. Then Theseus had to find his way back out again.

Apparently not a Hero’s Journey for the faint-hearted, this entry into a spectacularly complex maze with a frightening and powerful creature at its center.

Does this sound or feel familiar in some way?

Ariadne’s ball of thread was Theseus’s “shiny breadcrumb trail” that helped him retrace his steps to exit the maze rather than get trapped within, forever going down one false trail after another.

The Lady of Shalott, 1905, William Holman Hunt with Edward Robert Hughes. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
The Lady of Shalott, 1905, William Holman Hunt with Edward Robert Hughes. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.

The Golden Thread is a symbol or metaphor of that vital thread of purpose, the “shiny breadcrumb clue trail,” that weaves throughout the fabric of our lives — our own journey through the labyrinth.

(And our inner journey of evolution is another Hero-Labyrinth journey).

It is, then, a thread that gives us clues about our reason for being … what has heart, joy, and meaning.

The Golden Thread helps to reveal our Ikigai, a Japanese concept, or our Raison d’etre — both of which translate to our “reason for being,” our most vital sense of purpose and source of meaning.

And vice versa … the Ikigai purpose-clue-trail helps to reveal the Golden Thread weaving through our life.

Here’s one of the more beautiful musings on the meaning of The Golden Thread that I’ve come across:

“The golden thread is a symbol of the inspiration, intuition, and guiding light that graces us throughout our lives. It is that which we follow, knowing that it will, in some mysterious way, guide us on our true paths in life. … As we travel through literal and figurative labyrinths in our lives, the golden thread may easily go unnoticed, yet when it is recognized and followed, we may find that this archetypal strand of gold connects us to our true selves, to our beloveds, and to that which we discover to be home.” (Source: Stellamara and Patrick Queen)

To discern The Golden Thread that runs through our own lives, we have to be clue-trackers and pattern-seers.

We need to attune, watch, and listen closely; see patterns, make the associations, and sleuth the clue trails.

Circe the Seer, 1911-1914, sketch by John William Waterhouse. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
Circe the Seer, 1911-1914, sketch by John William Waterhouse. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.

And then being true to what we find, having the courage to live and lean into the Golden Thread, our Ikigai, Raison d’etre, or truest purpose and yearning … well, that requires our warrior-self as well.

Plus, Ikigai-related research in Japan shows that people who have a sense of their Golden Thread, their Ikigai or reason for being … a deeper sense of purpose … live longer, and more happily, despite various challenges (Minotaurs?) that life has a way of including.

Golden Threads and Energies of Now

So it’s a timely metaphor and imagery-tool for the Energies of Now, with our eros-Lifeforce warrior self-facet (Mars) having recently joined the Retrograde parade — astro-speak for a shift in the archetypal energy from its more Yang expression to a more Yin, reflective, discerning, Vision-Questing, and pattern-sleuthing expression.

And Jupiter, a visionary, expansive, astro-benefic archetype and energy is readying to station direct from its retrograde in the Earth-element Virgo, stirring some forward-momentum and the possibility of Earth-magic available for the worthy vision and worthy quest (which helps to channel that Mars Life-force in more constructive, worthwhile ways).

The Golden Thread (detail), 1885, by John Strudwick. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
The Golden Thread (detail), 1885, by John Strudwick. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.

What’s your Golden Thread … or themes or keywords that hint at it?

What’s your Ikigai or reason for being?

What has heart, joy, and meaning?

What really, truly stirs you … in good ways?

There are clues to sleuth and point the way to the pattern, or the thread.

And once we have a clue about that, we can sharpen the focus, adjust our aim, point the arrows of vision and intention — which makes our Saturn-Sagittarius-self happy — and better invest and give our energy, our Lifeforce (Mars) to that which has the truest value and meaning to us, and contributes and is in service to the wellbeing of all beings.

Sophiastrology & Golden Thread-Tracking

Schedule a Sophiastrology reading/session to see what “shiny breadcrumb clues” the chart reflects back, or a Golden Thread vision-and-pattern-tracking coaching session to sleuth it together.

You’ll find current specials here, or send me an email (info ‘at’ sophias-children ‘dot’ com) to explore which options are best-matched for you.

Big Love and happy Golden-Thread Tracking,

Jamie

Featured Image Credit:

Mosaic of the Minos Labyrinth in Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France. Wikimedia.