The minotaur was one of the most famous and gruesome monsters in Ancient Greek mythology, usually portrayed with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Born from the unnatural union of Pasiphae and the Cretan Bull, the minotaur resided at the center of the Labyrinth, designed specifically to hide him from view at the request of Pasiphae’s husband, Minos. With the help of their daughter, Ariadne, Theseus, the greatest Athenian hero, eventually managed to kill the minotaur.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of the Minotaur, please click here. 

7 Circuit Cretan Labyrinth

You are one of the fourteen Athenian youths called to face the minotaur. You are Theseus. The labyrinth of sobriety leads you to your true self.

The Call to the Sobriety Labyrinth

You may try to walk alone - don’t do this. Find your fellow Athenians, join them in this arduous journey to the center where you will face the minotaur. Some will already have made this journey once. You will need this fellowship to hold you. Your Call may be from your body, from your life, from your loved ones, from your gods  - any of these. 

Your Call is to you and it is for you. 

Do not answer another person’s Call. Do not attempt this journey for anyone else.You must only undertake this journey only for yourself, otherwise you will lose your way. Your walk through the sobriety labyrinth will change you in ways you cannot even imagine when you are called to it. 

You will rise to the challenge.

Find the Right Thread

Ariadne loves you. She has learned the secret of the labyrinth. She wants you to find your way back out after you have faced the minotaur.. She has spun a thread for you to help you find your way. 

Once upon a time she only made one thread. Many people could not hold that thread - for some it was hard to see, for others it seemed to disappear from their hands, and some were actually harmed by holding the thread. 

But Ariadne is moved to help us through the labyrinth. 

These days she offers book-threads, online-community-threads, mindful-threads, spiritual-threads, empowerment-threads, therapy-threads - so many threads! Find Ariadne. Receive your thread - you may hold more than one. Your thread(s) will help you find your way into the center - and back out again.

Challenges to the Call

After you hear the Call, you will experiment with ways to stop the meandering and endless path of substance use. You may try to make a map: moderation or creating rules. You may “try sobriety out” for a week, a month, feeling sober-curious. You may be given a thread that leads you in the wrong direction. You may try again and again, and think you will never find the right thread. 

You will find the right thread. 

When Ariadne gives you the right thread, you will face challenges from your environment, delivered by trauma, stress and social pressures. Some may plead with you not to go, to stay with them. 

You must go. 

You might think you are not worthy of the thread or the journey into the sobriety labyrinth. You are. You may not understand why you were Called to make this journey. If you are to make it through, you must trust in one thing: you are worthy of a full, sober life. You are strong and clever. Resourceful.  You are Theseus, the underdog, and ultimately, the champion who faces the minotaur and lives to explore other labyrinths.

Step Into the Labyrinth 

Start where you are, move slowly and gather all the tools you already have for this journey. You will wend your way through seven circuits. Just when you think you’re getting close to the center you will be flung back to the outermost ring. This will happen over and over. You will be challenged in each circuit - your job is to learn from those challenges, to gather more tools for your meeting with the minotaur. Your job is to keep moving towards the center.

Go Deep 

While you are in the labyrinth you will think you have lost your way. You will think this more than once. Hold tight to your thread. Remember that it guides you, imbued with Ariade’s love. Remember that you have to keep it in your hand so you don’t get lost. Prepare to bare yourself to the labyrinth of sobriety even as you continue to gather tools and support.

Hear the voices of your community speaking truths to you. Listen to them. On your way to the center, you will pass many old versions of yourself. You will battle guilt and shame constantly, they will dart out like tiny needles at every turn. You will see shades of yourself doing things you wish you could undo. Remember that these are things you did, they are not who you are. 

When you think the way stretches far before you and your bone-weary self has already been walking for so long, you will discover that you are walking right into the center to meet the minotaur, the beast that stands between you and your new sober life. You will not feel ready, but you are. Step into the center and be transformed.

Battling the Minotaur

When you reach the center you will have shed nearly all that remains of who you were when you entered the labyrinth. You are ready to face the minotaur. 

You may fear that you did not gather the right tools along the way. You did. 

You may feel fear because you are naked and vulnerable. You are stronger than you have ever been.

You may feel alone. You are not. 

You have gathered your people and they are there even if you cannot see them. Your sober community, your accountability people, your loved ones, those who have gone before  - their hands lie atop yours lending strength, steadfast, compassionate. 

They whisper that the minotaur is a catalyst, an initiation. The minotaur is everything that stands between you and sobriety. The minotaur must be faced; you cannot leave the labyrinth without this.

When you finally reach the center, you will see a mirror. You will look into it. You will see that the minotaur is you. When you realize this, you may feel fear, rage, despair, discouragement. You may feel joy, recognition, strength. You may feel nothing. However you feel, you now know the secret of the minotaur.

Draw from your deepest well, take all of your tools out of their box. Look close to find the places in that reflection that require your attention. 

Dig deep. 

Excavate.

Heal.

Heal.

Heal.

Transform into your beautiful, resourceful sober self.

Take the Treasure Home

Some Athenians may not recognize you when you return from the sobriety labyrinth. Some may not see you at all. Some may see you but choose to turn away.  Do not concern yourself with this.

You have transformed. You may need to gently remind those around you of the new you. You may need to let some fade from your new life. You may still need to answer for the things you did or said before your transformation. That is just and you are strong.

You may be Called to help others in their journey through the sobriety labyrinth. You will always have that rich fellowship you created. They will continue to hold you.

Know that you may be Called to face the minotaur again and again in the sobriety labyrinth. You may need to explore other labyrinths - perhaps the labyrinth of healthy boundaries or the labyrinth of strong relationships. Each time you will have more tools, more experience, more community to support you. Each time you will integrate the sum total of your knowledge and experience. Each time you will emerge victorious because you know the way and because you know the secret of the minotaur.

There is no “new day one”. You cannot go back to the person you were before, so how could there be? There is only forward, there is only transformation. 

Take it home. 

Create the life you want to live. 

Your deeds will inspire many people, including yourself.

Believe.