The Clue of the Red Thread

In Greek mythology, Ariadne held authority over the mazes and labyrinths located beneath the palace of Knossos on Crete, including the labyrinth that housed the deadly Minotaur. When Theseus came to attempt to free the people from the Minotaur, Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of red thread to mark his passage in and out of the labyrinth. The thread was the key to successfully navigating the labyrinth’s many twists and turns, and Theseus ultimately confronted the Minotaur.

In her teaching, Julie Tallard Johnson notes that metaphorically, we all spend our lives in a labyrinth, regularly having to face forked paths, contradictory twists and turns, and dead ends. Red thread is a rich analogy for the wisdom passed on to us from generations of spiritual teachers, and this wisdom guides us through our labyrinths. In The Clue of the Red Thread, Johnson, longtime student of author, teacher, and activist Parker J. Palmer, offers numerous practices and strategies for navigating what she calls the greatest adventure of our lifetime: going inward to discover who we truly are, then returning outward to blossom into a fearless and compassionate citizen, living with integrity while both keeping hold of the red thread in our own lives and moving forward to pass it on to others.