Old Patterns

I'm re-reading Sylvia Perera's Celtic Queen Maeve and Addiction: an archetypal perspective. Such a wealth of insight, information, history! I told her a few years ago how much I really liked it and she said: "Oh, are you addicted? Addicts really seem to like that book." Well, that's not my point--right now.

On p. 241, she's talking about the celtic triple spiral as a reflection of lingering patterns in our lives:

We may find that our own rhythms manifest a triple pattern that repeats at each new stage oe venture through our lives. Sometimes we can see that the pattern initially tends to repeat the very processes of our birth... The way we were born often remains as the underlying mode of coalescing and pushing forth towards resolution through all of life's later discomforts and fears."

So, how were you born?

I was breech, rear end first with the umbilical cord around my neck.
My 24-year old father was told, "Mr Mack, sorry to say you'll probably either lose your wife or your baby."

We all survived. Though I do still seem to make things a bit harder than they might have to be.