The Magic of Labyrinths: Following Your Path, Finding Your Center

The Magic of

LABYRINTHS

Liz Simpson

Following your Path, Finding your Center

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As a wise woman once remarked to me, the labyrinth is not about “me,” it’s about “us.” The same is true of books. I could not have written this one without the generosity of spirit I received from so many inspiring individuals. Their support and the openness with which they shared their personal stories and wisdom have helped make the writing of this book an especially joyous experience for me. I would therefore like to extend my special thanks to:

Kim Anderson

Neil Anderson

Jim Buchanan

Dr. Alex Champion

Joan Champion

Kathy Doore

Robert Ferré

Lea Goode-Harris

Nicholas Halpin

Joyce Leake

Prof. Paula Lemmon

Sig Lonegren

Rae Ann Kumelos Mahon

Marge McCarthy

Julie Mitchell

Joseph Rafalo

Taylor Ray

Jeff Saward

Dr. Lynne A. Texter

Calvin Vanderhoof

Dale Vanderhoof

I would like to dedicate this book to my husband, Douglas Barnes. There is a saying I’m fond of: “A mind once stretched by a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” No one has ever stretched me as much as you, Doug, for which I am ever grateful.

Labyrinth

A walking meditation, a spiritual tool,a means of coming to one’s spiritual center.

Viewed from exterior angles, a device that appears complicated and bewildering but, once experienced, is found to be a single pathway (“unicursal”) that winds inextricably towards its center and requires you simply to take the same route out.

Maze

delirium, delusion, disappointment.

A network of interconnecting passages designed for trickery and deception. A complex puzzle that, without guidance, is difficult or impossible to navigate to a successful conclusion.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Labyrinth

Maze

Introduction

1. The History of the Labyrinth

2. Labyrinthine Patterns

3. Emerging from the Maze Mind

4. The Relevance of Ritual

5. Living Labyrinths

6. Changing the World, One Person at a Time

Resources

Index

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

Instead of searching for what you do not have, Find out what it is you have never lost.

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ (1897-1981), FROM “I AM THAT”

What is a labyrinth? How does it differ from a maze? And why are so many people across the world today embracing a symbol that is thousands of years old? It is these, and other questions, that this book aims to address – but as a guidebook, rather than a set of rigid rules that have to be followed. Because what is so exciting about labyrinths is that they lend themselves to individual interpretation. There is no single labyrinth pattern, nor is there a right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. Each experience is unique and, if welcomed, can offer valuable insights about how to navigate life and address its challenges.

The beauty of the labyrinth motif is that its appeal is so multi-faceted. As a metaphor for life’s journey, the labyrinth prompts us to think about the way we choose to travel that path – whether we savor each moment, secure in the belief that while life’s problems will continue to challenge us, we have the inner resources and confidence to solve them. Or whether we act like distracted onlookers – always wondering why someone else seems to have the better deal. Consciously walking the labyrinth can cause you to reflect on whether life is something that just happens to you, or is an experience that you choose to truly engage with. The labyrinth symbol can help you re-appraise your goals in life – to stop looking for a “quick fix” by latching onto this guru or that and to accept full responsibility for your own spiritual enlightenment. After embracing the labyrinth as a metaphor for journeying into our deeper, hidden, authentic selves, many have been inspired to recognize that the source of contentment and wisdom lies within. Since walking the labyrinth – consciously and with respect – has prompted others to ask themselves questions like these, then it is likely to do the same for you. The labyrinth is not just a philosophical tool but lends itself to many practical applications. Here are a few of the ways in which labyrinth symbolism can be integrated into your life:

• as a form of walking meditation, particularly for people who find it hard to sit still;

• to relax and release stress;

• to stimulate creative thinking and problem-solving;

• to assist in focusing on your breath;

• to work with your chakra system and the flow of chi;

• to get in touch with your inner or higher self;

• to connect with the Earth and more fully appreciate your environment;

• to create a stillness in which you can hear the whisper of your intuition;

• to do something nice for yourself – by yourself;

• to illustrate that you alone are responsible for the path you chart through life;

• to reconnect you to the Hero within.

If you are challenged in any of these areas or if you are seeking a more grounded and balanced life, then there will undoubtedly be something within these pages that will arouse your interest and help you find new ways to approach these challenges and help you achieve your goals.

The Magic of Labyrinths is comparable to a journey. Like the labyrinth, while there is a commencement there is no definitive ending. That is entirely consistent with the nature of self-discovery. There are always more questions, more adventures and more lessons to participate in. We are spiritual students who, once committed to the journey, discover what it takes to be the most accomplished human graduates we can be. Within these pages you will be encouraged to re-examine your attitude to the challenging, complex and frequently perplexing pathway of life. A pathway that does not have to be a maze-like puzzle full of dead ends and frustrations, but a single route to an inevitable and glorious goal – self-mastery.

Indeed, of all the methods of self-understanding that I have introduced to friends, coaching clients and others, employing the labyrinth symbol – as a walking, finger or doodling meditation – has never failed to elicit powerful insights with which they have claimed a richly rewarding life. What specifically will you discover about labyrinths in this book and how can you apply them to your life? Here is a brief overview.

In Chapter One we will establish the historical contexts in which the labyrinth symbol emerged and was disseminated. Our journey takes us from stone-age Siberia, through Roman and Medieval times to the present day. We will travel through time from Egypt and Mauritania in Africa to picturesque villages in Britain and Scandinavia. You will read how the labyrinth symbol impacted Roman youths and Welsh shepherd boys, Native American tribes people and contemporary Latin scholars. And you will learn how pagan traditions were blended with the Christian Church’s faith, explaining why so many labyrinths were established on the walls and floors of medieval cathedrals throughout France, Italy, and Britain.

Chapter Two looks more closely at how the various labyrinth patterns developed – the Classical Cretan motif, the medieval Christian and Roman mosaics, as well as new, contemporary versions. Once again, our journey together will take us across time and space to explore the labyrinths and other wheel-like symbols of Ireland, Peru, the United States, and Tibet, in addition to the palace of the legendary King Minos in Crete, the setting for the mythical tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. Our adventure will take in the significance of shape and numbers, place and energy. By which time you will have an appreciation of how the site of labyrinths is just as important as their size or design.

Throughout Chapter Three we journey inwards. By exploring the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur we determine the difference between a maze and a labyrinth and how we allow our minds to react to life as a diabolical puzzle or a direct, albeit circuitous, route to our goals. In particular, we will look at different ways in which the labyrinth experience can facilitate a paradigm shift in your approach to life, expanding on four themes which relate to the Hero’s journey – The Call to Change, the Trial, Facing up to Doubt and Rebirth or “resurrection.” You will find out how the Hero’s journey is a common theme woven by storytellers from Homer to Hollywood and what it means to be a Hero in your own life.

Chapter Four examines the relevance of ritual and how engaging in regular practices can help you cope with change by reinforcing the message that change is never wholesale in one’s life, but always comes alongside a degree of continuity. Here we will focus on one particular kind of ritual, the pilgrimage, and look at how walking the labyrinth offers the same kind of spiritual journey – one that is not tied to any religion and can be both an individual, personal experience as well as one to be shared by a community. In this chapter, you will also learn how to draw a Classical seven-circuit labyrinth and how to use that technique as a relaxation, chakra balancing, problem solving, and creative visualization tool.

Labyrinths will really come to life for you in Chapter Five where we explore not only how you might build a labyrinth for yourself, but also how community groups are embracing this symbol within schools, prisons, spas, community centers, hospitals, universities and as memorials to people and pets. By learning from the lessons arising from the stories offered in this chapter, you will discover how easy it can be for your community venture to create a labyrinth for relatively little money. Within each story you will read about the different materials you can use in the construction of your own labyrinth – whether temporary or permanent, canvas or computer generated – according to your specific needs, space, and budget.

Finally, in Chapter Six, you are presented with a collection of personal stories about labyrinths. These illustrate how a wide range of individuals – many of who have only recently been introduced to them – have benefited from occasional or regular exposure to labyrinths.

The labyrinth is an enigmatic symbol. It is both extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily simple. It can be used as a tool for individual introspection and as a catalyst for creating community spirit. After all, no hero ever has to tackle a journey completely alone. There are always friends and accomplices who will share in the challenges and dangers and who will be willing to discuss, analyze and help you face the fears associated with walking a new, more spiritually inspiring path.

The labyrinth, experienced interactively – that is, actually being in it – can seem a dark, frightening, and provocative place. It isn’t really – as you will soon discover – that is just our perception of it. Before you decide whether you are up to venturing inside listen to the words of Nietzsche:

Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.

By picking up this book and reading thus far you are up to that challenge. Enjoy the journey!

Chapter 1 THE HISTORY OF THE LABYRINTH

The shaman believes that the world of the human and the world of nature are essentially reflections of each other.

STANLEY KRIPPNER, “THE POWER OF PLACE”

Much of what is out there about the history and development of labyrinths is more conjecture than fact. While we know a certain amount about the “what,” “where,” and “when,” we can only come up with our own interpretations of the “who” and the “why.” What follows is a potted history – a sort of labyrinth time-line that puts this into some sort of context.

There are any number of “firsts” attributed to the application of labyrinths around the globe. Jacques Attali writes that the oldest known graphic representation of a labyrinth is carved on a piece of mammoth ivory found in a Paleolithic tomb in Siberia (older than 5000B.C.). Labyrinth historian, W.H. Matthews, refers to one of the seven Ancient Wonders of the World – the Egyptian labyrinth, tomb of Amenemhet III, as the earliest known labyrinth structure, built over 4,000 years ago. And British maze designer, Adrian Fisher, points to a rock carving of a sevencircuit labyrinth at Luzzanas in Sardinia as being possibly the world’s oldest surviving labyrinth (c. 2500–2000B.C.).

The seven-circuit labyrinth at Luzzanas, Sardinia, may be the world’s oldest surviving labyrinth.

Certainly, as Attali points out, the labyrinth symbol has been found on Neolithic figurines discovered near Belgrade in Yugoslavia, at the ruins of Kunlani near Madras in India and on a block of granite in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. Plus, one of the designs produced by the Yombas of Mauritania (an Islamic Republic between Senegal and Western Sahara, Africa) describes a giraffe alongside a labyrinth in which a bird is being mesmerized by a snake.

Regardless of where the labyrinth concept originated, this symbol has captured the imagination of cultures worldwide. Navigating their way through turf mazes – unicursal labyrinths cut into grass – was a popular game for Roman children. Indeed, many British examples still in existence have been found to have been sited close to Roman encampments and major Roman roads. This is the case at Alkborough, South Humberside, where there is a 44ft diameter turf labyrinth known as “Julian’s Bower.” One correspondent, writing in the mid-nineteenth century, recalls how he and his school friends would run in and out of the labyrinth as part of their May Day celebrations. While no one knows exactly when it was constructed, it is believed to have been built before 1671. However, there are many turf labyrinths throughout Britain that predate that. At Boughton Green in Northamptonshire there was one known as the “Shepherd’s Ring” or “Shepherd’s Race” whose “treading” was a key feature of the village’s June fair – an event dating back to the middle of the fourteenth century. This tradition of cutting a labyrinth pattern into hillsides also became a common custom of Welsh shepherd boys who tended their flocks alone on the mountains and may have offered them some light relief from a tedious occupation. Among the general population in earlier times, these turf mazes were often given the epithet “Troy Towns.”

Troy Towns

Various suggestions have been put forward as to why labyrinths were called “Troy Towns” or “Walls of Troy” in Britain, “Caerdroia” in Wales and “Trojeborn” in Scandinavia. According to a fifteenth century French manuscript detailing a gentleman’s journey to Jerusalem, now in the British Museum, the Knossos labyrinth with which we associate the Minotaur legend was at that time commonly known as “The City of Troy.” According to the poet Virgil (70B.C.–19A.D.), writing about the Trojan Wars (c. 1,300–1,200B.C.), the only Trojan prince to escape after the fall of Troy was Aeneas, who fled to Italy with his father and son. This young boy is said to have popularized a processional parade or dance that wealthy Roman youths subsequently re-enacted, which was known as the “Game of Troy.” (Aeneas is said to have founded Lavinium, from where the founders of Rome originated.) This youthful reconstruction of the epic conflict has also been found depicted on an Etruscan vase found at Tragliatella which is decorated with figures engaging in the Lusus Trojae or “Game of Troy,” alongside a Classical seven-circuit labyrinth.

Legend has it that Aeneas’ great-grandson, Brutus was sent into exile and, after freeing the descendants of Trojan captives, founded a new kingdom which was named after him – Britain. This may account for the fact that while turf mazes, many still surviving, exist in other parts of Europe, the greatest proliferation of them is in Britain.

Given the fact that so many of these stories were handed down by word of mouth for centuries, the “Game of Troy” may have become mixed up with the Crane Dance said to have originated with Theseus and his party after escaping from the Knossos maze (see here).

Later, the Roman Catholic Church embraced the labyrinth motif, describing it on the floors of churches and cathedrals during the thirteenth century, principally across Italy and France. The most famous examples can still be seen at Chartres and Amiens, although many have subsequently been destroyed – including those at Rheims, Sens, and Auxerre Cathedrals.

Despite having in common a single pathway leading to and from the center, there are considerable variations on the general theme. Not all church labyrinths are circular. Some are octagonal, like the example at Amiens. Others have additional corner pieces (called “bastions” or “bellows”), as with the Rheims example. A very early labyrinth, dating back to the fourth century in the Church of Reparatus in Orleansville, Algeria, is square. Not all churches favored pavement labyrinths either. The entrance walls of many Italian churches, like that of Lucca Cathedral (see here), were inscribed with small finger labyrinths that worshipers could trace before entering.

Across the Atlantic, the Hopi Indians of Arizona had their own version of the labyrinth symbol, known as the “Man in the Maze,” which continues to be inscribed on jewelry and other artifacts to this day. Unlike the European labyrinth designs, the Hopi example features the entrance at the top rather than the bottom, and there is always a male figure portrayed at the mouth. This is reminiscent of the games played by young men in Scandinavia who would challenge each other at the entrance to the labyrinth to see who could be the first to reach the female waiting for them in the center.

From several millennia B.C. through to the present time, there have been examples of the labyrinth found in the Far East, Scandinavia, the Americas, and throughout Europe. In the sixteenth century, multicursal hedge mazes became popular as formal gardens began to be established in Europe and wealthy patrons looked to be amused and challenged by these puzzles. Many examples can be found in France, including the hedge maze built at the Palace of Versailles for Louis XIV. The one that was created at the palace of Het Loo in Holland became the inspiration for the maze established in 1690 at Hampton Court, Henry VIII’S palace south-west of London. Given the complexity of their construction and the cost of their upkeep, hedge mazes are mainly found near castles, within the gardens of large country houses and, more recently, in public gardens and large parks.

However fascinating puzzle mazes have been over the past four hundred years, the unicursal labyrinth is now enjoying a renaissance – particularly thanks to the leadership given by Dr. Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California where there is both an outdoor terrazzo labyrinth and an indoor tapestry one. As you will discover from the personal stories in this book, anyone with the desire to benefit from this calming, meditative and – some say – healing tool, can produce a labyrinth for themselves, irrespective of space, materials, or money.

ORIGINS OF THE LABYRINTH

So, we have no shortage of historical antecedents for the labyrinth motif, but where might it have originated, and who was responsible?

Established in 1690, the Hampton Court maze is probably the most impressive hedge maze in Britain.

Collective Unconscious

The most popular suggestion focuses on what the Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung termed “the collective unconscious” – a universal thought that is captured and expressed simultaneously by groups separated by space and time. You have probably experienced this for yourself, when hitting upon a “unique” idea, only to find that someone else has been developing something almost identical at the same time.

The most common explanation for the proliferation of labyrinths across so many different cultures is that we are each responsive to subliminal perceptions. Jung argued that the collective unconscious is formed of two parts – instincts and archetypes, which are universally inherited and mutually dependant. While our instincts are biological – such as the flight, freeze or fight responses experienced when facing danger – the archetypes we each store in our unconscious memory are equally primordial but are higher, spiritually-charged functions.

The word “archetype” comes from the Greek arch meaning “origin” and tupos meaning “imprint.” These universally understood themes or emotional models become significant to different people at different times in their lives – particularly during the periods we call “rites of passage.” They are personified as characters we are all familiar with. Many of them feature prominently in fairy stories, such as the Wicked Stepmother, the Fairy Godmother, the Trickster, the Mentor, and the Shapeshifter. Certain key archetypes are specifically linked to the labyrinth as a symbol of our journey towards spiritual development. The most significant is the Hero – the role we take on when we pluck up the courage to embark on the quest to “find ourselves” and integrate all the fragmented pieces of the Self into one complete and balanced whole. (For more on this, see chapter 3.)

Then there is the Shadow archetype – the dark, suppressed, rejected energy which is depicted in stories as a monster, housed inside a dark cavern, which the Hero must confront and tame or vanquish in order to prevent his or her destruction. In our own lives, the Shadow represents all those parts of ourselves which we prefer not to acknowledge but most readily see and criticize in others. One of the most famous stories about a labyrinth is the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur where our hero enters the sinister maze-world of the beast in order to end the killing spree it engages in every nine years when fourteen young Athenian youths and maidens are sent to Crete as tribute to King Minos (see here).

Archetypes and myths – the stories woven around such universal models of human psychological development – were, in Jung’s view, essential to our human need for self-understanding, as well as to help to mitigate our fear of personal isolation. Jung argued the concept of an inherited “Group Mind” or collective unconscious by demonstrating the similarity of mythologies across cultures, suggesting that these were the building blocks of religion.