• 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,