Labyrinth

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• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849521857
• eBook ISBN: 9781849521925
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Mysticism

This full-colour book offers a unique insight into labyrinths in the UK and wider, combined with Di's own stunning photography. It begins with a potted history of the labyrinth and hints for walking one, shares personal reflections and stories from the labyrinth and explores the variety of settings in which labyrinths are now to be found. It includes a section on how to create your own labyrinth and lead your own labyrinth walk.

To step into a labyrinth

…is a kind of homecoming

Reflections from the labyrinth

Tibetan bells

I had been invited to join a small group of women in walking a labyrinth in the bush of New South Wales. The labyrinth lay beneath wonderful eucalyptus trees in a slightly raised area looking out to the surrounding hills. The path was a dusty pink and red, the colour of the earth in which it lay. It was a winter day, sharp and bright with the long shadows of the afternoon sun. It all looked and smelled so good.

Whilst walking the labyrinth I remembered that I had a small container of coloured sand in my pocket that had come from a Mandala, a meditative sand design, created by the Tashi Lhunpo monks who had made a recent visit to Edinburgh with the Dalai Lama.

In Edinburgh the monks had chanted and blessed the earth in preparation for the building of the Edinburgh Labyrinth. Before they left for their journey home they had dispersed the Mandala and given me some of the sand to take away. It was usual to disperse the sand in running water but I decided to take mine to Australia to share with my friend there.

Walking this beautiful bush labyrinth I sprinkled a few grains of the sand at the points where I had been reflecting. It was in the sharing of experience with the other walkers afterwards that I realised more connections than I could imagine had taken place on the labyrinth.

One of the women in the group, who was in the early stages of recovery from a debilitating illness, spoke about how she had worried before she had entered the labyrinth that she would not be strong enough to manage the walk. She did and said “I felt much better after I’d finished. What I couldn’t understand is why I kept hearing Tibetan bells as I walked.”

Rachum Labyrinth, Canberra, Australia.

The labyrinth lay beneath wonderful eucalyptus trees in a slightly raised area looking out to the surrounding hills. The path was a dusty pink and red, the colour of the earth in which it lay.

“Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.”

Meister Eckhart

Right: Tashi Lhunpo Monks, site of Edinburgh Labyrinth, George Square Gardens, Scotland.

“Cease seeing with the mind and see with the vital spirit.”

Chuang Tzu

Trinity Gardens Labyrinth, Whitehaven, England.

An open heart

The secret of walking the labyrinth is to walk with no expectation but with an openness of heart, mind and soul.

All labyrinth walks are different. One day the walk will be nothing more than pleasant exercise; the next walk may offer a new insight, realisation or transforming experience. A walk in the labyrinth can enable the individual to connect with their deepest motivations and meanings, their ‘spiritual’ self.

For some their experience of walking this path may provide a container for encounter with what is most important or sacred in their life. For others it may simply provide a place of peace.

According to the Rev Dr Lauren Artress, a leader within the contemporary labyrinth movement, the labyrinth is always “a mirror for the soul”.

One step at a time…

Jean’s story

For me, the labyrinth seems to be different things at different times. Some days, it’s ‘just a pleasant walk’. On other days, it can be a much more powerful and profound experience.

I was walking one day, in the midst of some very difficult work-related issues - unpleasant relationships, hostility between staff, and a lack of direction within the organisational unit. I was walking quite fast, carrying the tension, anger and frustration with me. I was impatient to complete the walk.

As I recognised this, I also realised that I was looking ahead all the time, tracing the path with my eyes - “where do I go next, and after the next curve, where then? And then?”

Suddenly, I realised I didn’t need to worry. I didn’t need to know where the next corner was or what might be round it. I just needed the faith to put one foot in front of the other, and trust that I would eventually get there - wherever ‘there’ might be. I slowed down, and enjoyed the rest of the walk.

A few days later, and quite by chance, I came across a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. which summed up that moment for me.

The Edinburgh Labyrinth, Scotland.

“To take the first step in faith, you don’t need to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.”

Martin Luther King Jr

The Edinburgh Labyrinth, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Seeing differently…

Tim’s story

Coming from a Quaker background, I like things that encourage thinking for yourself, spirituality that doesn’t shove anything down your throat and ways of encouraging calm and peace. Nevertheless, I’ll admit I didn’t quite get how walking around in circles would help me do this.

Still, one afternoon, on a revision break from the library, an acquaintance and I decided that we’d walk the new labyrinth in George Square. I took the lead. Walking around the edge I felt a little silly, but then going round and round I began to stop thinking of anything else, just the lines and following them round, only occasionally interrupted by passing my fellow walker.

After a few minutes’ circling I reached the middle and stopped and looked out, suddenly feeling very calm. I turned to my friend, who was following soon after, and it was as if we were very close, and had known each other a long time, despite that not being the case. We looked around the Square, as if surveying the view having climbed a mountain and it looked somehow different.

But most strange of all was coming out again. Neither of us could bear to cut across the lines. We walked back out again the way we came in, stepped out of the labyrinth, and sat down on the bench at the side. Very calm now, we entered into a long conversation, learning about each other’s lives.

“When you get into that state of mind – you know the one, where you see everything in slow motion and you can hear the blood in your ears – you know there’s something more to all of this.”

Vienna, Greenbelt Festival

Unblocking the mind…

Heather’s story

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, perhaps just an opportunity to be peaceful, to still the endless chatter of my mind, perhaps, to leave the worries of the world behind for half an hour or so! I didn’t realise that many of the things I had been reading or thinking about recently would come into the labyrinth with me, to be worked on, as I walked.

I have felt recently and for some time now, like I don’t have enough time. I am always running late, getting up early enough and then finding half an hour has just disappeared and I don’t know what happened to it… like my time has been stretched thin. In the labyrinth, everything seemed to slow down and “reset” itself. Although I was only in the labyrinth for about 20 minutes, it was a FULL 20 minutes, not thin, if that makes any sense.

Winding my way out of the labyrinth, I didn’t realise that I was at the end until I came around the last twist and saw the exit. I was horrified! I didn’t want to leave. Strangely… I felt safe standing upon it, as if it was wrapped in a force field that nothing could penetrate.

I felt lighter on my feet afterwards as I walked away and felt “full”, refuelled with a need to do something positive in this world.

I have been feeling very “stuck” in many ways, personally, spiritually and academically. The next day, I stopped trying to read or write, I got online, got on the phone, made some new contacts and am off to do some research in the field.

Grace Cathedral Labyrinth, San Francisco, US.

“It is difficult today to leave one’s friends and family and deliberately practise the art of solitude, for an hour or a day or a week. And yet, when it is done, I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Freedom of spirit

A friend and I arrived at Edinburgh Prison nearly an hour before the labyrinth session we were going to facilitate was due to start. However, we hadn’t taken into consideration the time it would take to check our i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Reflections from the Labyrinth
• Discovering Labyrinths
• Creating Labyrinths
• Facilitating Labyrinths
• Websites and Suggested Reading