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.

Jung’s fascination with the primordial imprinting that leads us to seek a spiritual or religious explanation for the world around us, and our role within it, was expressed through his drawings. It is said that every morning he would sketch small circles as representations of his inner state that day. Jung noticed how these circles, such as the mandalas used as meditation tools by eastern mystics – as with labyrinths – brought everything to a single central point. The great psychoanalyst’s interpretation of this universal motif was that it symbolized the Self’s incessant journey towards higher meaning and purpose.

Likewise, the labyrinth is a universally imprinted archetype or theme illustrating our life’s journey towards spiritual development and completion. As you will discover later in this book, it can be used as both a personal tool and one that unites communities, thus fuelling our sense of Oneness with our environment.

One Mind, Many Applications?

There is a complementary view that also bears mentioning. One that may also explain the mysterious origins of the labyrinth and that similarly speaks to our psychological need to feel part of a whole. This alternative view helps to demonstrate that we are not so different from peoples who lived on this Earth 10, 20, 30 or even 40,000 years ago. Indeed, contemplating the enduring facets of human nature helps to reinforce the relevance of the labyrinth as an archetypal symbol that is as psychologically valuable to us today as it was way back when.

Much of our popular historical knowledge cloaks the fact that considerably more early crosscultural contact took place than was once thought. For example, most children are taught that Henry the Navigator or Christopher Columbus “discovered” America in the fifteenth century. Some may even have heard of Amerigo Vespucci or John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) who, controversially, claimed to have preceded them. This completely disregards evidence that expeditions to the New World had been undertaken by peoples originally from Siberia (c. 70,000–9,000B.C.). Other suggested early explorers of the Americas, with varying degrees of evidence, range from Indonesians (c. 6,000–1,500B.C.), the Japanese (c. 5000B.C.) and Afro-Phoenicians (c. 1000B.C.–300A.D.).

Certainly, some archaeologists and historians now believe that the Vikings may have traveled down from Newfoundland to New England and even reached North Carolina. And it seems likely that these expeditions were not all one way, given the record of two Indians having been shipwrecked in Holland around 60B.C., causing considerable interest and excitement at the time. There are many other examples that provide a richer view of history than most of us were taught at school.

Given that there was considerable cross-cultural contact between peoples much earlier than we have been led to believe, this can be linked with contemporary evidence for the way ideas originating within one small group can spread like wildfire. Hence, we can see how a symbol such as the labyrinth could have come to enjoy such universal popularity from a single source.

Today we call it “viral marketing” or “buzz,” but basically it is old-fashioned word of mouth. In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell outlines three criteria or rules for the proliferation of social epidemics and he discusses how certain messages, behaviors, ideas, and their products spread like infectious diseases. The concept of a labyrinth, stemming from a single source, meets all three of these criteria.

First, you need a small number of people with both the creativity to understand the impact of a new idea and the personal magnetism or charisma with which to promote it. Such people in early times were called “shamans.” Shamanism, said to be the world’s oldest religion, spiritual discipline and medical approach, originated in Siberia – and it was here that a labyrinth carving was found, dating back over 7,000 years. The shaman worldview offers an experiential path to knowledge, gained through the process of ritual, meditation and a concept of trials or tests that is akin to the Hero’s journey through the labyrinth (see chapter 3). Like the labyrinth, while variations exist between cultures, the concept of shamanism is very similar whether in the Americas, Africa, and Australasia or Lapland, Malaysia, and Peru.

The shaman’s role within a society was to straddle the world of reality and the world of spirit. As such they demonstrated that all-important psychological need which is now being explored more actively through environmental and spiritual groups – that of the interdependence and unity of nature and humankind. Interestingly, the shaman did not simply represent the Divine, as priests and other religious figures do. The shaman is Divine, in the way that we have been urged to think of ourselves by many prophets and philosophers, such as the fourteenth-century Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, who said:

Here, in my own soul, the greatest of all miracles has taken place. God has returned to God.

In the same way that the simple act of walking or tracing a labyrinth can unite body and spirit, the shaman demonstrated the spiritual affinity between plant, person, and place.

Malcolm Gladwell’s second criterion explaining why certain concepts can spread rapidly across societies is that of “stickiness.” By this he means the extent to which a message is memorable and impactful. Since Jung, together with Eastern mystics before him, have presented the image of life as a journey with a single pathway leading in to the center, it is not surprising that the labyrinth motif would have appealed to anyone who came into contact with it.

Given the potential of the labyrinth as a way of explaining the world and how we should best act on it, it can be imagined that one or a number of Siberian shamans found that this particular tool – a portable “mental map,” simple to construct and easy to explain – helped them disseminate their worldview to other cultures. This may have happened in the same way that the “peace symbol,” the original concept of one man, spread from being used in materials and on marches by the UK’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, to being a worldwide icon of peace. Being simple to produce and an image that resonated with billions of people around the globe, the peace symbol – like, possibly, the labyrinth – was one person’s idea that “stuck.” It was a local idea that fast became a global phenomenon.

The third criterion is “the power of context.” Here again, we can relate back to Jung’s hypothesis for the universal power of archetype and myth. The notion of something so simple yet complex as a labyrinth is as compelling to us in the twenty-first century as it was to our earliest ancestors. There is no reason to suggest that they would not have been concerned with the same big, philosophical questions that we still grapple with today – Why are we here? What is the purpose of our lives? What happens when we die? Like us, they would have wanted to better understand life and the purpose of it – and, in particular, how to feel happier and more fulfilled on this lifelong journey.

The psychologist, Abraham Maslow, formulated a hierarchy of needs in which security issues (such as the provision of shelter and food) are at the base of the triangle, with self-actualization (spiritual needs) at the pinnacle. However, this seems to over-simplify the human experience and before Maslow died he admitted that he might have got this the wrong way around. Just because prehistoric people had more pressing security concerns than most of us in the West today, that does not mean that they did not also seek deeper meaning and purpose in their lives.

The manner in which our ancestors explored these issues was through myths and there is considerable similarity in these stories, regardless of the culture. Indeed, rather than accepting that religious writers accessed the power of the collective unconscious, it may be that they borrowed and modified much earlier stories for which the power of context was universal. For instance, there is considerable similarity between archetypes appearing in the Assyro-Babylonian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 700B.C.) and the Old Testament of the Bible. Both feature a serpent, a woman who robs a hero of his innocence, and someone who survives a Great Flood.

LABYRINTHS AND MYTH

The labyrinth has long been associated with myths and legends, the most direct link being with the story of Theseus and the Minotaur (see here). But why should we be interested in centuries-old accounts of the exploits of fictional gods, goddesses and heroes? More particularly, why would they hold any relevance to us today?

Mythology is populated by archetypal characters who illustrate universal dispositions with which each one of us can relate at various times in our lives. Despite the culture or period in which these mythological tales were written, each one of us recognizes in them universal values around being and behaving. Within an oral tradition, myths ensured the values of a culture were broadcast from generation to generation. They also helped explain fundamental but complex philosophical issues in a way that was more palatable and easily understood – through stories about the adventures and lives of gods and heroes.

For example, no concept intrigues, terrifies, and holds us in awe more than death. Death has been the subject of introspection and debate since the earliest times when bodies, whether of Egyptian pharaohs or Neanderthal nomads, were buried with everything they might need for their next journey, into the “land beyond.” We are fascinated by death from an early age when we ask, unsuccessfully, for confirmation of exactly what happens to us. I remember an occasion when we buried a goldfish in the back garden and my small son pressed me to tell him where it would go. Thinking I was being suitably spiritual in my instruction, I assured Graeme that the goldfish would go to heaven to be with God, only to find my son digging up the area the next day to check whether the fish had got there yet.

The labyrinth is typically associated with dark caves, the inner workings of our subconscious and the way in which we must constantly review our attitudes and behaviors so that we “kill off” any that are no longer useful to us in order to resurrect or discover ones that are. Not surprisingly, the labyrinth motif has been woven into a number of myths concerning death. Such myths also elaborate on the key role of women in the human experience. For example, Joseph Campbell relates the myth of the Malekula islanders in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) in the South Pacific who learn that their approach to the Land of the Dead will be halted by a female guardian. She draws a labyrinth design in the earth, then erases half of it and the soul’s task is to complete the design perfectly before they will be allowed to pass through to the underworld. If they do not, then they will be eaten by her.

Unlike mazes with their dead ends, labyrinths are reminiscent of coiled snakes. According to the Hindu tradition, Kundalini is the serpent goddess who awakens whenever an individual embarks upon a spiritual journey. As they proceed on their path, overcoming challenges in the way of the hero, Kundalini journeys upwards, piercing each chakra in turn until, reaching the crown chakra, the subject is said to have achieved spiritual enlightenment. (For more on this, see here.)

Snake-like Imprints

Then there is a tale that comes from Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory which is the aboriginal equivalent of the Biblical story of Noah’s flood – only, as in many non-Christian examples, the story involves female protagonists, not a male one. Two sisters, one already a mother and the other pregnant, are forced to leave their home and begin to journey north. As they travel they give names to everything they see, bringing the stone animals, plants and insects to life. These women belonging to the Wagilag clan, camp alongside the Mirarrmina watering hole, unaware that it is the sacred home of the Giant Python, Wititj.

Angry at being disturbed, Wititj sucks up all the water and spits it out to form monsoon clouds that break and flood the land. The sisters begin to perform songs and dances in order to divert the waters. But the serpent swallows them and their offspring whole, raising himself into the sky to escape the deluge. In the heavens, he is admonished by his ancestors and they tell Wititj that he should not have swallowed all members of the same family. The great snake becomes ill and crashes to the ground, leaving a labyrinthine imprint in the earth, whereupon he spits out the women and children. Wagilag men who have followed them, learn of the songs and dance rituals performed by the women to halt the flooding and these are enacted during the monsoon season to ensure the continuation of nature’s cycles.

In Arnhem Land, the giant python Wititj was said to be responsible for the cycle of the seasons.

Goddess Worship

The links between the labyrinth symbol and goddess worship – the means through which early people expressed their love and respect for Mother Earth – are strong. The meander pattern (see here), from which the Classical seven-circuit labyrinth may be derived, has been found on bird goddess figurines dating back to c. 18000-15000B.C. by Lake Baical in the Ukraine. Additionally, rituals engaged in across Scandinavia (where the largest concentration of labyrinths from antiquity can be found) involved males competing with each other to see who can reach the female in the center first. These games, conducted most frequently in eleven-circuit labyrinths, were very different from the formulaic rituals of the seven-circuit Troy Towns. Indeed, there is a suggested link between the number 7 and male energy and the connection between the number II and female energy (see here).

Bird goddess figurines from the Ukraine showing characteristic meander patterns.

Within the eleven-circuit stone labyrinths that proliferate throughout Finland and Sweden the goal of negotiating the labyrinth involved rescuing a young woman at the center. At Kopmanholm, to the north-east of Stockholm in Sweden, there is a stone labyrinth known as the Jungfruringen or “Virgin’s Ring.” This particular design has two entrances, one going in from the left, the other from the right. The game involved two young men racing to the center to see which one of them would reach the maiden first. A number of suggestions have been made as to what this game signifies. One is that the female in the center represents Helen, the acclaimed beauty over whom the Greeks and Trojans went to war. Another is that “saving the girl” is a metaphor for young men reclaiming their female energy in order to become whole human beings again. This pagan symbolism has also been found on a wall of a fifteenth-century church in Nyland, Finland where a painting of a labyrinth depicts a virgin waiting at the center.

Labyrinths in Popular Culture

In fairy stories, while labyrinths or mazes are seldom implicitly mentioned, the notion of the Prince hacking his way through a dense, complex forest in order to reach the Sleeping Beauty, is just one metaphor for the trials and tests one must engage in to reach a prized goal. Indeed, many such stories involve the protagonists enduring a series of tasks – for which they appear initially unprepared – that suggest a journey to find their female side (the “princess”) in order to become complete human beings.

The Jungfruringen or Virgin’s Ring, Sweden, with its two entrances. Young men would race each other to reach the maiden in the center first.

Given the richness and complexity of the labyrinth as a metaphor for life, this motif has captured the imagination of writers, most of who allude to intricacies or entanglements of one sort of another. In Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare writes: “How now Thersites? What, lost in the Labyrinth of thy furie?” The poet Shelley opined: “From slavery and religion’s labyrinth caves, Guide us.” And from W.B. Yeats: “Does the imagination dwell the most, Upon a woman won or woman lost? If on the lost, admit you turned aside, From a great labyrinth out of pride.”

In the world of popular fiction, labyrinths – explicit or allegorical – appear in the likes of Mervyn Peak’s Gormenghast novel Titus Groan, in the description of the Stone Lanes region; as the Mines of Moria in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and in Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods with the “booby-trapped labyrinth of Ephebe.” J.K. Rowling has even incorporated a maze in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, that her hero must navigate at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

But my favorite example of a labyrinth in a book is in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, described as a dark, contemporary Alice in Wonderland. In the story, an ordinary man named Richard Mayhew becomes trapped in London Below and must negotiate the labyrinth and its beast in order to reach and vanquish the ultimate enemy – an angel who has “gone bad.” Mayhew alone succeeds where others (traditionally more powerful) in his party fail, despite losing the talisman that he had been told would ensure his safe passage through the labyrinth. After successfully killing the beast, our hero is told to apply its blood to his eyes and tongue so that he can negotiate the passages with ease.

The wonderful message of this part of the book is that facing and disposing of the “monster within” – a concept Jung referred to as our “shadow” – is a precursor to converting the journey from a puzzling maze into a labyrinth. By doing this, your way becomes “straight and true” during which you know “…instinctively every twist, every path, every alley…” Thus, Gaiman reminds us, tackling the inner Beast – whether that be our fears, our self-neglect, our cowardice or denial of reality – allows us to navigate life’s journey by tapping into our inner compass or intuition. In this way we discover that life’s path involves an easier and more straightforward approach than we originally thought. (For more on how we can change our own lives from resembling mazes to becoming more like labyrinths, see here.)

Also worth mentioning in this context is the movie Labyrinth, Jim Henson’s dark, allegorical tale of a teenager who wishes her annoying baby brother would be taken away by goblins – and he is; a classic case of “beware of what you wish for.” Our heroine, Sarah, is then given thirteen hours to rescue the boy, before he is turned into a goblin. She accomplishes her quest, which superficially involves solving riddles and a race against time, but in essence it concerns the process of growing up and discovering what is really important in life.

Labyrinths and Christianity

It may seem surprising that a symbol so obviously associated with pagan beliefs came to find its way into so many Christian churches. However, the taking over of pagan symbols and ideas was something the Roman Catholic Church engaged in extensively. For example, pagan communities tended to celebrate festivals every six to eight weeks, to mark the changing seasons and solar cycles. Because these were so well established throughout northern Europe, particularly in Britain, many were simply overlain with Christian symbolism. Hence, Yule or the winter solstice became Christmas, Samhain became All Saint’s Day, and the spring equinox became Easter. The latter festival, incidentally, is named after the German fertility goddess Eostre or Ostara, which comes from the same root as the female hormone oestrogen. Not surprisingly, given the fertility link and the nature of female reproduction, the symbol of Eostre is an egg – hence the notion of Easter eggs, which was a custom engaged in by pagan communities long before Christianity came on the scene.

Indeed, it has been argued that the Christian figure of Mary, mother of Jesus Christ was recreated from the ancient concept of the Great Mother Goddess in her triple archetypal roles of Virgin, Mother, and Wise Woman. There were certainly plenty of precedents for virgin births among the pre-Christian pantheon of Gods. The oldest of divinities, Gaia, appeared out of nothing to give birth to Uranus, the starlit sky, while the patriarch of the Greek gods was originally called Zeus Marnas or “Virgin born Zeus.” Any number of Greek heroes, including Perseus who slayed the Gorgon Medusa, and Jason of Argonaut fame, were said to be virgin born. The reason why the Christian church has resisted the worship of Mary as anything other than the earthly mother of Jesus was because she was based on a composite of many pagan goddesses. However, by giving this archetype a role to play within its religion, the Catholic Church ensured that their new, monotheist, patriarchal religion became relevant to people who were polytheist and largely matrifocal. As well as re-defining the Mother Goddess as the Virgin Mary, the Church changed many other pagan deities into saints. In one example, the Celtic goddess Brighid became St. Brigit (or Brigid).

In the same way that the Holy Roman Church appropriated existing pagan archetypes and festivals, it built its places of worship on sites which ancient peoples had long revered for their sacred energy. Many churches in England were built on “ley lines” (the phenomenon of electromagnetic energy sometimes called Earth “chi”) because the only way the Catholic church could integrate non-Christians into their own religion was to appropriate the sacred sites at which they already worshipped.

The labyrinth is a wonderful tool that engages people easily and that can be used to address deeper issues around spirituality and the best way to journey through life. So, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the Christian Church appropriated it for its own needs. The Christian church could not change people’s long-held faith, so they simply Christianized it. In the process, to set theirs apart from pagan examples, church labyrinths became more intricate in their design and ornate in their execution. They also became associated with Biblical cities, such as Jerusalem and Jericho – the latter possibly deriving from the Roman view of labyrinths as a kind of fortified city.

Contemporary Labyrinths

Aside from all the wonderful examples of labyrinths springing up around the world today – many of which we will read about in later chapters – this ancient symbol is proliferating on that most modern of tools – the Internet. If you are interested in the use of the labyrinth as a device in on-line and other interactive games, the World Wide Web will lead you, labyrinth-like, to the key resources.

One particularly inspiring use of the labyrinth on the computer is the on-line Lenten labyrinth. Professor Paula Lemmon teaches beginner’s Latin classes at the Southwestern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. For the last two years (at the time of writing), her department has created an on-line Lenten labyrinth for which the students are charged with providing translations (from Latin into English) of various classical and religious texts. The 2001 project is totally interactive, with twelve candles pointing the way through this ancient devotional tool in order to illuminate the images and words contained within. Traditionally linked to the concept of pilgrimage by the Christian church (see here), the Lenten labyrinth allows the Web pilgrim to scroll through the Chartres design to read excerpts from medieval Latin texts (including Ovid’s Fasti), accompanied by images of the Holy Land that were created by the nineteenth-century painter, David Roberts in 1842. These images come from the archives of the University’s Bridwell Library, which holds a world-renowned collection of classical theological and other texts. This is the first time that images from David Roberts’ Holy Land folio have been digitally distributed, and presents a rare opportunity to see his work (see Resources).

Chapter 2 LABYRINTHINE PATTERNS

“…everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is

because the Power of the World always works in circles,

and everything tries to be round…”

BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA, 1930

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LABYRINTH PATTERN

It may seem odd that if someone wanted to come up with a simple design symbolizing our journey through life, they did not just draw a straight line from A (birth) to (death). But then, is life ever that straightforward? The labyrinth motif has maintained its appeal because it speaks to the reality of having to navigate many twists and turns as we journey towards our goals.

The meander or “Greek Key” pattern is thought to be the basis of the Classical seven-circuit labyrinth design.

However, while all labyrinths follow a general design comprising of a unicursal path, there are many variations on that theme, and it is these designs that we focus on in this chapter.

The Classical, Seven-circuit Pattern

The oldest labyrinth pattern is that of the Cretan labyrinth, so-named because of its association with that island civilization and religion. It comprises, typically, of seven concentric circuits, although this form exists from three circuits up to nineteen. The oldest British example to which a date can be ascribed is that of a carving on granite named the Hollywood Stone, now on display in the Museum of Antiquities in Dublin. The stone and its seven-circuit Cretan design was found on a pilgrim’s track that wove its way through the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland from Hollywood to the Celtic monastic settlement at Glendalough.

When playing around with the labyrinth design, Jeff Saward the British editor of the labyrinth journal Caerdroia (see story here, and Resources), together with a friend, worked out that the Classical seven-circuit labyrinth was simply a variation on a theme commonly depicted on Greek and Roman pottery – the meander. This meander pattern or “Greek key” was common to Old Europe many thousands of years before the Greek civilization flourished and indeed examples have been discovered on “Bird Goddess” figurines at Mezin in the Ukraine that date back to c. 18000–15000B.C.

The Hollywood Stone, found on a pilgrim’s way in the Wicklow Mountains, Ireland.

While not resembling a labyrinth at first glance, when you twist this unbroken design into a circle it does indeed become labyrinth-like. The similarity is even more apparent when you look at the Man in the Maze motif of the Hopi tribe of Arizona, where the corners of that labyrinth are squared-off rather than curved. One modern example of this design – having the wider entrance and squared-off rather than curved corners – can be found outside the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico (see story, here).

Interest in the meander design has been maintained over the centuries and, given the vast number of products available on the Internet that incorporate it, particularly jewelry and home furnishings, the interest continues unabated. One interior design company specializing in the Greek key design claims that introducing this pattern into the home helps achieve a sense of a bigger, warmer, softer, calmer, friendlier environment. Is this just marketing rhetoric or is there something special about the energy created by the meander pattern, as is claimed for the labyrinth? Certainly, earlier civilizations, such as that of the Greeks, stressed the importance of design for achieving harmonious living. They called this approach “sacred geometry” (see here).

The Man in the Maze motif from the Hopi tribe, Arizona. The squared-off corners are reminiscent of the “Greek Key” design.

Although it is the most common form, the classical Cretan labyrinth pattern does not have to comprise of seven circuits. One of the most unusual three-circuit labyrinths is featured high in the Peruvian Andes where ancient artists created gigantic geometric forms and animal outlines that are discernible only by air. These are the Nazca lines, named after the culture that flourished in the region during the sixth or seventh centuries. Thought variously to be the landing strips for alien spacecraft or to have astronomical/astrological importance, the Nazca images were formed by scraping away the top layer of the pampa to expose the chalky white gypsum underneath. These strange labyrinthine-like totems include that of the curling tail of a Monkey and the winding pathway formed by the outline of a Spider.

The Monkey and the Spider – two of the many ancient labyrinthine totems at Nazca, Peru.

Examples of Cretan labyrinths are manifold – from the plains of Peru to the basketry of the Native American tribes of Arizona. They appear as “turf mazes” throughout Britain and as stone labyrinths across Scandinavia. But this design, while the oldest, is not the only labyrinth pattern.

The Chartres, Eleven-circuit Pattern

The second labyrinth pattern is the medieval Christian or Chartres design which sprung up in Gothic cathedrals and churches – principally in France and Italy – during the twelfth century, although it may have been designed as early as the eighth century. However, ecclesiastical links between these pavement labyrinths and churches goes back much further. W.H. Matthews, who has conducted an exhaustive study of the history of mazes and labyrinths, reports that the oldest known example of a pavement labyrinth can be found in the Church of Reparatus in Orleansville, Algeria which is believed to date from the fourth century. This miniature example (just 8ft in diameter) comprises four quadrants like the Chartres design. It is very “meander like,” having squared-off pathways rather than curved ones. In the center of this example there is a form of word puzzle on the letters that make up the words “Sancta Eclesia.”

The number 7 – the number of pathways within the Classical Cretan labyrinth – occurs in many esoteric and religious groupings. For example, there are seven main chakras; the Mystery School at Chartres studied the Seven Liberal Arts – Arithmetica, Astronomica, Dialectica, Geometrica, Grammatica, Musica, and Rhetorica; and, according to the Old Testament (Genesis 2:3), when God completed his creation of the Earth and its inhabitants He blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Indeed, the Bible is full of references to the number 7, from the length of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:19) to the seven sayings of Jesus uttered from the Cross.

This labyrinth, in the Church of Reparatus in Orleansville, Algeria, dating from the fourth century, is the oldest known example of a pavement labyrinth. The letters in the center are a puzzle based on the words “Santa Eclesia.”

So, given the widespread connection between the Christian religion and the number 7, why does the Chartres design consist of eleven rather than seven circuits? To answer this, we need to take a brief journey into the realm of numerology and sacred geometry.

Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was not just being facetious when he wrote that the meaning of life was 42. Numerology – the study of numbers and their relationships – is an ancient occult or esoteric art. While it is believed to have originated with the Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, some experts argue that he learned about the prophetic nature of numbers from the Kabala. This early Hebrew work mainly consists of mystical practices aimed at uncovering the nature of divinity, creation, the soul and the earthly role of human beings. You may have had a small taste of numerology yourself when adding up the numeric relationship with the letters making up your name or your birth date. According to modern numerologists, such calculations offer clues to a person’s talents, life challenges, basic values and the way they might best express themselves through their choice of work. Pythagoras is said to have developed a letter wheel by which he could predict – like an astrologer – the future events in a person’s life based on their name.

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