Labyrinths - transformational paths to inner and outer peace

by Cate Montana

As an archetypal symbol, the labyrinth is nearly unique in that its concept can be constructed as a dimensional form. Walking the twists and turns of a labyrinth's pathways allows the walker to embody not only the form but also the nature of the symbol with its spiraling and bewildering, yet inexorable, progress toward an unseen goal.

As a student working on her Ph.D. in Psychology at the Institute of Imaginal Studies in San Francisco, Kimberly Lowelle discovered the labyrinths at Grace Cathedral while exploring the city with a fellow student. Not expecting much, they both walked the labyrinth along with other visitors to the Cathedral that day. It was a simple act: walk, follow the path. No thought or choices involved. Just walk, follow the path. She did, and it changed her life.

Not sure at first even why, Kimberly returned to the labyrinth every two weeks for over two years to retrace her steps and meet, head-on, the unfolding mystery that was having such a profound influence in her life. Walking the labyrinth was calming and expansive. She brought to it her troubles, her thoughts, her patient's problems, her student pressures, her dreams and meditatively walked the eleven-circuit pathway over and over again.

Labyrinths, their meaning, their history, their psychological affects and potential modern applications became an intense focus. When a month-long labyrinth tour to England and Europe showed up, she jumped at the chance to go. Even though the cost and the timing were monumental blocks, she just walked the path and trusted it would all work out.

The money showed up, her schedule expanded and she went to Europe. On the tour she met Jeffrey Saward, the world's foremost authority on the history of labyrinths. Their mutual passion for labyrinths grew into a long-distance friendship, which blossomed into love. After adding Saward to her name, Kimberly finished her dissertation, Ariadne's Thread: The Transformative Potentials of Labyrinth Walking, wrapped up her clinical counseling practice in San Francisco and moved to England. Now she spends her time with her husband escorting people on tours to study ancient labyrinths, mazes and sacred sites around the world, and is working with him on the 35th Edition of Caerdroia: the Journal of Mazes and Labyrinths. She is currently the President of The Labyrinth Society based in England.

She walked the path. Her focus unfolded as her life.

Transformational tool from the past

The oldest, definitively dated labyrinth in existence today was carved onto a clay tablet about 4,000 years ago, and was found in Southern Greece. The original form contains seven circuits, or rings, and is called the classical or Cretan labyrinth. Although there are hundreds of examples of this classical labyrinth scattered throughout Europe, Asia, India and North America, carved on rocks, mounded into earthen pathways, painted on walls and reproduced on tablets and in tombs, no one knows where the original design came from.

Stone labyrinth on an island in Arctic Russia. Photo by Jeffrey Saward

"When you look at prehistoric rock art in Europe, one of the common things that occurs in Neolithic rock art are what are commonly called cup and ring carvings - concentric circles often with a dot at the center, sometimes with a line drawn through them," says Jeffrey Saward. "It's not too difficult to create a labyrinth from a series of concentric circles. But it's such a precise symbol that, you know, there's no argument about whether it is one or isn't one. But equally it's one of those things that could have been discovered by one person by chance doodling. And they suddenly went, "Hey, that's a great idea," and showed it to a few friends who showed it to a few friends. The fact that the earliest ones we know are alongside and part of panels of prehistoric rock art in southern Europe would suggest that's where the origin comes from."

The more you understand about labyrinths, the more difficult it is to imagine that the design simply "happened." Although simple to look at, drawing a labyrinth takes some effort until the basic technique is mastered, and it can really only be properly derived through the use of a grid system often referred to as "magic squares." This same mathematical system is used to lay out complex mandalas.

"The classical labyrinth is a pretty phenomenal pattern," says Richard Feather Anderson, architect, founder of The American School of Geomancy, and a Feng Shui consultant in the US. "The magic squares are there as the grid on all the cosmological mandalas, and these mandalas are trying to explain how creation occurs constantly - not the Big Bang, but all creation - how you go from an intention to a manifestation."

Anderson hypothesizes that because mandalas, including the classical labyrinth, are based upon a cosmological underlying pattern of creation - or at least a pattern that humans use to explain the process of creation - that very creative things happen when a person walks the labyrinth: insights occur, sudden connections are seen, new ideas pop in, old patterns are broken.

Anderson, who designed the 11-circuit Chartres labyrinth at Grace Cathedral that Kimberly walked, has studied labyrinths for decades. He correlates the labyrinth's weaving, zigzag pattern to sacred geometry and the lightning bolt pattern of creation found in the Kabbalist Tree of Life. "All of the patterns and all of the processes of all of the forces, archetypes and symbols of our entire universe are packed into that thing, he says. "I think that this seven-circuit, ancient classic labyrinth is a temple that can awaken the Peace Maker within."

No matter where it comes from, no matter what its original intended purpose, few people dispute the labyrinth's subtle, yet powerful effects. Kimberly used the labyrinth in her clinical practice as a prescription for calming patient's anxiety. Some progressive schools around the world have painted labyrinth patterns into playgrounds and courtyards and permit students to walk the labyrinth before tests and exams. Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment has a 48 foot diameter classical labyrinth painted on the courtyard outside of the original Edgar Cayce Hospital. Numerous alternative health clinics and churches around the world have incorporated the use of labyrinths into their programs.

"When you're walking a labyrinth, whether you're doing it with your fingers or doing it with your whole body - even if you're just doing it with your eyes - you cross a threshold and you're in a place where you can more easily attend to your imaginal states," says Kimberley. "Also, as you're walking a labyrinth, whether you're doing it with your hands your eyes or your whole body, there's a rocking motion to it, a rhythmic motion which I think is rather soothing. And I think that is part of the reason people respond to it so well. There's this gentle movement." Anderson concurs. In fact, he says, labyrinths shouldn't just be walked - they should be run - as is common in Europe. By running around the sharp curves in the pattern, the rocking motion of the body increases. And rocking, he points out, is the first thing any adult does to soothe and calm a troubled baby. Indeed, running is the way almost every child intuitively approaches a labyrinth...an action both Kimberley and Anderson agree is worth paying attention to. "Kids know exactly what to do with a labyrinth," says Kimberly. "Kids oftentimes report back, 'Yeah, it kinda let me be with myself.'"

"You'd be amazed at what comes out of the mouth of little children that run the labyrinth," laughs Anderson. "They come out spouting things that sound like they're from the Upanishads."

Bottom line, walking or running a labyrinth can be an effective tool for personal growth and change.

"The Labyrinth is the only device I know which is assessable to anybody," says Anderson. "Here's a meditation practice that can lead people into a calm, centered, focused, here-and-now awareness without having to have decades of practice."

Flexibility, accessibility, mystery, simplicity, effectiveness, fun - whatever it is, for over 4,000 years people have been using labyrinths. And now their popularity is on the rise.

"People are simply drawn to it," says Kimberly. "It really seems to connect us to mystery and to the Divine, however we define it. And it connects us to the fruitfulness of our own imagination. If we can enter into that, and just be invited directly into prayer; if prayer is the path we elect to take in our lives ... then wow. What a wonderful thing."