Tidewater Day Tripping - July 2011

 

Tidewater Day Tripping:
Contemplating the Labyrinth
by
Bonna L. Nelson

 

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Walking slowly, head bowed, seeing only the grass path lined with stones and the feet of my companion in front of me, and then really seeing nothing but my thoughts, I traveled on the labyrinth circling round and round. Slowly, silently, rhythmically, hearing only birds and my heartbeat, I moved along the circuit within the circle. I felt the heat of the sun, a slight breeze on my face. I knew that a blue sky and cloud puffs watched over me. Quietly I entered the innermost circle. I took a deep breath. I contemplated where I had been and where I was headed. I looked up at the blue blanketing me and down at the green supporting me. I touched the earth with my hand, said a prayer of thankfulness and moved out of the inner sanctum onto the outward path, creating space for the next pilgrim. I finished the walk the same way I had started. Slowly. Silently. Rhythmically. I felt a sense of peace as I left the labyrinth.
Over the years I have repeated this intriguing hypnotic practice, first meditating on a labyrinth at a spiritual retreat in Western Maryland. And then I walked on an historic, eleven-circuit stone labyrinth installed on the floor inside the Gothic Chartres Cathedral near Paris, France, built around 1200. Next I walked a patterned, painted canvas labyrinth arranged on the floor of a northern Baltimore County chapel. And, in the last few years, several times, I have walked the labyrinth created in the grass on the waterfront of the Evergreen Cove Holistic Learning Center in Easton, one of the 52 labyrinths in Maryland officially registered with the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator.
The Labyrinth Society defines a labyrinth as a single path used for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation that is also thought to enhance right brain activity. You enter a labyrinth at an opening and travel a weaving path inward toward the center. Edges delineate the path. In the center, many walkers pause, contemplate, pray, some leave a gift, and then turn and follow the winding path back out.
The Labyrinth Society created a World Labyrinth Day on the first Saturday in May to celebrate the joy of walking the labyrinth.
A labyrinth is also defined as an ancient symbol relating to wholeness and combining the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path (www.crystalinks.com). Walking the labyrinth symbolizes a journey to our own center and back again, out into the world, an initiation to awaken the knowledge encoded in our DNA and a path to our soul.
Labyrinths have been linked to mandalas, familiar to us as a concentric configuration of geometric shapes representing the cosmos, an icon in both Buddhist and Hindu religious practices. Mandala is Sanskrit for circle that contains the Essence.
A labyrinth is distinguished from a maze because it is a unicursal (that which can be passed over in a single course) path, one way in, one way out. A maze has many paths, and dead ends leading to confusion, not enlightenment.
From ancient times, the labyrinth has intrigued us. All of those famous ancients – the Greeks, Egyptians and Romans – included labyrinths in myths and used them for worship, meditation and decoration. Labyrinths have even been found dating back to prehistoric times on petroglyphs.
The Greeks have a myth that you might remember about an elaborate labyrinth designed by a legendary architect, Daedalus, for King Minos of Crete at Knossos to contain the Minotaur, a creature half man, half bull. Cretan coins, as early as 430 BC, featured labyrinths.
Throughout prehistory and history, labyrinths have appeared on the walls of caves and religious structures, on pottery and basketry, in mosaics on walls and floors, on coins, on the ground, and even in body art. They have been used for decoration, group ritual, private meditations and alternative pilgrimages. Prehistoric labyrinths may have been used as an attempt to trap evil spirits or to walk a sacred path to connect with lost ancestors. Other purposes may have been to attain enlightenment or salvation.
I have traveled labyrinths singly, with a friend and with a group. Even with a group, I found it easy to quickly focus on the process. The walk. Contemplation. Meditation. Connection to inner self. Connection to the earth. Connection to the soul. It can be a profound experience. I have taken friends who needed some quiet time to think about challenges in their lives, and they felt better physically and mentally after a labyrinth experience.
During the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, elaborate medieval labyrinths were created on the floors of European Roman Catholic cathedrals, perhaps as symbols of pilgrimages to the Holy Land or for repentance. Some sources suggest that pilgrims without the means or time to travel to Jerusalem during the Crusades instead traveled to cathedral labyrinths, sometimes on their knees, in prayer, to the symbolic center representing the Holy City or a sacred path to God.
Examples of labyrinths and labyrinth symbols are found in many cultures at some point in time throughout the world. From Scandinavia to South America, from native North America to Australia, from Europe to Asia, the symbol is found in various forms, designs, patterns, textures and materials.
The Native American culture called the labyrinth the Medicine Wheel and the Celts described it as a Never Ending Circle. In mystical Judaism, or Kabbalah, the Tree of Life has been likened to a labyrinth. The Muslim faithful make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, and amongst several rituals is the meditative walk counterclockwise seven times in a circle in homage to Muhammad. The Buddhists practice a meditative walk imagining their feet kissing the earth.
Circles, squares, octagons, all with coiled patterns, labyrinths come in a variety of geometric shapes; the most common is the classic circle. The labyrinth is found in many sizes, from a small design on paper to be “walked” or traced with a finger, to others large enough for multiple people to walk a serpentine circuit at the same time. Some have a five-circuit path and some eleven or more. Materials can include anything from paper, wood and canvas to grass, concrete, stone, mosaic, brick, pavers, mulch and painted asphalt.
Modern times have brought a resurgence of interest in building and walking labyrinths. During a wave of spiritual hunger in the 1990s, people began taking an interest in labyrinths again. Medical professionals and religious leaders are touting the healing effects of these intricate walkways. Even Harvard Medical School has studied the labyrinth and determined that the practice can lower blood pressure and breathing rates and reduce chronic pain, as well as help with conflict resolution, grief, emotional pain and depression.
Labyrinths have been built in parks, religious structures, hospitals, hospices, wellness centers, retreat centers, schools, colleges, prisons, retirement homes, private homes, in urban areas and suburban towns around the world.
The outdoor labyrinth in Stevensville was installed at Christ Church, founded in 1632, and located at 830 Romancoke Road. Everyone is invited to walk the labyrinth to meditate or just for fun. The ornate labyrinth, constructed from pavers and measuring 35 feet in diameter and nearly 1,000 square feet, was designed and constructed by Garrett Fulmer for his Boy Scout Eagle project in 2009 with help from the community.
The classic circular labyrinth at the Evergreen Cove Holistic Learning Center, Inc. in Easton was built outdoors on the grass by Evergreen Cove volunteers. The project was led by Sarah Sadler, Evergreen Cove’s founder. The seven circuits are lined with bricks. The labyrinth sits in a clearing on the waterfront at the headwaters of the Tred Avon River and is surrounded by beautiful old trees. The setting is peaceful and magical. The labyrinth is always open to the public.
If you want to get away from it all, quiet your mind, lose track of the outside world, the noise and bustle, ponder life, take a daytrip/mini retreat to a Shore labyrinth. Try several. The more you walk the path, the more peaceful you will feel.
For more locations of labyrinths on the Shore, visit www.labyrinthlocator.com.

Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist and photographer. With a master’s degree in liberal studies and English, she has taught both memoir and creative writing. She resides with her husband, John, two dogs, two kayaks and a power boat in Easton, Maryland.