Why a labyrinth…?

A received a wise and gratefully received question yesterday … Sarah said she didn't know much about the spirituality of labyrinths, and what does a labyrinth mean to me? Great questions! So here goes, the best way I can…

The Chartres cathedral - and Tree House - design.

Labyrinths go back thousands of years - some say as far as 6000BC. It is so long ago that there is no one definitive answer to the question of age, but they do seem to have been found in almost every country in the world. The Romans, the Native American Indians, the Aborigines, Maori, Celts, and many, many more seem to have had them etched in rocks, laid out in stone in the ground, stitched into garments, and more… It is said that monks used to draw them on the floor of their tiny cells and walk them to portray their walk to Jerusalem; the path of a labyrinth is the longest path possible within the circumference of a circle. The popularity of labyrinths has waxed and waned over the centuries, but they are enjoying a another rise in this early part of the 21st century - maybe in response to humanity's desire to come out of the head and reconnect to the spiritual blueprint.

This ancient labyrinth was etched into rock at St Nectan's Glen, near Tintagel, Cornwall. UK

The labyrinth is one continuous path from the start to the centre - you cannot get lost - and the twists and turns activate the right brain. A maze is designed to get you lost; it has many dead ends, this to get you thinking which activates the left brain. Put simply, left brain activity is very stimulating, and right brain activity is very calming - the side activated in meditation. The labyrinth path is symbolic of our walk through life as we search for guidance, meaning and purpose. There are as many designs as paths through life, and this Chartres labyrinth design was laid down in Chartres Cathedral in circa 1200.

A maze is designed with dead-ends in order to get you lost and get you thinking. (And stressed out!)

The labyrinth can often be seen as a 'magical tool', and indeed magic often seems to happen, but it this is really from the spiritual practice of stepping up to the plate; of humility, of taking responsibility and setting intention for something to change in our life, of coming before something bigger than our human self and agreeing to be open to something new. This might be coming before God to some, before the Buddha to others, before The Great Central Sun, our own Higher Power or Soul - each to their own place - but to come in with open heart and empty mind. Thus it becomes a spiritual practice, and one that isn't in our logical brain, but in our wisdom brain.

What does a labyrinth mean to me? For some reason - as I wrote in blog #1 - the labyrinth has fascinated me long before I even saw one! There's been a sort of inner memory - a bit like knowing you just have to visit a certain country or place, but have no idea why. There is something about the geometry of the design that speaks to something deep within; the order amongst the chaos, or the chaos within order. I was always drawing patterns when I was a child - maybe this was why! When I first saw the labyrinth in Grace Cathedral, tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and all I can say is that I felt I was greeting an old friend. It was as if something inside me knew I needed this ancient and powerful presence for my growth - something seriously big to get me out of my head and into my heart!

The Tree House labyrinth nearing completion….

As the labyrinth here at Tree House grows and becomes ever closer to being fully finished, I feel more and more grateful that this great gift came into my life. This evening, as I walked it in the moonlight, I felt an overwhelmingly full heart, and humbled beyond belief. Another day I felt a clarity pour into a difficult situation, and on another, a peace and 'ok-ness' that was most welcome. Each day brings a new gift, some more noticeable than others, and my part is simply to take myself there as often as possible and put one foot in front of the other with an open heart and empty mind. And that others will be able to come and walk this path, too, warms my heart greatly.

The digger comes to dig…..

The digger begins work at 8am….

About a week after the labyrinth party, I was telling a neighbour about the plans. Her farmer son dropped by and she asked him if he knew of anyone with a digger. "Sure", he said, "John will do it".  He said he would get John to drop by to Tree House in a couple of days' time, which John duly did. A great guy who owned his own JCB and had driven diggers for over 35 years. "Ah, Tony said it would take me a couple of hours, but this will take the best part of a day!" he said… So we had to wait three weeks for his first available Saturday. But it came around quickly and the day dawned… with vertical, horizontal, and spiral rain, and blowing a light hurricane! Happily John was cozy in his heated cab and set to work at 8am. 

Cuppa time, and the banks of earth rise up all about my head…!

There was a lull in the roaring of the earth-heaving engine each time I went out with cuppas and biscuits, and by 5pm he had finished - what an incredible amount of earth had been moved about! At one 'cuppa moment' I felt really quite overwhelmed as I stood amongst mountains of earth three times my height - it was more like the building of a motorway that a labyrinth! By the end I was watching John manoeuvre his digger like a great caterpillar - well bogged down, he would put out the front bucket and pull himself forwards out of a great hole, at the same time pushing himself forwards with the back scoop like a great grasshopper! It was awesome skill. I saw him delicately move stones with that great bucket, ones no bigger than a hand, yet with the dexterity of a surgeon. I happily handed over his well-earned fee - grateful beyond measure for all the donations to the Tree House Fund that had added up to enough over the previous 3 years. This also meant that everyone had been a part of funding this really unite momentous day and were already part of the labyrinth.

The wind-proctecitve banks beginning to take shape….

Later that evening lodger Paul and son Ben joined me in standing on the drive and looking at the great bare earthed site that had been a field just 12 hours before. I don't remember which of then it was who punctured the thoughtful silence with a weighty, "Heck….!" It was indeed quite a sight, and almost totally overwhelming as I looked at the work which would need to be done for the next stage. Yes, it was cleared. Yes, the grass had gone. Yes, there was a 50' level square set within the slope ready to take a 45' diameter labyrinth. Yes, it was flanked on three sides by 8' banks of earth, but it was a good old Cornish situation; stone upon stone upon stone of about 8-10" diameter lying in the tyre-pocked sod. And the stones were going to take some getting out, and the land raked level…..

Finished….just the matter of all that stone to dig out of the earth!

But it was a great feeling - it really, really had now begun!

9 hours' later - the site is ready….

The story begins...

The rough, bumpy old patch of land, on quite a slope….

Once upon a time - in 2010 - there was a rough old patch of ground - part of the old farm upon which Tree House had been built. Ground that used to graze local horses that were prone to laminitis - a painful condition brought on by rich grass. This patch hadn't ever seen rich grass, and it was growing increasingly lumpy and bumpy from lack of use - the only things flourishing being dock, bramble, nettle, and dense, tussocky, unmanageable clumps of reed-like-grass, which I call 'elephant grass'. But this patch knew what it wanted to be, and that was a labyrinth.

A labyrinth? How? What? When? It all stirred something within me, but nothing more.

However, in April 2012 I was due to fly to San Francisco to see my sailor son during his circumnavigation of the globe in the Clipper Round the World yacht race. And during the planning of my trip I remembered something… I searched the notes on my mobile phone and there it was, "Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Labyrinth". Some years ago I had read that there was a replica of the Chartres labyrinth in Grace Cathedral, and despite never dreaming that I would ever visit San Francisco, I had vowed that if I did, I would find it and walk it. Thanks to my son's sailing dream, April 2012 found me in the beautiful city of San Francisco, and there for Grace Cathedral's monthly candlelit labyrinth walk. This was extraordinarily beautiful and utterly life changing. When I came home I began to plan the labyrinth here at Tree House. I knew it had to be the same design - the full 11 circuit Chartres labyrinth - as I had walked in Grace Cathedral, and I knew I was very blessed with having the space to do it.

Looking down on the labyrinth within Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

September 2012 saw the completion of the stone circle placed on the land at Tree House, and there was much excitement at the prospect of a future labyrinth to complement it. But how? When? Made from what…?

The Tree House stone circle

2013 disappointingly saw nothing happen; it seemed to be a 'consolidation year' after 2012 in which no plans came to fruition and I wondered if I had just been dreaming. But at the turning of 2013 into 2014, there was a distinct sense of 'this is the year of the land', and things began….

Placing their words on stones in the future centre of the labyrinth...

Firstly we had a 'Labyrinth Party' - without a labyrinth! I sent out an open invitation and on Easter Saturday, 19th April*, nine of us gathered here at Tree House. We began with a cuppa and cake in the house as I explained the plan, shared information about labyrinths for those who didn't know much about them, and we went out onto the patch of land. I had marked out the 50' diameter circle in canes and string, and we gathered around its circumference. I welcomed everyone and offered a 'prayer' of gratitude to the land. We set the intention for the labyrinth's manifestation, and for the perfect digger and driver to prepare the site, and I passed around a wooden bowl filled with white stones from the beach at St Agnes. Each chose and wrote a word on a stones with a waterproof pen - Greatness, Truth, Release, Trust - and placed it around a lit candle on a large flat stone lying deep amongst the tussocks in the centre of the circle. Some dowsed the area to see if it wished to share anything with us - making discoveries about its desired circumference and placing. Finally we walked the temporary 7-circuit Celtic labyrinth I had laid out in white twine on another part of the land.

Walking the temporary labyrinth...

At last, the project had begun!

The original nine…!

(I have just realised that I first visited Grace Cathedral on Easter Saturday, the 7th April 2012, and the candlelit walk there was on April 13th - so both dates were almost exactly two years from our Intention Setting Labyrinth Party on 19th April 2012, and both at Easter time, the time of new beginnings!)