what is your view/understanding of labyrinths or mazes??

[bobbieinok]

I find ths whole thing interesting but don't really 'get' it

[justsomegirl]

1. life's journey

I always thought they represented the mysteries of life's journey.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Labyrinths...

Don't try to "get it" about them. Experience one. Find one and walk it. If you can't find one already there to walk, you can go to a secluded beach or something and scratch a simple 7-course labyrinth into the sand & walk it. They are very calming, very restorative. You can even get finger labyrinths. I know of one special ed teacher who uses a finger maze when an emotionally disturbed student gets upset or overactive; just having the student trace around the patttern with his finger seems to produce the calming effect.

I often go and walk a labyrinth that is mowed into the grass at a convent in the area. It is a magical experience.

[yardwork]

3. Reminds me of a poem by Amy Lowell

The full text of the poem is here

http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Amy_Lowell/Amy_Lowell_ghosts_patterns.htm

A woman is mourning the death of her fiance. She finds comfort in walking up and down the paths of a garden. At the same time, she is angry and bitter at the loss brought to her a result of society's structure, represented by the patterns of the garden path.

A maze can be both a comfort and a cage. I guess that's why it's such an important and useful construct in seeking spirituality.

[Fovea]

4. Walking Zen meditation

for the western mind.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Gateway between the seen and unseen worlds n/t

[gblady]

6. Sacred space

I built a 7 circuit labyrinth in my backyard which I walk almost everyday. I use it for a variety of reasons. One is as an oracle. If I have a situation that I feel needs an answer, I ask the question as I enter, and it has never failed to give an answer as I leave. Sometimes it’s a walk of joy, gratitude, and peace. Other times it is a walk of anguish, sorrow or grief. I find it can hold and somehow transmute extreme emotions into one's that feel more manageable. Sometimes it's a totally meditative experience. I have found that my laby gets more powerful with time. Standing in the center, where I pause for meditation, is truly magical. You can feel the energy course up through the earth, through the body. Sometimes, I feel like my physical body dissolves, and only consciousness exists. It really is amazing. Others can feel the energy of it as well, and there are several folks who also walk it regularly. It is an integral part of my life. If you've never experienced one, give it a try. It is truly sacred space.

[intheflow]

7. I wrote a whole paper about them in seminary.

They have strong pagan tie-ins, even though most of the labyrinths people encounter are originally from the Catholic church. Chartres labyrinths are named after the first known labyrinth in this design



inlaid in the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France. The Chartres Cathedral is a Mary Church, meaning they really had a thing for the Virgin Mary. The church's popularity was probably because before the Christians took over, the pagans in Chartres had a shrine to the "Black Madonna" at that site. That's why the church was built where it was in the first place, to supplant one church on top of another. The rose shape in the center represents Mary.

The single path leading in and out represents pilgrimage and life's journey, true, but it also represents death and rebirth (born-again in Jesus), as well as insemination and birth (the creative power of woman and womb).

But wait! There's more! They think this was designed to be a kind of lunar calendar as well. Every one of the half circles on the outer circle apparently correspond to the movement of the moon as it shines through a window in the cathedral. They used this calendar to determine Easter. At Easter, they think the monks used to do a circular dance inside the labyrinth using colorful ribbons and balls, which hearkened back to a pagan dance (maybe May Day kind of thing). I keep saying "they think" because all records of the labyrinth were destroyed during a crackdown on pagan practices in the church during the fifteenth or sixteenth century.

There's lots more, and about other kinds of labyrinths, but I've obviously gone on too long already. :)