Labyrinth: Ancient Mystical Tool for Tending of SoulBy Cándida E. Feliú-González[The labyrinth] is at once the cosmos, the world, the individual life, the temple, the town, man [and woman], the womb or intestines of the Mother (earth), the convolutions of the brain, the consciousness, the heart, the pilgrimage, the journey, and the way. * * * * It is cosmos to those who know the way, and chaos to those who lose it. It is Ariadne's thread, whose windings create the world and yet enable us to unravel it or ravel it.... (Purce 29). |
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What do Neolithic carvings on cave walls, Egyptian tombs, and the children's game of hopscotch, have in common? If you answered "the Labyrinth!" you are correct. We can find spirals and rudimentary labyrinth-like forms on prehistoric cave walls in Scotland; ancient Egyptian tomb passages were labyrinthine in construction, and were believed to be passages to the underworld; and the children's pavement game of hopscotch is also believed to be a remnant, a folk memory of preChristian labyrinths (Bord 9, 22, 62). We might note that although the term labyrinth and maze are sometimes used interchangeably, labyrinths, for the most part, are unicursal: meaning having one way into the center and one way out; whereas mazes are usually multicursal: having more than one way in or out, some of which lead to dead ends. Cosmos, cave, temple, tomb, and play, encompassing the very core of our reality, it to this that the mystical symbol of the labyrinth speaks. Ubiquitous in its emergence as symbol throughout history, labyrinths appear on every continent, transcending culture, language, and geographic boundaries. We are most familiar with the Minoan labyrinth on the Mediterranean island of Crete, off the southeastern coast of Greece. It was in this labyrinth, that Greek myth recounts the battle between young Theseus and the infamous Minotaur, half bull and half man, took place. Legend has it that Aegeus, the king of Athens was obligated to pay tribute to Minos, the king of Crete, for having caused the inadvertent death of his son, Androgeus. To this end, every nine years, King Aegeus was forced to send 7 young boys and 7 young girls of Athens, to the island of Crete, where they were made to enter the labyrinth, only to be eaten by the ferocious beast. The legend goes on to tell us that young Theseus enters the labyrinth to do battle with the Minotaur, and with the able assistance of Ariadne, King Mino's daughter, is able to make his way out of the labyrinth by following a ball of string securely tied at its entrance. This mythic tale with its archetypal elements of initiation of the young hero entering the Unknown to do battle and return victorious, runs very deep in our collective unconscious, so it is no surprise that many labyrinths depict the Minotaur at its center, as portrayal through art, of the human spiritual struggle of facing the fear of death and the Unknown, and having done baffle, our desire to reemerge reborn and victorious over the forces of death. How has the labyrinth as symbol and tool, been used throughout history for the tending of soul? "In its earliest use the labyrinth seems always to have been associated with death" (Bord 10). Historically the labyrinth has been a symbol of the "decensus ad inferos" or the descent into the bowels of "symbolic death and return to life." The labyrinth also has been said to represent the Nekuja or the descent into Hades, or the entering into of the "abode of the dead" (Freitas 412). At the same time the labyrinth is said to be the symbolic "conjunctio oppositorum" or the place where opposites such as life/death, light/dark, male/female, are transformed and melt into each other, in the dance of the spiral (413).
Initiation is death from one state and
rebirth into another; thus entering the labyrinth or the
underworld is returning to the womb of the Earth Mother
for new birth. (Purce 104).
Rebirth and initiation have also been important aspects of the symbolic weight of the labyrinth as spiritual practice and tool for the tending of soul. Throughout Europe it was common practice for labyrinths to be included as part of the festivities of Easter as a symbol of the Resurrection. Easter day festivities would include maze-running games and rope dances, in which the children would participate. It was also popular for May Day celebrations to include activities around the labyrinth as a sign of the fertility and rebirth ushered in by the season of Spring (Bord 13). Labyrinths also appear in various countries throughout the world as diverse as India, England, Scotland, and the Hebrides, as a form of spiritual protection against "evil eye." In India, labyrinth tattoos, were a popular form of protection against evil. In Britain, labyrinths were "drawn on doorsteps to keep witches and evil spirits at bay." In Scotland, the "tangle threid" was traced on thresholds and floors of dairies and houses, again, to offer protection from any adversity. In European churches and cathedrals, labyrinths are said to have been "constructed to protect both the church and the worshipers from evil influences, the worshipers gaining added protection by ritually following the course of the maze to its heart" (Bord, 14). But the protective aspect of the labyrinth was not limited to the realm of the spiritual. Labyrinths were also believed to offer tactical protection from military invasion, as in the city of Troy, which was constructed in a maze-like configuration, thereby making penetration virtually impossible. W.F. Jackson, in his Cumaean Gates makes the observation that the name Troy, Troja, or Troia, is derived from the Celtic "tro" which means "to turn" (Bord, 13). Common names for labyrinths still in use today are: "Castle of Troy", "City of Ninevah", "Walls of Jericho," "Babylon," and "Ruins of Jerusalem," or "La Lieue De Jerusalem" (The Jerusalem Mile) (Freitas, 413). The Middle Ages marked a period of increased interest on the part of the Church to incorporate the popular folk symbol of the labyrinth into ecclesiastical architecture, and so throughout Europe, labyrinths were built in churches and cathedrals as part of the sacred space used by the worshipers. It was a common spiritual practice for Christians to walk church or cathedral labyrinths in lieu of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is for this reason that the labyrinth was also known by the name of "Chemin De Jerusalem" or Path to Jerusalem. The faithful would make their way along the labyrinth path, arriving at its center which represented Jerusalem, The Holy Land. Lima de Freitas writes that it was common for penitents to "walk on their knees" as they made their pilgrimage (Freitas, 413). Perhaps the most famous of the cathedral labyrinths, is labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral, in France. Built circa 1200 CE the labyrinth measures approximately 42 feet in diameter. (Artress 4). The labyrinth is made of blue and white stones, inlaid on the Cathedral floor, and the verses of The Miserere (Psalm 51) "are engraved on the white stone of the path to be followed." (Bord 91). At the center of the labyrinth was a centerpiece made of copper, brass, and lead, which was "removed during the Napoleonic Wars and used for cannon fodder." (Artress 56). The syncretism which allows for the incorporation of powerful symbols and practices, such as the joining of a preChristian symbol such as the labyrinth, with the spiritual discipline of pilgrimage, demonstrates the Churches recognition of the power of these symbols and practices in the life of the common people. It is easy to see how, at a time when worship involved little more than "being present" at Mass while it was being "said or sung" by the priest in Latin, with his back toward you, it would appeal to the common faithful to take part in a "walking prayer" or meditation, where they could be totally involved in "body, mind, and spirit." In a Church that was strictly patriarchal, and hierarchical in nature, the labyrinth represented the rise of a more feminine form of spirituality. In Walking A Sacred Path , The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, writes of the 12th century German mystic Hildegard of Bingen's definition of divinity as "a circle, a wheel, a whole" (55). This period in history also saw the recovery of the feminine divine in the Church, in the increased devotion to and veneration of the Blessed Mother Mary. That the worship of Mary coincides with the embracing of the labyrinth as a spiritual tool and practice, is no accident. In fact Artress speaks of having "received the embrace of Mary..." and having "ventured into her glorious web", upon walking the labyrinth at Chartres for the first time (6). So we see how feminine spirituality and wisdom, which had been all but crushed, rises again in the practice of the labyrinth. As the Feminine Wisdom and the grounding of the circular path of the labyrinth is counter posed to the masculine thrust of jutting steeples and sinewy spires, a third place is created, a sacred centering space, where the Divine is encountered. Mircea Eliade writes that "in cultures that have the conception of three cosmic regions--those of Heaven, Earth, and Hell--the 'centre' constitutes the point of intersection of these regions. It is here that the break-through on to another plane is possible...." (40). Today, again we find symbols that had been repressed for many years, once again finding their way into our reality. C.G. Jung, addresses this phenomena, he says of symbols:
where they are repressed or neglected,
their specific energy disappears into the unconscious with
unaccountable consequences. The psychic energy that
appears to have been lost in this way in fact serves to
revive and intensify whatever is uppermost in the
unconscious- tendencies, perhaps that have either had no
chance to express themselves or at least have not been
allowed an uninhibited existence in our consciousness.
(93)
It would appear that because the power of the labyrinth has been repressed in our culture, for all intents and purposes, it has been relegated to the realm of the collective unconscious, where it has persisted. In our present day society, we live in state of spiritual hunger, with people of all ages, and races, and classes, looking for spiritual nurture in many different ways. Much of these spiritual explorations, which are dismissed as "New Age," are in fact very "Old Age," ancient mystical practices which have reemerged from the depths of our consciousness to feed the present needs of our souls. For the most part, institutional religion has failed to feed our spiritual hunger and therefore has been increasingly relegated to the realm of the irrelevant in our society. Unable to address the real personal and corporate spiritual needs of people today, the church has lost its hold on people. This is particularly true in our society for the post-war generation of Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, who seem to find very little in the way of spirituality in our mainline denominations and their form of worship. Writing on the phenomenon of the Boomer Generation, in his A Generation of Seekers , UCSB professor of Religion and Society, Wade Clark Roof, makes the following observation:
They value experience over beliefs,
distrust institutions and leaders, stress personal
fulfillment yet yearn for community.... (8)
It is this need that has led spiritual seekers to the particularity of the labyrinth, and the ancient wisdom it enfolds. Eliade, writing three decades ago, on the importance of symbols for human beings, confirms the need for the transformation of sacred space:
. . .to the degree that the ancient
holy places, temples or altars, lose their religious
efficacy, people discover and apply other geomantic,
architectural or iconographic formulas which, in the end
sometimes astonishingly enough represent the same symbol
of the "Centre." (52)
The Labyrinth offers this "center," and once again the art of sacred geometry has broken through to us to create holy space, sacred space, a place of: heart, and womb, and brain, and guts; a place where we are able to encounter the imaginal and dance the dance of shadow and soul that meet in the othemess created by space set apart and sanctified. Purce writes regarding the creation of a labyrinth:
This ritual imitated or re-enacted the
original cosmic creation; for when space is set aside or
delineated it is ordered, carved out from the surrounding
chaos, and so sanctified. (29)
A mystical symbol which had been lost to us, has been rediscovered and resanctified, and offers us a powerful tool for the tending of our souls today. Like Eliade, Artress, writing in the present speaks to the need for the mystical, she says "Christianity lost its meaning and its power to transform lives when it threw out its mystical teachings" 136). The ancient symbol of the labyrinth reaches out to us from the past and connects us with the invisible Unknown, the Divine, and The Shadow. Hugh of St. Victor, a 12th century mystic wrote:
When we lift up the eyes of the mind to
what is invisible, we should consider metaphors of visible
things as if they were steps to understanding." (Artress
55).
In this sense the labyrinth is a metaphor for our spiritual journeys, a sacramental symbol: an outward and visible sign of inward and invisible grace. We have been gifted by the Divine with a mystical tool for the tending of soul, that transcends culture, language, race, and time, and speaks to our hearts. From the spiral dance of nature, to the glee filled twirlings of children on its path, the labyrinth be it stone, mosaic, painted, hedge, or turf, continues to be a symbol of grace. A symbol that invites us into its mystery, which calls to us to engage it and walk the sacred walk. The labyrinth calls us to pause and reverently enter into the holy, letting go of all that weighs us down, releasing our burdens, and stripping away all that impedes our walk with God. The labyrinth calls us to a time of centering, a place of opening ourselves to receive the power of the Spirit, a place of rest. And finally as we leave its transformative alchemical container, the labyrinth calls us to renewed energy, refreshment and vitality of spirit. The labyrinth, ancient mystical tool for the tending of soul, comes to us today, to nurture us and to teach us the path of Power, and the way to the Divine.
Your Teacher will not hide anymore,
but your eyes shall see your teacher.
And when you turn to the right
or when you turn to the left
Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying,
This is the way, walk in it.
(Isaiah 30:20b NRSV) Works Cited Artress, Lauren. Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool . New York: Riverhead. 1995. Bord, Janet. Mazes and Labyrinths of the World . New York: E. P. Dutton. 1976. Eliade, Mircea. Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism . New York: Search. 1969. Freitas, Lima de. "Labyrinth," The Encyclopedia of Religion. ed. Mircea Eliade. 16 vols. New York: Macmillan. 1987. Jung, Carl Gustav. ed. Man and His Symbols . New York: Doubleday. 1971. Purce, Jill. The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul. New York: Avon. 1974. Roof, Wade Clark. A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation. San Francisco: Harper. 1993. |
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St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church The Rev. Wilfredo Benítez, Rector Phone 714 537-0604 |
