
Why people walk the Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is a spiritual tool that has existed for thousands of years. As a walking meditation, its winding path can symbolize a pilgrim's walk to God. Walking it is as simple as following a spiraling path to the center, and then following the path back out again. Unlike a maze, there are no dead-ends, no puzzles to solve. You are always on the path. While there is no 'right way' to walk the path, you might find these guidelines helpful.
Guidelines for the walk
The Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is a sacred walking path that winds in a circular fashion towards a center and then back out again.
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"Christians have practiced this particular form of walking meditation since at least the 13th century, when a labyrinth was placed on the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France. In its early Christian form, one of the functions of the Labyrinth was to give Christians who would otherwise have been unable to make the journey to the Holy Lan a way of emulating the experience of making a pilgrimage. By following the path from outside the circle to the center and back again they would, they hoped, experience something analogous to the transforming journey of pilgrimage to the "center of the world," Jerusalem.
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Consider the metaphorical resonance of the path for the Christian mystics: St. John of the Cross spoke of the ascent of Mount Carmel; St. Teresa of Avila of the journey to the center of the interior castle. Here, the spatial imagery of movement along a path becomes an indispensable metaphor for evoking the gradual discovery of God's intimate presence at the deepest center of the self.
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From at least the 4th century and onwards, Christian pilgrims set one foot in front of the other as they made their often arduous journeys to the holy places of Jerusalem and to the tombs of the saints and martyrs... Christian liturgy and architecture provided the ritual space in which the worshipper could give physical expression to the soul's deepest impulses. So it is with the labyrinth. Here is ta path that serves as a reminder that the quest for God and for self-knowledge always involves venturing forth from the place where one now stands."
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Taken from "Into to Labyrinth: Walking the Way of Wisdom" by Douglas Burton-Christie published in WEAVINGS
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Request a personal Labyrinth experience
If you, or a group, would like to have a more in-depth labyrinth experience with a certified facilitator, please let us know and we will have them reach out to you.