Labyrinths

Labyrinths

Kathleen Jenks says, in the section of Mything Links on Labyrinths,

Since labyrinths are human made, it might seem strange that I would include them on a page about the lore and sacredness of landscape. Labyrinths, however, seem to have been created as a response to energy currents in the land itself [note: as well as in human beings, sometimes known as the chi force - ed.] -- currents sometimes called "telluric forces." It may be that labyrinths help humans re-attune to the earth by echoing and re-creating, in a microcosm, earth's own fields of sacred power. The following sites reflect both the informational and experiential dimensions of labyrinths. . . .

From Labyrinth comes this intriguing (albeit fairly technical) paper, "History and Interpretations of the Labyrinth Motif in Native North American Cultures" by Joshua Schriftman. His primary focus is on the 7-circuit Hopi Tápu'at labyrinths (he points out that 7-fold labyrinths are found only in ancient Eurasia and among Native Americans; the more famous 11-fold designs -- or 12, counting the central circle -- are all from medieval Europe and obviously influenced by Christian symbolism involving the number twelve). In addition to labyrinths, per se, Schriftman considers the seven vibratory centers (chakras) in humans as well as corresponding centers in the earth; the role of Spider Woman and her twin sons in setting up earth's vibratory centers; emergence myths; peyote and mushrooms; spiral dances as fertility rituals; and the role of the kiva in its relationship to labyrinths. (Note: as of 10/28/99, the paper's illustrations are yet to be added to the site. Ditto 4/7/01.)

Sacred 12-circuit Christian Labyrinth

...

Hopi Labyrinth
Mother Earth Symbol
The Symbol of the Emergence

"The whole myth and meaning of the Emergence is expressed by one symbol known to the Hopis as the Mother Earth symbol. There are two forms, the square [yellow above] and the circular [red above].

Examples of these Labyrinth are carved on a rock south of Oraibi, and south of Shipaulovi. A combination of the two forms is also carved on a wooden stick which is planted in front of the One Horn altar in the Kwani kiva at Walpi during the Wúwuchim ceremony.

The symbol is commonly known as Tápu'at [Mother and Child]. This type represents spiritual rebirth from one world to the succeeding one, as symbolized by the Emergence itself."

[taken from:The Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters; Penguin Books, 1985; p 23]

Botticelli's Labyrinth

In his commentary included in the book The Gospel of the Holy Twelve [transcription in process]; by G.J. Ouseley; Edson Printers, London, 1923. E. F. Udny tells us that Botticelli represented the ancient Egyptian labyrinth in one of his engravings. He further states "We have reproduced this labyrinth and adapted it for Christian rites".

Utney goes on to say, "There appears to have been a similar labyrinth in Jerusalem before the demolition ordered by Hadrian. This may well have been used by the early Christians in receiving candidates for admission into the Church."

Chartres 11-circuit Labyrinth in the cathedral floor
"Chartres is a place of spiritual action. It is said to possess the power to transform people, to transmute them into a higher spiritual state, just as the alchemists would transmute base metal into gold. Pilgrims arriving at the Great West Door, the threshold of the cathedral, found they stood more upright with their heads upraised. For the interior design of the cathedral seems to create a definite uplifting effect on the body, as if to prepare it for the telluric emanations from below and divine inspiration from above. As Louis Charpentier, the French investigator of Chartres' mysteries, states:
"...physiologically, telluric and other currents can only enter human beings via a vertebral column that is straight and vertical. A person can only move to a higher state of consciousness by standing upright."
The pilgrim would progress shoeless up the nave to the labyrinth, a maze 13m (42.5 ft.) across and set out in the flagstones of the floor. Dancing around and around until reaching the center, a ritual commonly seen at each of the four annual Virgin fairs, the pilgrim became more and more sensitive to the power accumulated in the vast cathedral chamber.

Moving to the middle point where the transepts cross the nave, the pilgrim was supposed to receive the full alchemical force from the luminous light emanating from the three stained glass rose windows. If the pilgrim experienced the entire sensuousness of the cathedral, it would be because the body's senses had apprehended all the musical and geometrical proportions, and all the numbers and lines expressed in the building's interior. For the pilgrim came not to worship Our Lady the Virgin, nor to kneel in obedience, but rather to find awareness through her, to replenish spiritual energy and refresh the soul."
quote from The Atlas of Mysterious Places
edited by Jennifer Westwood
Weiderfeld & Nicolson, New York; 1987.

.....Back to earthsites

Sere also my article, labyrinth, on the metphor of the labyrinth as one of life's many pathways - and how it may be navigated.