In life you experience a series of doorways, gateways, and openings to love, light, and wisdom that, if taken, will bring you to a higher state of existence.
You are at a gate, a doorway, an entrance, an opening. Perhaps like me you got here via a circuitous route—the labyrinth of life. Rather than looking back to see how you got here, pausing briefly to consider where you are can bring you to realise that you are at the doorway to your future, the entrance to the integration of your inner and outer worlds, a gateway to self-discovery and to fulfilling your life’s purpose.
The labyrinth has played a huge role in my life. This ancient symbol has been a source of wonder, wisdom, healing, fun, and enlightenment for me. Through the labyrinth, I have met some wonderful people and have had amazing experiences. In my work with the labyrinth, I have experienced a gradual and growing energy of transformation that is bringing me increased wisdom and understanding of my place in existence, as well as prompting me to share this with you and others.
I first became interested in the labyrinth in 2005. Since then I have designed and built labyrinths all over the world. I have given talks and presented workshops on the labyrinth to thousands of people, helping them to learn and experience the labyrinth as a tool for personal and spiritual growth.
The more I work with the labyrinth, the more it shows me new and more powerful ways to access its healing energy and wisdom. In 2012 I published a deck of guidance and inspirational cards based on the labyrinth, creating and painting all the labyrinth images myself. I have been featured on radio and TV shows, bringing the message of the labyrinth to a wider audience. In 2015 I developed a new healing modality based on the labyrinth that I call Melchizedek Labyrinth Healing. I have accessed previously hidden aspects of the labyrinth that I reveal in this book, and I continue to explore the labyrinth so that I can share my findings with the world.
Over the years, the labyrinth has helped me discover myself and learn about what was most important for me. I worked in the public service in Ireland for thirty-three years and rose to a senior management position. As my work with the labyrinth and the spiritual side of my life grew, it got to the stage where it was taking up all my spare time. So, in 2015, I left my job and embarked on the path of teaching and sharing the labyrinth, combined with the healing and energy work that are part of my soul’s purpose. I have not looked back. Also in 2015 I got married to the wonderful Fionnuala. As part of the wedding ceremony, we walked a labyrinth together and took our vows at the centre of the labyrinth, an occasion that is indelibly marked in my memory and in my heart.
The labyrinth can help you positively influence areas of your life. Many people find that the labyrinth helps to quieten their mind, bringing a sense of calmness and peace. When walked with an intention or question, the labyrinth helps gain insights and answers to your life’s issues. You can approach the labyrinth as a walking meditation to help you feel greater peace and find that quiet space within yourself. It is a safe container to let go of worries and troubles that are on your mind. You can use the labyrinth to gain greater understanding of all aspects of life and your place in the world, exploring your life’s purpose and the next steps on your journey.
The labyrinth is an enigma, a seemingly ordinary symbol that holds within its coils and turns secrets and wisdom that are being revealed to our human family to be used for our advancement. There are layers and dimensions to the labyrinth that are still being revealed. The more I learn about the labyrinth, the more I realise how little I know, yet what I now know is so powerful that it must be shared.
One of my greatest learnings with the labyrinth is an awareness of the significance of every moment. To put that in context for you: it is significant that you are reading this book. It is not by chance that you are where you are as you read this. It is not an accident that the people who are in your life are in your life. Nothing happens by accident. There is a flow of energy between the earth and the heavens, between the human and the Divine, and you are in the centre of this flow. Everything happens in its own right timing. This is the time for you to read this book and to begin to take the next step on your journey.
Not only is the book significant, but the manner in which you came to have the book in your possession is also significant because that gives you a clue as to how things are interconnected. If you bought the book yourself, then you have an immediate connection with it. If it was a gift, then be open to receiving what you read. If you borrowed it, then you are being drawn to the labyrinth and how it relates to your life.
The relevance of focusing on this book at this time is that it immediately propels you into an awareness of the present moment. It gives you a glimpse of what can be in store for you when you begin to live your life in awareness and appreciation of the significance of every moment. When you fully live in the presence of every moment, you are tapping into the oneness of all of existence!
The labyrinth is also the best tool that I have found for showing me how everything is interconnected. Something that happened to me when I was on tour in Australia showed this clearly to me. We were in Byron Bay with a seven-hour drive ahead of us the next morning. We planned to go out for a quick breakfast at a café near where we were staying to get an early start on the road. When we arrived at the café, there was a power outage so they weren’t able to cook hot breakfasts. Wanting something warm and substantial for our long road trip, we decided to go into the town centre and find another café there. There are well over a hundred places to eat in Byron Bay, so we walked along the street, passing many, until we came to one that felt right. There was only one free table at this restaurant, so we sat down there.
We were sitting beside a wall that had posters for many events in the town. Immediately one caught my eye. It had a Chartres labyrinth on it and was advertising a temporary labyrinth event that was happening in the town at that time. I knew that this was significant as labyrinths on posters are not very common. I took a photo of this poster and shared it on social media as an interesting synchronicity. The lady who had put up the poster in that restaurant contacted me and said that it was the only restaurant in the town where she had put up a poster.
This was a wow moment for me. The labyrinth was showing me that everything is connected. It showed me that when I am in tune with what is happening around me, amazing things happen to give me messages that I am on the right path. Events like this always cause me to pause and consider what life is about and my place in it. The thought of a power outage happening in the first café that we visited to get me the message is astounding. Every time I think about it I feel uplifted.
We find ourselves in such times and places exactly when we do, so that we experience the opportunities that are presented to us. Some opportunities may not always appear as such, presenting as difficulties or problems. In situations where a blissful enjoyment of what is happening is not possible, you need to see the opportunity in adversity. Every event presents opportunities; it is up to you to take them.
One of the difficulties of appreciating the significance of every moment in today’s world is that we are surrounded by distractions. Walking a labyrinth quietens the mind. Walking a labyrinth helps you feel more centred and balanced. When your mind is quiet, your awareness is heightened. When your awareness is heightened, you are more open to receiving signals, signs, insights, and answers to questions and issues that you are currently dealing with.
When you begin to examine your life and seek answers to questions and guidance on issues through the labyrinth, you are on the path of personal and spiritual growth. Every time you find a solution or receive guidance and implement it, you are addressing what is burdening you. You are metaphorically, and literally in some senses, lightening your load. When your load is lighter, you are lighter, and you begin to live your life in a new and lighter way. Living in this way, you progress from being weighed down by your worries and issues to being able to see beyond yourself. You can then begin to see how you are related to others. People who are at similar stages on their journey will come into your life. You resonate with different people, ones who are lighter and more vibrant.
The labyrinth brings you to a state where you feel more at one with yourself, and you begin doing things that you enjoy doing and make you feel alive. You begin to seek out and start living your life’s purpose—the thing, or things, that you came to earth to do. You seek a meaning that is greater than accumulating material possessions, that is greater than just existing.
The labyrinth is a stepping-stone between earth and heaven. It contains symbolism, layers, and dimensions that make its path a wonderful path of self-discovery. Just as the labyrinth works as a stepping stone, so too is this book a stepping stone, or series of stepping stones, to show you a way across that great divide of separation from where you are now to where you want to be. This is a book that will enhance your use and experience of the labyrinth, and help make clearer for you the next steps in your journey of life.
This book has had several incarnations. Initially, it was primarily a knowledge-based book with information about the symbolism and associations of the labyrinth. But, as I worked more with the labyrinth, it became clear to me that something more than a book of knowledge was required. As my experiences with the labyrinth grew and the benefits of the labyrinth became clearer to me, I was more and more drawn to finding a way to present the labyrinth in new ways and share these experiences with others.
The first step on your journey may be reading this book. The book presents the steps on your journey in a logical, easy to understand, and easy to use approach, so that you can work through each step in your own time and your own way. For experienced labyrinth users, some of the content of the early chapters may be familiar to you. If you feel so inclined, you can move directly to the exercises at the end of chapters with familiar material.
You may consider that you have already taken a number of steps. And, while it may be appropriate for you to skip a few steps in this book, it can also be an empowering experience to retake these steps, to consider how far you have come in preparation for the next step that lies ahead. So, while it is possible to go straight to any of the chapters and exercises, more benefit can generally be gained by progressing in sequence through the information and exercises as they are arranged, each one building on the previous one.
Having said that, feel free to use this book in whatever way feels right to you. Just as there is no one right way to walk a labyrinth, there is no one right way to use this book. It is however laid out so that you can progress along the path. If you skip some parts and are finding it difficult to understand and take the next step, you will need to go back a little to where you feel comfortable and start again from there. If you do not feel ready to move on, then it is fine to reread a section and repeat an exercise until you feel you are ready to move to the next one.
My purpose, dream, and intention at all times was, and still is, to provide ways and methods of using the labyrinth that will help you advance on your own personal and spiritual journeys. This book is a guide for part of your journey, a source of information, a prompt for you to discover more about yourself, to find and live your life’s purpose. It is my sincere wish that this book will be both a guide and companion to you on your path. I wish that it will lead you to wonderful revelations and experiences that enhance your life in many ways. I see this book as what William Blake would call the end of a golden string when he wrote: “I give you the end of a golden string, / Only wind it into a ball: / It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate, / Built in Jerusalems wall” (Blake 1802–1820).
This book is composed of three main aspects that are found in many traditions and systems of self-discovery and growth. These are knowledge, experience, and reflection.
The knowledge contained in this book is designed to give you a greater understanding of the depth and breadth of the labyrinth as a symbol for self-discovery and growth. You will receive knowledge about the labyrinth, and about the symbolism and associations in the labyrinth. There is new information about how different systems of self-advancement are connected to the labyrinth and are even an integral part of the labyrinth. You will learn about the labyrinth connections with alchemy, the tarot, crop circles, the cosmos, Mithraism and more. The more you learn about the labyrinth the more you will see how the symbol of the labyrinth points to the sacred beyond the symbol.
I will be using both the classical and Chartres labyrinths to illustrate the many associations, the depth of symbolism, and the range of inter-connections present in the labyrinth. And while some of the associations and symbolism are clearer in the classical labyrinth, there are others that are best illustrated and more apparent in the Chartres labyrinth.
The labyrinth helps you to fully experience yourself. Experiences are what make you feel alive. In the words of Gary Renard, “The only thing that will make you happy is the experience of what you really are. What will truly satisfy you is not a symbol of reality, but an experience of reality” (Renard 2006). The exercises in this book are designed to give you experiences of yourself—to discover yourself through the labyrinth. Taking the time to learn, focus, and practise these exercises will reward you with enhanced experiences. The exercises in this book can be done with any “active” labyrinth form, unless specifically stated otherwise. When I say “active,” I mean one that has been tried and found to have a quietening effect on the mind and to bring the user into a place of centredness and balance. If you have a different type of labyrinth, I suggest that you use the classical or Chartres labyrinth for the exercises. Alternatively, there is a finger labyrinth for your use on page 259.
Time for reflection is equally as important as the knowledge gained and the experiential exercises. Progressing on your path can sometimes happen quicker when you stop and take time to absorb and integrate the learnings and experiences. Taking time to pause and explore what you have just passed through, what you have come through to reach this point, can give you a greater awareness of moving further ahead, and a greater understanding of where you are going. Keeping a journal and writing down your experiences and reflections on them fixes those experiences in your consciousness. Keeping a record of your learnings, answers to specific questions, and insights into issues will all be beneficial over time. Before you start any of the exercises, have a pen and paper handy so that you can write while still in the same state of awareness as you were during the exercise.
This threefold approach of knowledge, experience, and reflection has a cumulative effect greater than the sum of its parts, as each one not only complements the other, but enhances and amplifies the individual effects into a greater whole. Having knowledge about specific aspects of the labyrinth can enhance the experience of walking the labyrinth and vice versa, while reflecting on the experience and processing the knowledge combine to create an increasingly beneficial result.
Finally, while this book is laid out in a sequential and incremental way, please remember that this is a labyrinth-based book. So at any stage on your journey through this book you may feel that you are at your goal, your centre, or you may feel that your journey has taken a turn and you feel further away than ever. As in a labyrinth, particularly during times of uncertainty, just take another step!