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The labyrinth is an archetype; it universally has both a conscious and subconscious effect on anyone interacting with it. Many people who see the labyrinth for the first time feel that they have seen it before. There is a recognition of something familiar. There is a sense of connection to this symbol that is greater than its visible appearance. For some, the labyrinth holds a presence that invites them to interact with it.
How Does the Labyrinth Work?
Many have asked the question “How does the labyrinth work?” Few can provide the unequivocal answer. In some ways, it doesn’t matter how it works, only that it does. On another level, knowing some of what causes the “labyrinth effect” can help to understand what is happening when you interact with it. If you are seeking information about how the labyrinth works, then using the labyrinth will ultimately bring about the knowledge and understanding of its functions and benefits. Key areas to consider are what makes the experience of walking the labyrinth such a moving one for so many people, and what causes people to have insights and increased intuition as they walk the labyrinth.
The early labyrinth makers, and the later medieval labyrinth builders, did not leave us any information as to how the labyrinth works. We are left to draw insights and conclusions from a wide range of disciplines and beliefs including neurology, psychology, eastern mysticism, psychics, and our own experiences. The theories of how the labyrinth work include the integration of the brain’s hemispheres, the generation of energy vortices, aligning the chakras while walking, and rebalancing your energy field.
Balancing the Brain
The classical labyrinth looks like a brain. It also has a positive effect on your brain and your disposition. Walking the labyrinth quietens the mind, and brings the walker into a more balanced and centred state. Tracing a finger labyrinth has a similar effect.
One explanation of how the labyrinth works is understood when we consider the theory of the right and left sides of the brain. The left side of the brain is responsible for the masculine qualities of rational and logical thinking, dynamic action, and doing. The right side of the brain is associated with the feminine qualities of receptivity, intuition, creativity, and nurturing. In today’s world, your brain can easily be out of balance as the right brain is often overworked from too many tasks to do, things to think about, and other stimuli.
When you walk the labyrinth, you must focus on the narrow path ahead, or you may stray from the path. This act of focusing on the path fully engages the left brain, and has a quietening effect similar to meditating on a single point such as a candle flame or a rose. In its quietened state, where there is less thinking activity, there is now space for the right brain to come more to the fore and into balance with the left side. When in balance, you are in a state known as “whole-brained.” In this state, you draw equally on the logical rational thinking qualities of the left brain and on the intuitive, creative qualities of the right brain. In this whole-brained state, you are more open to receiving insights, answers to questions, and seeking solutions to problems.
A further brain-related labyrinth effect happens when a person passes through the 180-degree turns in the labyrinth. The sharp change of direction is thought to shift the awareness of the walker from one side of the brain to the other. This induces a deeper connection between the sides of the brain, resulting in a more integrated brain functioning and a more receptive state of consciousness.
Philip Gardiner, in his book Gateways to the Otherworld, states, “All of the emotional problems people have stem from having a divided perception, because we perceive, or receive the world through either one brain hemisphere or the other, and so we can only understand it from one side or the other—logical or emotional.” He goes on to describe how each hemisphere acts as a filter through which the images and meaning of our reality is received and interpreted. He also considers that we create our reality through either one or the other of these hemispheres or filters; whereas some of us create a “logical and ordered universe world,” others create a “wondrous imaginative world” (Gardiner 2007a). The key aspect of Gardiner's theory is that because we are divided within ourselves, the world that we create is a world of division, fighting, and war. He concludes that “If we were all ‘balanced’ in left and right brain waves, then we might be able to see the other person’s side of the argument” (Gardiner 2007a).
Therefore, in using the labyrinth to bring ourselves into balance, we are also leading to a situation where the world that we create is also coming into balance. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. If you want to change the world around you, you must first change within yourself.
Turn Around
The turns in the labyrinth have another positive effect. In making a 180-degree turn, you are shifting your energy field in a dramatic way. It is rare to make such a dramatic about-turn in everyday life. You might do so at eventful times when you have forgotten something and need to go back to get it urgently or when you turn and run in times of danger. Turns at such times are often taken in a rushed or panic state, and they lead you inevitably from one state of being to another.
In the labyrinth these 180-degree turns are made in a measured and predictable way, as the path you are walking prescribes the turns for you. In the Chartres labyrinth, for example, there are twenty-eight such turns on the way in and twenty-eight such turns on the way out, a total of fifty-six turns. There is no such situation in our everyday lives where you make so many deliberate energy shifting movements in such a short space of time.
The effect of such turns on your body’s energy field is similar to some Tai Chi movements where the practitioner is deliberately making 180-degree turns from their core, followed by accompanying hand movements, often with the intention of moving the energy in such a way as to focus on it and to manipulate and concentrate it. Moving through the labyrinth has a similar effect on your body’s energy field, shifting and realigning your energy field. As a result, you feel more centred after a labyrinth walk.
It is also thought that the many turns experienced while walking the labyrinth cause the brain fluid to move back and forth across the middle line of the brain. This contributes to a balancing of the brain function and an integration of the right and left sides of the brain. So, the combined effects of the turns in the labyrinth can be summarized by the expression that the labyrinth “turns you on”!
Your Chakras and the Labyrinth
One of the most powerful associations of the labyrinth is the correlation of the seven circuits of the labyrinth with your seven main chakras. Your chakras are energy centres that are located along the centre of your body, from the base of your spine to the top of your head. Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel.” If you could see your chakras they would look like spinning wheels of light emanating in a conical shape from points along the centre of your body. Your chakras feed and nourish your physical body with life force energy and are associated with certain qualities and colours. The colours of your seven chakras are the colours of the rainbow. When you know the associations of each chakra, it not only makes your labyrinth walk more interesting, it also helps you to understand many aspects of your life. From bottom to top, your chakras are as follows:
First chakra (in Sanskrit, muladhara), also known as the base chakra or root chakra. This chakra is located in the perineum area and spirals downwards into the earth. It connects you to the earth and is associated with security and safety issues as well as being here on earth. Its colour is red.
Second chakra (swadhistana), also known as the sacral chakra, is located at the sacrum in the pelvic area. It represents creativity and sexuality and is associated with your emotions, and the colour is orange.
Third chakra (manipura) is located at the solar plexus/stomach area. It is associated with your will and power, and the colour is yellow. It is related to your identity and how you see yourself in the world.
Fourth chakra (anahata), also known as the heart chakra, is in the centre of the chest. It is related to how you connect with others in relationships. Its colour is green.
Fifth chakra (vishuddha) is in the centre of the throat area. It is the energetic communication centre in your body and represents how you connect with speaking your truth. Its colour is blue.
Sixth chakra (ajna), or third eye, is in the centre of your head, between the eyebrows. It is connected to how you see beyond the physical—your psychic abilities. Its colour is indigo.
Seventh chakra (sahasrara) is located at the top of the head, spiralling upwards. It connects you to the source of all—Universal Energy, God, Great Spirit, Oneness. Its colour is violet.
The chakras are associated with the circuits of the classical labyrinth starting with the root chakra on the outer circuit and moving inwards to the crown chakra. The centre of the labyrinth is associated with your higher self, or soul star, sometimes called your “eighth chakra,” and is located about twelve inches above your head. In walking through the labyrinth, you pass through each circuit and its associations with the chakras bringing them into balance and aligning your energy body. This aligning contributes to the feeling of being more relaxed and peaceful after walking the labyrinth. In a study by John Rhodes, PhD, into the effects of the labyrinth, 81 percent of the respondents reported that they felt “much more” or “more” centred following a labyrinth walk than before a labyrinth walk. In the same study, 87 percent of the respondents reported that they felt “much more” or “more” peaceful following a labyrinth walk than before a labyrinth walk (Rhodes 2008).
As well as representing your chakras, the seven circuits carry other associations with the chakras, such as the endocrine glands, planets, metals, and more (see Appendix 1). There are other connections between the labyrinth and your chakras that are not initially apparent. The number seven is mentioned many times in the Bible, and several of these have been interpreted to mean the seven chakras. The number seven is the number of biblical perfection and completion, so when all your chakras are in alignment and shining bright and clear then you are close to spiritual purity. In the book of Revelation in the Bible we read: “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks … And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength … The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:12-20 KJV).
While many interpret this passage literally, there are other meanings that can be attributed to it. According to Edgar Cayce, the sleeping prophet, the seven endocrine glands are depicted in Revelations as seven stars. Connecting the seven chakras to the seven endocrine glands subsequently connects the body to the soul. Spirit manifests in the body through these spiritual gland centres.
Further on in the book of Revelation there is a passage about a book “written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals,” which no one has the ability to open on his own (5:3). However, one of the elders spoke that the “Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David” had prevailed and opened the book. This book symbolises the body and its seven spiritual centres, or chakras. Jesus, in bringing the Christ consciousness to humanity, opened our spiritual centres.
The message of the whole passage is that through the development of a Christlike state of existence, the spiritual centres are opened, and through the attainment of the experience and presence of Christ consciousness, all seven centres are opened. There are many ways to attain this level of consciousness, meditation being the most often used. The labyrinth as a walking meditation conducted in an ancient sacred symbol is also a powerful way to do this work. The connections between the chakras, endocrine glands, and the seven circuits mean that in working with the labyrinth you are also working with your spiritual centres—working to clear them, to fill them with light, and to bring them to a pure state of existence. Furthermore, in clearing, enlightening, and aligning your energy centres, you are bringing your physical, energetic, and spiritual centres into alignment, creating the tree of life of your body and standing as a link between heaven and earth.
Nonlinear
It’s time to get off the straight and narrow! The “straight and narrow,” while sometimes used to describe what is right and proper, can also carry with it a sense of restriction and absence of adventure. While the labyrinth path is sometimes narrow, it is rarely straight. Most labyrinths are nonlinear, as the path does not follow a numerical sequence through the circuits. This nonlinear movement through a labyrinth contributes to you losing your sense of where you are in the pattern, and can result in a sense of timelessness, or feeling lost, although “lost” is probably not the best word to describe the feeling and sensation in a labyrinth. The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone best described this sensation in the labyrinth when he said, “I can’t say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” So, an occasional sense of bewilderment is quite possible in a labyrinth, especially when one walks one for the first time.
This sense of detachment from the logical mind, and the outside world, can be quite relaxing and refreshing for the labyrinth walker, as it involves a form of surrendering to the labyrinth and a letting go of a sense of having to control everything. Hermann Kern, in describing how a walker moves through a seven-circuit classical labyrinth, writes, “The deeper the wanderer moves into the labyrinth, the further diminished the active radius (the number of quadrants entered) and the walker’s grip on the world and his bearings within it become” (Kern 2000).
Edgar Cayce has said through his written work that information helping us to grow spiritually comes to us in two ways: through our experiences and through archetypes from the collective/cosmic consciousness. The labyrinth involves both of these ways: it is a practice through which we have an experience of walking, and turning, and of entering a different state of being. It is also an archetype, a symbol grounded in the collective consciousness.
Circling Towards the Centre
The practice of labyrinth walking is a form of circling towards the centre. The power and energy of the inherent spiral as a creative energy is imbued in the walker as they interact with the labyrinth. This brings out the person’s creative forces while creating a positive energy vortex where negative energetic patterns are transformed, allowing the walker to experience insights and heightened awareness. This energy vortex can also have the effect of transporting the walker to another dimension. Having traversed the spiral to the centre, to the point of oblivion, where else could it lead, but to beyond the nothingness and into another dimension.
Effect of Labyrinth Walking on Your Energy Field
You have an energy field, sometimes referred to as your aura. Some people can see this energy field. It is possible to measure the size of a person’s energy field using the practice of divining (more commonly called dowsing, but I prefer the term divining as it is rooted in the “Divine”). I usually measure a person’s energy field by asking the person to stand in one spot and then measuring the edge of their energy field with divining rods as I walk backwards away from them.
In all cases where I measured people’s energy fields before and after walking the labyrinth, the person’s energy field was much larger after the labyrinth walk. The radius of most people’s energy field is doubled in size, and some people have expanded even more.
The human energy field expands in many different situations. The expansion of the energy field is due to a rise in vibration of the energy field. As your vibration rises, your energy field expands. Meditation, including labyrinth walking, is one of the best ways to raise your vibration and expand your energy field. When you disconnect from the worries, concerns, and fears of everyday life, and enter a space of peace, calm, and love, your energy field responds accordingly and expands. When your aura is expanded, you are more aware and able to pick up subtle signals. This may partially explain how some people receive insights and answers to questions on the labyrinth.
The Consciousness Field of the Labyrinth
The Consciousness Field of the Labyrinth (CFL) is the repository of all labyrinth knowledge and wisdom that has accumulated over the millennia. From the time man first carved the labyrinth pattern into the rocks in Spain, Italy, and India over four thousand years ago to today’s labyrinth activities, the consciousness field has been expanding.
The labyrinth entered humanity’s consciousness from the greater unified field, the field of oneness. Man accessed and tapped into this consciousness field and drew the first labyrinth pattern. From there, the labyrinth took on a significance that is still resonating with people today. The labyrinth pattern carries within it the vibration of Source, the divine essence. When interacting with the labyrinth you are accessing the unified field of all knowledge and wisdom.
A field in this context is similar to how physicists describe a field; it not only has duration, but also extension in space. Somewhere, the sum of all knowledge, information, and labyrinth related activity is stored and accessible. In keeping with many field theories in physics, the consciousness field of the labyrinth exists on many dimensions and levels.
The consciousness field of the labyrinth is similar to Jung’s collective unconscious, within which a mode of transmission of archetypes and shared symbols and patterns exist. Jacques Attali in his book The Labyrinth in Culture and Society contends that “The labyrinth is a material manifestation of a collective unconscious, of a message sent forth into the beyond. It represents the first abstraction of a sense of human destiny, of an ordering of the world. It describes the universe in both its visible and invisible aspects—a universe whose traversal, like that of life, is both sought after (because it leads to the discovery of eternity) and feared (because nothingness waits there). It is like a place of precarious and dangerous passage, a breach between two worlds” (Attali 1999).
The Labyrinth of Opposites
On initial observation, the labyrinth appears static and immobile. Standing outside the labyrinth, you can see the whole pattern. Once you enter the labyrinth and start walking, your attention is mostly limited to a short part of the path ahead of you. When walking the labyrinth, it assumes a dynamic characteristic where you, as the walker, are now interacting with the labyrinth, engaging with the path and manoeuvring the turns to reach your goal—the labyrinth’s centre.
The path is the connection between opposites: the static and the dynamic, the seen and unseen, confusion and clarity, between the outside and the inside. Walking the path brings the outer and inner worlds into balance. You start your walk in awareness of the world around you, bringing this awareness into the labyrinth. As you walk further into the labyrinth you become more aware of what you are doing and how you are feeling. Your eyes are focused on the narrow path ahead of you, your feet settle into a rhythm as you walk, and your breathing deepens. You become immersed in the act of walking, freeing your thoughts and feelings, and bringing an increased awareness of them, effectively merging your outer and inner worlds. Zara Renander expressed this beautifully when she wrote, “Two sides of a coin are revealed at the same time: The external, physical journey step by step illuminates our inner life, making the implicit explicit, creating a powerful resonance and revelation between inner and outer realities” (Renander 2011).
The aspects that began as opposites are united into an integrated whole in the labyrinth. The outer and inner worlds are merged. The labyrinth brings together matter and spirit, head and heart, the masculine and the feminine, leading to a sense of wholeness and unity.
Putting It All Together
The cumulative impact of all these labyrinth effects is both powerful and subtle. Once aware of even some of these effects, you begin to realise that you are interacting with a powerful and restorative symbol as well as a tool for transformation. Awareness of the known with the presence of unknown effects can contribute to your experience with the labyrinth. While the labyrinth heightens your awareness, the more you approach it in a conscious, attentive, and mindful state, the more enhanced your experience is likely to be. Awareness of yourself is achieved through being aware of your thoughts, feelings, physical responses, and all other signals received. So, let’s experience yourself in the labyrinth.
Exercise: How to Tune in to
Heightened Awareness in the Labyrinth
We have seen in this chapter some of the possible effects that a labyrinth has on the walker. When walking a labyrinth, either knowingly or unknowingly, you are experiencing some or all of these effects. These effects can help to bring you to a different state of awareness, a state of awareness brought about by the labyrinth effect and by how you approach the labyrinth walk.
One of the keys to walking the labyrinth, and to life itself, is to be aware of the importance of every moment. The more aware you are, the more you are open to receiving insights into your life, and the more you will see your existence in the context of a greater existence.
This exercise, then, is to walk the labyrinth in an as open and aware state as possible—to become aware of yourself on as many levels as you can experience at the time. It helps, therefore, not to rush straight into the labyrinth but to first prepare for the walk.
Before the walk, bring yourself into as quiet a state as possible. Give your body and mind permission to slow down, and give your mind permission to become aware and remember what is significant for you. Take a few deep breaths, relax your body as best you can, and become aware of your feet on the ground, your heart beating in your chest, and your hands by your side. As soon as you are aware of your presence in your body and in your surroundings, you then are ready to walk with awareness.
While walking, be aware of everything. Use all your senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and even your extra-sensory perception. Messages and signals can come to you often from unexpected quarters. If outside, be aware of nature, the wind, birds, and animals. Apparent intrusive sounds can have deeper meaning, so be open to seeing beyond the immediate and your reaction to it. What can you see as you are walking? Take note of what you are noticing as you walk the labyrinth. What sounds are coming to your ears? Are these external sounds or internal sounds? What about smells? What do you smell? Taste the air. What does it taste like?
Become the watcher. Watch yourself walking the labyrinth, and see what you observe about yourself. Take a mental note of everything that comes to mind. See if you can sense slight changes in temperature and bodily senses. Do you feel colder or warmer at any stage? Is your body sending you a signal through giving you goose bumps, stiffness, energy jerks, slowing you down or speeding up, or reacting in some other way? Any change is significant, so take note of it for writing down later.
Beyond your bodily senses there are many other senses that send you signals. You are becoming conscious of the energy within you and around you, so tune in to this energy also and in to what it can tell you. Thoughts or images may come into your mind or vision. You may hear something coming from deep within you, or from somewhere outside of yourself. And it is okay if at first you do not experience any of these things. This is your walk and what happens to you is what happens to you. Have no expectations, and do not expect any specific experience, even if you had such an experience before. Every walk is different because you are different on every walk. Remember, this is about you, not the labyrinth.
Do not dismiss anything. I remember doing a walk before giving a workshop and asked if I needed to consider anything else, or if there was anything more I needed to do. I was a little nervous as the group that I was to facilitate were experienced labyrinth users, and some of the material that I was going to present to them was new and being used for the first time.
During the walk, I was distracted by a song going around and around in my head. I couldn’t focus on the question I asked, and no answers or insights were forthcoming. I was so distracted by the song that I was beginning to get a little annoyed. Then, I stopped. I focused on what was happening and where I was. I listened to the words of the song in my head. It was the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin! I smiled, got the message, and learned not to dismiss anything!
So, walk with awareness: awareness of everything. Be open to receiving insights, answers, and messages from everywhere and anything.
Reflection
When finished with your walk, take time to reflect on the walk and what it was like. Write down your experience of what happened during the walk. What caught your attention? What distracted you during your walk? Did you notice anything unusual or different? What sounds did you hear, or what smells did you notice? If you think that you had no experience, write that down, and write about how the walk felt for you.