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The turns that you meet on your labyrinth path are crucial elements that are easily overlooked. For many people, the drive to reach the centre is all encompassing, and, apart from the path that gets you there, everything else along the way is a distraction. Yet, the turns in the labyrinth are powerful points both symbolically and energetically. They are pivotal points on your journey to higher states of existence. They are sometimes known as doors or gates. These doors have been recognized in many ancient traditions and esoteric schools as central to the paths of personal and spiritual advancement.
Two of these ancient mystical traditions, Mithraism and alchemy, both involve seven stages of initiation and development. The transitions between these stages are located at the turns in the classical labyrinth. These turns into the individual circuits not only carry their own energy, they also replicate energetically and symbolically the stages of progression of interrelated paths to enlightenment. There is a transformation happening at the turns of the labyrinth that requires your focus and attention to fully access the knowledge and experience that they bring. To get a greater appreciation of these connections and the power of the turns in the labyrinth, it helps to have an understanding of Mithraism and alchemy as well as the stages of advancement that they contain.
The Mithraic Journey
Mithraism revolved around the worship of the ancient Persian god Mithras in subterranean caverns and caves. It involved initiation through seven stages of an astrologically themed hierarchy. It is thought that the ascent through the seven stages represents the seven stages of the descent of man, which man is now progressing back through.
When I was in Rome several years ago, I came across the Basilica San Clemente, which is one of the oldest in Rome. It commemorates St. Clement, who was the fourth pope and lived in the first century AD. The church that you see today was built in 1108. Beneath the present basilica is a fourth-century basilica that was converted from the house of a Roman nobleman, part of which served briefly as an early church in the first century. In the basement of this house and church is a mithraeum: the cave or underground chamber in which Mithraic ceremonies took place. I descended through the layers of history into the basement. The walls were of rough stone and the ceiling was quite low, although I could stand upright comfortably. Water was flowing along a channel in the ground, giving the whole place a cave-like effect.
As I walked through the underground passages, I came to the mithraeum itself, the entrance of which was blocked off by a metal barred gate. I looked in through the gate and saw a rectangular space with stone benches along each side of the room. Initiates, who were men only, would have sat on these stone benches to celebrate a ritual meal. At the far end of the room, a niche was carved out of the doorway, in which was placed a statue of Mithras at his birth emerging from a large bumpy rock. Between the two benches was a stone slab, or altar. On one side of this altar was an image of Mithras shown as a young man killing a bull. Apollo commanded Mithras, a god born of rock, to slay the bull to ensure fertility and renew life. Each of the other sides had carvings of the twin torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates, symbolizing the waxing and waning of the seasons, and a snake, a symbol of regeneration. On the top of the altar were carvings of the sun god Helios on the left and Selene the moon goddess on the right.
As I stood looking into the mithraeum, I felt a sensation come over me, and I was transfixed. It was the feeling that I get whenever I am somewhere I believe I had been in a past life. I stood gazing through the gate into the inner sanctum of the mithraeum. I just wanted to stay there. My wife, Fionnuala, came over to me and asked me if I was coming along, and all I could say was “I just want to stay here.” So, I stayed on that spot for some time. I don’t know how long I stayed there; I didn’t want to leave!
It is difficult to describe this feeling of knowing that you have been somewhere before—in a past life. It is a sense of connection, of belonging, and of almost expecting something to happen. On this occasion, as happened on some other similar occasions, I was in a half haze between this world and the past. In almost all my other past life experiences, I know the significance of the memory for me in this lifetime. With the mithraeum, it was to reactivate and reveal some of the wisdom of Mithraism, including its connection with the labyrinth and its relevance for today.
The cave of Mithras had seven doors, seven altars, and a ladder with seven rungs depicting the seven grades of initiation into the mystery schools. The seven grades of initiate were progressed through, with the first three being mainly of the physical body while four to seven were spiritual. The cave, subterranean world of darkness, representing death and rebirth, is also echoed in the form of the labyrinth. Mithra emerged from a rock in a cave. The cave/labyrinth is also symbolic of the universe into which the soul descends for mortal existence, and then ascends through the levels to reach immortality and union with the Divine.
The key teaching from Mithraism on your path to self-discovery is that the turns that your life takes are opportunities for greater awakening and awareness. Mithraism mapped and described seven significant stages of transformation, or grades of initiation. The seven grades of initiation of Mithraism and their associated planets corresponding to the turns into the seven circuits of the classical labyrinth are: Corax/Raven (Mercury), Nymphus/Bridegroom (Venus), Miles/Soldier (Mars), Leo/Lion (Jupiter), Perses/Persian (Moon), Heliodromus/Sun-courier (Sun) and Pater/Father (Saturn).
Followers of Mithraism believed that the heavens were divided into seven spheres, each with one planet that was endowed with certain qualities and associated with one of the grades of initiation. In descending from the empyrean to the earth, the souls successively received from them their qualities and passions. On its ascent back to the highest heaven, the soul rids itself of the qualities it received on its descent by traversing the different spheres. The initiations into each stage represent symbolically, and spiritually, the advancement of the individual. On its symbolic journey through the planetary zones, the soul “abandoned to the Moon its vital and nutritive energy, to Mercury its desires, to Venus its wicked appetites, to the Sun its intellectual capacities, to Mars its love of war, to Jupiter its ambitious dreams, to Saturn its inclinations. It was naked, stripped of every vice and every sensibility, when it penetrated the eighth heaven to enjoy there, as an essence supreme, and in the eternal light that bathed the gods, beatitude without end” (Cumont 1903).
The Mithraic ladder, with seven gates, had an eighth gate at the top, similar to the labyrinth with seven circuits and the centre. In walking the classical labyrinth, the walker has to turn in to each of the seven circuits and make a final eighth turn into the centre. As previously mentioned, the seven circuits also represent our seven chakras, with the centre representing our connection to our higher self, or a reunification of the soul with God. On another level, if we view the seven circuits as representing the seven visible heavenly bodies, then the centre again represents our going beyond the visible world of earth and entering a higher state of awareness, the soul’s reunification with Source.
The Mithras Liturgy is a text from the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris, held in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It was given its modern name by its first translator, Albrecht Dieterich, in 1903. It is based on the invocation of Helios Mithras as the god who will provide the initiate with a revelation of immortality. The liturgy is a mix of astrology and magic whose main focus is the mystical journey of the ascent of the soul in seven stages. On this journey, the soul encounters the four elements: Aion (the god of unbounded time), the seven Fates, the seven Pole Lords, and finally the highest god, Mithras. The Mithraic journey resembles the path through the labyrinth having seven stages with a gateway at each, and the four elements in the quadrants. We can also see the labyrinth as being a map of the cosmos, and even as our journey into and out of this reality, representing your soul’s journey in all its stages.
The Alchemical Labyrinth Path
Alchemy is an ancient practice where the alchemist outwardly sought to change lead into gold. It is shrouded in secrecy and mystery, and secretly the alchemists were seeking to transform their base nature into the gold of enlightened beings. Their manuscripts appeared to describe chemical processes relating to the transmutation of matter. However, their experiments were also representative of the processes and stages that they themselves went through on their journey to enlightenment.
Alchemy is concerned with the transmutation of the personality and self-realization. It is about the transformation of you. You begin to transform yourself when you discover and learn to understand your true nature—that you are a divine immortal being. You are on a journey of transformation moving through different stages by transmuting your everyday earthly nature into your true divine presence. The labyrinth provides a roadmap for the stages of the alchemical processes that you undergo. On the labyrinth path, you progressively realise the infinite potential of your true being, taking steps and turns on your path, where you increasingly get out of your own way and allow your higher self to reveal itself.
Many alchemical texts are difficult to understand. There was a twofold reason for the alchemists taking the approach of keeping their knowledge hidden. Firstly, as the knowledge was being transferred from master to initiate, writing in ambiguous and oftentimes difficult to understand language helped prevent the knowledge being taken up and used by someone less ready or able to use it in a correct or worthwhile manner. Secondly, at a time when it was quite easy for one to be accused of heresy, expressing personal and spiritual growth in terms of chemical interactions and experiments was a clever disguise for keeping esoteric knowledge safely hidden.
Alchemical texts were written to reveal their teachings only to the initiated. Therefore, much of what is written should not be taken literally, and needs to be understood in a greater context. This hiding in plain sight of alchemical and labyrinth knowledge is summed up perfectly by Titus Burckhardt in his book Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul when referencing the alchemist Artephius: “ ‘I assure you in good faith (for I am not so jealous as other philosophers), that whoever would take literally what other philosophers (that is, the other alchemists) have written, will lose himself in the recesses of a labyrinth from which he will never escape, for want of Ariadne’s thread to keep him on the right path and bring him safely out.’ ” (Burckhardt 1997).
The reference to the labyrinth in this extract is just one of several labyrinth references found in alchemy. There are many similarities between the paths of the labyrinth and alchemy. The main correlation between these paths of self-discovery is that what initially appears confusing eventually leads you to a state of greater clarity and understanding. The similarities and connections between the labyrinth and alchemy are an indication of the increasing connections between all of existence that you will realise as you move through the stages of your journey to self-discovery.
Alchemy and Labyrinth Associations
The alchemical transformation involves a process with stages that have a clear beginning and a clear point of achievement. Other correspondences with the labyrinth include the seven stages in the alchemical process, as well as the previously noted four elements in the quadrants of the labyrinth. Fulcanelli, an unidentified master who wrote the book Le Mystère des Cathédrales, makes a number of alchemical connections with the labyrinth being “emblematic” of the whole labour of the work. He considered that the cathedral labyrinth was part of the magic tradition associated with Solomon, and had two major difficulties: “one path which must be taken in order to reach the centre—where the combat of the two natures takes place—the other the way which the artist must follow in order to emerge” (Fulcanelli 1971).
Central to the alchemists’ processes is the vessel within which the reactions and transformations took place. As well as the physical work with substances, the alchemist’s vessel can be equated with your physical and energetic bodies within which the interior work that you do on your soul takes place. The labyrinth is not only a metaphor for the alchemical vessel, but also serves as a physical and energetic container within which the walker conducts the purifying practices on himself and undertakes the transformation of his own being. Indeed, the power of the labyrinth as a transformative alchemical-type vessel is evidenced by the transformational effect of the labyrinth on many people, sometimes without their clear conscious knowledge of what they were undertaking.
Another interesting connection is the use of the word “vitriol” by alchemists. Vitriol was what we know as sulphuric acid, but it also had another meaning, especially when capitalized. VITRIOL stood in Latin for visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem. This can be translated as “visit the interior of the earth, through purification (rectification) you will find the hidden stone.” In a labyrinth context, this is a reference to the journey to the centre of the labyrinth through which you become purified. Your labyrinth path to self-discovery is your journey inwards to find your true essence—your own philosopher’s stone. In a subtler connection, the symbol for vitriol is a seven with a sickle through it (see Figure 6). This is a clear connection with the seven-circuit labyrinth, where the sickle is a symbol of death and purification.
Figure 6: Seven with sickle strike-through
Alchemical Metals, Planets,
and the Circuits of the Labyrinth
The alchemists treasured seven metals, each with an increasingly higher vibration and associated with a heavenly body or planet. A knowledge of these associations brings greater understanding of what aspects of your life are being influenced at different stages of your progression through the labyrinth.
The associations of metals with the planets are: lead with Saturn, tin with Jupiter, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, quicksilver (mercury) with Mercury, silver with the Moon, and gold with the Sun. The planets and their metals create an association between alchemy and astrology; while astrology interprets the meanings of the planets and the zodiac, alchemy relates the planets with earthly metals. Combined they create a fusion between heaven and earth. The qualities briefly associated with the planets are: goddess with the Moon, communication with Mercury, feminine qualities with Venus, king with the Sun, masculinity with Mars, theorizer with Jupiter, and death with Saturn.
When you walk the labyrinth with an understanding of the planetary qualities assigned to the seven circuits you embark on a revealing journey of insight and growth. From Earth at the centre the planetary bodies are arranged by circuit as follows: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Walking the labyrinth as a symbol of your life and soul’s journey, you begin on the third circuit associated with Mars, as you enter the labyrinth at the third circuit. This is the masculine quality of drive and initiative needed to commence your journey. You next move into Jupiter where you begin theorizing about your journey and trying to figure out exactly what is happening. Moving into Saturn you realise that you need to let go fully of your need to make sense of what is happening, to bring death to the ego, and to free yourself from mental and earthly concerns. As you move into the fourth circuit of the Sun you become a king and ruler of your own life and path, not by anything you do but by having let go of everything that was driving you on in the first three circuits. You are now comfortable within yourself, with who you are, and with the path that you are walking.
The next circuit that you enter is the seventh associated with the Moon. This is the goddess circuit where you begin to integrate your feminine aspects so that you are now becoming full, complete, and balanced in all your aspects. Moving into Mercury’s sixth circuit you are receiving communications on a nonphysical level that is further prompting and guiding you on your soul’s path. The final circuit that you enter is the fifth associated with Venus, which not only represents all your feminine aspects, but is a representation of the Divine Mother. This is the precursor to the short section of path leading to the centre, the “birth” canal, before you are born into the light of the centre and endowed with an understanding of your true origin, nature, and purpose.
The layers and dimensions to the labyrinth become even more apparent when you place the Sun at the centre. The planets, including Earth, are then assigned to the circuits of the labyrinth according to their distance from the Sun as follows: Mercury, Venus, Moon, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. You pass through the three outer circuits and planets as before. The fourth circuit now represents Earth, where you assume your rightly and “kingly” entitlement to be on earth. The next and seventh circuit is now Mercury and communication, where you tap into your intuition and become aware of receiving guidance from without and within. You then move into the sixth circuit associated with Venus and your feminine qualities of creativity, nurturing, and receptiveness. You are now nurturing yourself on your path and receptive to the meaning of all events happening in your life. The final circuit is the Moon Goddess circuit, where you step into your divine feminine aspect in preparation for approaching and merging with your divine masculine aspect of the Sun at the centre.
These approaches to seeing the seven planetary and metallic stages as increasingly refining and progressing on your path to enlightenment are just some of the ways that your path to self-discovery in the labyrinth is an alchemical process. When considered within the container of the labyrinth, the alchemical approach illustrates how your outer characteristics reflect your inner qualities, and how these qualities and characteristics can be explored, discovered, and refined in the labyrinth.
Seven Circuits and the Seven Stages
of the Alchemical Process
The seven stages in the alchemical process that aim to restore the alchemist to a state of perfection are reflected in the laboratory purification process involving seven stages or turnings during which all the imperfections and imbalances in the substance (soul) are resolved. Exploring each of these seven stages in more detail gives you an understanding of the stages that you pass through on your own journey to enlightenment. The seven stages of transformation, which are found at the turning points into the next circuit of the labyrinth, are calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation, and coagulation. These stages can be more easily understood when put in the context of your journey of personal and spiritual growth.
Calcination is the burning off by fire. It is a purifying process that gets rid of what does not serve you. It can be seen as the breaking down of the ego and the destruction of your attachment to material possessions, as you grow in maturity. It can be identified by your willingness to be wrong about key issues, and no longer clinging to hard held positions. Calcination is the beginning of the demise of your stubbornness, arrogance, and pride. It is the deliberate speeding up of the process of not being attached to the outer personality, and giving you time to experience your deeper inner nature. It is the first turn you take just after entering the labyrinth, and symbolises that you are now on an inner journey of growth that is more important than outer appearances and what people think. In deciding to walk your path to self-discovery you have already taken a step to change from who you were to what you are going to become.
Dissolution is the process that involves dissolving the ashes from the fire of calcination in water. It occurs at the turn into the second circuit of the labyrinth. In your own self-development, it is a further letting go of the ego so the true self can be revealed. It is often experienced by an immersion in the unconscious, feminine, and nonrational parts of your mind where the conscious mind lets go of control. At this stage, you move away from seeing the cause of your life’s events as external, and begin to realise that everything is a reflection of yourself. You also begin to see in others what you most dislike about yourself. This stage may involve grieving for painful past incidents, allowing the pain to dissolve so that you truly experience the event with awareness. Dissolution also involves the awakening of your creativity and passion, where you redirect the energy previously tied up in holding together the memories of past experiences into authentic and constructive aims.
Separation involves extracting material from the solution by heating, filtration, or other process. It is a further refinement where you separate your emotions and thoughts so that you can clearly see each individual emotion and thought as you are experiencing it. The separation stage enables you to take a clearer look at life, where you can admit and learn from past errors. It is where you separate out your thoughts and decide what to discard and what to reintegrate into your refined personality. This stage equates with the turn into the outer circuit of the classical labyrinth. It is at this stage also that you face your shadow side, allowing all thoughts and feelings within you to surface. You are now separating out what really matters in life, both in your inner self and in your outer life, stemming from a place of complete honesty with yourself and owning everything that is happening in your life.
Conjunction is the recombination of the saved elements from separation into a new substance. It can involve an amalgamation of metals, or the mixing of the saved elements in a new chemical process by adding a catalyst. On a personal level it is the joining together of the true essences of your being following the purification and refinement of the first three stages. It creates an inner space where you can be fully honest, open, and accepting of all states of mind and heart within yourself. You are creating a space where a connection is clearly recognized between your individual soul and Spirit. It is a sacred marriage in which your masculine and feminine energies come into balance, bringing a deeper personal and spiritual awareness and empowering your true self. On the labyrinth, conjunction occurs at the long turn from the outer circuit into the fourth circuit. It is an awareness of the importance of balance on your path of self-discovery, and includes an awareness of those parts of you that remain out of balance. The conjunction labyrinth turn brings you into the heart chakra, which is a space where differences and conflicts are held unconditionally so they can safely work themselves out and come together in union, bringing an increased balance to relationships in your life.
Chemically, fermentation involves the adding of new life into the product of conjunction to completely change its characteristics, like adding a ferment such as yeast in beer making. On a spiritual level, fermentation is a stage in your spiritual development where further processing takes place to bring about a more refined essence. It starts with the inspiration of spiritual power from above that energizes and enlightens. It involves an element of putrefaction, or breaking down, and creation of a more refined, and almost new, substance from what already existed. It is the death of old parts of the personality or ego that are no longer needed, and the tapping into higher energies. Fermentation can be achieved through deep meditation, intense prayer, desire for union with Spirit, transpersonal therapies, and other practices that lead to enlightenment. Sometimes it is seen as “the dark night of the soul” where what initially appears as a dark, smelly, and a not-so-pleasant process is a necessary part of the purification process. In the midst of what seems like darkness and rotting, a new substance is being created that is the basis of your higher and advanced state of being. It is a type of rebirth resulting from the willingness to let go of all elements that no longer serve your spiritual evolution.
Distillation is a refining process that on a physical level involves heating a substance and condensing the essences driven off into a more purified form. On a spiritual level distillation represents further purification processes of integrating your ongoing spiritual realizations into your daily life. This can mean being as impeccable in your life as you can be, dealing with mundane tasks with integrity, and not using your inner spiritual work to escape from the everyday world. Your actions become more compassionate and impeccable because that is your true nature. As you deal with everything in your life with integrity and honesty, all impurities are removed and you can feel an immense transformation in yourself. You also become more concerned with the greater good and begin to know yourself as part of the collective consciousness, yet you are not negatively affected by what you find there. You now know and understand that your soul is primarily guiding your life. Repeated practise of this stage leads to a profound inner transformation that can be equated to the enlightenment of eastern philosophy.
Coagulation is the precipitation of the purified ferment from distillation. It represents the final balancing of opposites where you can negotiate all levels of existence. It is the fully transformed person, the illuminated person who is fully spiritualized and living in spirit with earth and heaven, seen as one. The soul and Spirit have merged into the oneness that you are, and now know and understand.
While it is easy to describe each of the stages in the personal alchemical process, in reality it can be somewhat difficult to progress through them in real life. It can also be difficult to identify at times exactly which of the processes you are currently working through. One way of gaining insight into what stage you might be experiencing is to pay attention to the turn on the labyrinth that feels most significant to you. The beginning of each of the stages of alchemy equates with the turn into one of the seven circuits of the classical labyrinth. When doing the exercise at the end of this chapter, take note of the turn that feels the most important to you.
The Four Elements in the Labyrinth
The four elements of earth, air, fire, and water that are a significant part of the alchemist’s work are also to be found in the labyrinth. Each of the four quadrants in the classical labyrinth is associated with one of the elements. In the Chartres labyrinth, the cross of the four elements is created by the positioning of the labrys and 180-degree turning points. The cross, rather than being in the seed pattern, is placed firmly within the overall labyrinth with the centre point of the cross at the centre point of the labyrinth. In another alchemical connection, the circle with a cross inside it is the alchemical symbol for planet Earth. The Chartres labyrinth is not only a container within which our transformation takes place but also a symbolic representation of this earth on which our soul’s transformation happens.
When walking the labyrinth, you pass through each of the four quadrants and their associated element several times in different sequences. You are having the effect of rotating the elements not only in the space in which you are walking, but also in yourself. This rotation of the elements can bring you into contact with the quintessence, the ultimate philosopher’s stone that the alchemists were seeking. Therefore, the labyrinth is not only a symbol of the alchemical journey through the elements to the ultimate destination but a tool that you can use to reach your own philosopher's stone.
Titus Burckhardt describes the quintessence as the hub of a four-spoked wheel, the spokes being one of the four elements, and the quadrants of the wheel being their respective natural qualities. He explains the “fifth essence” at the centre this way: “Alchemically speaking, the hub of the wheel is the quinta essentia. By this is meant either the spiritual pole of all four elements or their common substantial ground, ether, in which they are all indivisibly contained. In order once again to attain to this centre, the disequilibrium of the differentiated elements must be repaired, water must become fiery, fire liquid, earth weightless, and air solid. Here, however, one leaves the plane of physical appearances and enters the realm of spiritual alchemy” (Burckhardt 1997). So, in walking the labyrinth of the four elements, the walker serves as the catalyst that brings about the rotation of the elements.
When you place the elements in the order of earth, air, fire, and water starting in the bottom left quadrant of a left-handed classical labyrinth, then your labyrinth walk takes on further meaning. In walking the labyrinth, you start in the earth element, move through the elements in a variety of orders, and finish in the centre in the fire quadrant. You are walking symbolically, commencing on the earth plane, and progressing to the fire of an enlightened being at the centre.
Rotation of the Elements
In alchemy, the four elements are often represented by an equal-armed cross. Earth, water, air, and fire can be represented either by the points of this cross or by the quadrants it creates. Most significant about the symbolism of the four elements is their point of interaction, the node of the seed pattern, or the hub of the wheel.
The path of transformation involves a separation of the elements, rotation of the elements, and then a reconfiguring of the elements into the fifth element, the quintessence. If the seed pattern, with brackets in the shape of arcs, is first separated into its individual four elements of earth air, fire, and water, then each quadrant is rotated 180 degrees, and then reassembled, a symbol of a circle within a square with a dot at the centre is produced (see Figure 7). This symbol is the alchemical symbol for gold! The separation and rotation of the elements results in the gold of an enlightened being.
Figure 7: Separation and rotation of elements
Lesser Work & Greater Work
Alchemy is often divided into two main parts: the lesser work and the greater work. The first three stages (calcination, dissolution, and separation) are considered as the spiritualization of the body, and the last three (fermentation, distillation, and coagulation) as the embodiment of the Spirit, sometimes known as the fixing of the volatile. The goals of these works are summed up by Burckhardt when he writes “Whereas the ‘lesser work’ has as its goal the regaining of the original purity and receptivity of the soul, the goal of the ‘greater work’ is the illumination of the soul by the revelation of the Spirit within it. This sequence of six stages can be transposed to all kinds of spiritual realization, but nevertheless it remains no more than a schema, for neither of the two movements (the ascent of the soul, the descent of the Spirit) can be entirely separated from the other” (Burckhardt 1997).
The labyrinth epitomizes and illustrates effectively these two stages in the alchemical process. Just as the stages in the alchemical process cannot be separated and must be seen as a whole, so also must the labyrinth be viewed in its entirety as a symbol of wholeness. These two stages are seen further in the sequence that you walk the circuits in the seven-circuit classical labyrinth. You first walk the three outer circuits corresponding to the three lower chakras and your physical existence here on earth—the spiritualization of the body. After moving through the fourth and heart circuit, you then walk the inner three circuits in the order of the chakras seven, six, five, which in effect is bringing down the Divine into the body, the embodiment of the Spirit.
In summary, alchemy illustrates how there are many different elements and aspects working together at one time to bring about transformation. In alchemy, just as in the labyrinth, the seven stages return to rest as one, the beginning of creation, and the four elements are resolved in a single point where their qualities come to rest, the quintessence.
Putting It All Together
The labyrinth journey is one among many esoteric journeys that you can take. What is significant about the labyrinth is that it incorporates many of the elements of the other paths and journeys. These ancient teachings become clearer through their relationship with the labyrinth, although interpretation of one’s place within the framework is not always so clear.
In walking the labyrinth, you are not only encountering the labyrinth as an isolated symbol, you are interacting with a multi-dimensional tool that carries the energies of several other symbolic systems of understanding and growth. The following exercise is one in which you as the labyrinth walker take a somewhat different approach than usual, focusing on the turns, the entry into each circuit, the refinement of your nature into a more purified state, and your passage through the gateways to a higher state of existence.
Exercise: How to Experience
Life’s Turns on the Labyrinth
This exercise is about walking the labyrinth to seek new experiences of how you become aware of subtle changes in yourself, and the relevance of these insights to your personal and spiritual growth. Some of life’s greatest teachings come from the significant turns and events in your life. These can be revealed in the labyrinth, where each turn can hold the energy of change through which you are moving. As discussed in the third chapter, moving your energy field through a turn of 180 degrees can have a significant effect on that field.
The alchemical aspect to this walk is associated with the seven alchemical stages of transformation, and in particular with the seven turning points, through which you transit on the labyrinth into another level of being. These are the points where you shift from one level of being to another. You can often miss these turns and shifts in life because you are too busy looking ahead on the path. Turning points are some of the most powerful and significant moments and stages that you can experience on your journey. Be aware of your turns and you are aware of your journey.
It is not necessary to remember each of the seven alchemical stages, or what they represent. What is important is that you walk with the intention of focusing on being aware of all sensations that you experience as you take the turns. Take each turn in as high a state of focus and awareness as you can. See if you can feel your body and energy body moving through the energy field of the labyrinth as you take each turn.
Once you have experienced the turn, proceed on the circuit with an awareness of being in a more elevated state. As each circuit brings you to a higher state of being, you arrive in the centre haven taken your seven turns to transformation. Stay in the centre for as long as feels comfortable, then walk out of the labyrinth holding as best as possible the state you are in. On the walk out of the labyrinth, be also aware of each of the seven turns that you are taking, of your heightened state on each circuit, to emerge from the labyrinth with an understanding of being the gold of an enlightened being.
Reflection
You have walked the labyrinth in awareness of yourself, and of what you were moving through. What thoughts, ideas, and memories came to mind? What did you notice on the turns in the labyrinth? Which part of the labyrinth was most prominent for you during the walk? Write down everything that comes to mind. When you have finished writing, read back over what you have written and consider what is new to you in what you have written and experienced. Underline or highlight what seems significant to you. What is significant is what is relevant to your path at this time.