7
The labyrinth is a symbol of death and rebirth. You release and let go of issues, emotions, and experiences in the labyrinth so that you no longer carry them with you. These issues are no longer in your life. They are dead for you. The writer and sculptor Michael Ayrton, who devoted much of his life to the study and depiction of Greek myths, takes this a step further. “Each man’s life is a labyrinth at the centre of which is his death” (Ayrton 1967). In his book The Maze Maker, Ayton writes, “Within the great maze of a man’s life are many smaller ones, each seemingly complete in itself, and in passing through each one he dies in part, for in each he leaves behind him a part of his life and it lies dead behind him” (Ayrton 1967).
Rather than consider death as negative, the labyrinth is calling us to consider the positive aspects of the many little deaths that we pass through in life, and especially the greater death of the physical body. The little deaths in life are those things, people, places, activities, and ways of behaving that we detach from, let go of, and leave behind. On your journey of self-discovery, your path of advancement is one of continually letting go of what is no longer of benefit. Ways of behaving that were the norm for you several years ago are now forgotten or seem like a distant memory. Your awareness and consciousness have changed, and you can no longer behave in ways that are not in alignment with your soul’s purpose; so too with people in your life.
When you look back at your life to date, you will notice that you have spent time with different groups of people and different individuals, some of whom you no longer have any contact with. It is almost as if these people have died; your time with them is over. Letting go of what no longer serves you creates space for something new to come into your life—for the birth of something new—the new you! The advantage of some things in your life dying back is that you can move forward more easily.
Another death on your labyrinth journey is the gradual death of attachment. The more steps you take on your journey, the more you become aware of what is important in your life. Your desire to want things and to accumulate possessions for their own sake diminishes. While you can still enjoy and appreciate the good things in life, you no longer need them to feel worthwhile and whole. Your sense of identity comes more from inside than from outward appearances and possessions.
The greater death of the physical body is one that may invoke fear in you. It does for many people. It is a subject that is not talked about much today. It certainly is not talked about enough. And when it is talked about it is usually in negative terms laced with fear and even foreboding. It is okay to feel fear, as long as it does not paralyze you and prevent you from living a meaningful and fulfilled life.
For many, fear of death stems from fear of the unknown. Yet, you cannot fear the unknown because you do not know what it is. It might be wonderful. The fear for many people is the fear of leaving the known behind. The basis for much of the fear of death is that we are not aware of whether this is as good as life gets, or if there is something much more wonderful awaiting us after the death of the physical body. Michael Newton, in his book Journey of Souls, writes, “Those who have just died are not devastated by their death, because they know those left on earth will see them again in the spirit world and probably later in other lives as well. On the other hand, mourners at a funeral feel they have lost a loved one forever” (Newton 1994).
It is this sense of loss and ending, this finality to our time here on earth, that brings up our deepest fears. One of the greatest fears is the sense that there is nothing after the death of the body. Nobody has come back from the dead to tell us what happens after death. We can, however, get some indication from those who have clinically died for a short time and come back to life. For many people, accounts of near-death experiences results in a loss of their fear of death. Not all of us can experience such pivotal life-changing near-death experiences. Yet, there is a reason for those who have. It is to provide insights for them into their lives, and to provide reassurance to those of us who have not had their experiences.
You might argue that a wonderful afterlife is based solely on faith. However, you have an innate sense of the truth of the accounts of the afterlife. These accounts may trigger some subconscious, or superconscious, memory that you recognize. You may feel just a slight feeling of excitement, or a sensation deep within you that is your confirmation of the veracity of these accounts.
One reason that we consider life on earth to be the best thing to experience is that there is nothing to compare it to. Maybe life on this planet is one of the worst there is. Many people at times wish for something better. There are certainly some tough times in most people’s lives. I have often described our lives on earth as being like an army assault course. We have to metaphorically climb over walls, crawl through mud, under barbed wire, jump into ice cold water, and make our way through many other physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging exercises. Newton describes the journey that many souls go through on earth as being like a battlefield from which they must recover in the spirit world (Newton 1994). You have your life experiences so that you can learn from them. Although, some of them may present as so extreme that any thought of seeing them from the viewpoint of your soul’s journey through many lifetimes is often lost. The greatest of these experiences could be your death, or your fear of it.
There is also the possibility that what awaits us after death is not all bliss and wonderful. Perhaps another labyrinth is there for us to travel through. The bardo that Buddhists believe we pass through after death and before reincarnating could well be described as a type of labyrinth through which we often need help to make our way. It is thought that while in the bardo between death and rebirth, the consciousness of the deceased person can still receive assistance through words and prayers spoken on its behalf. This assistance can help it navigate through the confusion that it might be experiencing so that it can be reborn into a new life that offers a greater chance of attaining enlightenment.
The classical labyrinth can also be viewed according to John Michell as a “chart of the soul’s progress from death to rebirth” (Michell 1988), embracing both the subterranean world and the rings of the heavens as described by Plato. The great majority of souls who take the path leading to the centre of the labyrinth find themselves weighed down by the earthly part of their nature, and having briefly glimpsed the heavenly centre, return out of the labyrinth and fall back into rebirth. Those few souls who attain the centre enter that region of pure intelligence farthest removed from mundane illusions.
You have a choice to enter the labyrinth of life and death or to avoid facing whatever fears are coming up for you. Fear is the opposite of love, and on your journey of self-discovery you are learning to live less in fear and more in love. Eventually all that will prevail is love. Your soul’s journey in its earthly incarnations is one of learning not to be influenced or overcome by fear. Replacing this great fear of physical death with love will bring you closer to an understanding and knowing of yourself as an infinite being. When you have contemplated your death, and faced any fears that you have about it, you free yourself up to live a fearless life. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.
Death and the Labyrinth
Some labyrinths have been associated with death and funerary rites through the ages. At Hadrumentum in North Africa there is a Roman family tomb with a fourfold labyrinth mosaic floor that has a dying Minotaur in the centre and a mosaic inscription HIC INCLUSUS VITAM PERDIT: “Enclosed here, he loses life” (Kern 2000). There is a stone labyrinth at Lassa in Uppland, Sweden, located at the end of an ancient road along which it was thought the dead would be pulled on carts to their burial sites in the cairns and mounds surrounding the labyrinth. Several other labyrinths have been found in Scandinavia close to gallows hills, serving these places of the dead.
In his article “Stone Labyrinths in Arctic Norway,” Bjørnar Olsen proposes that several stone labyrinths at the northern tip of Europe “served as a material metaphor to conceptualize the transition from life into death” (Olsen 1996). A significant feature of the location of these labyrinths is that all are situated on or near Saami (Lapp) burial grounds. He goes on to write that these labyrinths played a symbolic role in this rite of passage, where the shaman entered the labyrinth as a representative of the deceased to assist them in moving through this difficult post-death phase.
There is a labyrinth carved inside an ancient underground tomb at Luzzanas in Sardinia. There are questions as to whether the labyrinth carving is of the same age as the tomb, so this labyrinth’s associations with death and burial are unclear. Most of the ancient rock carvings of labyrinths in Galicia, Spain, and in Valcamonica, Italy, have their enetrances facing west—the traditional direction associated with death, due to the sun setting in the west. Interestingly also, and remarkably, according to Kern, “the entrances of nearly all manuscript labyrinths face west. The same is true of the vast majority of church labyrinths” (Kern 2000).
The Tohono O’odham or Papago Indians of Southern Arizona have a form of the seven-circuit classical labyrinth with a human figure at the mouth, which is at the top, woven into baskets known as “The Man in the Maze.” There are several interpretations of the meaning of the figure in this pattern. One is that it is a human figure representing the O’odham people, and the “maze” represents the journey to find meaning in life, with the twists and turns representing life’s events. The centre represents death and the beginning of a new journey (Duryee 2007). Another is that the figure is their god I’itoi who lives on the top of their sacred mountain, Babiquovari. The labyrinth is the winding path leading to his home that is so long and torturous that no one has ever found the house’s exact location.
The snakelike path of the labyrinth also carries associations of death as it changes direction several times. The turn towards the left is associated with death as it is the opposite direction to the way the sun travels. Turns towards the right are associated with life. During the whole labyrinth walk, the repeated turns in both directions symbolise the many little deaths that you undergo, and the new areas of your life that you are turning into.
The serpentine turnings also carry the symbolism of the snake shedding its old skin, emerging renewed with its new shiny coat. This is akin to us shedding our illusions and limitations in the labyrinth. On a deeper level, the snake shedding its skin symbolises death and rebirth. According to John James, the snake also “has a beneficent side—that of wisdom.” And the snake that consumes itself was “the symbol of death and knowledge, of perfection and of power. It is circular, and consumes itself only to be reborn, and hence has much in common with the labyrinth” (James 1977). In the labyrinth, you are reborn into knowledge and wisdom, leaving behind the living death of unawareness.
The Minotaur in the labyrinth can also be seen as symbolizing death or our fear of death. The myth of Theseus encountering the Minotaur is a tale of death-defying magnitude. When Theseus decides to face the Minotaur without any guarantee of the outcome, he faces his probable death. Furthermore, as the labyrinth is almost inescapable, his quest most likely means that he would not return. The symbolism of Theseus no longer existing carries for us the fear of nothingness. Yet, as soon as Theseus grasps the thread that Ariadne presented to him, he gained a clue (clew of thread) to help him emerge from the labyrinth. When you decide to face the unknown, particularly in the form of your death, there is assistance and guidance available to you giving you a greater sense of determination and purpose. Facing your death gives your life meaning.
The labyrinth has many associations with moving from one state of being into another, including being seen as a supernatural doorway between this life and what comes afterwards. The symbolic representation that the labyrinth provides of death marks the end of one way of being and the beginning of another. The person entering the labyrinth leaves behind one way and is born into another.
More common associations between the labyrinth and death revolve around the labyrinth as a vessel within which the person interacting with the labyrinth explores and experiences the death of certain aspects of the personality and ego, to be reborn into a new person. Furthermore, according to Kern, “In the labyrinth, a person is surrounded by it, isolated and cut off from his or her familiar environment. For that person, familiar surroundings have died. There is no way back, only the inevitable path forward, with a change of direction at the centre. The path from a former existence into confinement, is the path of death” (Kern 2000). But it is the exploring of the death of the physical body that can bring the greatest insights into this lifetime for you.
The labyrinth offers a safe vessel within which you can access varied states of consciousness and different dimensions. As an experienced labyrinth walker, it is possible to bring yourself to whatever state and whatever place you choose. It may take practise, but in time you can access whatever wisdom you seek. Transcending your fear of the death of your physical body in the labyrinth can release you from conscious and subconscious fears that you are carrying with you. The following exercise is one way of exploring your infinite being in the labyrinth.
Exercise: Death on the Labyrinth
This is an advanced labyrinth walk exercise. It is best done with someone you trust and someone who has experience working with the labyrinth such as a trained facilitator or a trained counsellor. It is a powerful and deep practice that you need to be able to carry out in a safe and undisturbed environment. You can also call on your angels, guides, and invisible helpers to be with you during the walk. You are going to experience, on a theoretical and energetic level, the death of the physical body that you now occupy.
At the entrance of the labyrinth, picture yourself as you are now in your life. Begin walking, and as you walk, see in your mind all the dreams, hopes, and thoughts that you have for the future. Work through all the things that you would like to do while you are here on earth. When you have gone through everything that you want to do, see where you are on the labyrinth. Are you near the centre? Take a mental note for later of the place where you feel that you have fulfilled all your life’s work.
If you are not at the entrance to the centre of the labyrinth, slowly make your way to the entrance to the centre of the labyrinth, representative of the moment that you leave your physical body. At the point where you enter the centre of the labyrinth, imagine what it would be like for your soul to leave your physical body, or for your physical body to fade away and be no more. If you can, lie down in the centre of the labyrinth and lay still. If you feel comfortable doing so, close your eyes. Again, visualize what it would be like for you to no longer have a physical body.
Preferably with your eyes closed, allow your thoughts and consciousness to take you where it will, as far as possible. Keep your mind clear and let go of any judgement of what is happening. Stay in a state of awareness and observation, noting what you are feeling and sensing.
When your thoughts return to your physical body, focus on being fully present in your body. Keep your eyes closed for a short while longer, and when you feel ready, open your eyes. Allow yourself time to readjust to your surroundings, to being in a physical body. Feel your presence in every part of your body: your head, your torso, your legs, your feet and toes, your arms and hands. Feel aliveness in your whole body. Allow yourself plenty of time for you to come back to being fully present in your physical body. Slowly rise and get ready to make your way out of the labyrinth. The walk back out of the labyrinth is about you coming back into the world with new awareness.
Reflection
Immediately after the walk, write down any thoughts that came to you during any aspect of this walk—particularly while in the centre where you visualized yourself leaving your physical body.
Write about how you felt during the walk. Write about any fears that came up for you. Write about the people who came to mind during the walk.
Contemplate the following questions: How have your views of the death of the body changed? What will you consider doing differently after this walk? What is the most important thing for you to do in your life?