A maze for meditation
There are more than 70 publicly accessible labyrinths in the Greater Bay Area; 15 in San Francisco alone. You find them in schoolyards and courtyards, in naves and parks, even on a cliff. At Lands End, for example, above a hidden cove, there is a stone labyrinth that is particularly popular during equinoxes and solstices (see p. 122). These labyrinths vary in design—from classical to Cretan, from 7 to 11 circuits, from 24 to 60 feet across—and they vary in materials, too. One is made of herbs, beans and flowers; another, from pack cloth and rope. Others are painted on concrete or wood. One is designed for the blind.
The most notable of all these are the two atop Nob Hill at Grace Cathedral, the Episcopal church that opened in 1964 and is distinguished by its French Gothic design. In 1991, the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, a priest long associated with the cathedral, went on sabbatical and, by accident or providence, discovered the mystery and power of labyrinths. Upon her return, she oversaw the precise reproduction of the medieval eleven-circuit labyrinth found at the cathedral at Chartres. The first rendering was on canvas, then in a tapestry, and in 1995, a terrazzo labyrinth was laid out in the Grace Cathedral Interfaith Meditation Garden. Two years later, a second labyrinth, made of limestone, was built into the floor in the nave.
Info
Address 1100 California Street, San Francisco, CA, 94108, www.gracecathhedral.org, +1 415.749.6300 | Public Transport Bus: 1 (Clay St & Mason St stop); 27 (Leavenworth St & California St stop) | Hours Daily 8am–6pm| Tip For a perfect Mai Tai, visit the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar at 950 Mason Street, the Fairmont Hotel’s tropical lounge and a local institution since 1945.
Reverend Artress has been credited with restoring the labyrinth—as well as the practice of walking meditation—to the Christian tradition. There are three stages in the “feeling journey” through a labyrinth. The first is Purgation, or releasing, which is done on the way to the center. Once there, the ritual calls for Receiving, which consists of meditation or prayer. And then on the Return, one reaches out to one’s higher power, whatever that might be. It can be a process of both spiritual insight and personal redemption.
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