Welcome to the Comunity Labyrinth
Alex Waters
Welcome to Community Labyrinth!
What is the Labyrinth?
The labyrinth is a an ancient symbol that dates back over 4000 years and was found in many cultures across the world (Celtic, Greek, Native American, Indian, Mayan, and African). Labyrinth symbols were found in the landscape, on coins, tiles, pottery, tablets, jewellery and so on. This powerful pattern was associated with healing rituals, spiritual pilgrimage, community cohesion, fertility and birth/rebirth. The pattern itself is a combination of the imagery of the circle and the spiral, where one path meanders purposefully towards the centre.
In a maze, there are many paths, dead-ends and blind alleys whereas in a labyrinth there is only one path so our choice is simple…we have only to decide whether to enter or not. The path is unicursal - the way in is also the way out! The single path is a vibrant metaphor for Life’s Journey, a journey to our own centre/essence and back out again into the world, where we return to our community with a better insight into who we are and how we can contribute with our particular gifts (comparable to the Hero’s Journey).
Why walk the Labyrinth?
The archetypal nature of this symbol reawakens the collective unconscious memory and so when we walk the labyrinth we walk in the footsteps of our Ancestors in a sacred space.
Walking the path can aid relaxation, meditation, reflection, insight, comfort, creativity and transformation. It teaches us about wholeness and how to ‘re-member’ ourselves and our path. The action of moving through the labyrinth can produce a sense of well-being and balance as it stimulates the vestibular system in the brain, engaging both the right and left brain hemispheres.
Walking the labyrinth invites mindfulness: we can turn our focus to letting go/welcoming in, resistance & surrender/acceptance, sights & sounds, sensation & synchronicity, terrain & boundaries, twists & turns, clarity & disorientation, the lost & the found…in short, paying attention to all of your experiences in the labyrinth will yield insight into how you walk through Life’s Journey!
The Classical Labyrinth
This design is the oldest labyrinth form and was found on Cretan coins at the palace of Knossos; it also has obvious associations with the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The seven folds within this design also correlate to the seven chakras, or energy-centres, in the body.
My own journey with the labyrinth began with the Classical Labyrinth (also known as the Cretan and seven-fold labyrinth) in 1993…I was instantly bewitched! Whilst I have enjoyed many of the other labyrinth forms, it is with this ancient pattern that I feel the most depth, healing and resonance.
After working with this labyrinth within a mystery tradition I began to facilitate labyrinths for groups and individuals from 1997 to the present day. Consequently it is the Classical form that I predominantly choose to work with as a labyrinth facilitator.