Like many others, I learned about the labyrinth during the great labyrinth revival in the 1990’s. Although I had been to Chartres, France, many years prior to this revival, I had been unaware of the presence of the greatest labyrinth of the medieval Christian world because it was covered with pews! However, in the last decade of the twentieth century the spiritual press was full of stories of new and wonderful labyrinths being built around the continent and in 1993 I was able to visit the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
At the time I was intrigued, but the whole business seemed rather “new agey”. However, I quickly decided that “new agey” was better then “old agey” and decided to build an outdoor rock labyrinth of considerable size. Fortunately, St. Michael’s Retreat in Lumsden, Saskatchewan kindly sponsored my work.
At St. Michael’s, I found a lovely sheltered coulee on the 250-acre site and was provided with about ten tons of rock. The centre stone and entrance stone, each about a metre high, was placed by front-end loader. Myself, pushing a wheelbarrow, moved the rest of the rock!
While building this labyrinth, (in the Classical style), over a period of a month, I had time to reflect on what I was doing and how my work was related to that of many other “labyrinth enthusiasts” around the world.
The next year I completed a log labyrinth at the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer in Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan and my eyes were opening to an extraordinarily rich and diverse relationship between traditional Christian theology and the creative impulse. Here was a new context in which theological ideas could be found or given meaning.
There are two common types of labyrinth, Classic, (or Cretan) and Chartres. The existing labyrinth at Queenswood is in Classic style. Having already completed two labyrinths in Classic style, I am now proposing to build a Chartres style labyrinth.
The labyrinth form has appeared in many widely different cultures in different ages and clearly meant different things in each culture where it has been found.
Today, it is the use of the labyrinth as a place for healing that is most prevalent.
Walking the labyrinth is often seen as an image of our journey through life. It is a time for reflection, for inner transformation.
Although building a labyrinth can be very hard work, I have always found it to be “calming” and a very fulfilling activity.
A labyrinth is a remarkable place where most people can find real peace in the midst of the difficulties of life.
Terry Marner,
Victoria, British Columbia
Photo by Stefan Jonsson.
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