'Labyrinths can vary from large-scale walkable ones to those that can be traced with a fingertip.'
Eye - 31 March 2023
Wending your way
‘A spiritual tool that… reduces stress, quiets the mind and opens the heart. It is a walking meditation, a path of prayer, and a blueprint where psyche meets Spirit.’ This description of labyrinths from Lauren Artress, founder of the organisation Veriditas, spoke to Eye.
Labyrinths can vary from large-scale walkable ones to those that can be traced with a fingertip.
They are not mazes to be puzzled out, but a single winding path that allows you to quieten and focus internally. Drawing them can be pretty therapeutic too. Eye first encountered them during a Yearly Meeting special interest group, where Barbara Childs, of Okehampton Meeting, showed Friends how to get started.
Barbara told Eye she has been drawing labyrinths for over twenty years. ‘I can’t explain why I find drawing, and then tracing around, labyrinths so relaxing… The best is when I can draw a simple one on a beach and then leave it to see if other people walk around it. My son bought me a handheld pottery one for a present, and one year I drew one as a design for all the Christmas cards I sent.’ If you would like to pen your own, Barbara has pointed the way to a worksheet to get you started: https://bit.ly/Guide2Labyrinths.
