English Labyrinth

There are many purposes for labyrinth walks, including  monthly full moon labyrinth walks for women,  Lent walks at churches, labyrinth gatherings for the World Day of Prayer,  hope and healing labyrinths in hospital settings. We are constantly hearing about labyrinth events and gatherings happening all around the world

There is a comprehensive list of events on the Labyrinth Society Event Calendar.

Moonlight Labyrinth Walk

Maui Labyrinth

Labyrinth facilitators around the world hosted labyrinth walks on January 22nd as an opportunity to provide healing for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake. Events were held throughout the United States and also in Canada, South Africa, Japan and the Netherlands.  Read entire article.

Global Labyrinth Prayer Walk For Haitian Earthquake Recovery

We are always delighted to read about new labyrinth installations. This article describes a new labyrinth project at Juniata College in PA.

On every college campus there is a student center, but where can students go to become centered? On the Juniata College campus, stressed-out scholars can head to Beeghly Library and “walk” the newly installed labyrinth, an ancient aid to meditation or prayer.

A labyrinth is a maze-like structure laid out on a flat surface, but the labyrinth differs from mazes in that mazes are complex puzzles featuring choices of path and direction, while a labyrinth has just a single path that leads to the center. Juniata’s circular labyrinth is constructed in paver bricks and forms a contemplative study space near the north end of Beeghly Library.

“To ‘walk’ the labyrinth you start and follow the meandering math until it leads you to the center,” explains David Witkovsky, chaplain at Juniata. “The metaphor is that as you walk toward the center, you clear your mind and find your own center. The center of a labyrinth is designed so you can stand or sit in the center if you are feeling meditative or prayerful.”

Juniata’s labyrinth was installed this fall as the class gift from the college’s class of 2009. The project cost $15,000 and the class raised $13,380 for the gift. About 71 percent of the class contributed to the gift. The labyrinth, which is shaped as a circle, was installed by Tussey Mountain Landscaping.

Labyrinths date back more than 4,000 years and archeologists have found the pattered structures in sites in Crete, India, Egypt and Goa. In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was built by Daedelus to house the Minotaur, a ferocious half-man, half-bull that was killed by the Athenian warrior Theseus. The mythological labyrinth is described as a maze, which has lent confusion to how modern labyrinths can be used.

“The labyrinth doesn’t have to have an overtly religious connotation, it really predates Christianity and many other religions,” Witkovsky says. “It’s a very old method of contemplation used (by cultures) all over the world.”

The labyrinth form became associated with churches in the Middle Ages, when Christians who could not make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land instead visited cathedrals and made a pilgrimage through the labyrinths set in stone on the floors of the great churches. The pattern in Juniata’s labyrinth is the same pattern used in the labyrinth at the historic medieval cathedral at Chartres, France.

“Typically, people start quickly and then slow down as they find their own rhythm and pace,” Witkovsky explains. “As you walk out of the labyrinth, the idea is that you leave behind any worries or stress and then you’re ready to re-enter the world.”

Witkovsky is planning a spring event to “christen” the new quadrangle feature, although students already use the space as a study site. He plans to hold an educational talk and demonstration on how to walk the labyrinth, tentatively scheduled for the college’s annual Springfest.

Juniata has held labyrinth events for the past few years, using a canvas labyrinth that rolls out onto a floor. The college uses the Sill Boardroom for most of its labyrinth events. Typically the campus ministry office advertises an opportunity to use the labyrinth once or twice a semester, usually around Christian Holy Days, such as Easter, Rosh Hashanah or Ash Wednesday. The college also has held events on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I see the labyrinth becoming part of our traditional events such as Springfest, Homecoming and Commencement,” Witkovsky says.

Ashland, OR

Without any fanfare, a new labyrinth, made of natural stones, has sprung up in Ashland’s railroad district, where it is offered as “a gift to the community” and a place to “center yourself in the big picture that surrounds us.”

Created in the tiny, 21-foot-wide front yard of the Ashland Yoga Center at the corner of Fourth and B streets, the labyrinth invites the public to wander a seemingly aimless, stone-lined path to the center, where users have left notes with smiley faces and the word “love.”

Read the entire article here.

Encinitas, CA

For the fourth year in a row, local artist Kirk Van Allyn, affectionately known as Kirkos to his devoted fans, painstakingly began creating an elaborate meditation labyrinth in the sand.

Against the bluffs sat an odd collection of tools including custom-made hybrids of lightweight fishing rods attached to squeegees and rakes, stainless steel angles and arches, and hollow pointed tubes.

Groups of people sat or stood to wait out Kirkos’ latest creation —- what he calls “mathematical poetry in the sand.”

Two hours later, the 150-foot diameter labyrinth with sections of added iridescent colored sand, flowers and rocks, all surrounding a concave mirror encircled with dried vines, was complete. Then, at Kirkos’ direction, people began walking the geometric design.

Its purpose is to serve as a “meditative walking tool.”

“As you walk, you say, ‘I don’t know where I am in the twists and turns, but sooner or later I will get there,’” said Kirkos. “Sort of a metaphor of life.”

The Grandview location was “supposed to be a secret” according to Kirkos, who said that the more than 1,000 people that gathered for the event in 2009 at Stone Steps in Encinitas caused “traffic problems.”

Word spread through the seaside community and many more people happened upon the labyrinth, unsure of what was taking place, but intrigued.

“We just got lucky and stumbled on this,” said Jose Garcia of Encinitas as he and his wife, Barbara, walked along the beach with friends visiting from Tuscon for the Holiday Bowl.

“I thought he was measuring for some sort of movie production,” he added with a laugh.

Sculptor Lia Strell of San Elijo Hills came down to the beach specifically to support her fellow artist. She and her husband, Richie, and daughter Cori Anna have decided to make walking the labyrinth a New Year’s Day tradition. As a former resident of Leucadia, Lia said she had seen Kirkos’ labyrinths “pop up mysteriously” along the coastal stretch for years and had considered it a good luck omen and like “finding a treasure.”

“I think it is very cool because a labyrinth has only one way in and one way out,” said Cori Anna, a 12-year-old seventh-grade student at San Elijo Middle School. “Plus it’s very pretty and colorful, and we get to do it on the beach and it all biodegrades.”

Veriditas Labyrinth Dinner, Lecture, and Walk with Lauren Artress

Sunday, January 31, 2010
5:30 PM to approximately 8:30 PM
Sunday, January 31, 2010

Reservations are required. $60 per events.  For group discounts, call the office at 707-283-0373.

Visit the Veriditas site for information and registration

The evenings include:

• Labyrinth walk on the IONS Veriditas Labyrinth or indoor labyrinth depending on weather)
• Lecture on The Mystery and Meaning of the Labyrinth, using the labyrinth as a transformative practice
• Dinner of California fresh cuisine

The IONS Retreat Center is a beautiful collection of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces located on the IONS campus in Petaluma, California. Just 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Retreat Center is on 200 acres of beautiful rolling hills. It offers such gifts as pristine live oak woodlands, meandering hiking trails, and endless panoramic vistas of the California landscape.

Since we started selling Chakra Candles, we have been learning about Chakras, and their associated colors, scents, and power centers.

Chakra Candles

Found an interesting chart to share. It doesn’t quite fit on our blog layout, but you can see the entire chart at chakraenergy.com

We have added new products to the website. Check out the Feng Shui Candles and the pillar and votive Chakra Candles.

Feng Sui Jar Candles

Here’s an interesting article we found about using candles in Feng Shui decorating.  Written by Jennifer Hall for  Enchanted Spirit.

The basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When one of these five elements — water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, respectively for the productive cycle — are combined with an element adjacent to the main element, a productive cycle is perpetuated.
Water sustains wood, wood feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates metal, and metal holds water. So if you have a room where wood is the main element, it would be good Feng Shui to add a water or fire element to the room, as water feeds wood and wood feeds fire. This is where candles would be a nice touch of good Feng Shui.

It is beneficial to bear in mind the productive and destructive cycles while decorating, but for optimum Feng Shui, a room would have an equal balance of all five elements — none being too overpowering. If this isn’t the case and there is not one overpowering element, then the productive cycle is a good place to start when decorating.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the elements, we can see how to best utilize candles in our decorating. In areas with predominately metal or water elements — rooms which would have a lot of blue or silver colors or metallic furnishings — a candle would help minimize the overpowering colors and add balance.

If you want to start using Feng Shui in a room with no overpowering elements, you could bring in a candle and a complimentary element like a plant or a brown oval rug since that color and shape are associated with the earth element.

Candles can be an easy way to bring a natural element into your home and can be a good starting place for implementing Feng Shui design. Not to mention that scented candles are often great Feng Shui because of the mood-enhancing qualities certain scents have. Candles provide a simple start in creating a pleasant ambiance and good decorating style.