How Our Labyrinth Design is Unique Twenty acres is a lot of land to cover with a labyrinth. Because the area available for this project is wooded, sloping and uneven, and has a wetland area and a brook running through it, Cynthia had to get creative about the design. Below is a series of drawings showing how she adapted a classical seven-path labyrinth design to fit the space available.
This is a classical 7 path labyrinth. To learn more about labyrinths in general, click on this image.
This is how the path looks that you would actually walk on. Notice that the walk pattern is 3,2,1,4,7,6,5. Follow this path with your eyes.
Now we've taken the same path pattern and flattened it a bit, as if we were opening it up.
Now we've opened the path pattern up a bit more. Notice how it now looks like a human brain. Hmmm.
Just a bit more tweaking and now we have an adapted classical labyrinth path that fits the terrain. This opening up of the pattern was necessary because of the wetland areas we can't easily cross. This diagram is still just an artist's representation of the path. If you took the path-line and made it squiggly, as if drawn with a shaky hand, that would be closer to how the path actually is.
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Here you can see our future vision for the Labyrinth. Notice how the natural features of the land (the wetland areas, the ridges, the pond, the old stone wall, etc.) determined what the nature of the path should be. We hope to clear small areas for quiet meditation and to designate sites for sculpture that would be accessible with a truck. Hopefully, someday this can be the site of a second SculptureFest here in the Woodstock area.
Why this odd pattern still functions as a Labyrinth:
Because of its great size, you cannot "see" the labyrinth pattern as you are walking -- but you definately "feel" it. Because this path has the same number of circuits, with the proper
turns in the proper direction, and because Cynthia made a point of each
path "kissing" neighboring paths at critical junctures, there is no
doubt that one is walking a Labyrinth. Actually, the experience one has in this Labyrinth is much truer to the spiritual meaning of a labyrinth than on any other. Because you are walking for a long time, you have the real sense of "journeying" on a path that closely represents what life is like with all its twists and turns, ups and downs. If you walk with others (and you spread out) you see others along the path, some ahead, some behind. Sometimes when it looks like you are going in opposite directions, you are still actually coming to the same place. Much meaning and insight can be absorbed by pondering how this path is like life's journey.
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Please help us repair our Labyrinth! Can
you see this huge tree that fell across the path in the recent spring
storms? This is only one of many that came down. Actually, every winter
is hard on our Labyrinth. Trees fall, erosion happens, areas flood,
rocks emerge. Our first task each spring is to clear away the winter
damage. This is a big job for guys with chainsaws. In addition, we hope
to make improvements every year (path widening and leveling, outlooks
and meditation spots created, drainage fixed, etc.) We would love it if
you'd contribute by making a donation, large or small, through PayPal?
It would help us keep the Labyrinth open. How to donate:Click
on the Paypal button. I have set the amount at $1. Enter in the
"Quantity" area the number of times you want to multiply this by to
render the correct amount. (To make a $50 donation, enter 50.) We
really need help this year and would be grateful for your support.
