By Christine McCullough, MA
The stars studded the early Spring evening like proverbial diamonds. A cool breeze blew off the bay, causing a few of the women present to shiver slightly as they waited. The torches wavered briefly as they were lit, then shone steadily to reveal the pattern traced onto the close cropped grass. The pattern, traced in white cornmeal, seemed to glow with an otherworldly light.
As the evocative, mystical sound of Hildegard of Begin's music began, a choir's voice, like the sound of angels in the still, dark, night, the women began to walk in silence along the ancient path into the depths of time itself.
Earlier that afternoon, under a blazing spring sun and under the watchful eyes of three rabbits, (no doubt the Mother, Maiden, Crone of their species) Vici Williams and I had spent over two hours laboriously tracing the ancient pattern of a seven circuit labyrinth on the grass. Vici Williams and I had been invited to participate in the YWCA's Women's Wellness Weekend as a co-presenters of this sacred circle of healing
Thirty-six women gathered to hear our brief lecture on the ancient origins of this holy and mysterious image. Found all over Europe, etched into megalithic stone in Sardinia, (circa 2000 BC), painted on Etruscan vases (600 BC), stamped into Cretan coins (450 BC) and scratched into the adobe of Oraibi cliff dwellings in the American Southwest (1200 AD), this simple, yet elegantly complex, symbol has survived the flow and forgetfulness of time itself to re-emerge at this profound time of paradigm shift on our planet. The classic seven circuit labyrinth was known the world over, yet its purpose was remembered only by the bones of the ancients. Then suddenly, in the Middle Ages, a miraculous transformation took place. The simple seven circuit path was developed into a new design with eleven concentric rings, linked together to form a single path leading to the center. The distinctly Christian image of the cruciform became visible throughout the pattern. This new labyrinth, sometimes referred to as "the road to Jerusalem" was inscribed on the floors of the great Cathedrals dedicated to the Mother of God. Pilgrims who could not make the journey to the Holy Lands instead walked, or at times crawled, the path on a symbolic journey of communion with the Divine, a pilgrimage of the healing of the soul.
When in 1995, Rev. Lauren Artress authored "Walking the Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth As a Spiritual Tool", she ushered in a new and vital awareness of the power of this wonderful experience. And what began as a meditative tool for 20th century pilgrims, (Rev. Artress created Labyrinths for several cathedrals here in the ), began to spread slowly into the mainstream consciousness. Labyrinths suddenly began springing up in people's back yards as well as in hospitals, churches and nursing homes. In fact, they are beginning to be experienced almost anyplace where people have a need to connect to their own vital and deeply personal center of healing.
Vici Williams has made this tool available for the last eight years through the auspices of The Women's Sacred Art Festival and Exhibit . Every October, in the quiet and magical churchyard of St.Columba's in
Portsmouth, the Labyrinth Walk has drawn hundreds of modern pilgrims into a journey of deep reflection. The symbol"s connections to the ancient energies of the Archetypal Mother had made it a natural point of focus for this very special Women's celebration.
The women begin to walk, one by one, tracing the path towards the center. There they each pause for a moment, to reflect, to pray, to think, to feel, before retracing their steps outward again.
The silence is beautifully deep, hanging in the air side by side with the notes of song. The women begin, unconsciously, to weave a wondrous pattern in their movements past each other. One can only describe it as reverential. And, despite the damp chill which is beginning to creep into our bones, they wait...silently and respectfully...until the last participant has finished.
Silently we return to camp. Most of the women have stayed to share their experiences. And the experiences are poignant...deep...evocative... and supremely meaningful. Many describe the awareness of viewing their own life's turnings, and the milestones strived for, reached or missed. For others the path represented life's journey where we feel, sometimes we are so near a goal only to have it snatched away, and then turn up again...and we realize it was never far from us at all. Others remarked on the beauty of the "dance" as strangers met each other at a cross roads and allowed the other to pass. For some the metaphor carried deeper significance....Life and Death....that Eternal Dance. All were moved.
As we sat together, a conclave of women, sharing our heartfelt experience, joined in a depth of community as ancient as time itself, it became obvious that one needn't be searching for a particular answer or need to understand just what the experience was suppose to evoke in order to benefit from its power. Indeed, the very action of meditative walking creates a mindfulness which transcends the outer world of worry and distraction to move the pilgrim to a deeper and more personally meaningful understanding of their own life's journey. In this lies the power of this simple path which leads one to the center of one's soul and back home again.