The Labyrinth
In the early spring of 2012 my friend from Southern Alberta said “I’m going to build a labyrinth”. Nothing out of the ordinary there! She said “I know the direction of it from the pasture gate but I don’t know where the center is – could you help dowse that?” So on one weekend in April we located the center point. She had been given the number 52 in a dream and didn’t know what that meant – it turned out to be the radius of the Labyrinth – 104 feet in diameter outlined in field stone from the rock piles around the fields on the ranch. In excess of 30 tons of stone her husband estimates. That’s a lot of stone to be hauled and placed by hand!
I was there at the beginning of the construction and had some very interesting experiences while we were outlining the circle. We had a center peg and a rope with measurements marked on it so that the pathways could be outlined. When the first few lines of rocks were in place I began to be very dizzy each time I bent over to place a rock. The dizziness persisted until we got just past the halfway point and then the energy that had been building seemed to swirl around and complete the circle. That seemed to just swoosh into place and the labyrinth was locked into the space that had been energetically waiting for it.
It was a profound experience placing the stones, being there for the completion, holding a sunrise ceremony on the spring solstice, asking a blessing on the land, the labyrinth and the people, playing my flute and walking it on World Labyrinth Day. I felt connected to all of the old builders of stone – from those who were at Stonehenge, all of the standing stones of Europe and Britain, the makers of the Medicine Wheels and even those who laid down the tipi rings on the prairie. There was something timeless about seeing the paths of the Labyrinth laid out against the starkness of the dead grass of the hayfield. It was like being in a different space and time.
I had walked a couple of Labyrinths in the past but never anything of this magnitude. A Labyrinth is not a maze, you can’t get lost! It is however a well constructed path full of turns and returns until at last you reach the center, followed by a return by a parallel way out. For me it always feels like a journey to the center of my being – to who I really am and then as I return to the present space time reality I emerge different to the me that went in. I am clearer, more present and more authentically myself.
Thank you my dear friends Mary and Al.... for building and overseeing this amazing Labyrinth on this incredible land!
Please TAKE A MOMENT to watch this short video clip and get a feel for walking this grand Labyrinth.
I was there at the beginning of the construction and had some very interesting experiences while we were outlining the circle. We had a center peg and a rope with measurements marked on it so that the pathways could be outlined. When the first few lines of rocks were in place I began to be very dizzy each time I bent over to place a rock. The dizziness persisted until we got just past the halfway point and then the energy that had been building seemed to swirl around and complete the circle. That seemed to just swoosh into place and the labyrinth was locked into the space that had been energetically waiting for it.
It was a profound experience placing the stones, being there for the completion, holding a sunrise ceremony on the spring solstice, asking a blessing on the land, the labyrinth and the people, playing my flute and walking it on World Labyrinth Day. I felt connected to all of the old builders of stone – from those who were at Stonehenge, all of the standing stones of Europe and Britain, the makers of the Medicine Wheels and even those who laid down the tipi rings on the prairie. There was something timeless about seeing the paths of the Labyrinth laid out against the starkness of the dead grass of the hayfield. It was like being in a different space and time.
I had walked a couple of Labyrinths in the past but never anything of this magnitude. A Labyrinth is not a maze, you can’t get lost! It is however a well constructed path full of turns and returns until at last you reach the center, followed by a return by a parallel way out. For me it always feels like a journey to the center of my being – to who I really am and then as I return to the present space time reality I emerge different to the me that went in. I am clearer, more present and more authentically myself.
Thank you my dear friends Mary and Al.... for building and overseeing this amazing Labyrinth on this incredible land!
Please TAKE A MOMENT to watch this short video clip and get a feel for walking this grand Labyrinth.