The Labyrinth
A labyrinth is a convoluted pathway leading to its center.
There are an infinite number of designs but all have an entry point and there is only one path that will lead eventually to the center. All you have to do is follow the path. Professor Gailand MacQueen writes: “From ancient times, the labyrinth has been used in rituals at the most important moments in life. Although we don’t always know exactly how, its structure, as well as its placement at gravesides, seacoasts, and healing sites, suggest that it was used in rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage, sickness and death, as well as initiation into secret societies or elders’ groups. Like all rites of passage and initiation ceremonies, walking the labyrinth is structured as a pilgrimage with three parts. First comes the journey inward, toward the sacred space where change happens. Next, time is spent at the center, where the new life begins. Finally, there is the journey outward, the return of the transformed person to the world, often with a new identity.”
Our operative brethren felt them important enough to add to their architectural splendors and to put their marks on them.
Like our rituals in Freemasonry, walking the labyrinth is a symbolic journey. It is a metaphor for life.
In a labyrinth there is only one path. The only decision you make is whether or not to start. The path has many twists and turns but it steadily and surely takes you to the center. However it takes you many places before you get there. Most labyrinths make you walk in a general clockwise direction, just as we do in our perambulations. The winding path of the labyrinth is much like the journey of Freemasonry.
You can trust the path to take you to the center eventually, no matter where you happen to be at the moment.
Thus, the labyrinth is a powerful symbol of the unity of our life path and of the center that awaits, wherever we are on the path. Alternatively, we might say that the labyrinth is a symbol of God, who is both the center we seek and the path that gets us there.
Like being in the tyled recesses of a Masonic lodge, walking the labyrinth is a peaceful reflective pursuit. During your journey you think on your life, where you have been and where you want to go. By the end of the walk, you know yourself better, something Masons are admonished to do.
It represents a good journey through life: it enables us to have a virtuous clean and wonderful life.
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