Walking the Labyrinth: A Spiritual and Practical Guide

Walking the Labyrinth

Sally Welch is an Anglican priest in Oxford. She trained as a labyrinth facilitator at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and since 2006 has led many workshops and labyrinth walks in the Diocese of Oxford. Her book Making a Pilgrimage (Lion Hudson) was published in 2009.

Walking the Labyrinth

A Spiritual and Practical Guide

Sally Welch

Copyright information

© Sally Welch 2010

First published in 2010 by the Canterbury Press Norwich

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The Author has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this Work

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

978 1 84825 003 1

Typeset by Regent Typesetting, London

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

J.F. Print, Sparkford

Contents

Foreword by the Bishop of Reading

Introduction

1. What is a Labyrinth?

2. A Brief History of Labyrinths

3. Labyrinths in the Christian Tradition

4. Why Should Our Church Use a Labyrinth?

5. Using a Labyrinth

6. Building a Temporary Labyrinth

7. Staging a Labyrinth Event

Resources and Bibliography

Labyrinth Liturgies: Journeying through Advent and Lent

Acknowledgements

Foreword

When I served at Peterborough Cathedral there was a lady in the congregation with a passion for labyrinths. Apart from a visit to Chartres years earlier – and even then I seem to remember that this most famous of labyrinths was covered in chairs – this was not something I knew much about. Her enthusiasm inspired me, and once a month we would roll out a large canvas labyrinth in the north transept of the cathedral and open for business.

Astonishingly, we found people making special visits to the cathedral on these Saturdays so as to walk the labyrinth. Others wanted to come for labyrinth workshops. Before long we had a little labyrinth ministry up and running.

But for me the most beautiful part was walking the labyrinth for the first time. As in all new journeys, the first step was the hardest, but once inside I was both held by the inevitability of the journey – one step in front of another – and also vulnerable: I knew where I was going – the pathway wound inexorably to the centre – but I didn’t know what I was going to find when I got there. And although I secretly wanted to lock the door of the cathedral and walk it on my own, of course a labyrinth is usually walked – like the journey of life – in the company of others. Some you are glad to have at your side. Some are more demanding. And you walk the same road together, but not always at the same pace or in the same way. While you head to the centre, some are returning to the edge. Together you inhabit the labyrinth, and your walking within it, your to and fro from edge to centre and back again, feels like participation in a beautiful, silent dance.

Little children will skip round playfully. The weary will meander and rest along the way, enjoying the sustenance that comes from slowing down. The agitated will stride forwards, seeking direction. For those who hurt, a cross is carried. For those who are sad, there is time to remember.

And when you get to the centre, beautiful and unpredictable things happen: sometimes a burden is laid down; sometimes a challenge is picked up; sometimes just the stopping is enough; sometimes we need to be turned around immediately. Sometimes it is an oasis where thirst is quenched. Sometimes it is like picking up a scorpion. But in every case, and for every person who dares the first step, the labyrinth is a place of healing and celebration, and a place where new direction for life is sought and found.

We Christians know that our life is a pilgrimage, and we know that going on pilgrimage – even the few hundred steps of a labyrinth – will do us good, but we don’t often step out. So when I moved to Reading and met Sally Welch, I was excited and delighted when she started telling me about her yearning to make a labyrinth and use it in her ministry and share its secrets with others. This instructive and informative book is the fruit of her creativity, her thinking, her perseverance and the practical, down-to-earth getting on with it that has enabled her to develop a ministry with labyrinths in the diocese of Oxford and beyond. It tells you what to do. It also hints at what the labyrinth will do to you.

Stephen Cottrell

Bishop of Reading

Dedication

To Bishop Stephen Cottrell, who encouraged me to begin

To Jeremy, Jessie, Simon, Ellie and Binka, who enabled me to continue.

Introduction

If you make a labyrinth in a public space – drawing one on a beach, for example, or outlining one in chalk in a car park, or using sticks and stones to mark one out in a recreation ground – interesting things happen. First, while you are engaged in its construction, people will stop to watch and ask questions as to what you are doing, delaying the process significantly while you try to explain why a labyrinth is not the same as a maze and what exactly it can be used for. Next, when you have finished creating the labyrinth, they will watch amused while you solemnly walk it, maybe commenting silently to themselves or quite loudly to others. However, when you have finished and walk away, those same watchers, very often after some hesitation, will step on to the labyrinth themselves. Usually children go first, walking then running the path as they enjoy its sinuous curves. Adults follow more slowly, looking ahead to see where they will go next and apparently mildly astonished to find themselves, with no difficulty, in the centre of the pattern. And then, as they finish their walk, they will often talk to you again, in more depth, wishing to share some of their experience of this ancient design.

This book is a practical guide to walking the labyrinth. It will take you beyond merely following the path, to a deeper level of understanding of the history and spirituality of the labyrinth. It will guide you through the process of creating your own labyrinth and give you some ideas for using the pattern within Christian worship. It will show you where to find further information and resources. May your journey on this path be enjoyable, interesting and illuminating both for yourself and others.

1. What is a Labyrinth?

It is quite a brave thing to do, to step on a labyrinth for the first time, particularly if it is laid out in the style of the world’s most famous labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in northern France. It has 861 feet of pathway, twisting and turning back on itself. The centre is plain to see; the way to reach the centre is not so obvious. I have seen many people pause at the entrance, look, hesitate as they tried to follow the path with their eyes, and then walk on, not daring to risk themselves on something for which the outcome does not appear certain. And yet, once that first step is taken, the rest is physically straightforward and spiritually can be transforming.

The difference between a labyrinth and a maze

In the simplest terms, a labyrinth is nothing more than a single pathway, turning and twisting upon itself in a complex pattern to a single central point. From the entrance to the labyrinth, if the path is followed faithfully, the centre will always be reached. From the centre, if the same path, the only path, is taken, the walker will return to the entrance. It is important to make clear at this stage that a labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is a series of paths, one of which leads to the centre, others ending abruptly nowhere. A maze forces choice – which path to take, the left or the right, the correct or the incorrect. There is no choice in a labyrinth except that of choosing to start upon the path. You will always reach the centre and there are no dead ends.

This pattern, at once both straightforward and complex, when used within the context of a Christian community can have many uses, from providing a starting point for exploring the nature of one’s spirituality to acting as an aid to prayer and a method of meditation. It can be used as part of a Eucharist, for working with the bereaved, and for encouraging children to encounter God. Many have found that walking a labyrinth can be