Labyrinths Can Open Your Mind — It Blew Mine

Want to try it?

Chartres’ labyrinth exudes magnificence. Towering stained glass windows and a soaring gothic ceiling set the scene. Footfall-polished stones, four swirling coiled paths, and petaled center… it wears its 800 years well.

This labyrinth has many secrets. Unraveled, its path would extend 2 1/2 football fields. It winds in unpredictable ways. Just when you think you’ve arrived — whoopsy, you’re on the outside again. Best not to think.

Which is probably the point.

Of course, the cavorting tourists think it’s a carnival game. Speed around and don’t get lost! Yippee, I won! I go at lunchtime when they’re all occupied with their ham and cheese baguettes.

No judgment, of course.

Walking inward moves you from the mundane world into the realm of the Divine. The outward journey, returns us to the world, renewed and reconnected to Source.

As I began, I walked to release my resistance to putting my work in the world. Avoidance, fear, procrastination, you name it, I was doing it. Took me quite a few turns to get into it. My blockages are wedged in tight.

What you need to know shows up.

I found myself moving aside to let people pass. Walking the labyrinth is a waking dream, everything has meaning. So, I wondered — do I let people go ahead of me? Do I hold myself back?

As if the labyrinth had heard me, the person before me began to inch along. I decided to match her pace. It felt good to protect her from the LET’S GET THIS THING DONE SO WE CAN GO ONTO THE NEXT THING crowd.

Or.

Am I avoiding my own journey by ‘taking care of someone else? I can think of a few people in my life like her. Hmmmmmm.

At one point, she halted, disoriented. The turns are very close together. One false move and you’re on a wild goose chase. I smiled and pointed the way forward.

Was this for me to do? Should I have let her find the way herself? I get so confused.

My mother, whose of German descent, drifted into my mind. immediately, a German woman appeared with two children in tow, a boy and a girl, the girl older. Exactly like my brother and I. The mother was comforting the girl. I felt a painful hole open, remembering how much I’d wanted mine to do that.

The boy lingered outside this warmth. His mother did take his hand as she hugged the girl, but her attention was not on him. I realized my sadness was about me. Was my mother’s inattention so painful I now avoided seeking any attention? Fearful I’d again confront the crushing sorrow?

The boy, 8 or 9 years old, walked the whole way with his baseball cap in front of him like he was asking for alms. But as he passed by, I saw crumpled cellophane and other garbage filling his cap. My throat and chest twisted painfully with memories of the humiliation I’d experienced on many occasions. I learned it was better not to be seen and made sure I wasn’t.

I wanted to give him some of my small offering crystals but the moment did not appear or perhaps I didn’t dare. I should have made it happen. I should have dared.

Finally, I entered the labyrinth’s center and basked in its energy currents. I let go of stepping aside, putting others’ needs before mine, moving so as not to disturb them. And, especially, my desperate need to remain unseen and unnoticed.

It felt delicious.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a man shifting from foot to foot, waiting for me to ‘finish already!’ I took the time I needed, but no more. After all, I may be a lesson for him.

Or perhaps I needed to put myself first. I find challenges to a release come quickly. Like the Divine is asking — so, are you serious about this?

Taking it to the next level.

I wound my way out of the labyrinth and went to my next mystical stop, the Black Virgin, a doll-like statue of the Virgin and child set into a beautiful, wooden niche.

My meditation proved restless. Fleeting bits and bobs came in, surrounded by useless fantasies.

Then it corkscrewed back. Or that was how I felt, a turning screw going downward. Deeper. Older.

I started reviewing my projects. I had to do them. Don’t do, repeated in my mind several times before I understood. I don’t have to prove my worth or increase my value via the projects. I create them because it is a part of me to create. Then, whatever happens, happens. I needed faith.

No, faith means trusting the outside. I needed inner knowing, that deep sensation that connects one to the Flow. I needed to trust it. I needed to trust myself.

“Show me what I need to know,” I said. Many moments of nothing passed.

You get used to it.

All of a sudden, I was a dot of light in a vast… I don’t know what. Sky? Universe? Galaxy? I was a dot but I was also in all directions. I was me and also a part of everything else.

I’ve read about this and it always freaks me out. I rather like being me. I don’t want to be someone else and certainly not everyone else.

Somehow though, this was OK. I was a focalized bit of consciousness recognizable as me (hard to describe this without going all cosmic). I was not lost or overwhelmed. I had all I needed to be me and also be a part of everything.

There was nothing else I needed to be. Nothing to add. I was complete.

My ‘value’ is my uniqueness (which we all have.) and what I do with it. The ‘must’ is expressing it in some way. Not important how only that it fits me. I filled with golden light and then it faded.

Well, that was unexpected.

Someone tapped me lightly and handed me my bracelet. Despite having a safety catch, it had fallen off my wrist. Something valuable had been returned before I’d even known it was gone.

What a marvelous sign.

Do this at home!

Openings and revelations happen if we allow the space for them. The key ingredients are an open focus, being present, and letting go.

There are many, many ways to do this. One is to go on a labyrinth walk at home. A labyrinth helps you to step out of yourself. It’s a path taken by humans for thousands of years. This gives it a special and strong power.

‘Walking’ a labyrinth will spontaneously help with focus, being present, clarity, and connection to your inspiration.

Print out a labyrinth pattern. Create an ambiance that helps you to enter a receptive state (the cathedral did this for me) — sound, scent, candles, images, etc. Then set your intention. Ask for whatever you need.

When you feel ready, place your fingertip at the entry and begin. Trace the path deliberately, like you are walking with purpose. Follow the path with your eyes, too, absorbing the sacred pattern.

When you arrive in the center, close your eyes and be still. Make your request and let the sensation embrace you. Don’t seek, just allow.

You may receive images, guidance, sounds, or a flash of insight, but you may not. No matter. Things happen in their own time.

Be open to unexpected experiences and information. Being at one with “All That Is” was certainly not on my agenda that day at Chartres.

Then retrace your steps, affirming your new-found knowledge and changes, even if you didn’t feel any. Be open to receiving nudges, signs, and insights over the next couple of days. Pay attention to your dreams.

Here’s an oft-forgotten final and vital step. Act on what you receive. Ritual is wonderful as it puts the change into waking life.

Here are some labyrinths to choose from. There are walkable labyrinths all over the world.

And remember to enjoy!

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