WALKING THE LABYRINTH//THIS ANCIENT FORM OF MEDITATION AND PRAYER IS ENJOYING A CURRENT REVIVAL PROMPTED IN PART BY A PATH OF STONE FOUND IN THE CATHEDRAL AT CHARTRES.
Experiencing a vision can do strange things to people.
For Meredith Kurtz, an apparition she had last year inspired her to spend 400 hours making a labyrinth that could be used at her church by prayer pilgrims.
Labyrinths, first used hundreds of years ago as prayer or meditation tools, have only recently experienced a major revival in interest and are particularly popular during the time leading up to Easter.
Interest in walking a labyrinth is spreading rapidly around the nation and across denominational lines.
The labyrinth brings a variety of experiences to its practitioners, everything from visions to revelations. For Kurtz, it was a vision as dramatic as anything she had experienced in her life.
She was attending a women's weekend retreat at Assisi Heights, a Catholic retreat center in Rochester, Minn., that included meditation time while walking on a canvas labyrinth.
"I was the biggest skeptic," Kurtz said. "I went into the gymnasium where the labyrinth had been set up. And I thought, Oh, just do it."
"And when I walked it - I walked it barefoot and you can feel the fabric under your feet - I got to the center and I just sat down and wept. I had been thinking about my own life - my parents, my sons, my husband and all of the struggles we've had."
"I realized I couldn't distinguish the good from the bad. It was all a part of life," Kurtz said. "I went outside and sat looking at the lake. Then I felt something touch me on the shoulder. Jesus was there. I was having a vision. Christ was there."
"What do you want me to do?' 'I asked him."
"And Jesus said: You don't need the answers. You have them all yourself."
By the time Kurtz finished the retreat and returned home, she knew she had to make a labyrinth for her congregation, St. Thomas Becket Catholic Church in Eagan.
She asked parishioners to bring old clothing, particularly garments that had been worn on special occasions. She got tons" of rectangular cloth patches. Then she began to sew the patches together by hand. Four hundred hours later, with a little help from her friends, she triumphantly spread the colorful labyrinth before the altar of her church.
The experience Kurtz had with the labyrinth is not typical.
Judith Batten, a pastoral assistant at St. Thomas Becket, said most people do not experience anything close to being supernatural.
"For most people, it's a calming thing," Batten said. "For most people, it's not an unusual thing like a miracle. The labyrinth becomes a metaphor for people's lives. You have thoughts, little thoughts, about your life."
There are three stages to a labyrinth walk:
The first is purgation, when a pilgrim lets go of the details of life and quietly empties his or her mind.
The second is illumination, when a person reaches the center of the labyrinth (sometimes called Jerusalem) and stays to meditate.
The third stage is union, or connecting with a higher spiritual power and becoming empowered.
The labyrinth began making a comeback in the early 1990s, when Americans discovered a stone labyrinth embedded in the floor of the famous Cathedral at Chartres, France. The design was brought to the United States, and research on the labyrinth design began. Since then, people have discovered the labyrinth design all over the world - on coins, in hedges and in designs made of stone.
The theory is that during the crusades, Christians stopped making pilgrimages to Jerusalem because travel was dangerous. As churches were built in Europe, priests began including the labyrinth design in the floors. And people began using them to make mini-pilgrimages.
There are also some reports that labyrinths create mild to strong energy fields. According to some practitioners, dowsers using copper rods have detected earth energy coming from inside some labyrinths.
Legend also has it that the labyrinth at Chartres has the same number of stones in it as the days for a woman to carry a fetus to full term, thus making the labyrinth a symbol of birth and rebirth and a symbol of Easter.
Some people who use labyrinths for meditation believe the labyrinth design originally may have been a pagan symbol. Some historians say the great Cathedral at Chartres is built on the site of a pagan temple. And it is well known that priests in Europe who were trying to wipe out paganism used some of the symbols of the ancient religion to lure potential converts.
Jean Daniels, a software programmer for IBM in Rochester, has a 60-foot labyrinth mowed into a vacant lot behind her home. But when she can't use her outdoor labyrinth during winter months, she uses two Plexiglas finger" labyrinths moving her hand along the miniature versions.
"The labyrinth helps people connect with the intuitive, deep in the self," Daniels said. "Sometimes that's what we neglect in life. It engages the intellect. It's like tapping into that place where we tap into dreams."
Daniels also teaches classes at Assisi Heights on how to build your own labyrinth.
Often, labyrinths are constructed out of stone or mowed into lawns. Some churches and individuals make canvas labyrinths. Others use finger labyrinths made of wood or Plexiglas on which one traces the grooves while meditating.
One of the surprising things about this new meditation technique is its appeal to those from many religious backgrounds.
Marian Van Dellen worships on Sundays with a small group of Quakers, a Christian religion that worships primarily in silence. But she is just beginning to experience the labyrinth at Assisi Heights.
"It was a nice experience, and I plan to do it again," Van Dellen said. "It's a pleasant spot there on the edge of the woods. It's an inducement to walk slowly and not hurry. Also, I think it's very special to be connected to this ancient symbol. Some of the experience depends on what your state of mind is that day."
Susan Lynn, a Buddhist who helped design the labyrinth at Assisi Heights, worships and chants with the Sokka Gakkai International center in St. Paul. But she also walks the labyrinth to find deeper serenity.
"Basically, it is calming and relaxing," Lynn said. It quiets the mind and it's a time of creativity. It's not a maze, so the right side of your brain is freed. I haven't had miracles or visions. But I've had realizations of where my life needs to go. It's a time to think intensely."
Even though people from many faiths are using labyrinths for meditation, it is primarily a Catholic enterprise and usually promoted by religious sisters.
Sister Linda Wieser, a Sister of St. Francis and the director of the Department of Integrated Healing at Assisi Heights, says the labyrinth is important to people because it works.
"The labyrinth is a sacred tool," Wieser said. It helps people connect with their inner wisdom. It is so calming. The first time I walked and meditated, I was dealing with a troubled relationship, and as I walked the labyrinth it became quite clear what I needed to do."
Clark D. Morphew
4-12-98
