Vol XVI. No. 38
Labyrinths and labyrintine borders have been around for a very long time. In fact, they have been used outside of formal religion as a ritual object to express spiritual values for at least 3500 years in countries all over the world, including China, India, the Holy Land, Ireland, Southern Europe, Scandinavia, pre-Columbian America, and England. They can be found at Neolithic and Sardinian and Hopi rock art sites, in Hindu temples and Taoist shrines, bordering Minoan frescoes, and in Roman mosaics. They have been incorporated into Roman Catholic and Episcopal cathedrals, Protestant churches, and in New Age retreat centres. They have been carved into rocks, turf, and wood; engraved in metal; laid out in stones; woven in reeds; set in tiles; painted and drawn.
In other words, the labyrinth is a nearly universal form and comes as close as we can to an archetype. An archetype is a symbol that appeals to us at an unconscious level. We don’t have to struggle with its meaning intellectually. Its symbolic meaning is somehow ingrained in us, part of our very nature. As a result, it may appeal to us without our even understanding why.
It is always risky to talk about the meaning of such an archetypal symbol. We know that it must carry a wealth of meaning to appeal to so many different sorts of people over such a long stretch of time. But we can, tentatively, explore some of its meanings if we stay aware that we can never really plumb all of its riches.
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Gailand MacQueen has advanced degrees in philosophy, theology, and educational theory. His thesis in educational theory, “Ideology and Childhood” (University of Toronto, 1977), explored the rights of children. MacQueen served in ordained ministry in various congregations in Northern Ontario, as well as taught religious studies at Huntington College in Laurentian University in Sudbury for 17 years. During that time, MacQueen was a reader and consultant for two volumes on religion and spirituality in The Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. He spent a sabbatical in Great Britain researching the New Age movement, during which he walked the path up Glastonbury Tor, in Glastonbury, and twice visited the Rocky Valley labyrinths. In retirement, as well as teaching part time, MacQueen has travelled to Crete, to Chartres in France, and to various sites in England to experience labyrinths. The result was The Spirituality of Mazes and Labyrinths (Northstone, 2005). MacQueen and his wife, Joyce Schroeder MacQueen, have presented many labyrinth events in Ontario and Nova Scotia, as well as Florence Nightingale events based on Joyce’s research. He lives on the shore of Lake Nipissing in North Bay.
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My Thoughts:
"... At first glance, it is easy to confuse a labyrinth with a maze. Both are long, twisting paths, contained in a compact shape. But that's where the resemblance stops. Labyrinths and mazes are not only mathematically distinct, but they are almost opposites..."
"... the labyrinth is a nearly universal form and comes as close as we can to an archetype. An archetype is a symbol that appeals to us at an unconscious level. We don’t have to struggle with its meaning intellectually. Its symbolic meaning is somehow ingrained in us, part of our very nature. As a result, it may appeal to us without our even understanding why..."
In 2005, I was first introduced to Gailand MacQueen when Woodlake Publications produced The Spirituality of Mazes and Labyrinths. This was part of a beautiful series of books that sought to integrate spirituality to everyday life -
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The dilemma that MacQueen describes and attempts to resolve here (i. e. the difference between mazes and labyrinths) is something that my partner Marlene and I have encountered particularly in English gardens when we have travelled there. Usually, we have not had much time to reflect on the distinctions while there, but now is a good time to get into it.
This book is a helpful continuation of the development of MacQueen's writings on mazes and labyrinths - and particularly on labyrinths.
His contribution in this short book is to expand upon the meaning of the labyrinth for which he seems to have more regard than the maze.
A book like this is a treasure. As more and more labyrinths and mazes appear in gardens across our land, MacQueen is most helpful.
If spiritual archetypes intrigue you, and you are not a professional, but an interested student, Celebrating the Labyrinth can be a worthy resource.
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Woodlake - https://tinyurl.com/czd67z7a
- Rene Padilla
- Harper Lee
- Rabbi Michael Rothbaum
I literally went to the soil and put both my hands in that soil, and I felt that belonging, and I’ll never forget that, because now I understand my true connection to the land. At the end of the day, we come from the soil, we’re going to go back to the soil. Understanding that gave me a sense of power.
- Karen Washington
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To serve the cause of justice in an unjust world; it cannot be said too often that the work of justice, the vocation of the Servant, is the temporal form of honoring and glorifying God. It is true worship. And the consequences will not be long in coming.
- Daniel Berrigan
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How will you respond to the pain in your life? Our faith tells us that Jesus is the source of victory even in the midst of suffering. That’s because God doesn’t waste a hurt. He can use that pain to direct us in the way he wants us to go, to reveal what’s inside of us, to perfect us, and to make us more like himself. He is the Great Physician who specializes in bringing blessing out of pain.
- Rick Warren
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What does it mean to be made for immortality? It means there is something inside you that is going to last for ever and ever and ever. In my apartment building there are all sorts of people; it’s a little microcosm of humanity. Sometimes I feel so sorry for the people because it seems that all they are doing is making money and more money – for what? You can’t take gold with you in your casket. Yet many of them only live for sheer pleasure; they forget that they are actually made for immortality.
- Alice von Hildebrand
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It is a simple thing: joy in everything that lives. Anyone who can rejoice in life, in other people, in the fellowship of church community – anyone who feels joy in the mutual relationships of trust and inner fellowship – such a person experiences what love is. Anyone who cannot feel joy cannot live.… Only where there is joy do love and justice dwell. We need the spirit of joy to overcome the gloomy spirit of covetousness, the spirit of unjust mammon and its deadly hate. We can only have such joy if we have faith, and if we believe that the earth has a future.
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