Labyrinths~Yoga for the Land

(Excerpted from her best selling book, The Do It Yourself Space Clearing Kit, One Source Publications, 2006. Available through: www.earthtransitions.com/special)

Before the mythic journey of the Minotaur of Crete, the labyrinth had already made its way into the consciousness of our civilization. Representing the serpentine path towards center, the labyrinth’s power has left us mystified and mesmerized for centuries, showing up on almost every continent on the planet.

Labyrinths are like Yoga for the land. Through the power of sacred movement they connect mind, body and spirit to create positive energy vortices in the body and the land. Much like the twirling Sufi dervishes which strived for the same aim. Their dances replicated the harmonics of the Celestial bodies. In the Sufi dance, are woven together prayer, chant and movement to raise the vibrations of those dancing, as well as the earth where the dances are performed.

The seven-circuit labyrinth design is one of the oldest recorded patterns known to mankind. Perhaps the most famous prehistoric labyrinth is the Cretan Labyrinth, associated with the mythic Minotaur in Knossos, dating back to 2600 B.C. However, records of labyrinths found in Siberia date back some 20,000 years, with prehistoric rock-carved labyrinths in caves in Italy, Spain, Russia and Iceland.

The same seven-circuit labyrinth pattern found throughout Europe is also the Hopi symbol of Mother Earth and is also associated with their sacred kiva.

It is amazing that this same pattern finds its way into so many cultures and lands in prehistoric times where knowledge of this symbol was impossible through traditional means of travel and communication.

What is a "labryinth?"

Unlike a simple maze, the labyrinth represents a symbolic weave of the energies of life, the pilgrim’s passage through the world. The labyrinth’s path is a rhythmic spiraling path that winds its way as a single route in towards the center, the innermost destination. Once in the center, the twists and turns of the journey, succumb to the inner stillness and point of oneness. After having reached the center, the pilgrim is enjoined to traverse the path back from the center out towards the world again, although this time with the awareness that has been gained from the journey within.

Modern day interest in labyrinths has spawned a whole field of research into the power, influence and effect of these mazes on the people who walk them and the environments in which they are placed. Reports of spontaneous healing, emotional breakthroughs, and spiritual epiphanies are common for those who walk the labyrinth’s path. Dowsers have measured the effects upon the human aura before and after walking the labyrinth, finding that the person’s aura expanded to nearly twice its size after walking a labyrinth.

Symbolically, this path is reported to be a reflection of the path of Life, with its seemingly purposeless twists and turns, until one finally arrives at the center, Life’s destination. At the center, there is rest, peace, one-ness with the process. Upon returning from the center back to the point from which we began, that peace is brought with us descending as it were from the Heavenly realms down to Earth again.

This ancient mantra symbolizes the meaning of the path of the labyrinth, of once realizing the light, the love and the will of God, then being the path for those qualities to manifest on earth:

Mantra of the Disciple:

I am a point of light within a greater Light
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love Divine
I am a spark of sacrificial fire, within the Fiery Will of God
And thus I stand.

I am a way by which men may achieve
I am a source of strength enabling them to stand
I am a beam of light to shine upon their way
And thus I stand.

And standing thus, revolve and tread this way,
the ways of men, and know the Way of God,
And thus I stand.

--Alice A. Bailey

POINT OF INTEREST: In dowsing labyrinths throughout the world, there is a total absence of Hartmann and Geopathic lines within the labyrinth’s interior. In some cases where the labyrinth has been in place for over a year, the effect extended out to several acres, neutralizing the noxious earth energies of the entire property.

Should you should feel inspired to create a labyrinth on your property, the potential for personal and planetary transformation would be well worth the effort.