How to make every kind of labyrinth

Labyrinths for the Spirit
by Jim Buchanan

For myself the most important thing in life is the making of things. In all creativity the doing is what it is all about. It doesn't matter if it's a doodle or a giant project, what will count in one's own spiritual growth and satisfaction and self expression is putting one foot in front of the other and doing it.

This book shows how to create your own labyrinths for meditation and enlightenment, from the smallest drawing on paper, through cardboard models, to monumental architecture and nature gardens, and even gives the map for a labyrinthine city walk by the pretty canals through my home town of Amsterdam.

You can find out more and even buy a copy now, as each book reviewed here is available through clicking on the Amazon widgets on the right hand side of this blog.

Inspiring Creativity

Exploring the Labyrinth, by Melissa Gayle West.
This book has a preface by Dr. Lauren Artress, the author of Walking a Sacred Path.

The labyrinth is a powerful spiritual symbol that speaks to our souls in a way that transcends all creeds and beliefs. It welcomes the seeker, opening its arms wide to anyone searching for authentic spiritual experience.

The author shows how walking the labyrinth helps people to discover their own paths, their lives as a spiritual journey. Ask for inspiration for a new poem, painting, or project, or plan a festive meal. During walking, the attention is turned inward and the mind is stilled. Find out how, in the labyrinth you can creatively solve problems, dream new dreams, personally, vocationally, and spiritually.

You can find out more and even buy a copy now, as each book reviewed here is available through clicking on the Amazon widgets on the right hand side of this blog.

Unending Mystery

The Unending Mystery
by David Willis McCullough

This book describes how the labyrinth is one of mankind's oldest artistic creations, the earliest image drawn, carved or scratched by human hand that does not copy something seen in nature. It maybe the first design to be inspired by the human imagination.

This engaging history of labyrinths from ancient to modern times with examples from many cultures, covers the uses of labyrinths from spiritual quest to psychotherapeutic tool.

You can find out more and even buy a copy now, as each book reviewed here is available through clicking on the Amazon widgets on the right hand side of this blog.

The myth

From the mists of memory about the ancient Minoan culture and their mysterious symbols, came the famous Mycenaean myth about the minotaur of Crete.

The minotaur dwelt in the center of the labyrinth, but confusingly, the labyrinth of the myth is better described as a maze, where there are dead ends and wrong turnings, whereas the ancient symbol from the Palace of Knossos has only one path in and out.

The journey of life

Here's a link to Psychologist Dan Johnson talking about the labyrinth as a metaphor for the path we take in our life journeys.

Labyrinth movie

Pop Labyrinth

David Bowie in the magic 'Labyrinth'
In this cute movie starring the eighties rock and roll legend, the creator, Jim Henson, makes the common error of mistaking a maze for the labyrinth.

Labyrinths

Above is a mold I made for a copy of the first labyrinth I found, in a favourite book - 'The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets' by Barbara G Walker. It is of a labyrinth on a clay tablet found at Mycenaean Pylos, a town of Minoan Crete. It is the so called 'classical' labyrinth.

This next labyrinth is a finger labyrinth I made so you can trace the path with a finger, even with your eyes closed, and follow to the center and then out again. The labyrinth is copied from a coin with the labyrinth symbol on it, struck in the first millenium BCE, and found in Knossos, Crete. Below is the first clay model, still wet, before I made the one-piece plaster mold for absorption method slip casting.


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