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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