Morris Medley
WHAT IS A LABYRINTH?
A labyrinth is a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. It is not to be confused with a maze in which there are multiple entrances, blind alleys and wrong turns. In a maze you must make decisions and can get lost or disoriented. Labyrinths are the opposite of this with a single path taking you to the center.
No one knows where the tradition of labyrinth walking began but labyrinths have been found in ancient cultures from Greece to Crete, Egypt, China, Peru, Ireland and Scandinavia. They are frequently found on the floors of the great cathedrals.
As people tread through the turns and counterturns, the world begins to drop away. Walking, breathing, being... things that we never think about in the day to day whirl of life, become conscious and deliberate.
There are two WEB sites you might find very interesting and quite extensive in their coverage of labyrinths. They are www.labyrinthsociety.org and labyrinthlocator.org.
Our labyrinth was completed in May 2006 after eight months of construction by our family.
I had walked an indoor labyrinth at a church retreat several years before and right then had a dream of building one at Morris Medley. The labyrinth is situated on part of my father’s vegetable garden. It is hoped that this area that once provided nourishment for the body may now provide nourishment for the soul as well.
In October 2005 our son, Bill, and his daughter, Mya, removed the sod and prepared the area. After I built the forms, spread gravel, etc. my husband, Don, and our children Bill, Pete, Michelle and Karen arrived on a Saturday morning with rakes and boots and we poured 27 yards of concrete! The men continued with the beautiful finishing well into the evening. while Michelle, Karen and I relaxed with the grandchildren and enjoyed picnic food daughter-in-law Melissa provided. In the spring Michelle and Karen did the planting for the landscaping they had planned and I tackled the job of painting the design. It is a replica of the Chartres Labyrinth found in the Chartres Cathedral in France.