Exploring the Labyrinth_ A Guide for Healing and Spiritual Growth - Melissa Gayle West [19]
Even if you do nothing else, learn how to draw a labyrinth from the seed pattern. As Lonegren says, “gnowing” a labyrinth is an entirely different experience than “knowing” it. Even just learning how to draw a labyrinth—a very simple process—will enhance any work you do with the labyrinth.
Instructions are first given for drawing and creating a seven-circuit Cretan labyrinth. After you get the hang of this one, instructions are given for creating a modified Chartres labyrinth.
To begin, you will draw a seven-circuit labyrinth from a simple seed pattern. After you get to “gnow” a labyrinth in this way, instructions will be given for making several different kinds of finger labyrinths, portable ones you can “walk” with fingers rather than feet. Even if you have neither desire nor space to build a larger labyrinth, make a finger labyrinth. If you plan to build a walking labyrinth, making a finger one is a great dress rehearsal, enabling you to build a larger one with more ease and confidence.
PRACTICING THE SEED PATTERN
Learn to draw a labyrinth to get the “feel” for how one is made. The more you understand the basic construction by drawing it, the easier it will be for you to lay out your labyrinth, whether finger or larger. If the word “draw” sets off alarms, please understand that drawing a labyrinth requires absolutely no artistic ability. Drawing a labyrinth from a seed pattern is simply a matter of connecting the dots.
The seed pattern or matrix of the classical labyrinth is shown in Figure 4.1A. The seed pattern is an equal armed cross, bordered by four right angles and a dot in each corner. Once you have assembled these elements—cross, right angles, and dots—you can easily draw a seven-circuit classical labyrinth.
To draw the seed pattern for the seven-circuit labyrinth, you’ll need graph paper with ¼-inch or ½-inch squares and a pencil. Follow the step-by-step instructions in Figure 4.1, moving from A to I, to “gnow” a seven-circuit labyrinth. Photocopy the instructions before beginning. Make several copies so that if you feel confused, you can draw over the relevant diagram.
When you have assembled your materials, find a place where you can be undisturbed for half an hour. Put on some music if you’d like. Acknowledge that you’re at the beginning of the adventure of getting to “gnow” a labyrinth. No matter how much you’ve walked the labyrinth before, this process will deepen your experience of walking it. Before you begin drawing, read through the following steps several times and examine the diagrams.
1. Beginning several squares lower than the center of your graph paper, make a cross four squares, or units, high and four units wide. Draw four right angles, each leg one unit long, at the corners of the cross. Now place four dots one unit away from the four right angles; starting with the dot at the lower-left-hand corner and moving clockwise, label the dots A, B, C, and D. The corresponding right angles will also be referred to as angles A, B, C and D. Draw this seed pattern on sheets of paper until you “gnow” it; it will form the basis for your labyrinth drawings and later labyrinth construction if you so choose.
2. Draw an arc from the top arm of the cross on your graph paper to the top leg of angle C. This arcing up and over from one element (cross arm, angle leg, or dot) on the left-hand side of the page to a different element on the right-hand side is the basic movement for drawing the entire labyrinth.
3. Draw an arc from the top leg of angle B to dot C. If you start feeling confused (as I did during my first attempts), take a deep breath and keep going. This spatial confusion is often part of the learning curve. You will move through it and understand the labyrinth better than you ever could have by simply looking at an illustration.
4. Arc a line from the next