Exploring the Labyrinth_ A Guide for Healing and Spiritual Growth - Melissa Gayle West [29]
Secure the plunger over the center mark (X) with tape.
3. Refer to Figure 6.2a for steps 3 to 5. Pull the rope so that it is straight, then lay it down at the bottom left of the half circles. Place a small piece of tape under each of the marks on the rope.
4. Pivot the rope a few degrees clockwise, and repeat step 3.
5. Keep pivoting the rope around the top half until you reach the other side. You now have eight concentric half circles of markers around your center point.
6. See Figure 6.2b. Take longer sections of tape and connect the dots, so to speak, creating lines. You now have created the top half of your labyrinth.
7. See Figure 6.2c. Move the plunger to point B and tape it down. Draw quarter circles from point B by placing tape under the first five marks on the rope. Notice that these five quarter circles connect with the five outer semicircles above them.
8. See Figure 6.2c. Move the plunger to point C and tape it down. Draw quarter circles from point C by placing tape under the first six marks on the rope. Notice that these six quarter circles connect with the six outer semicircles above them.
8. Connect all of the small pieces of tape with longer tape. Your labyrinth will now look like Figure 6.2d.
9. Refer to Figure 6.2e for steps 9 to 11. Move to the lower right quarter circles. Take the measuring rope off the plunger, and extend each of these five lines straight to the left by one rope mark. Place a piece of tape under the rope mark.
10. Connect the line nearest the center in the lower-left-hand quadrant with the line nearest the center in the lower-right-hand quadrant with a length of tape.
11. With tape, create a vertical line running from the unfinished line located to the left of the center dot down to the level of the outside circle on the left side.
Creating a seven-circuit labyrinth from electrical tape.
12. See Figure 6.2f. To complete the labyrinth, create two half circles around points A and D and a quarter circle connecting the vertical line coming down from center with the outside line on the right side.
Congratulations! You’ve created a tape labyrinth (Figure 6.2g). To use this method to make an outdoor permanent labyrinth from stone or other markers, set a stone down wherever you might have placed tape, and connect the marker stones with other stones to complete the circuits.
MAKING A CRETAN LABYRINTH WITH ROPE
This method teaches you how to make a temporary outdoor labyrinth from rope and stakes. Once you’ve gathered your labyrinth materials, you can take them with you to a park, schoolyard, or public outdoor space for a temporary labyrinth. For easy reference, photocopy the figures used to construct the labyrinth, and cover the photocopies with clear self-adhesive paper for durability in outside use.
Materials
Approximately 450 feet of rope for a labyrinth with two-foot-wide paths. Buy 500 feet of rope so you don’t run out midconstruction.
One hundred wooden garden stakes to mark where you will lay the ropes down to create the path walls. If you can’t find wooden stakes, buy tongue depressors or craft sticks.
Permanent marker to mark numbers and letters on the wooden stakes.
Measuring rope: cut a length of the rope two feet longer than eight times the planned width of the paths. For instance, if you are creating a labyrinth with two-foot-wide paths, cut a length of rope eighteen feet.
Guide stake for the measuring rope. A round wooden dowel works best.
Duffel (optional) to store the materials for future labyrinths.
You will begin by creating an “outline” of the labyrinth on the ground with numbered wooden stakes in the same manner as you used pieces of tape in the previous labyrinth. You will then lay down two ropes around the stakes to create this labyrinth just as