by Taffy Lanser

Labyrinths---So often when I mention them I am met with a blank stare or maybe some vague recognition that this has something to do with a maze.

Well, I guess you could say that a Labyrinth is a form of a maze. Technically, as I understand it, a maze represents chaos and has dead-ends, blind alleys, and cul-de-sacs. Where a Labyrinth has only one path that winds back and forth, ultimately leading one to the center--or goal. Once one has decided to enter the Labyrinth there are no further choices to make in order to reach the center. It represents order and balance---balance of the yin and the yang, balance of the energy centers in the body, and balance of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

The seven path classical Labyrinth that is depicted here is found represented in many indigenous cultures around the world. It appears in Spanish, Cornish, and Irish rock carvings It appears as a traditional design motif in the Pima and Hopi Indian traditions in Arizona. It appears in Java, in European stone and turf designs, and on coins and inscriptions from the ancient Mediterranean world.

There has been a great resurgence of interest in the seven path classical Labyrinth in the past several years. However the ancients used the Labyrinth, we are finding through experience in the modern world that certain vibrations of centering and balancing occur when one regularly walks a Labyrinth on the ground or finger-walks a paper Labyrinth.

Through dowsing, either with the pendulum or with rods we have become aware of how regular use of the Labyrinth helps to balance both hemispheres of the brain as well as to balance the energy centers of the body. We know that when we are out of balance we attract disease, and, that being in balance is our greatest defense against disease.

When a person is experiencing imbalance in their physical body, by walking the Labyrinth they undergo a process of alignment which affects their energy centers. Itís like the tuning of a musical instrument, and this process continues after the person leaves the Labyrinth. There continues to be a building of greater harmony.

Illness arizes from imbalance in a person. Where there is physical illness the imbalance can be gradually reversed with regular use of the Labyrinth. The physical structure will gradually come back into its normal balance.

What has been stated above as being true of the physical body can also be applied to the mental, emotional and spirtual bodies as well.

Additionally, through dowsing we understand that the seven paths of the Labyrinth correspond with the seven energy centers of the body called chakras. The paper Labyrinth is colored in the traditional fashion using red at the first chakra, orange at the second, yellow for the third, and so forth. This allows the person to focus on each chakra while traveling through the path of its representative color. It may be helpful to do this, however, it is not essential.

The process of finding the center of the Labyrinth as we proceed back and forth through itís pattern, mirrors our own journey as we must find our own center -our own inner being. The Labyrinth is not only a symbol of the arduous journey each of us must take in order to attain that place of balance and health on all levels: it is also a powerful tool in assisting our process.

Taffy Lanser

P.O. Box 4665

Cave Creek, AZ 85327