Labyrinths

December 19, 2004 11:22 AM

A Winding Path. Why a Bay Area microbiologist turned to the New Age art of building labyrinths -- by hand, out of dirt.
posted by homunculus (9 comments total)

this is neat!
posted by kamylyon at 11:32 AM on December 19, 2004

The article mentions the Great Serpent Mound, in Ohio.
I visited that one 2 days before my younger son was born.
I plan on visiting it again at least once, before I leave for Colorado.
posted by kamylyon at 11:43 AM on December 19, 2004

[This is good.]
posted by rushmc at 11:48 AM on December 19, 2004

hippie.
posted by keswick at 12:02 PM on December 19, 2004

I once had a friend who while driving had a vision and conversation with what she described as a spirit who told her to build a labyrinth. Which she promptly did on a piece of property we then jointly owned. Then preceded to had one tattooed on her belly. Very interesting, thanks.
posted by JohnR at 12:37 PM on December 19, 2004

The Swarovski factory in austria has a nice hand-shaped one that I've been through...but I always wanted a 'The shining' type labyrinth to walk.
posted by nile_red at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2004

OK, I was reading the article with mild interest, noting especially the part that mentions that Champion began seeing this pattern everywhere. That suggested to me a mild onset of some sort of OCD; the discernment of complex patterns in everyday sights is a function of the brain working a little too hard, or the perceptual filters being slightly off kilter, or whatever. (Disclaimer: not a doctor.)

But then later on in the article, the part about how he realized that the labyrinths on his property happened to all be on a straight line, and that line, extended across the country, intersects the white house, and the military academies, etc. really caught my attention.

Anybody care to speculate on just WTF?
posted by Aquaman at 1:58 PM on December 19, 2004

Aquaman--that latter phenomenon, if you can call it that, is what's known in New Age circles as 'ley lines'. The idea comes from an old belief that spiritual/sacred sites often came about in straight lines--you could draw straight lines on maps that would include many sacred sites like churches, holy wells, shrines, geological formations, etc. The gist being that these lines held flows of spiritual power or earth energy, depending on the culture.

Wikipedia article that can probably explain more
posted by cyrusdogstar at 5:34 PM on December 19, 2004

The Swarovski factory in austria has a nice hand-shaped one that I've been through...but I always wanted a 'The shining' type labyrinth to walk.
posted by nile_red at 4:10 PM EST on December 19

If you want, we could wait for it to snow, and I will limp through the hedge-maze with a fire axe yelling "DANNNYYYY! DANNNNYYY!"

Just for the added flavor.
posted by exlotuseater at 6:32 PM on December 19, 2004