If you have followed my blogpost for any length of time, then you might know that walking/praying a labyrinth is part of my spiritual practice.
My very first post about labyrinths was in 2010-- "Handmade rock labyrinths, listening, and a rule of life" There are 56 posts that mention labyrinths or are fully dedicated to labyrinths. There are posts about different labyrinths I have found in GA, NC, TN, FL. There are posts about World Labyrinth Day from several different years. You can search "labyrinth" on the blog and find them all. "Walking the path... my labyrinth experiences" is a post from 2014 about experiences up to that point. That was 12 years ago. I have had many more labyrinth experiences since then.
This post is entitled "The Making of a Labyrinth" as I share about a labyrinth I made recently for World Labyrinth Day. I have wanted to create a labyrinth for a long time. I have eyed my backyard and river stones for quite a while. Though I have helped build a labyrinth once with a garden hose for a retreat, I have not built one by myself. I take that back-- I have mowed partial labyrinths in my yard several times in both grass and leaves. :)
As the notion of creating a labyrinth grew inside me, I pulled up different models on my phone to get an idea of what to do. I knew I could only do a small one in the yard, so I planned to do a three circuit one. The Saturday prior to World Labyrinth Day I started. I placed rocks on the outside. Then I created the inside. I wasn't fully paying attention to what I was doing and noticed I had created a semi-heart shape. That was cool. It may not look like a heart to everyone, but it's close. (#SeeAHeartShareAHeart) Next steps were to keep going around and around. I didn't have enough rocks, so I used sticks to finish out the path. I don't know if you can tell by the pictures below where the sticks were. They were on the outside circuit.
On World Labyrinth Day, the following Saturday, I added more rocks.
The path is narrow in places, but it is walkable. There is a dip in the ground at the very beginning.
I recently mowed around it and weed-whacked the inside of the path.
Having a labyrinth in the backyard means I can walk it in the mornings with my coffee or in the evenings (often with coffee). It has allowed me to walk and pray more often. That has been good.
I don't see this labyrinth as a permanent feature, mainly because others share the back yard with me. They have been very gracious so far and haven't asked me to undo it. :)
Here are some photos of the labyrinth and the making of it. It's not perfect, but neither is the path of life. I am happy with the process and the result.
I haven't yet counted the rocks. It was a labor of love and an adventure to create this rock labyrinth.
Thanks for reading about it. :)
Debra
Here are photos of the process:
LINKS:
(There are MANY more links and resources out there from websites with articles and information, to videos, to books, etc.. These are just a few to get you started.)
- World Labyrinth Day
- Labyrinth Locator
- Many Ways to Pray: Walking a Labyrinth
- A Guided Path
- Labyrinth Resources
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