Monday, November 12, 2007

Labyrinth

Labyrinths are very popular in Santa Fe; I had never walked a labyrinth before I came here (if you don't count playing "jellyroll" hopscotch!) and I have walked four in the year and a half since I arrived. There is one in front of St. Francis Cathedral that is laid in cut stone in the style of the one at Chartres--that's next on my list!

(Click here if you want to learn about the difference between a labyrinth and a maze.)

Yesterday I was invited to attend a celebration of a new labyrinth in my friend Susannah's yard. After we were "smudged" with the scent of burning herbs, and had seen the labyrinth blessed by a local celebrant, my friend Elaine led us through the walk. There are 7 circuits in Susannah's labyrinth--it's a Celtic pattern. Each circuit has been laid with a different color of natural stone to loosely correspond to the red-violet spectrum, with pink stone in the center.

It was a beautiful afternoon; we finished with a potluck supper in the late day sun.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There's a new (teeny) labyrinth in Lexington which I walked a couple of months ago. Not as much adventure as the sorghum maze in Western Mass., but a pleasant experience. As for your pot luck supper to end the inaugural labyrinth walk, well, what can we say except that the ancients knew then what we know now: Find any excuse to combine good people and good food!