Our new house has a smaller yard than I’d hoped for, but just one house down is a baseball diamond and beyond that a community garden run by the Canadian Mental Health Association. This includes a “Food Forest” and a labyrinth — a 99-metre path bordered by all kinds of flowers and herbs. It’s got benches and an arbor with a climbing rose and I’m grateful that I can walk over anytime.

A labyrinth is not to be confused with a maze, which has dead ends. Instead a labyrinth is unicursal, meaning it has one path to the centre and back out again. Interestingly the Labyrinth of Greek mythology was a confusing maze on the island of Crete that housed the Minotaur. Yet as early as 430 BC unicursal labyrinths appeared on Cretan coins.

Labyrinths can be found in rock paintings from the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. “Classical” labyrinths generally included seven circuits. Throughout the Roman Empire square labyrinths were common in mosaics. During the Middle Ages complex labyrinths were constructed in the floors of churches and cathedrals, notably the Cathedral of Chartres in France, which remains a popular destination today. Labyrinths were even cut into the turf in town commons in Britain and Germany, carved on temple walls in India, and formed out of rocks in Scandinavia.

Labyrinths have enjoyed a resurgence in the past 25 years. “With their ageless forms and complex, swirling pathways that always lead eventually to the goal labyrinths invite playful interaction, as well as soulful contemplation.” Check out this article for descriptions of famous labyrinths around the world, and if you visit me in Owen Sound I’ll take you to our very own labyrinth, where you can enjoy the lupines and veronica and stop to smell the lavender and chocolate mint.

Sources

• “Labyrinth” via Wikipedia
• “A Brief History of the Labyrinth”
• “Walk the World’s Most Meditative Labyrinths” via Smithsonian Magazine