Well of Mercy Labyrinth

Written by: Karen McMillan, ACC – www.kdmcmillan.com
The Conscious Leadership and Retreat Coach

Last month while on retreat I took some time to walk the labyrinth.  During my walk, and after, I realized the metaphor it represented and decided to reflect on it by writing.  So, here’s my share.

This photo is of the labyrinth I walked at Well of Mercy – in Harmony, NC.  On their web site they describe it as, “similar to the one on the floor of Charters (more…)

"The Big Guy"

About Labyrinths – Walking Your Spiritual Journey

We are all on the path … exactly where we need to be. The labyrinth is a model of that path. A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering, but purposeful path. At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for life’s journey – to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.

A labyrinth is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience. We can walk it.  It has only one path — the way in is the way out. The labyrinth’s path has a beginning and an end that are one and the same. Walking a labyrinth offers opportunity for reflection and meditation, and the chance to become more aware of where we are in life. In the walking, exploration of a labyrinth we always end up where we started, but as acknowledged by the English poet T.S. Eliot, “… the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

The ever-turning path of a labyrinth offers a circling walk to the center. The walk first takes you in … into the labyrinth and into yourself … and then around … around and back and forth with an ever changing perspective of the labyrinth that also offers to change and broaden your perspective of the problems or concerns that you brought with you. And, finally, walking a labyrinth takes you down. Down to an inner place of peace, of rest, of relaxation.

Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one choice to be made. The choice is whether to enter or not. The choice is whether or not to walk the spiritual path. — Dan Johnston, Ph.D. (Lessons For Living)