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.Petroglyphs and drawings of labyrinths from the second millennium B.C.have beenfound in India, Greece, Syria, and Italy.Roman labyrinths nearly sixty of them have beenuncovered throughout the former Roman Empire, from Britain to Spain to Yugoslavia to NorthAfrica.Labyrinths appeared throughout the world in the thousand years from A.D.500 to A.D.1500.Great stone labyrinths were built along the Scandinavian coastline from Iceland to Russia.Labyrinths were drawn and carved into cli dwellings and mesas in the American Southwest.Turflabyrinths made by cutting trenches into turf for the paths, with turf ridges delineating the path were cut into the earth in Germany, Poland, and England.Stone and tile labyrinths were set intochurch floors in North Africa, Italy, and France.At the new millennium, we are in the midst of a great labyrinth renaissance.Caerdroia (a Welshword meaning Troy Town, an ancient word for labyrinths) was founded in Britain in 1980 tofurther the study of labyrinths.An exhibit in Milan in 1981 on labyrinths as archetypal imageshelped move labyrinths back into public consciousness, and individuals such as Sig Lonegren,author of Labyrinths: Ancient Myths and Modern Uses, helped continue the momentum.The ReverendDr.Lauren Artress rediscovered the Chartres labyrinth during a workshop she attended in 1991and has spearheaded the international movement to promote use of that labyrinth.LABYRINTH THEMES he labyrinth, echoing the spiral s transformational theme, has invited journeyers andspiritual seekers through the ages to contemplate the mysteries of life.From my study oflabyrinth history, four themes in the symbolism and use of the labyrinth have emerged:Tdeath and rebirth; initiation, or symbolic death and rebirth; fertility; and the spiritualjourney.These same themes are important to today s walkers.Understanding them gives us a better senseof how to use the labyrinth in our own times for spiritual and transformational work.DEATH AND REBIRTHLabyrinths have been connected with funerary rites for thousands of years.These ancient funeralswere di erent from ours, not only grieving the passing of the deceased but preparing their spiritfor rebirth as well.The labyrinth s winding journey to center and back out again served as a mapfor this transition from life to death to rebirth.The tomb in Sardinia is only one such example.Burial sites with stone labyrinths have also beenfound all along the Scandinavian coast, dating back to the Iron Age.Historians speculate that inthe Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France, choral dances may have been performed, and symbolicgames played, that celebrated Christ s death and resurrection at Easter.INITIATIONCretan coins from A.D.500 show many variants of the seven-circuit classical labyrinth (nowsometimes called the Cretan labyrinth).The designs are thought to refer to the legendary labyrinthat Knossos, where Theseus killed the Minotaur imprisoned at the center.This powerful myth has captured the imagination of storytellers and artists for centuries.Aclassic heroic initiation in which a hero faces mortal challenges and emerges victorious themyth has been retold as a story about the journey we must all make into our own shadows, inorder to move back out into the world as fuller human beings.Petroglyphs at Val Camonica in northern Italy dating from 1500 B.C., represent severallabyrinths.The rst has a haunting face composed of only staring eyes in the center.The secondpetroglyph shows an initiate ghting this face representing initiation, or death and rebirth, at thecenter of the labyrinth.Petroglyphs from southern India, dating as far back as 1000 B.C., tell thestory of death, rebirth, and initiation, with warriors ghting around the labyrinth and beingsacrificed in its center.FERTILITYAs labyrinths were used to signify literal and symbolic death, so they were used to symbolize andcelebrate birth and fertility.This celebration of new life, of fertility, stemmed from ancient myths,similar to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, in which a goddess was temporarilyreleased from the underworld to bring spring and fertility to the earth.Ceremonies, fertility rites, and games, often tied in to seasonal events such as solstices andequinoxes, were celebrated in Scandinavian stone labyrinths.These events celebrated the return ofsun, warmth, and fertility to a frozen earth, metaphorically symbolizing the resurgence of new lifewe all experience after challenging times.One popular game placed a maiden in the center of thelabyrinth, with youths racing, or dancing in to win her.In fact, some labyrinths in Finland were known as virgin dances.These seasonal fertility ceremonies and games, it is conjectured, were also carried out in theturf mazes of Europe
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