Come, walk the labyrinth.

The labyrinth is available in Heubeck Multipurpose Room A at these times this semester: Th 10/18: 11:30am-1:00pm Th 11/1: 11:30am-1:00pm Tu 11/6: 11:30am-1:00pm Th 11/15: 11:30am-1:00pm For more information contact Cynthia Terry (x6048).

Wondering which major to choose? Which path to follow? What job to pursue? When and where to go abroad? How to make sense of an experience or relationship? Come, walk the labyrinth. Use this ancient symbol as an opportunity to reflect on the transitions and decisions of your life. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Contact Chaplain Cynthia Terry (x6048, cynthia.terry@goucher.edu) if you have questions.

Labyrinths are ancient human symbols known to go back at least 3500 years and probably much older. They appeared on most inhabited continents in prehistory, with examples known from North & South America, Africa, Asia and across Europe from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. The labyrinth symbol was incorporated into the floors of the great Gothic pilgrimage cathedrals of France in the twelfth & thirteenth centuries.

A labyrinth is not a maze, but a walking meditation device with a single winding path from the edge to the center. There are no tricks, choices or dead ends in a labyrinth walk. The same path is used to return to the outside. Combining a number of even older symbols, including the circle, spiral and meander, the labyrinth represents the journey inward to our own true selves and back out into the everyday world.

Walking a labyrinth is a right brain activity (creative, intuitive, imaginative), and can induce or enhance a contemplative or meditative state of mind. It is a tool which can clear the mind, calm our anxieties during periods of transition and stress, guide healing, deepen self-knowledge, enhance creativity, allow for reconciliation, restore feelings of belonging to a community, and lead to personal and spiritual growth.

 For many walkers the labyrinth becomes a metaphor for the journey of life: although full of twists and turns, each of us is on a single path through his or her life, and yet each person's journey is a separate and distinct qualitative experience. In walking labyrinths, modern seekers are emulating and recapturing the pilgrimage tradition of many ancient faiths.