For thousands of years, labyrinths have existed in a multitude of cultures. They have been used as ceremonial pathways, protective sigils, traps for unwelcome spirits and for games and dancing. They have been used for spiritual and artistic journeys. I’ve only recently started learning about them, and was surprised at the depth of their history. I was even more surprised to find the amount of labyrinths that still exist today. I’m thinking I’m going to have to visit the one in Longport, NJ now.
One of the themes of the ARG I am currently following is about parallel universes. Labyrinths are being used as a foundation to allow these worlds to communicate, synchronize and prevent their destruction. As fictional as that is, the factual information that is scattered through is what drew me into the labyrinth history.
Recently, we were instructed to create/walk a personal labyrinth, as well as document it. You were supposed to think of a life changing decision you made in the last 4 years, and consider how your life would be different had you chosen a different path — for in an alternate universe, someone had. How would their life continue on their own path, making further decisions.
By reflecting on this decision, it allows for that sense of meditation and synchronization with yourself, as I see it in a very spiritual way.
Only a few have been created so far. But the artistry of this one inspired me to to walk my own personal labyrinth Sunday night.
Let me just tell you what a pain it was though.. I had planned to do the night time candle thing from the beginning, but after setting it all up there was quite the wind. The ground was marked with flour, as I wanted something that was white and would reflect the candle light and be seen at night. Bad weather was in the forecast for the next two days, so my window of opportunity was small. Rather than wait, I pressed ahead. I wound up making aluminum foil ‘shields’ to place around the candles and keep them from blowing out. This kept them from going out every 15 seconds as was the case before. Now, it was only every few minutes.
The new problem was that the shields also drastically reduced the light’s ability to pool. So instead of having a nicely illuminated labyrinth, I had one that was barely visible on the camera, in turn causing what little that could be seen to be out of focus.
Since the journey was planned and the destination in sight, I aimed to complete it. I worked with what I had, and hoped that the artistry outweighed the technical difficulties.
If you take the time to watch it, I want to thank you in advance.
Sometimes its good to reflect on the choices you’ve made, whatever it is that prompts you to do so in the first place.
Enjoyed your video very much. I have a suggestion: lumenarios. It’s a Mexico/Southwest thing. You put a candles in a paper bag, with some sand or whatever in the bottom to keep it upright in a breeze. Keeps them from going out (mostly), helps broadcast the light, also keeps the flame away from the hem of your ceremonial robe.
This personal labyrinth thing is pretty cool!
Definately Lumenarios would have been the way to go with that. We used them growing up around the Christmas holidays, our whole neighborhood did it, so I’m familiar with them. If I’d done more advanced planning it would have worked much better!
Plus, the wax bag (use wax bags so they don’t catch fire as easily) would have acted as a reflector and shown off even more light.
Maybe I’ll do another one later.. thanks for stopping by.