ABOUT US

Creative Labyrinths features interactive artists whose work can be walked with eyes, hands, or feet. Collaborators Lea Goode-Harris and Marilyn Larson are based in Santa Rosa, CA and Minneapolis, MN. They began working together in 1997 on a labyrinth drawn in sand with toes and sticks by the ocean.



Individual designs often become collaborations through community involvement and installations. Their contemporary works include the Santa Rosa Labyrinth, Art Line Project, Labyrinths for Peace Project at the US Capital.

ABOUT LEA GOODE-HARRIS

Lea’s first step into a labyrinth forever changed the course of her life and sparked her curiosity. Following these threads of curiosity has led her around the world, meeting people and finding wonders she could have never imagined. Curiosity has led her to the depths of her own inner-explorations and the wonder and beauty of creating and walking labyrinths in every size and shape, simple to complex, and ethereal and in stone.

 

Lea says that walking the labyrinth has helped her to embrace change. Within its twists and turns, spirals and radiating rings, she has found the elegance of nature that now flows through her art and poetry making.

 

Lea hopes you will enjoy exploring Creative Labyrinths and further the discover of your own curiosity and the never-ending wonder of all things labyrinth.


Photo taken by Kimberly Saward of Lea next to a 5,000 year-old standing stone in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England

CONTACT LEA

The Labyrinth
is a vibrant flowerbed of creation
and the perfect place to plant seeds for the future.

FOR LABYRINTH DESIGN & CONSULTATION

ABOUT MARILYN LARSON

Marilyn’s first vision of walk-able art came as a spiral mowed in a field of grass. Later she discovered labyrinths to be ancient symbols that lend themselves to contemporary interpretation as walk-able art. Their shapes and rhythms of movement are informed by patterns found in nature. Concentric circles and spirals dance through each other as the ever-turning single path provides a place to practice change.


Marylin says, that labyrinths evolved as ‘ears on the earth’… places to listen. Labyrinths create a space of symbolic containment that allows our inner and outer perceptions to come into alignment.

‘To come into alignment… is to dwell in peace.’


While Marilyn was walking a labyrinth pattern drawn in the sand at a California Pacific Coast beach, she was inspired to ‘document the dance.’ And she has been doing so ever since through her art, music, poetry and ceremony.


Marilyn is an artist with stories to tell.


Marilyn’s article on labyrinths and dowsing, Spiraling Into The Center can be found here:

SPIRALLING INTO THE CENTER (PDF) CONTACT MARILYN
FOR LABYRINTH DESIGN & CONSULTATION

ABOUT LABYRINTHS

What is a Labyrinth?

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    Labyrinths are ancient, archetypal symbols that have been found throughout the world in diverse shapes and sizes. Even though there are bits of archaeological facts to substantiate certain dates, we really do not know the ultimate origins of the meandering path or how labyrinths were originally used.

Classical Labyrinth

Santa Rosa Labyrinth

Chartres Labyrinth

What is the difference between a Labyrinth and a Maze?

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    Currently, a labyrinth is defined as a unicursal path that leads to a center, both physically and metaphorically. A maze has false starts, dead ends and high walls. You lose yourself in a maze and have the opportunity to find yourself in a labyrinth. A labyrinth evokes your creativity, while a maze activates your thinking mind.


    Because the labyrinth is based on patterns found in nature, our bodies resonate with these geometrical mandalas. Studies have shown that when the mind relaxes, the body relaxes. When the body and mind relax, there is room to become aware of our individual and collective spirituality, completing the connection of mind, body, and spirit.




    Of all the diverse labyrinths there are two designs from antiquity that are the most recognized: 1) the Classical Labyrinth; 2) the Chartres Labyrinth from Chartres, France. Since the mid-1990’s there have been numerous contemporary designs created that are not found in the historical record. The first to emerge of these new designs was the Santa Rosa Labyrinth.




    The Classical labyrinth may have first appeared sometime between 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. It is nearly impossible to carbon date rock carvings. However, a clay tablet with a labyrinth carved on the backside was found in the ruins of a store room of the palace at Pylos, Greece, dating c. 1200 BC (Jeff Saward, Ancient Labyrinths Of The World, p. 4).


    The earliest recording of the labyrinth design to be made famous at Chartres Cathedral France, (c. 1201) appears in a manuscript from Auxerre, France, around the ninth century (Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p. 49).


    The Santa Rosa Labyrinth was created by myself in 1997. This seven-circuit labyrinth has quarter and half turns, as the medieval labyrinths, with the addition of a "heart-space" on the fourth path that is approached from all four directions. For more information on the Santa Rosa Labyrinth CLICK HERE.

How can a Labyrinth be used?

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    A labyrinth can be used to feed your spirit, quiet your mind, meditate, pray, or dance. A labyrinth provides the space to let go and leave the burdens of life at the entrance, finding time in the twists and turns to connect with your creative genius.


    You can also use the labyrinth to create ceremonies to celebrate or mark an important event in your life. Labyrinths are for discovery and practicing how to move in our everyday lives as we learn to listen to the voice of our heart.




    You can pause at the entrance before entering, ask a question, and then enter the labyrinth, letting the answer emerge. Or, you can just allow yourself to be open to what comes from your experience. Sometimes, your realization may come later in the day, in your dreams, or through synchronistic events.




    You can use the way into the labyrinth as a time of letting go, the center place as a point of receiving or illumination, and the journey back as an integration of your experience and insights before stepping across the threshold and back into life. Your new awareness and insights can be a gift to yourself, family and community.


    When walking in the company of others, find your own pace. It is okay to pass another person who is going slower than you or to step to the side when you meet someone going the opposite direction.




    Find out as much about the labyrinth as you can through your own experience. Explore the many diverse labyrinths that are available and enjoy stepping more fully into life with each encounter.


    Because the labyrinth is based on patterns found in nature, our bodies resonate with these geometrical mandalas. Studies have shown that when the mind relaxes, the body relaxes. When the body and mind relax, there is room to become aware of our individual and collective spirituality, completing the connection of mind, body, and spirit.




    Of all the diverse labyrinths there are two designs from antiquity that are the most recognized: 1) the Classical Labyrinth; 2) the Chartres Labyrinth from Chartres, France. Since the mid-1990’s there have been numerous contemporary designs created that are not found in the historical record. The first to emerge of these new designs was the Santa Rosa Labyrinth.




    The Classical labyrinth may have first appeared sometime between 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. It is nearly impossible to carbon date rock carvings. However, a clay tablet with a labyrinth carved on the backside was found in the ruins of a store room of the palace at Pylos, Greece, dating c. 1200 BC (Jeff Saward, Ancient Labyrinths Of The World, p. 4).


    The earliest recording of the labyrinth design to be made famous at Chartres Cathedral France, (c. 1201) appears in a manuscript from Auxerre, France, around the ninth century (Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p. 49).


    The Santa Rosa Labyrinth was created by myself in 1997. This seven-circuit labyrinth has quarter and half turns, as the medieval labyrinths, with the addition of a "heart-space" on the fourth path that is approached from all four directions. For more information on the Santa Rosa Labyrinth, please


     CLICK HERE.

How to make a Labyrinth

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    Making a labyrinth can be simple... like drawing it on paper or in the sand, or complex... like the ones made by professional labyrinth makers, creating exact replicas of ancient and contemporary designs.


    The diagram here shows you how to create the oldest labyrinth design, the Classical Labyrinth. Don't stop there. If you so desire, let yourself explore making other labyrinth designs that seem difficult or complex. You will find some of them to be very simple. If it does indeed become overwhelming, go back to the simplest design. Remember that your curiosity and intention are the most important gifts you bring to making a labyrinth.


    You can make your labyrinth out of any material imaginable... chalk, rope, brick & sod, paint on cement, rocks in a meadow, or sand at the beach. Use your imagination!


    All labyrinths, whether doodled in a notebook or cut with geometrical precision into stone, have something to teach us.


    You can find a labyrinth near you via the World Wide Labyrinth Locator: www.labyrinthlocator.com

Seven-Circuit Classical Labyrinth Seed Pattern














View Full 7- Circuit Classical Seed Pattern