tourists a year, the labyrinth manages to
evoke a sense of exclusivity.
“When you’re walking, you feel like
you’re in your own space,” Price says,
calling it a calming half-hour experience. “Different thoughts, different
images come into your brain. You never
know what’s going to pass through your
mind during this time.”
Labyrinth at the Center
at Westwoods
Westwood, Mass.
With the construction of a labyrinth
at the Center at West woods, about
25 miles southwest of Boston, an old
farm was converted into a sacred space.
Gretchen Keller was one of a core
group of four who designed and built the
grass-and-earth labyrinth two years ago as
a “tool for walking meditation,” she says.
It’s the convergence of different
cultures that makes the Westwoods
labyrinth such a standout. The design
was largely based on the most famous
labyrinth pattern, the 13th-century
pathway inlaid in the floor of the nave
at Chartres Cathedral in France, which
was then inter woven with a prominent
spiral seen in many indigenous cultures.
Keller says it was a way of honoring
them. In addition, Tibetan prayer
wheels, which are cylinder drums used
for spreading spiritual blessings, are
mounted on stone walls that surround
the circuit, making the labyrinth both
inclusive and deeply personal.
Every element of the West woods
labyrinth has meaning. The pathway
is encircled by a halo of semicircular
shapes called lunations, which represent
phases of the moon. The entrance to the
labyrinth is on the south side, the place
of creativity and power. Keller calls it a
“good place to let thoughts settle.”
Top to bottom: The
Labyrinth at the Center at
Westwoods and Anthony N.
Fusco Reservoir Labyrinth,
Delaware Art Museum
Washington National Cathedral
Washington, D.C.
T wo large canvas labyrinths dominate
the transepts, or arms, of the Washington National Cathedral on the last
Tuesday of each month. All faiths are
welcome, and live harp music alternating with Native American flute provides
a soothing soundtrack.
“It’s a way for people to go deeper,”
says Terri Lynn Simpson, assistant
director for the Center of Prayer and
Pilgrimage. “The music is haunting, but
