Sydney Labyrinth in Sydney, Australia | Community

Sydney Labyrinth

Locality: Sydney, Australia

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21.01.2022 The coronavirus stopped my labyrinth work for a few weeks. As my strength returned, I found creativity to be good medicine. At 9:00 am today, I started masking ...a labyrinth pattern for St. Thomas’ Espiscopal Church in Sioux City, Iowa. By 8:00 pm, the masking was completed and ready for paint tomorrow. See more

15.01.2022 The labyrinth has a starring role in this masterfully crafted novel - all about journeys - by Australian author Amanda Lohrey. Just finished reading it, and would highly recommend for your summer reading. It’s definitely award-worthy.

14.01.2022 A day of painting and the labyrinth at St Thomas’ Episcopal in Sioux City, Iowa is finished!

10.01.2022 Thanks to Lars Howlett for this insight:'Theoretically, the successful path through any maze is a labyrinth. Walking this maze while maintaining contact with the left hand on the wall follows the path of the Chartres Labyrinth! Drawing by Pierre Rosenstiehl'

08.01.2022 Mark Nepo: 'In Greek mythology there is the story of a man, Theseus, who in order to find his way home had to find his way through a labyrinth that led him to a dark centre, where he had to kill a powerful beast, a Minotaur. The only way he could return to the light of daily life was to trace back the thread he had unravelled on his way in, which was given to him by a kind woman, Ariadne. Stories like this carry wisdom we must encounter if we are to become whole.Each of us ha...s a beast at centre which we must confront if we are to live peacefully. Like Theseus, making our way back into the light is only possible if we retrace with kindness and love, our dark way in. This is how, after years of feeling mistreated, I can find myself mistreating others and suddenly, I feel humbled. This is how, in giving myself away to be loved, I finally arrive at the dark, loveless centre of that way, and find the only way out is to follow the small thread of accepting who I am, until it leads me back to where I began, except this time I weep to know my place in the world.' See more

04.01.2022 During winter and the holidays, the Reims labyrinth is one of my favorite patterns. With its surprising complexity, it offers so many beautiful symbols for cont...emplation as we approach Christmas and the new year. The Reims Cathedral in France is where the Kings of France were crowned. As Christmas approaches, Christ crosses the doorway from heaven to earth to be born as a baby King but not in a cathedral, instead among the sacrificial lambs of Bethlehem. The theme of baptism repeats in the Reims Cathedral symbolizing the transition from one life to another. For the princes, it was to Kings. For God, it was to be born as one of us. The castle like bastions in the four corners of the labyrinth form resting places in the path, I love to use these as focus points for contemplation. We talk about the four corners of the Earth or the four directions, but we also walk forwards or stray backwards, conquer the mountains in our lives or hit valleys. After Christmas, the four kings visit the babe, three bearing gifts and one intending to kill him. Those gifts allow the flight and sojourn in Egypt and his eventual return. We light four advent candles symbolizing hope, faith, joy and peace, and celebrate that love came down at Christmas to bear our burdens with us - Emmanuel, meaning "God with us." In the medieval manner the path winds between the quadrants. However, the Reims is unusual in that it progresses through the resting places nearly without meanders, and then the center segment explores the quadrants with more of the maze like convolutions. Christ's coming began his long journey towards the cross, his pilgrimmage on earth towards his sacrifice and the wanderings of his youth as he grew towards that purpose were steady, but his years of teaching meandered him closer and closer to the cross and his crown. Hidden within this "square" pattern, octagons repeat in the bastions and the main section. Traditionally used with baptism, the number eight represented the first day of the new week, or the beginning of new life. Baptismal fonts are 8 sided and the Reims labyrinth with its nested eight sided paths make for a beautiful walk of transformation. Christians celebrate this new life and renewing of life at Christmas. That the creator became the created. That love revealed a path towards peace written from the beginning, but only seen once it was lived out for us. The splash of broken waters heralding new birth, the baptism of John heralding a new determination, the baptism of death bringing resurrection and life, the baptism of Christ bringing healing for this life and the next. I hope in the hurry of the holidays, whether you are Christian or another faith, or simply enjoy the holidays and the symbols of the solstice and new year, you have time to enjoy walking these paths. This is my artistically favorite result from the last kiln load, its a glaze called Eternal Galaxy, which I find very fitting and turned out absolutely gorgeous... https://www.etsy.com/shop/waystones?section_id=27431519

04.01.2022 Mythologist Joseph Campbell refers to the richly symbolic Grail Legend as the founding myth of Western Civilization. Through it, Campbell lays the groundwork ...for his well-known hero’s journey, a model for narrative structure that begins with an initiating crisis and ends with a victorious return home. We need heroes, of course, but this archetype is not everyone’s path. Hidden within the Legend lies another much-needed metaphorical guide for these times of uncertainty and upheaval: the archetype of the Holy Fool. The Holy Fool and the Hero share life-defining journeys, but they remain dynamically different. For starters, the Hero returns home as a hero; the Holy Fool does not. For the Holy Fool, there is no home to return to. All has changed, the old has died away. Parsifal starts his journey as a bumbling chump, unaware of the most basic human concerns, and steps into a new life as a conscious human being. He ends up discovering the revelation of a life lived with integrity in the spirit of its own brave truth. Parsifal carries a powerful message for us all in a time of upheaval, a time in which each of us must find and live our own brave truth in the service of humankind. Excerpt from the Path of the Holy Fool by Lauren Artress, Chapter 2. Photo by Lars Howlett, Styling by StoopSF

03.01.2022 Join us at the Centennial Park Labyrinth at 9am this Sunday 6th December, for our monthly walk led this time by Heather Middleton. Come and remember what it feels like to be in community in a peaceful, gentle way. This event is free and open to all. For directions go to www.sydneylabyrinth.org.

03.01.2022 'Care of the soul goes beyond the secular mythology of the self and recovers a sense of the sacredness of each individual life. This sacred quality is not just ...value - all lives are important. It is the unfathomable mystery that is the very seed and heart of each individual. Shallow therapeutic manipulations (and pharmaceuticals) aimed at restoring normality or tuning a life according to 'standards', reduces that profound mystery to the pale dimensions of a social common denominator referred to as the 'adjusted personality'. Care of the soul sees another reality altogether. It appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life. It sees every fall into ignorance and confusion as an opportunity to discover that the beast residing at the centre of the labyrinth is also an angel.' (Thomas Moore) Sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye of 'Theseus Slaying the Minotaur'. See more

03.01.2022 We give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for those places; in the world, in ourselves and in each other. (Michael Leunig)