Flashback Friday, Episode 13 - The Luminary Labyrinth

A labyrinth, as the word is used today, refers to a circle on the floor or ground containing a complex path that leads from an entrance to the circle's center. It is used as a tool for meditation by slowly and silently walking from the entrance to the center and back. See Wikipedia for a full discussion of the history of the labyrinth and how it is often distinguished from a maze. Early in the history of Easton Mountain, a labyrinth was created in a space near the director's cabin by mowing grass in a labyrinth pattern. Few people knew of it's existence or walked it. There was talk about having a permanent labyrinth on the High Meadow, but it never was constructed.

However, no one who was at Gay Spirit Camp in 2012 will forget the labyrinth that Martin Grealish designed and, with help, installed on the lawn in front of our outdoor stage. This labyrinth used several hundred white paper sacks, each filled with about two inches of sand topped by a lighted candle - hence we had a "luminary labyrinth." Here's a video showing men walking this labyrinth on the evening after it was made.

The next day, many men again walked the labyrinth. One long-term resident first went into our mud pit and covered himself with mud. Then he walked the labyrinth to the center and sat there in meditation.

ForBlog2
ForBlog2

Others, walking the labyrinth, bowed to him when they reached its center. Note the covered wooden phallus, made and donated by Moss Tidd. Walkers passed it on entering the labyrinth, twice more as they walked the path and a fourth time just before entering the center circle.

Labyrinths don't have to be as big as the one Martin made. Perhaps some ambition person will create a smaller permanent labyrinth at Easton Mountain soon.

CommunitySunfire