Laying Labyrinths

Why Laying Labyrinths?

We use this language of 'laying' because it opens up the conversation with the ground, the caretakers (past and present), and the community that gathers to perform this experience together. To lay implies, to be gentle with, to tread lightly; we want to engender this type of gentle, open, and curious conversation in this participatory performance.

Labyrinths are an ancient form that are found all over the world. Different cultures and continents have used these forms for thousands and thousands of years. Archaeologists and historians cannot pinpoint the origin of the classical labyrinth form and many attribute it to spreading worldwide because of the different seed patterns, many classical labyrinths hold.

For more information on Labyrinths check out our Labyrinth History page (coming soon).

Where it began...

In May of 2021, in the peak of the pandemic and in the middle of my graduate program, I (Eva) returned to my home in Southeastern, VA and laid a labyrinth with my mother. This labyrinth was laid from an impulse and exploration I had with another member of my graduate studies. I still can't thank her enough for writing in an experimental offer to me, "Perhaps there is a labyrinth here too." These words sent me on a spiral of inquiry I have followed for over a year now. An inquiry that was spurned from a curiosity first introduced to me when I was 12, when I walked my first labyrinth.

It's important for me to share the roots of this work and where it weaves with others because I am inherently curious about the interconnections between ideas, people, and the practice of witnessing the tiniest of relationships that lead to complex webs. I'm interested in how I dance with the chaos and complexity of this world. This Living Performance is my current experiment into that query.

To see the people that have impacted this work directly check out the Our Gratitude page.

Where it went...

In the summer of 2021, I began a practicum that allowed me to re-examine my relationship with the earth. It became an environmental collaboration. I spent a semester laying labyrinths on 'public lands', learning about the caretakers from the past and present of the land, and expanding my ways of listening to the earth around me. This dive into reconnecting with the earth began to interweave a desire that was creeping up within my studies.

At the time, I was researching the Happenings of the 50's and 60's, learning how to draw classical labyrinths from seed patterns, and looking into other environmental, ephemeral, and even graffiti artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Shona Wilson, and SAMO (Jean Michel Basquiat & Al Diaz's tag collaboration). Through all this research, I was renewing my definitions of the roles of theatre artists and audience members. I was practicing what it felt like to pop up somewhere, collaborate with the earth, and the resources around me. As I was yearning for a deeper connection to the earth, I began to ask myself: how could I offer a deeper connection to audience members in my theatrical work?

I began my own experimentation sharing this work with a dear friend, Hebe (or Sarah).

Wabanaki People and their Neighbors

Coleman's Cove, Chebeague Island, ME

And how it pollinated...

I (Sarah) first met a labyrinth when I was about eight years old at a Quaker meeting retreat with my family. I remember one dusty room of the retreat was set up with a labyrinth laid out in rope on the floor for anyone to visit. I was enchanted by it and wandered into the dark room a few times, but that was all. I knew nothing about it or the power it could have.

Fast forward to winter 2022, when Eva came to me with her concept of using the labyrinth as a form for practicing gathering and connecting to ourselves and the earth. I was instantly drawn in and curious to learn more about this mysterious pattern I had encountered as a child. Through studying the various seed patterns and practicing drawing the forms, I became more and more fascinated by how meditative and introspective I found the labyrinth, but also how deeply communal it could be. After laying some labyrinths with Eva, I began listening to when and where I might lay one on my own.

As soon as I opened myself up to the invitations, I heard them everywhere! I found a quiet beach on the coast of Maine and an open patch of dirt in a grassy field. I learned from the impermanence of each labyrinth and used the practice of walking as a way to release what was no longer serving me and invite in new intentions.

I have now begun to share the seed pattern with people in my community. It feels like a gift that keeps asking to be passed along. The act of laying a labyrinth in nature, reminds me of my interconnectedness to the earth. I feel filled up by working with a group to lay a labyrinth; the walk afterwards like a reward for the hard labor. I hope it can be a tool for others to practice gathering and remembering together as we forge new worlds for future generations.

Wabanaki People and their Neighbors

Coleman's Cove, Chebeague Island, ME

Where are we now...

We landed on wanting not only to redefine our relationships with audiences but to reconceive our relationships with theatre. Why couldn't I make something that involved a labyrinth, why couldn't I make a performance that invites an audience to become a community that creates together? Can I work with some of the roots of theatre: of ceremony and ritual experiences. With these questions and the labyrinth laying practice, I reached out to some dear collaborators: fellow facilitation, movement, and healing artists. As the conversations grew the questions expanded and the form of this performance started to take shape.

This is what we are making now: a ritual performance that invites people to enact together the practice of gathering, seeing, and sensing with each other, themselves, and the living earth.

We are deep in the midst of making a performance that is steeped in traditions I (Eva) identify with, in what’s happening in my body, and what I am being called to do. This ritual is steeped in the labyrinth form, in coming back into remembrance and relationship with the Earth, in recognizing how inherently interconnected this whole life is to others that are in this Deep World with us. This performance has layers of improvising, movement, breath work, play, and earth-based practices layered throughout the community performance. It houses metaphors that have held me throughout my life: of transformation and rebirth. And yet, I am aware that different metaphors will inherently arise for different people as they engage with this performance. I can't wait for those moments!

This performance is my offering in this current exchange of life. This performance is our ephemeral, sensorial, ritual offering for now, for this time, for the people that choose to gather.

Here we are!

And as a great and late theatre mentor used to say at the sign off of any email or at the end of every theatre rehearsal.

Off we go!

Resources

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Anderson, Richard Feather, and Lars Howlett. Geomancy, Dowsing, and the Labyrinth Entity with Richard Feather Anderson in Conversation with Lars Howlett. Geomancy, Dowsing, and the Labyrinth Entity, Zoom Webinar.

Artress, Lauren. The Path of the Holy Fool: How the Labyrinth Ignites Our Visionary Powers. Rose Petal Press, 2020.---, Lauren. The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform. 0 edition, Riverhead Books, 2006.

---. Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice. Revised and Updated ed. edition, Riverhead Books, 2006.

Binford, Harry. The Labyrinth: A Brief Introduction to Its History, Meaning and Use. https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/1276-the-layrinth-a-brief-introduction-to-its-history-meaning-and-use. Accessed 11 July 2021.

Cross, Emma-Jane. Walking The Wheel of The Year. Green Magic, 2020.

Discover Labyrinths. A Story of Life and Labyrinths. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC7tG6png1E. Accessed 11 July 2021.

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Hayashi, Arawana. Social Presencing Theater: The Art of Making a True Move. 1st edition, PI Press, 2021.

Kabakci, Huma. “Tracing the Ephemeral: What Is Left Behind.” Medium, 5 Nov. 2020, https://humakabakci.medium.com/tracing-the-ephemeral-what-is-left-behind-6a96f6334008.

Kaprow, Allan. Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life. Edited by Jeff Kelley, First Edition, Expanded, University of California Press, 2003.

Labyrinthos Homepage. https://www.labyrinthos.net/index.html. Accessed 11 July 2021.

Manson, Darrel. Leaning into the Wind – The Art of Nature, Time, and Andy Goldsworthy. https://screenfish.net/leaning-into-the-wind-the-art-of-nature-time-and-andy-goldsworthy/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2021.

Riedelsheimer, Thomas. Leaning into the Wind - Andy Goldsworthy. 2018, http://www.leaningintothewindfilm.com/.

Schechner, Richard. Environmental Theater. Expanded, Subsequent edition, Applause Books, 2000.

Sheldrake, Merlin. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Random House, 2020.

The Labyrinth Society: The Labyrinth Society. https://labyrinthsociety.org/. Accessed 11 July 2021.

“Theatr Cynefin.” Theatr Cynefin, https://www.cynefin.org. Accessed 6 May 2022.Toporišič, Tomaž, and Barbara Pia Jenic.

Wiles, Nathan, and Lars Howlett. Introduction to Sacred Geometry and the Labyrinth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1bdIwOOqg. Zoom Webinar.Woods, Walt. “Letter to Robin: A Mini-Course in Pendulum Dowsing.” The Print Shoppe, no. 10th, Mar. 2001, p. 29.

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