the Cretan Labyrinth

The Cretan labyrinth and the chakra's.

Labyrinths are found all over the world. They are ancient symbols known to date back at least 3500 years and probably much farther.
They appeared on most inhabited continents in prehistory, with examples known from North and South America, Africa, Asia and across Europe from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. The labyrinth symbol was incorporated into the floors of the great Gothic pilgrimage cathedrals of France in the twelfth century.

In the previous labyrinth walks we used the so called Chartres labyrinth at the Mariposa Memorial Gardens. The Chartres labyrinth is the largest labyrinth or the so called 12 circuits labyrinth. It has beautiful petals inside the labyrinth and some say they are connected to the Lord's Prayer. Kathleen McGowan wrote a wonderful book about this:"The source of Miracles", 7 steps to transforming your life through the Lord's prayer.  

The Cretan labyrinth, one of the oldest and maybe even the oldest labyrinths, is a so called 7 circuit labyrinth and is different in form and size. This labyrinth is as we can see built out of 7 circuits and it is also called the 'Chakra's and Healing labyrinth'.
In the 3rd century BC coins from Knossos are still struck with the labyrinth symbol. The predominant labyrinth form during this period is the simple 7-circuit style known as the classical labyrinth. As a unicursal (one way in, one way out) path, a labyrinth is showing and teaching centeredness. This differentiates a labyrinth from a maze which has many paths & dead-ends leading to confusion. Like life & destiny, a labyrinth may be a long journey but it has a specific beginning and a definite end. Like mandalas, a labyrinth offers a holistic route (meandering radius) from the periphery to the center. A labyrinth imprints a 'royal groove', a ceremonial pathway designed according to principles such as Harmonic Proportion and Alternance of Energy. For instance, the clockwise (sunwise) and counter-clockwise (moonwise) spins of the meanders map out a balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.



The seven circuits of the classical Cretan Labyrinth pathway have also associated with the seven primary chakras of the body. Chakra is a Hindu word meaning 'wheels of light.' They are spiraling vortexes of energy that make up the energy field of our bodies. Yoga works with the chakra system as do various complimentary healing modalities. Notice that you don't walk these paths in order from one to eight. The sequence of the paths is 3-2-1-4 and 7-6-5-8. This is a pattern that repeats itself twice: 3-2-1-4 and then 7-6-5-8. Since we are walking on December 7, on Remembrance Day the Cretan labyrinth will comfort us by touching the chakra's while we walk, by giving us the possibility to touch us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritualy. The labyrinth balances our energy when we walk with the intention of balancing your chakra's, or your acupuncture meridians.It really is the Healing Labyrinth path!

Music
We will connect our healing with music! Cliff Cordes will play for and with us on his harmonica and hopefully we will have a flute also. What we will chant is the song 'Nada te turbe' from the Taize Community in France. To get familiar with the music just click on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvfTVxgkWpo 

The history of the Cretan labyrinth
Labyrinth is a word of pre-Greek ("Pelasgian") origin absorbed by classical Greek, and is apparently related to labrys, a word for the archaic iconic "double axe", with inthos connoting "place" (as in "Corinth"). The complex palace of Knossos in Crete is usually implicated, though the actual dancing-ground, depicted in frescoed patterns at Knossos, has not been found. Something was being shown to visitors as a labyrinth at Knossos in the 1st century AD. Greek mythology did not recall, however, that in Crete there was a Lady who presided over the Labyrinth. A tablet inscribed in Linear B found at Knossos records a gift "to all the gods honey; to the mistress of the labyrinth honey." All the gods together receive as much honey as the Mistress of the Labyrinth alone. "She must have been a Creational Goddess."
According to Greek mythology, King Minos of Crete had the craftsman Daedalus construct the Labyrinth in order to conceal the Minotaur, the half-bull, half-human offspring of Minos' wife Pasiphae and a bull. For some unknown reason, Daedalus and his son Icarus were confined in the Labyrinth. Constructing wings of feathers and wax, the two were able to escape by flying above the walls of the Labyrinth. Young Icarus, however, impetuously flew too near the sun. His waxy wings melted and he drowned in the Icarian Sea. 7-Fold Cretan Labyrinth
Another couple associated with the Labyrinth was Theseus and Ariadne. Theseus was the son of Aegeus, King of Athens. At the time Athens had to a pay tribute of seven boys and seven girls to Crete - as food for the Minotaur - every nine years. Theseus decided to put a stop to this and joined a tribute group going to Crete. There, Ariadne, one of Minos' daughters, fell in love with him. She gave Theseus a ball of string, which helped him find his way out of the Labyrinth after he had killed the Minotaur.That the Cretan labyrinth had been a dancing-ground and was made for Ariadne rather than for Minos was remembered by Homer in the Iliad where, in the pattern that Hephaestus inscribed on Achilles' shield, one incident pictured was a dancing-ground like the one that Daedalus designed in the spacious town of Knossos for Ariadne of the lovely locks. Even the labyrinth dance was depicted on the shield, where youths and marriageable maidens were dancing on it with their hands on one another's wrists - circling as smoothly on their accomplished feet as the wheel of a potter and there they ran in lines to meet each other. The labyrinth is the referent in the familiar Greek patterns of the endlessly running meander, to give the "Greek Key" its common modern name. In the 3rd century BC coins from Knossos are still struck with the labyrinth symbol. The predominant labyrinth form during this period is the simple 7-circuit style known as the classical labyrinth.

source: http://www.crystalinks.com/labyrinths.html