Thursday, April 11, 2013

After Easter R & R

Chakra Labyrinth

In the days following Easter this year I recovered from the spiritual/liturgical/emotional marathon by spending some time in physical labor building a labyrinth, a passion of mine.  After some thinking and praying about the shape, I decided on building a "Chakra" Labyrinth.   This was a design I had not tried before but was intriguing to me especially because of the spiral at the center and because it has a womb like shape.

Creation Sculpture
I also like the "Y" shape that gives the labyrinth its structure.  It mirrors the Creation Sculpture of the Spirit throwing stars into the heavens.  


At Crickhollow there is this large side yard that is perfect.  I have loved incorporating trees into my labyrinth in the past and there is a small grove of older trees in the side yard before you get to the forest proper.



Fire Pit

Day 1:  I began with the center that I wanted to be larger than normal and to include a small firepit.  I dug down, lined the pit with gravel and soapstone slabs and surrounded it with large rocks.





Femto Henge and Inner Spiral
Day 2-3:  I harvested rocks from the quarry and from my land and began to work the layout with the trees.  I cleared some mountain laurel to make way for the paths.  I decided to make the inner spiral about 3 feet from the firepit and dug holes for uprights to define the spiral.  I call this the Femto Henge (a femto being very small and a henge, of course is standing stones).



Labyrinth Entrance with
Bell and Creation Sculpture


Day 4:  I brought stones from my older labyrinth in Goochland, added herbs and plants between some of the stones, placed the Creation sculpture and a bronze bell at the beginning and distributed symbols around the outside circle to change the look as you walk.


Eventually it will be mulched, but it is done for now.  Come and walk it!




The Labyrinth