Pottery courses and workshops

Our vacation this year, for which we decided to ‘explore’ the history, myths and the landscape of the English island, was marked by another detail – during the whole trip we were coming across labyrinths.

Last year we already set up the first labyrinth on Vindol, based on the labyrinth templates made by Adrian Predrag Kezele in Croatia, opened for visitors in September 2008.   

Labyrinths?  

Yes, labyrinths. Believe it or not, they have been with us for more than three thousand years; at least that is the age of the first symbols which were cut in wood, stone, slabs and slates, in rock. We find them on fabric as interesting patterns, while in the natural environment gardens and hedges were formed in the shape of labyrinth.

In Europe labyrinths first appeared in the bronze and early iron age, between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred BC. They were discovered in the first trade centres in the Mediterranean – in northern Italy, north-eastern Spain … they were found engraved in stone.  

The symbol most probably came from the East with the traders from Egypt and the border provinces of the Roman Empire, and adapted and changed in contact with other cultures. Labyrinth, a pre-Christian symbol, was appropriated by the Christian Church. The Byzantine and Roman-Catholic church took over the older symbols and myths and included them in their own religious rites.   

The most famous and widely known is the labyrinth from Crete, which appeared on their coins. The mythological Minotaur, half human, half bull, was allegedly imprisoned in this labyrinth.

Since the 12^th and 13^th century, labyrinth regularly appeared as a symbol in medieval manuscripts transcribed by hand, which circulated around European monasteries and mansions. The scribes often ornamented them and created identifiable illuminations. 

In the early Middle Ages, the favourite labyrinth was a mathematically perfect labyrinth with eleven circles, twelve walls and four axes.  

France had more labyrinths than Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England and Ireland together. The most famous labyrinth was in northern France, engraved in the centre of the nave of the first and the most magnificent gothic medieval cathedral – in Chartres. Nobody knows who ordered it or why the labyrinth was constructed.  

For thousands of years labyrinths have been an instrument to turn within, discovering the inner laws. Many use them for meditation, others for jogging; some people walk them on their knees. In gothic cathedrals a labyrinth enabled medieval Christians, instead of going on a proper pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to go on a spiritual pilgrimage. Thus the paved labyrinths – as opposed to those on the walls of churches and cathedrals – were called ‘path to Jerusalem’. Pilgrims walked the circles towards the centre, sometimes several times, which symbolised a better understanding of God or a deeper connection with him. Repentants often walked the labyrinth on their knees and sometimes it took them several days.   

Labyrinths are nowadays spread all over the world, constructed as decoration, but more and more also as a powerful tool for each of us to solve problems using our inner intuition for new realisations. They affect lives of individuals as well as the community. Each labyrinth has its own characteristics – some balance the inner equilibrium, increase the life energy and have a healing effect on our body, others have a positive impact on the space, the environment/surroundings where the labyrinths are placed. They create balance and heal the spirit, physical body and environment.  

For me, walking a labyrinth is above all a walk and relaxation; the mind calms down, thoughts clear up and make room for new ideas… to be alone, with oneself, here and now.