Labyrinth

I'm a bit of a sucker for ritual (it's why I'm a High Anglican after all!) as I firmly believe that all prayer has to be embodied - part of where we are in ourselves at whatever location and present time (also why I like the Rosary - I like the physicality of the beads as an anchor to meditation).

I've been interested in labyrinth prayer for a long time. I haven't yet managed to walk the labyrinth that used to be at Frederick Wallis House - now at Hutt Hospital - but I am intending to, maybe after exams. What interests me about this way of meditation/prayer is that it acts out the moving inwards towards God and outwards to the world through the movement of the body through the labyrinth. Labyrinths aren't mazes: there's only one route through the labyrinth and no dead ends, which is why I always had a problem with the movie of the same name, as that was actually a maze (although it is a cool movie, even now)!

I found this site the other day and liked it. It's got an interactive online labyrinth that captures the inwards and outwards feel of walking prayer, and presents the internal journey in a guided fashion that can be done without all the distractions of an actual labyrinth installation. It also has prayer stations, which I like (all that spiritual formation study, I guess!).

I just realised that this is probably the first post in this entire blog when I've let down my guard and talked about what I really think about stuff.

Pachyderm