Labyrinths from the Outside In: Walking to Spiritual Insight?A Beginner's Guide

The user-friendly, interfaith guide to making and using labyrinths―for meditation, prayer and celebration.

"People often confuse labyrinths with mazes. In some ways, labyrinths are like mazes; but a labyrinth has become more than a maze, because in a labyrinth you are never lost, you are always on the path leading into or back out of the center. You find the center if you walk the path. A labyrinth is like a maze with a certain answer. It is maze-plus―once you know the labyrinth, you know there is a way into the center. Mazes remain puzzles: they can perplex permanently. Labyrinths are designed with the eventual solution fully on display. If we but walk the path, we get home."
―from the Introduction

A labyrinth is a circuitous path that people have used as a form of prayer and meditation for thousands of years―a path that is being rediscovered as a spiritual tool in our own day. There are now more than five hundred labyrinths in North America, made of stone, cement, sunflowers, grass, or canvas; indoors and outdoors; in Christian, Pagan, and even non-religious settings; and adaptable for use by people of all spiritual backgrounds. This guide explains how the labyrinth is a symbol that transcends traditions, and how walking its path brings us together.

Here is your entry to the fascinating history and philosophy of the labyrinth walk, with directions for making a labyrinth of your own, or finding one in your area, and guidance on ways to use labyrinths creatively for:

Prayer • Stress reduction • Faith rituals • Commemorating personal or family milestones • Meditation • Celebrations of all kinds

Labyrinths is a twenty-first century method of approaching the sacred―are a spiritual practice more ancient than Stonehenge or the ruins of Troy. This practical and inspiring guide will help you to explore them.

Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, widely recognized as one of the most outstanding communicators in her generation of Protestant clergy, is senior minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. She is author of several books, including Alone, but Not Lonely: A Spirituality of Solitude and Sacred Speech: A Practical Guide for Keeping Spirit in Your Speech, and is a contributor to Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith.

Rev. Dr. Carole Ann Camp, has walked labyrinths on three continents. She is the founder of an ecumenical spiritual community called Seekers and Sojourners and a retired United Church of Christ pastor. She has written and published on a variety of topics, including Praying at Every Turn: Meditations for Walking the Labyrinth.