The labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral near Paris was laid into the stone pavement in the early thirteenth century. Like all cathedral labyrinths, it draws upon the ancient northern Celtic, middle eastern, and Classical Greek and Roman origins of the Christian faith. This location symbolizes our first steps on the spiritual journey. To make a pilgrimage to a sacred place such as the Holy City is part of an ancient and ongoing tradition of spiritual commitment. When long distance traveling became too dangerous during the upheavals of the Middle Ages, the cathedral labyrinths were installed and established as alternative destinations for pilgrimage.
Pilgrimage is both a communal event and a private act of transformation.
A maze is a logical puzzle, a trap or a game, full of decisions to be made, with possible wrong turns and dead ends. The labyrinth is a tool for peaceful meditation, designed as a safe place to calm your thinking mind and troubled heart. You can't get lost. The only decision to make is to take the first step. We are living through times of great change.