Experience and meaning in the cathedral labyrinth pilgrimage

grantor: University of TorontoA medieval design based in Sacred Geometry principles, this unicursal path through concentric circles is a metaphorical container for spiritual journeying. Contemporary practice, as reflexive walking meditation, encourages personal transformations, notably physiological, emotional, spiritual, and cognitive events including release of tension, increased sense of well-being and communion, triggered early memories with related insights and conflict resolution, often revealed through symbolic imagery. Reasons for site-specificity of such events are examined through phenomenological and arts-informed inquiry into the engagement with sacred spatial "technology," referencing elements of Classical mythology, Christian mystical practice, and analytical psychology. Walking the labyrinth activates pre-Modern, "whole brain" patterns of consciousness, leading to an alternative, authentic, holistic perceptual standpoint. Using the labyrinth myth as a conceptual model of the individuation process, and the walk as embodied experiential learning, creates the opportunity to restore the balance in the relation between self, soul, society, and world, thereby "re-enchanting" contemporary life.M.A