St. Andrews' "Magic" Labyrinth

St. Andrew's Catholic Community in Boulder City has a labyrinth on its grounds, the only Catholic Church in the state of Nevada to have one.

Labyrinths have a long and ancient history across the globe, from the labyrinths of Greek mythology to Buddhist mandalas used for meditation. More recently they have become popular due in large part to a woman who is called by some the "mother of the labyrinth movement". Lauren Artress, an Episcopalian minister from San Francisco, makes a lot of claims about the powers of the labyrinth. From her website's homepage there is the following quote:

"Much of the future of the West depends on whether Christianity can rediscover its mystical core. In this rediscovery, Lauren Artress’s pioneering work using the labyrinth as a tool for self-alignment will be crucial. "

Self-alignment is not alignment to Christ. As Catholics, the idea is to decrease the self so that Christ can increase (John 3:30). The labyrinth does not center us in Christ, but rather in the self.

The claim that the labyrinth has been used by Catholics since the middle ages, and the references to labyrinths in Chartres and other European Churches, are used to legitimize the practice. However, evidence that those labyrinths were used as a spiritual tool where people walked them to meditate is scant at best.

In the case of St. Andrew's, their website reveals a disturbing focus on the occult and on the inherent powers of the labyrinth. The web page contains several descriptive paragraphs entitled "The Magic of the Labyrinth". It contains no references to God or Christ.

Here is the text from the page:

The Magic of the Labyrinth

The Labyrinth a path for prayer and meditation, is on the grounds for walking at any time. The labyrinth is lighted for night use until 10:30 PM each evening.

I can't begin to explain how or why the magic of the labyrinth works, but it does. This is a copy of the one on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. The church, and its masons, knew about sacred geometry and sacred architecture; and, if you had a model of the Cathedral, you could fold down the wall with the rose window, and the window would land precisely upon the labyrinth.

The labyrinth is a problem-solving device. You can print this one out, and follow the path in and out with you finger (suggest using your left hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa). , and you might like to think of the centre as your deeper, wiser self and the outside as the outside world - and your relationship to each as your finger makes its journey.

Those who walk the labyrinth can stop and think, wherever they want, and spend as much time in the middle as they like. Some of them just dump their problems outside and, when they return, the problem has gone.

This attitude of finding the powers of the labyrinth inexplicable and of unknown origins seems quite pagan. Also the reference to the floor of Chartres Cathedral seems to give validity that it is part of our Catholic tradition except there is no evidence that labyrinths were walked on, and in fact when Artress first found the labyrinth at Chartres it was covered by hundreds of chairs. Additionally, after Artress moved the chairs without permission to walk on it, Chartres officials posted a sign stating that the labyrinth "cannot be a magical place where man pulls hidden forces from the Earth. That would be (were one to do so) a perversion of the builders/creators. For in doing so, one would substitute man in place of God. " Artress even states in her book "Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool", that there are "no known records of anyone walking the labyrinth" at Catholic churches, and she admits that she knows "no Christian writers or artists who directly refer to the labyrinth as a spiritual tool". The final comment about "suggest using your left hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa" is bizarre and gives the impression that you are the center of everything, and wisdom comes from self, not from God.

If you go in person to the labyrinth you will also see a very interesting progression of plaques. They are as follows, starting from the entrance to the path.




PRAYER
GARDEN

13 BILLION YEARS
FORMATION OF OUR UNIVERSE

4. 6 BILLION YEARS
FORMATION OF AN EARTH LIKE PLANET
THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN

3. 9 BILLION YEARS
ALGAE AND BACTERIA
FIRST EVIDENCE OF LIFE

700 MILLION YEARS
EXPLOSION OF LIFE FORMS
FIRST LAND PLANTS
OXYGEN IN THE ATMOSPHERE

300 MILLION YEARS
FIRST REPTILES
LARGE COAL SWAMPS

65 MILLION YEARS
AGE OF THE DINOSAURS ENDS
FIRST MAMMALS APPEAR

3. 5 MILLION YEARS
EARLY HUMANS FIRST APPEAR

IN RELATION TO 13 BILLION
YEARS, THE CHURCH IS
5 SECONDS OLD

The conclusion we can come to is that the Earth is ancient, and that the Catholic Church is insignificant and unnecessary as compared to the Earth. It also has a resemblance to the creation account found in Genesis. It's almost like they are trying to replace it. This is the perfect set-up for a person to then walk into the labyrinth, forgetting everything about Christ and Holy Mother Church, or any monotheistic religion for that fact, and focusing on a personal relationship with Mother Earth instead.

There is a pamphlet that is available at the site of the labyrinth, which admits that the labyrinth is "not magic. " But then it goes on to state that "it is full of mystery...". The pamphlet even makes references to the labyrinth being "sacred ground". What makes it sacred? The inherent powers and "energies" of Mother Earth? One must deduce that the "sacred ground" is made as such by the "magic" of the labyrinth and by the inherent powers of the labyrinth.

The use of labyrinths in this modern way is a New Age phenomenon that raises up Eastern and alternative (sometimes pagan) philosophies of religion as equal to Catholicism as a path to salvation, much in the same way that the Stillpoint Center does.

The Diocese's own website promotes this labyrinth at St. Andrews. On the parish's page there is a link to "The Magic of the Labyrinth". However, if you click on it you will find that it is a broken link. I wanted to see what the home page to that broken link was about, and deleted the "/labyrinth.htm" from the URL to get to the home page.  Surprisingly, the home page to this broken link features a photo of a  scantily clad woman with the title "Working on the principle of seduction...".

Someone at the Dioceses needs to check what sites they link to from the their website. Being that it is the official site for our Diocese perhaps better care is needed in ensuring that these things do not happen. I am sure they did not purposefully intend to link to a morally questionable site. However, the first and foremost issue to consider is that the Diocese actually promotes a "magical" labyrinth.

Call to Prayer:

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.