labyrinth

Where is Ben Smith when you need him? I was participating in pagan activities last night (for real this time) and he was not even in the country to tease me about it. I did a labyrinth. These are different from mazes as there is only one path on which you can travel once you enter. Back in the day, they were used as a spiritual exercise, and if you travel to some of the really old churches in Europe, you can see a labyrinth on the floor when you walk in the door. There are 40 turns and 12 layers and all sorts of other special numbers referred to in the bible. However, once the pagan origins of the labyrinth were realized (and people stopped building really big churches that could house them), people stopped making them. There is a church in downtown Austin (Episcopal, I believe) that built one in their garden. Some people use it for prayer, and others use it as a meditation tool. Either way, it is pretty neat.