Garden Mazes
by Cerridwen Iris Shea,
copyright 2000
There is something fascinating about a labyrinth--its twists and turns and endless possibilities. Whether your eye follows a drawing, or your fingers trace a path in the sand or across a brooch, labyrinths have enraptured humans from Egypt to Greece and from Pompeii to Great Britain. When you put the labyrinth into the three-dimensional context of a garden maze, you take it one step further, adding a tangibly physical experience to the emotional one.
Most people are familiar with the classical, or Cretan labyrinth, known from the legend of the Minotaur. Created from a center cross with four dots, it contains seven rings of paths within eight concentric rings of barriers. It is easy to draw and easy to walk. The design has been carved on stone, chalked on doorways to keep out evil spirits, and incorporated into church design.
There are several theories as to the origin of turf mazes, none of which can be definitely proven. One school of thought suggests that they were cut out by clerics for penitents to roam; another suggests that children carved them into the ground in order to show off their ability to puzzle their peers. Yet a third suggests that people danced through these turf mazes on holidays, possibly serving as the origin of the spiral dance often performed in modern-day Craft ceremonies. In Wales, the creation of new turf mazes ceased when village dancing was banned; several places in the region revived this
creation in the 1970s; Shakespeare refers to turf mazes in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Tempest"--in Elizabethan times, they were used as party games and for romantic assignations. whether used as a tool to represent death and rebirth, or used as a means of fun, labyrinths make the inner journey a physical journey, and therein lies much of both its appeal and its fascination.
The maze at Hampton Court in England, ostensibly built in 1690, is probably one of the most well-known and popular of these mazes in the world. It was originally planted of hornbeam, but is now primarily yew. A maze at Bicton Park in Devon, meanwhile, is made of upright wooden logs and resembles a large footprint. Six bridges are incorporated into the large maze at Longleat House in Wiltshire.
Whatever the overall shape of the maze when gazed at from above, the two basic internal patters are unicursal and multicursal. Unicursal means there is only one path, walked once in each direction, to the center and back out. Decision-making and getting lost are not concerns. Multicursal is the type used to make puzzle mazes; it has several twists, turns, and dead ends. If you make a wrong turn, you must retrace your steps and try to figure out the correct path. Getting to the center and getting back out means finding a
whole new path. The multicursal design became popular in the seventeenth century, and may have come to England from Holland.
One of the most unusual garden mazes is in Glendurgan Garden in Cornwall, England. Planted in 1833 by Alfred Fox, it rests on a gently sloping hillside. Its shape is slightly oval, and it is created out of waist-high laurel. I visited this maze in the fall of 1999 during a rainy day. Still, the entire garden is one of the most beautifully spiritual places I have ever encountered. Each growing, living plant is given love and care and responds by showering love and care onto the garden's visitors. To walk down the path
and see the maze appear before you is a breathtaking sight. To actually enter the maze and get a chance to walk it is uplifting.
The Glendurgan maze's multicursal design means there are plenthy of places to take a wrong turn. However, since it is only waist-high, if you choose, you can look ahead and try to figure out the correct way. There is also a very kind garden worker sitting on a bench beside the maze to call out encouragement in case you get hopelessly lost.
Wandering through a maze in the daytime, looking at the raindrops glistening on the deep green leaves, breathing in the scent of so many different flowers, plants, and shrubs, can lift all tensions. At Glendurgan, I felt peaceful and serene. It was okay to make a wrong turn; there was no rush. When I reached the center, I sat in the small thatched gazebo and gazed out over both the maze and the garden. I was filled with wonder at the beauty that surrounded me.
There are so many wonderful paths to explore in labyrinths around the world. Each holds unique gifts for a visitor. In the end, the exploration and the experience of a labyrinth is what brings to mind the joy of the journey.
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