Labyrinth used in spiritual walk

With her arms outstretched, Sally Blankenship walked in measured steps along the path of the Chartes labyrinth, a canvas design laid on the floor at First Christian Church in Cape Girardeau.

Blankenship was one of eight volunteers from the church who will help guide visitors to the labyrinth. The labyrinth is meant to be a spiritual journey for people seeking a closer connection to God.

It will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 1-8 p.m. Sunday. There is no charge to walk the labyrinth. Visitors can walk and then record their experiences in a journal.

Blankenship said she was pulled to the idea of movement and meditation. "When you are moving you have to make choices," she said. "It's not like you are walking on the street. I didn't have to make any choices so my mind could be emptied and then filled with the things that need to be there."

Many different faiths, like Hindu, Native American and Jewish, have used labyrinths or concentric circles to signify wholeness and completeness. Labyrinths date back 4,000 years. Labyrinths have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as a spiritual tool in the church, said Lisa Peden, who helped organize the labyrinth at First Christian Church.

"The main thing is to use it as a spiritual tool, and how you approach God," she said. Many people enter a labyrinth in search of an answer to their questions. Others use it to empty their mind and find guidance. "You just bring your daily concerns and what you want to talk to God about."

There is no limit to the number of people who can walk in a labyrinth at one time since people are at different places along the path. During a volunteer training Thursday night at the church, six different women were inside the path at once.

Music played softly in the background as the women walked, sometimes brushing shoulders or touching hands as they passed.

Anne McDonough didn't want to enter the labyrinth thinking about any specific thing. "I think it's better just letting it happen," she said.

She is interested in any tool that can help bring her closer to God "and help keep me focused on that. I just let go and walked." The walk can take as little as 20 minutes or as long as a person wants. Peden said that when she got to the point where it felt the center was too far away, she took a turn on the path and reached the rosette, or center.

Barbara Whitlock said just walking to the center didn't feel like enough time had lapsed to let her clear her mind. She took measured steps along the path, but felt like it was too long at times.

"And then the seed was planted," she said, then telling herself to "just stay on the path and do what you're doing."

Blankenship likes that the church is able to offer the labyrinth to the community. "We're tying it all together with peace and harmony and balance," she said. "Those are all the words I love."

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126