Creating the Labyrinth
Late spring and early summer has been a time of getting Threshold Forest ready for visitors. We’ve been:
working on the website
taking photos of the land and creatures
establishing a parking area
partnering and organizing for yoga sessions
refining the main forest immersion trail
and, creating a LABYRINTH!
We secured a supply of large rocks and found the ideal location for a labyrinth in Threshold Forest. After spending time researching the history and design of labyrinths during the winter and spring, we decided to go with a classic Cretan layout. I like the ancient history of this layout; its simple, unicursal design; and its deep spiritual character.
I calculated how many rocks we needed (500 - 600) and the size (6 - 12 inches) and identified some suppliers. Some of the rocks come from Threshold Forest itself and a handful of very nice big ones come from my Dad and Brother’s farm in Quinte where I grew up. I arranged for my son to help me.
The rocks needed to be carried up a hill and I started off with a method involving a small, sturdy cart that could carry about 15 rocks. However, after an initial session of this, we realized that while it was great to wheel the cart along the maintenance path once we got up the hill, getting it up the hill was very awkward. We transitioned to a method based on backpacks. We each wore a sturdy backpack and filled each other up with 10-12 rocks each. We could carry more per trip but it was much less effort to get up the hill. In this way, we managed to carry 750 rocks up the hill in five sessions of 2 hours over 4 days. The resulting labyrinth is about 9 metres in diameter. Here are a few pictures taken during the build.
I also captured some timelapse and drone footage of the labyrinth. I’ve assembled it into a video that I published on the Threshold Forest YouTube channel. Here it is:
