Instructions

Linda’s Labyrinth Temporary Version Instructions

Please let us know if these instructions are clear or need some improvements.  Thanks.

Overall Concept
Linda’s Labyrinth is based on a circle, marked into quadrants and has 5 circuits. Very simple!

Labyrinth Measurements
Diameter: 82′
Radius: 41′
Circuit or path width: 4′
Walls or space between circuits: 6″
Goal or centre: 18′ 6″ including wall

Considerations

• Space Required: about 100 feet by 100 feet of level, clear ground.  The labyrinth is 82 feet in diameter.  Consider extra space needed for people gathering, parking, tents or concession stands, etc.
• Usually it’s obvious where the entrance/exit will be, where the traffic flow works.  If not, you may want to locate it based on traditions, geography, or polar directions.  Labyrinths are often oriented with the entrance in the West so you enter facing the East (the rising sun) as for a Sweat Lodge.  Church labyrinths are generally oriented this way too.  Put a large marker at the entrance so your helpers keep it in mind for later.
• F.R.E.E. Labourers – preferably Funloving, Resourceful, Enthusiastic and Energetic

Tools Required

• Solid stake such as a huge 12″ nail, rebar or steel rod for centre pivot point to create circles
• 50 feet of light, fairly strong, non-stretching line
• Felt marker to mark measurements on your line
• A metal ring that moves easily around the stake.  The line is tied to the ring.  This ring slips on the pin and guarantees that you will not start winding the line up on te pin and reel yourself in as you walk.  If the stake is smooth enough for the line to slip around easily, the ring may not be needed.
• 50′ tape measure
• Temporary marking materials i.e. spray paint (surveying paint sprays with the can upside down), pointed “scratching” stick, lime, cornmeal, etc.  Think about the possibility of standing up while marking – it can be a back-breaking job otherwise.  Call your local high school and borrow a lime cart used for marking sports fields.
• Markers for the entrance and other three points or four directions i.e. North, South, East and West on the perimeter of the labyrinth.  Tennis balls (dollar store) work well or surveying flags are really handy.
• Materials for finished labyrinth – stones, candles, flags, plants, pumpkins, etc.

Getting Started

• The labyrinth is 82 feet in diameter so drive your centre stake into the ground no closer than 41 feet from any obstacle in the area.
• Firmly drive your stake into the centre spot.
• Decision time.  Your walking paths or circuits will be 4′ wide with the 6″ space for the wall material separating the circuits.  You can choose whether to mark your line at 4′ and then 6″ or simply mark it at 4′6″ knowing your wall is included – it’s half the work that way.
• Lay the tape measure from the centre stake out at least 41 feet.  Mark the ground beside the tape with flags or spots of paint at 18′6″ for the innermost circle and then 4′6″ (5 times) for the circuits.  These marks will be the starting points for each circle.  You will draw complete circles and then work on the switch backs by erasing parts of the line.  If you wish to include the petals in the centre rosette, they are 5′ deep in the diagram with a 6″ wall inside the innermost circle, so, a double wall where it they touch.
• Pull your line tight along this tape and use your felt marker to mark the line with the circuit measurement.
• Now, call up your F.R.E.E. labourers and show them the joys of creating concentric circles holding the line taught and marking the circles with your paint, cornmeal, lime, etc..  Four to eight such laboureres should be about right if they are as described above.  Try to have only one “boss,” that person being the one who has actually studied the diagram and has a clear understanding of what the final product should look like.  (These instructions were written by a “boss” who was offered a few too many helpful hints from people used to being bosses!)

The Plot Thickens

• Now draw the entrance and exit with the centre line and two parallel lines marking the sides of the entrance and exit paths.  Remember to allow for the 6″ walls.  Remove all concentric circle lines crossing these paths and things start to take shape.
• Mark the other three points around the outer circle so you have divided the circles into four equal quarters.  You will need these points to locate the imaginary lines – or draw in faint lines you can rub out later -  to the centre so you can calculate the location of the turnarounds of the winding path.
• At the turnaround points opposite the main entrance/exit, duplicate the gap width used for the entrance/exit.  It should be 8′6″.
• The remaining two gaps at 90 degrees to the two main gaps can be three-quarters that distance between turnarounds which would be about 6′ (the exact measurement is 6.375′).
• Notice that at each turnaround the “pivot point” is shortened one foot to create a larger space to turn around – 5′.  Draw your outside curve at the calculated point and then just erase 12″ of the pivot point line.  This subtle alteration separates the professional labyrinthian from the mere amateur.  congratulations.

The Grand Finale
The rosette “flower petals” are drawn with a 5′ radius so scratch a light circle at that point in from the last winding path and create your arcs to that line.  If all the flower petals were drawn in, there would be eight of them.  360 degrees in a circle divided by eight petals yields 45 degrees arc at the centre of the labyrinth per petal, or 90 degrees for two petals.  If you followed that calculation and have a protractor, or an eye for angles, you can show it off at this time…otherwise, just get as close as you can.

Taa Daa!
The really fun part is now when everything is obvious on the ground and you (and your ecstatic helpers) can grab a Budweiser and stroll around smoothing all the connections and making sure that you haven’t accidentally “dead ended” a path somewhere or created a maze that never leads out again. (NB – No Buds until the project is finished.)

2. Decide on the total diameter (width) of the labyrinth you wish.  Considerations:

3. How big do you want the centre?  Think about how many people may be in the centre at one time, what activities may go on there, what else i.e. walkers, strollers, costumes.  Consider also where you want people to enter and exit.  The entrance/exit area needs a 12 foot wide approach to the labyrinth to avoid crowding.

4. For a 5-circuit (path) labyrinth, allow roughly one-third the diameter for the centre for gathering, dancing. i.e. if the centre is 20 feet in diameter, the total labyrinth diameter will be roughly 60 feet having 5 circuits roughly 4 feet wide (depending on the size of the materials used to demarcate the paths. This size worked well for Luminara Festival using deli containers for the walls. 8 Morris dancers performed in the centre.

5. For a 7-circuit labyrinth – Allow roughly 20 feet to the above making the total diameter about 80 feet.  We recommend 5 or 7 circuits (paths).  Larger will take a long time to go through.  Children love to go through over and over again, dancing or jumping.

People have fun at a community labyrinth

Themes

Rainbow Labyrinth

5-circuit-6 colour, 60′ diameter, 1000 lantern (spaced 1′ apart) labyrinth: Use 16 oz. opaque deli containers covered with one layer of tissue paper plastered on with watered down white glue (it dries clear). For the 5-circuit labyrinth with a 20 foot centre we used 285 red, 198 orange, 160 yellow, 145 green, 100 blue, 112 purple/violet. Fill them 1/3 full with sand and sit a tea-lite in the centre. You will have some left over.  This is a LOT of candles to light so have at least 6 people on it with barbeque lighters. If it is windy or rainy, beware, you will be busy!  But it is beautiful. If you can afford LED lights, it may be the way to go. Children love to jump the lanterns but don’t panic – the minute they are knocked off balance, the tea-lights drown themselves, or the sand dowses the flame.  Indoors or outdoors on a dry surface you can use tea lights in paper lunch bags with the tops folded  down half an inch once or twice.

Other Ideas:  Pumpkin path, other large vegetables, wine bottles filled with water, lavender plants, snow mounds, solar lights, Christmas lights, rope, traffic cones, food (cans, boxes, etc. as Kay Kinneavy did for a food bank in Portland OR.)

Considerations:  Visually impaired people using canes or dogs need obvious solid boundaries to the paths.  A guide line of rope or wire at waist height is even better.  Light ropes can be attached to a battery source for a beautiful night effect and guide line.