This is the moment I arrived in the Centre after finishing painting a Sky Blue Heart into each of the Aglets of the Labyrinth.
The presence of Hearts transforms the experience and meaning of walking The Labyrinth.
This remains true even for me, the Labyrinth’s maker!
“Love Labyrinth 💙💗💓
A young girl skipping through this masterpiece today said…
‘Whoa – I really love the hearts’
And the gentleman painting this today said…
‘yaaa… me too
Man – I love painting hearts they make my heart happy.’
I stopped dead in my tracks and marveled at his creation.
Feeling that.”
The Baltic Design Labyrinth I painted in the children’s area in the north-east pocket of Grange Park in Downtown Toronto.
The first of a series of Chalk Labyrinths drawn today which I then connected to create an 8 minute long meandering pass-through journey . . .
Images and captions like this one reassure me that the Labyrinths I make and place around the city are important and appreciated . . .
Hmmm . . .
Being a Labyrinth Maker and Being Anti-Maze, almost all my Labyrinths have a Heart in the centre.
Defining difference between a Labyrinth and a Maze, is that a Labyrinth is unicursal meaning there is only one single path from entrance to arrival in The Centre, whereas a Maze will have at least one dead end.
Navigating Feelings of the Heart in a Labyrinth is different than navigating feelings of the Heart in a maze.
Intriguing Question.
A near-to-the ground close-up of the Heart Aglet from one of two Labyrinths I chalked on Commercial Drive during Car Free Day YVR a couple of weekends back…
Thanks Yuika!
Little One wearing a dress full of colourful hearts standing on the Heart I painted at the entrance of my Robson Square Labyrinth!
All her hearts match the colours of the Labyrinth!
Red Hearts, Blue Hearts, Green Hearts, Yellow Hearts!
Sometimes it feels like there are more than one path, or one road, inside a Labyrinth; until you reach the Heart of Labyrinth, its Centre…
This is one of the Heart Aglets from my larger scale Chalk Labyrinth currently on the Seawall near Science World in False Creek.
Aglets are that slip of plastic at the end of shoelaces to prevent fraying of the threads.
When I first began drawing circles at the end of the arcs and turn-arounds in my Labyrinths, I needed a word for what this was and what I intended and hoped for in behaviour of Labyrinth Walkers/Runners.
Over the years I had noticed by direct observation of people walking my Labyrinths, there were these micro-hesitations, these almost imperceptible pauses whenever people reached a turn-around.
Finally realized that people were looking at the far wall at the end of each Labyrinth Lane.
They would reach the wall, and only then would they make a decision to turn.
They were focused on the destination at the end of the lane.
By drawing circles at the end of the arcs, be they parallel or concentric lines, which altogether make a Labyrinth a Labyrinth, I saw those micro-hesitations disappear.
People were focusing on the circle as they walked towards the end of each lane, reaching it they seamlessly turned and continued walking or running until they reached the centre.
This micro-hesitation behaviour did not exist when I looked at people walking traditional Chartres Labyrinth designs.
That was an important clue.
I had observed people just kept walking, without the pause.
That was because at the end of each concentric lane is a semi-circle curve, a Labrys, which would guide you to the next inner or outer parallel concentric lane.
In essence, by drawing circles at the end of arcs, I had pulled in the Labrys from the far wall to the centre of a turn-around point.
That began in Toronto.
One day, I don’t recall when, but it was here in Vancouver, instead of drawing a circle aglet, I drew a heart aglet.
It changed everything.
The entire feeling of walking the Labyrinth changed.
With every turn, one’s own idea of whatever the Heart Symbol means to them, is being compounded with every turn until they reach the centre, where they usually find a Larger Heart, which I almost always now include in my Labyrinths.
I found this positive compounded feeling was lessened by using multi-coloured heart aglets, so I almost always keep them red.
Yet whenever I remember to do so, I mix it up and draw one or maybe two Heart Aglets in a different colour.
Thus, this Blue Heart Aglet…
