“Into the Labyrinth”: Heroic Journeys of Spiritual Discovery

Fine & Applied Arts Lecture/Active Learning Workshop                                          

Dr. Roxanne Farrar

“We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us.  The labyrinth is thoroughly known, we have only to follow the thread of the heroic path.  And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

-- Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

STAGES OF THE HEROIC JOURNEY:

1. DEPARTURE:                The Call to Adventure (willing or unwilling)

                                                Crossing the First Threshold: Passage Into the Realm of Darkness

2. JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS:

                                                The Road of Trials

                                                Supernatural Assistance: Meeting with “the Goddess” (Nature)

                                                Receiving the Ultimate Boon (Gift)

3. THE RETURN:              Crossing the Return Threshold

                                                Sharing the Boon (the Key to the Heroic Journey)

THE SHAMANIC JOURNEY:

MODERN ART:  Joseph Beuys:  Fat Chair (1964), The Pack (1969), Iphigenia (1969), Coyote (1974)

TRIBAL WISDOM:  Makuna Tribe, Columbia;  Ignacio, a Makuna Shaman

PALEOLITHIC (c. 15.000 BCE):  Cave Art at Lascaux, “The Well Scene”

ORIGINS OF THE LABYRINTH:

PALEOLITHIC & NEOLITHIC “GODDESSES” (c. 25,000-4500 BCE):

                Goddess of Laussel, Goddess of the Harvest, Goddess Spirals, Holy Cistern, Sleeping Goddess MINOAN CRETE (3000-1400 BCE): “Chalice Culture”:

                Island of Crete, Minoan Snake Godesses, Palace of Knossos, Minoan Lady, Snake Goddess,

                Bull Fresco, Bull’s Head Rhyton (Libation Vessel)

MYCENAEAN INVASIONS (1400-1100 BCE): From “the Chalice” to “the Blade”:

                Dagger Blades, Mycenaean Death Mask

“THE GREEKS”: GEOMETRIC THROUGH CLASSICAL (1000-320 BCE):

                Geometric Vase w/Funeral Scene, Archaic-Style Dying Warrior, Gorgon Vase

MINOTAUR VASE: THE MINOTAUR MYTH & THESEUS’S JOURNEY INTO THE LABYRINTH:

                King Minos, Queen Pasiphaea, Daedalus, Icarus, Theseus, Ariadne

THE CHRISTIAN LABYRINTH IN THE MEDIEVAL PILGRIMMAGE TRADITION:

Map of the Medieval World: Sacred Pilgrimmage Routes

Carolignian Monastery of St. Gall (817), Romanesque Reliquary of St. Foy (10th century)

GOTHIC STYLE (c. 1150-1400): The Reign of the Virgin (“Notre Dame”):

                The Virgin of Paris;   Cathedral Floorplan;  Notre Dame at Chartres

                The Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral

WALKING THE CHRISTIAN LABYRINTH (3 Stages):

                1. Shedding: while walking the Labyrinth, releasing, letting go of the worries & cares of life

                2. Illumination: in the center of the Labyrinth, a time for prayer & meditation to receive a Boon

                3. Union: retracing the steps back out of the Labyrinth to prepare to share Boon with the world

ACTIVE LEARNING WORKSHOP:  HOW TO DRAW A CRETAN LABYRINTH:

The Labyrinth is an archetype (a divine imprint) found in all religious traditions in various forms around the world.  In creating our own Labyrinths, we are rediscovering a long-forgotten mystical tradition that is insisting to be reborn.  The Labyrinth has only one path so there are no tricks to it and no dead-ends.  The path winds throughout and becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives.  So experience the Labyrinth with an open mind and an open heart.  (Drawing instructions attached.)