Approaching the labyrinth as a fourfold path - the 4 "Rs"
Some people prefer to go in with a specific question, a request for guidance about a situation, a prayer or sacred “centering” word.
The “fourfold path” expresses the fullness of life’s journey at different times: the joyful via positiva, the sorrowful via negativa, from which emerge the imaginative and inspired via creativa and the life-altering via transformativa.
1/ Via Positiva: joy, delight and awe.
Remembering — all your blessings as you prepare to walk; to be grateful to yourself for taking this time out, and your feet for getting you to the labyrinth!
2/ via negativa: darkness, silence, suffering, letting go and letting be.
Releasing —shedding your expectations and obstacles, doubts and fears.
3/ via creativa: creativity, inspiration.
Receiving — guidance, interior silence, peace, creative idea; whatever it is your soul chooses to nourish itself, however unexpected this may be.
4/ via transformativa: justice, compassion, interdependence.
Resolving —to honour your insights and give them traction in the world; to take the next step of your life. Like taking the first step into the labyrinth, this is an act of will.
On a personal note:
In May 2008, I re-visited the labyrinth at Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres on a Friday, when the chairs are cleared away. It had been nine years since I was last there, and I was grateful to be back. It was wonderful to see the labyrinth open to the public, although the explanatory signage was discreet and easy to miss. I was taken aback by the tourists ambling about taking pictures of the rose window high above us, oblivious to others who were trying to make the most of this rare opportunity to walk the path beneath our feet. Then it dawned on me: I could be on a spiritual path without any big signage or accommodations. For all I knew, the tourists were on their own spiritual paths, which happened to occupy the same space as mine that day. Wherever we were in our journeys, it made no difference to the labyrinth. It was there for all of us.