Through the Labyrinth: A Guide to Navigating Chaos and Confusion

Confusion, wandering, isolation, darkness, disorientation—all evoke the labyrinth, a complex network of paths in which it is difficult to find one’s way out. Or do they? The labyrinth’s original meaning has been entirely distorted, which is only to be expected from such a perplexing symbol.

Today, the labyrinth is found everywhere: in architecture, art, books, movies, and games. The archetypal image of the labyrinth fundamentally expresses the path of life, full of dark corners and unexpected turns. If we overcome them, we are transformed and enlightened – if not, we become disoriented and find life meaningless.

The labyrinth is an archetype, a primordial image that dates back to the Bronze Age (around 2500 to 2000 BC), making it one of the oldest symbols. It encompasses various images: the path of life, the Earth Mother, birth, dance, warding off evil, initiation, liminality, the descent into the underworld, symbolic death and rebirth, the journey to the Self, the alchemical Great Work and the pilgrim’s spiritual journey.

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📚 Recommended Reading

▶ Through the labyrinth: designs and meanings over 5,000 years - Hermann Kern
https://amzn.to/4e5WAW1
▶ Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart - John Amos Comenius
https://amzn.to/4dWV0WV
▶ Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings - Jorge Luis Borges
https://amzn.to/3Z2LCvW
▶ Pilgrim’s Progress - John Bunyan
https://amzn.to/3yZl9VK
▶ The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso - Dante Alighieri
https://amzn.to/3zkiHZQ

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🎶 Music used

1. Crystal Dream Mix – CO.AG
2. Dreams Become Real – Kevin MacLeod
3. Ambiment – The Ambient – Kevin MacLeod
4. Versunken – Myuu
5. Left Alone – Dark Haunting Atmospheric – CO.AG
6. Heartbreaking – Kevin MacLeod
7. Extrapolation – Scott Buckley

- CO.AG Music
- Myuu - http://www.thedarkpiano.com
- Scott Buckley - https://www.scottbuckley.com.au (released under CC-BY 4.0)
- Kevin MacLeod - https://incompetech.com

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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📝 Sources

- See Recommended Reading List above
- Mazes and Labyrinths - W. H. Matthews
- Labyrinth: Studies on an Archetype (1987) by Gaetano Cipolla
- Kerényi, Karl. En El Laberinto. Edición de Corrado Bologna. Siruela (2006)
- Herva, V. P., & Rapakko, J. (2023). Insides, outsides and the labyrinth: Knossos, palatial space and environmental perception in Minoan Crete. Journal of Social Archaeology, 23(3), 264-285.
- Gryder, Robert; Myers, John L., eds. (1988). The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indians: Legends, Reflections, History, Future. Life's Reflections. p. 29. ISBN 9780929690001. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- Saward, J. (2004). The First Labyrinths. Retrieved October, 9, 2004.
- Saward, J. (2017). Mazes or Labyrinths… What’s the difference & what types are there. Labyrinthos Archive. Published March.
- https://youtu.be/NvaKQiZi2uU?si=ryerJhwvaDVpP4Wp
- https://labyrinthos.net/

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⌛ Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
1:55 The Labyrinth as The Path of Life
3:26 The Classical or Archetypal Labyrinth
4:19 Labyrinth of Egypt
5:03 The Labyrinth and The Maze
9:18 Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom
11:24 Time is a Labyrinth
12:25 The Labyrinth and The Minotaur
17:25 The Origins of The Mythical Labyrinth
19:52 Archetypal Symbolism of The Labyrinth
24:42 The Labyrinth: Descent into Hell
28:03 The Labyrinth and Alchemy
30:56 The Journey to The Centre (The Self)
32:34 From Earth to Heaven to Earth
34:16 The Medieval Labyrinth: Spiritual Journey
35:15 The Labyrinth as The Pilgrim’s Journey
39:25 Conclusion

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