The labyrinth at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, built in 2003, uses the pattern found at the Chartres Cathedral in France and features a baptismal bath at its center. The design has grown to become the most popular labyrinth in the United States.

photos by Dean Knuth / Arizona Daily Star

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For some, the journey to enlightenment, nirvana and even the heavens lies along an ancient path.

Maryann Capó has spent 80 years on Earth.

Ready now to embrace an afterlife beyond terra firma, Capó plans to carry out what she believes is her remaining life's work — to spread the word about Tucson's labyrinths.

"The labyrinths seem to spring up during times of chaos and change . . . when we need to reconnect with ourselves," said Capó, who, after 24 years of marriage, went through a "traumatic divorce" and found that meditation, while walking a labyrinth, helped ease her pain.

After moving to Tucson a few years ago, Capó discovered what ostensibly might be hidden in front of our eyes — 17 of 30 known public and private labyrinths — located in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

They are used by the spiritual and the secular. Some walk the labyrinths primarily as tools for meditation or relaxation. Others view and use them in different ways.

"A large part of what they see depends on where they are in their lives," said David Gallagher, executive director of the Connecticut-based Labyrinth Society, whose membership includes more than 800 people around the world.

"People confronting significant health issues say labyrinths are healing tools," he said. "Others in spiritual crisis use it for prayer and as a meditative tool. . . . Some see an image of the cosmos. Artists will notice patterns and make connections to their work, and some will talk about the Earth energies."

The labyrinths have given Capó a greater sense of spirituality.

"I've been transformed," said Capó, who built and walked her first labyrinth in her native New York in the mid-1990s and now tracks those around Tucson. "I liken myself to a cocoon. Now I'm spreading my wings."

Considered one of the oldest designs and concepts in history, labyrinths can be found as far back as 3,200 years on pottery, stones and woven into baskets.

The ancient Greeks wrote about labyrinths in their myths, and the Tohono O'odham tribe's "Man in the Maze" uses a labyrinth design to represent one's journey in life.

Featuring a path that leads to a center, with one way in and out, a labyrinth shouldn't be confused with a maze.

A maze challenges the left-brain, using logic and intelligence, and is built with dead ends and false leads, while a labyrinth has one path to follow and uses the right-side of the brain.

Labyrinth designs include the Classical Cretan pattern, developed more than 3,000 years ago, and a design found on the floor of Chartres Cathedral near Paris, which has been widely adopted by churches.

In recent years, labyrinths have developed a reputation for being a "New Age thing," said Ruth Machtley, labyrinth facilitator at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 1431 W. Magee Road, which built a labyrinth on its property three years ago.

"It surprises some people, but European churches and Gothic cathedrals throughout the 12th and 13th centuries had labyrinths on their property," she said. "Labyrinths were used as places of pilgrimage — parishioners would walk on them or on their knees as penance to remind them of Christ's pain."

Within the last few hundred years, church leaders covered up or destroyed labyrinths that were built with the churches, Machtley said.

"Instead of going to God on their own, they told people they needed to go through the church and got rid of them (labyrinths)," Machtley said. "Now we're seeing them coming back."

The increase of labyrinths here could be part of a larger expansion of spirituality taking root around the country, said Rector Gordon McBride of Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St., whose congregation built a labyrinth in its courtyard in the late 1990s. (See accompanying list of other area churches.)

"People are hungry for those spiritual connections," he said. "Labyrinths represent a pure, spiritual journey."

In the last 40 years, more churches have rediscovered the labyrinth as a prayer tool, adds the Rev. John Smith of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, whose parish built a labyrinth in 2003.

Like those at other churches around Tucson, the labyrinth at St. Michael incorporates Christian traditions.

The four-year-old labyrinth uses the pattern found at Chartres Cathedral and features a baptismal bath at its center.

At St. Mark's, parishioners can take a tour of the 88-foot-wide labyrinth, which also follows the Chartres design.

The 11-circuit labyrinth and its center represent the 12 apostles; the 113 "teeth" at the edges are known as "lunations," which can be used as a sundial.

Built around a Palo Verde tree, St. Mark's labyrinth features a six-petaled rose design at its center, symbolic of the Virgin Mary.

It also has six mosaic-tiled benches that tell the Bible's story of Creation.

Church members often come to the site to pray and meditate on their lives, Machtley said.

"When we explain what the labyrinth is, we compare its design to the fingerprint of God," she said.

As a child growing up on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, a young Jordan Francisco remembers the designs his grandmother taught him about the "Man in the Maze."

Linked to the story about a god who resides in a cave below the peak of Baboquivari Peak on the O'odham Reservation, the design in the "Man in the Maze" tells a story about the different stages in life, said Francisco, 41.

"Each line symbolizes a time in our life — birth, childhood, puberty, marriage and death — it's continuous," Francisco said. "He's a prominent figure for all of us in our journey of life."

The "Man in the Maze" is now being incorporated into labyrinth paths around the region, with one featured at the Morris K. Udall Center, and the posh Miraval Life in Balance Tucson Resort & Spa.

In Oro Valley, the three-year-old Episcopal Church of the Apostles features a stone-and-pebble labyrinth laid out using the "Man in the Maze" design.

"We wanted to celebrate the Native (American) influence," said parish priest Elizabeth Simmons. "When church members built this labyrinth, they valued its symbol and its spiritual journey."

Though the O'odham don't actually build labyrinths to walk, it's not surprising to find the "Man in the Maze" design at labyrinths around the region, tribal members said.

"We all believe in the Creator, whatever that might be," said Bernard Siquieros, project administrator for the tribe's new museum and cultural center, scheduled to open in June. "It's important to have that sense of serenity."

For the O'odham, which translates to "Desert People," the "Man in the Maze" is a teacher who guides the people, he said.

"Life is not one easy street. It's full of decisions and obstacles," Siquieros said. "The Creator is there to assist us when we call on him. He's there to center our life and to find balance."

After passing through the red torii gate and passing by the Foo Dog standing guard outside Linda Wallace's art studio, visitors will find themselves at a spiritual and logical vortex.

Spread across an acre at her Northeast Foothills home, Wallace, 55, has built several labyrinths and three mazes for visitors to venture on.

What started with one "Ying-Yang" labyrinth a few years ago quickly "snowballed" into others, said Wallace, who runs the Raven Art Studio & Labyrinth Walk at her home.

Ranging in style, the labyrinths draw inspiration from Chinese, Egyptian and American Indian cultures.

"The walk lets you look within yourself and lets you ask — what do I want to change? Where do I want to go and who do I want to be?" Wallace said. "They let you think without any outside influences. It's only yourself and your thoughts."

Besides having places to contemplate life and the universe, Wallace also offers visitors a departure from the typical labyrinth experience.

She hosts labyrinth parties for friends and family and mixes scavenger hunts, coded messages and other word games into the labyrinth experience.

And then there's the "wiggle car."

Designed as a stress reliever and to bring back childhood memories, Wallace invites visitors to ride the scooter on a labyrinth inside the art studio.

"A lot of people are so serious, we need to have more fun in our lives," she said. "We all have different energies. . . . You can walk quietly on a labyrinth but you can also jump, dance or ride on them. You're only limited by your imagination."

Ancient labyrinthine designs dating to 3,200 years ago have been found painted on pottery, carved into stones, cast in coins and woven into baskets. Several types of labyrinths, including classic, medieval and Hopi patterns, originated in such diverse areas as Peru, Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, Arizona and India.

A labyrinth is a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance right-brain activity. One enters a labyrinth through the mouth and walks on the paths or circuits. The goal is to reach the center of the labyrinth. When you reach it, you have gone half the distance — you now need to turn around and walk back out. A maze offers many choices along the way. They are left-brain puzzles.

Source: The Labyrinth Society

The Tohono O'odham tribe believes the symbol known as the "Man in the Maze" represents a person's journey through life. The design, depicting a man at the opening of a labyrinth, is often seen on basketry. Although the design appears to be a maze, it is actually a unicursal design with many twists and turns; these are said to represent choices made in life. The center is dark, as the journey is one from darkness to light. The "Man in the Maze" is a part of the tribe's new cultural center, named "Himdag Ki: Hekihu, Hemu, Im B I-Ha'ap," which translates to the "cultural house, past, present and future," said Bernard Siquieros, project administrator for the center. Located in Topawa, about eight miles south of Sells, the new 35,000-square-foot complex houses classrooms, artist workspace, an elders' room, museum and library. Framed with a view of Baboquivari Peak, the "Man in the Maze" design is etched onto a glass wall at the center. A dance floor in front of the center also pays homage to "Man in the Maze."

The Classical Seven Circuit Labyrinth, sometimes called the Cretan Labyrinth, shows that you enter a labyrinth through the mouth and then walk on the paths or circuits. The walls keep you on the path. The goal is to reach the center of the labyrinth. When you reach it, you have gone half the distance — you now need to turn around and walk back out. This design is also often used to represent a template for the seven major energy centers of the physical body, called the chakras. The Cretan looks like the cross section of a human brain and has been used to assist those with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and neurological disorders. 

The Chartres Labyrinth was inlaid into the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. The design has grown to become the most popular labyrinth in the United States. The 11 circuits and center may represent the 12 apostles, and the 113 teeth known as "lunations" adorn the outside of the pattern. The center area (rosette) is a six-petaled rose that may represent the Virgin Mary or, cosmologically, the six kingdoms of existence: mineral, plant, animal, human, angelic, divine. It is said that by spending time in a petal representing a kingdom, you will come to a better understanding of that quality. This pattern also takes you to the center, and then sends you back toward the outside of the design. This movement represents coming close to and moving away from your personal, transformative center, a place of knowing and change. 

Check out the worldwide labyrinth locator at wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org/home

Other labyrinths in the area

Morris K. Udall Center

7200 E. Tanque Verde Road, 791-4931.

St. Pius X Catholic Church

1800 N. Camino Pio Decimo, 885-3573.

Episcopal Church of the Apostles

12111 N. La Cholla Blvd., Oro Valley, 544-9660.

Vista de la Montaña United Methodist Church

3001 E. Mira Vista Lane, Catalina, 825-1985.

Desert Light Labyrinth

Located on Ruby Road, two miles south from the center of Arivaca. For information, call 1-520-398-0022 or check out www.desertlight.info.

A few private labyrinths welcome visitors if you call:

Amado Territory Ranch

3001 E. Frontage Road, Amado, 1-520-398-8684.

Miraval Life in Balance Tucson Resort & Spa

5000 E. Via Estancia Miraval, Catalina, 825-4000.

Raven Art Studio & Labyrinth Walk

9491 E. Summer Trail, 749-2407.

Redemptorist Renewal Center

7191 W. Picture Rocks Road, check in with the front office or call 744-3400.

Synchronicity Center for Mind, Body, Spirit, Medicine

In Midtown Tucson. Call 327-9624 to make an appointment.

Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

686 Harshaw Road, Patagonia, 1-520-394-2520, Ext. 201.