Alex Champion - Earth Symbols
The following is a quote I copied from the that Alex wrote in answer to an inquirer's question about what is drawing people to labyrinths. (Permission to print this was obtained from Alex)
Dear Mary,
I have been building labyrinths since 1987, my favorite way is as earthworks. I have also made lots of new designs (maybe three dozen) and have been studying what I make by the applied intuitive technique of dowsing, and by collecting stories. Basically I dowse for energy lines before and after layout (design painted on the ground) and after making it into an earthwork. The design determines what energy lines come in. For example, meander pattern based designs bring in what I call power spot energy. I also find a general increase in energy in going from no design to a painted one to a three dimensional earthwork.
I see labyrinths as another example of designs based on the primal geometric patterns of Nature (sacred geometry), like rose windows, stone circles, crop circles, medicine wheels, except that labyrinths are filled with multiple elements of confusion. Why I get more energy in 3D earthworks than in a largely 2D painted design is because our universe is 3D. Three dimensionality is a feature of our universe, just like spheres are. I have also made many designs that are not labyrinths by any means yet they will bring in energy, as I based them of the patterns of Nature.
I also find the experience is different if many people are using the design at the same time, and my experiences vary every time. Who knows what will happen when one goes on a spiritual journey, like a vision quest or extended meditation, or continuous prayer. I also view labyrinths and other geometric symbols based on natural geometry as tools. Why do they work? My latest hypothesis is that each sacred geometric motif (circle, vesica piscis, square, triangle, golden mean proportion, meander pattern or double spiral, etc.) has its own energy, and I think of them as tuning forks, so a labyrinth is an orchestra of tuning forks. We are also based on natural geometry, so parts of our energy fields want to resonant with the energy field of the geometric pattern. It may not be able because of "energy blocks", which may have resulted from traumas from this life or past lives. Eventually if you are in the energy long enough, the unneeded energy will be released (shaken off). This would suggest that the longer you stay in a particular design, the more "spiritual healing" will take place (changes in your energy field). This is what I find, as more spiritual healing and/or communion occur when I am in the design making the earthwork for 6 to 8 hours in a day.
Alex Champion