Kingfield woman says labyrinth helps refocus energy
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

KINGFIELD – Walking the labyrinth is all about what you make of it. That’s at least how Chelcey Dunham sees it.

The 28-year-old Dunham, owner of the Orange Cat Cafe and Queen Anne’s Flower Shop in Kingfield, knew that a labyrinth is more than just a 1986 Jim Henson film starring ’80s Goth icon David Bowie.

And so, just behind what is known as the Brick Castle, home of the cafe and flower shop, Dunham toiled away for weeks to give people a chance to go beyond the movie to see what a weaving walk through the labyrinth is all about.

For believers, a walk on the spiral paths is one that will shut down the logical mind and unleash the creative one, said Dunham. The paths snake around the two sectioned-off, circular patches of grass dotted with black-eyed Susans, tall blades of wheat, a spattering of purple and pink wildflowers and the sugary smell of blueberry bushes, .

It also has the powers to heal, invigorate and help one release their mind and refocus their energy.

And for those who aren’t so sure about the hold a labyrinth has, it sure is a pleasant walk.

The labyrinth was Dunham’s contribution to Kingfield Days, held this past weekend.

“It’s different,” she admitted with a carefree smile. “And more in line with what I like to do – anything abnormal.”

With the help of Sandra Isgro, owner of the White Wolf Inn in Stratton and a labyrinth aficionado, Dunham plotted a course, took the weed whacker and a rake to a section of the field behind her shops and then welcomed people to check it out.

Over the weekend, a few dozen people stopped by, walking in slow circles as they followed the round-about paths to the center and then back out again.

A circuitous walk to the center of each pattern in the grass is about a quarter of a mile round trip.

Throughout the walk, the small rock pile that marks the center can be seen across the blades of rippling wheat. The round-about journey is teasing as it seems the destination has been reached, only to have the path turn and wind around in an entirely different direction.

“After a while, you just give up wondering. You can’t get lost, you just follow the path,” explained Dunham. “There is one way in and one way out.”

The journey to the center of the labyrinth and back gives her a burst of energy, she said. “It could be the walk, it could be the change in pace and it could be the perspective. It is what you want it to be. Your logical mind is not engaged in the labyrinth,” Dunham said.

She said the labyrinth will remain in place at least for the rest of the summer, and she hopes more people will check it out. “And when your logical mind is shut off, it makes room for the creative mind.”

Isgro has been involved in the creation of labyrinths for eight years and is a member of the Labyrinth Society. Last year, she went to England for the society’s international symposium and then toured labyrinths throughout Europe.

For the past two years, she has plotted out labyrinths at the Common Ground Fair and she’ll be back again setting one up this year.

The labyrinth is a metaphor for life, she said, citing that although the path makes no sense, eventually you always end up in the center. “It’s a three-dimensional representation that every cloud has a silver lining,” Isgro says. “When you walk the labyrinth, you get solutions.”

Isgro said labyrinths have been used in every culture since the beginning of time. Some hospitals encourage patients to walk labyrinths to help the healing process, she said.

“It calms down the brain and if someone can calm down, they can figure out their problem. It balances the body as well as the mind.”

And no matter what, it’s always good exercise.

For more information about labyrinths, log on to www.labyrinthsociety.org.

The Kingfield labyrinth is located at 329 Main St. and is open Mondays through Saturday from 7 a.m. through 6 p.m. and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call Chelcey Dunham at 265-2860.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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