A couple of days ago, it began with feeling waves of energy coming off my forged staff as it stood in the corner.

It was not overwhelming, but it WAS intense.

And the feeling I started to get after I realized this was a strong desire to walk a pattern again. … To walk a labyrinth like the one I did at Four Quarters up in Pennsylvania.

I’d gone up there not just to walk their labyrinth, but to also visit the stone circle there.

When I walked that labyrinth, I felt a charge of energy and in my mind’s eye saw the stars below me as if walking a bridge above them.

But where this time?

It needed to be a labyrinth that was speaking to me, calling me towards itself.

Then the one a JMU’s arboretum came to me.

So, I looked it up and found out through a paper on it that it had been created as a place of healing.

(If you haven’t already, take a moment to read about the JMU labyrinth here to better hear its story.)

So, I went that afternoon to walk the pattern.

Standing outside it felt like a moment of sacredness.

I’d walked it before, but it had been a different pattern, and simply marked pathways lined by stones to either side.

At some point since, paving stones had been lain and it felt … more complete.

Two things I remember very distinctly with each and every step — the sound of the staff landing on stone with each step forward and catching glimpses of stars as I did before, in my mind’s eye and spirit.

My crane bag / backpack on my shoulders and staff in hand, I set foot on the stones and began the walk.

I say walk the pattern because walking these labyrinths has ALWAYS caused me to think of the pattern in the fictional stories of the Chronicle of Amber book series. 

The Pattern is the sentient embodiment of Order. It is capable of manifesting as a Unicorn, which according to Dworkin is the mother of Oberon, and of creating pattern-ghosts of any who have walked its path. In the Merlin cycle, the Pattern's spirit is implied to be older than the Primal Pattern, since it refers to events in its competition with the Logrus that predate Dworkin's creation of that Pattern. It appears to wish to impose unending, unmoving, static pure order over the universe.
Deep under Amber Castle, in the caves beneath the mountain Kolvir, the Pattern is in a huge cavern, luminescent and glowing. It consists of a single, intertwined curve, laid out in a spiderweb-like shape. A member of the Royal Family of Amber can walk along the Pattern to its center in order to gain the power to walk among shadows — possible universes.[1] Once the walker sets foot upon the Pattern, he must continue following its labyrinthine course to the center; stopping for too long, or leaving the pathway of the Pattern, results in a terrible death.
Walking the Pattern is not an easy task. There is a resistance that slows the walker, as if he is wearing lead boots that get heavier and heavier with every step. During the ordeal, the walker passes through several points of extreme difficulty called "veils" — The First Veil, the Second Veil, and the Final Veil. These points represent intense surges in this fierce resistance; however, "breaking through" a Veil causes the resistance to let up a bit.


Once at the Pattern's center, the walker has acquired the power to walk in Shadow. As well, being at the center gives him the opportunity to command the Pattern to send him anywhere he wishes—across the room, back up to Amber Castle, across the world, to another Shadow world, here on Earth, etc.

Is a labyrinth magical?

Some would say no, others yes.

I do believe given the right circumstances it can be a vortex of energy … or a portal for spiritual and personal transformation or even something beyond … possibly a bridge in itself between this world and the next.

A pathway that can open you to the pathways beyond this world.

And as I walked that pattern, I felt like I was again walking those stars with one foot here and one toe on something more.

A father and his daughter arrived to walk the labyrinth as I was entering the second half and respectfully, they did not approach the center til after I was done there.

At the heart of the pattern stands a larger rock which others had been placing small rocks like offerings.

Reaching into my backpack, I knew I needed to leave an offering worthy of what I felt this place could be, and so it needed to be something that was hard to part with.

So, I chose my smooth amethyst palm stone which was several inches across.

Placed it on the large stone and slipped a leaf over it.

Offered up tobacco to the four directions and began my return trip through the pattern.

Now, the father and daughter had given me a wide berth and when I gave my offerings to the four directions, I could sense the father’s unspoken … “Is he casting spells or something as in something dark?”

That thought made me chuckle a bit.

The finally did go to the heart of the labyrinth, skipping around me so as not to bother me.

And then I felt led to do something.

I kept walking the pattern, but spoke to the father … saying to look for the amethyst I’d left as an offering and that his daughter was welcome to it if they wanted it.

Now, they chose to leave it there, but did pull back to the leaf to look at it.

I heard excited voices as they did so.

The father then asked … “What’s it used for?”

“Healing,” I returned.

And I think that’s why they decided to leave it there, realizing it was an offering of healing left in a magical place in a time when the world needs more healing.

It was then that I realized my real offering was not the stone, but in creating a moment of magic between a father and his daughter as well as a memory they can share of the strange man they met once who walked with a forged metal staff with feathers on it who had placed a stone of healing at the heart of a labyrinth.

Walking that labyrinth was indeed magical and grounding in a time when I feel chaotic energy swirling around the world.

It’s hard to keep one’s feet on the path or even remain upright right now, but walking that pattern helped me refocus and regain my footing.

And as for the Amethyst, I’ve no doubt it will end up with the person who it is ultimately meant for.

~ The Pathfinder