Thanks to the vision of a small group of women and support from the wider community, Salt Spring Island now has its own Community Labyrinth, with an opening event set for Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10:30 a.m.
According to project initiator Sarah Belknap, the amenity located on the Anglican Parish of Salt Spring Island cemetery property at 710 Upper Ganges Rd. is a simplified Chartres Cathedral design, with seven rather than 11 circuits.
“The turns and the pattern are similar to the labyrinth that was laid in the Chartres Cathedral in Paris in the 12th century,” said Belknap.
Pathways are 25 inches wide, with accessibility being an important consideration, she said.
“We always stressed that the labyrinth was designed to be as safe and accessible as possible. Everyone — kids, who invariably want to run around the pathway, and elders who rely on a cane or walker, and everyone in between — can enjoy the labyrinth.”
The project germinated in the fall of 2022 after Belknap attended a labyrinth workshop led by Anglican minister Gyllian Davies. Belknap has walked several labyrinths in her life, she said, and was inspired to envision one for Salt Spring after seeing a community labyrinth on Pender Island. After gathering a group of women to initiate a labyrinth project here, a proposal for the site was approved by the Anglican Parish of Salt Spring Island in the spring of 2023. Labyrinth team members were Jacqueline Byron, Susan Grace, Gloria McEachern, Gail Robinson, Rosamund Woolley, Davies and Belknap.
Nolan Magnus of Living Accent Contracting was hired to lay the foundation and provided invaluable input. Foxglove Farm and Garden Supply, Windsor Plywood and Salt Spring Slinger were also involved and provided discounts and/or above-and-beyond support. Members of The Circle Education’s Pass It On Boys group helped place the 1,667 rocket paver bricks.
Total project cost was $26,000, with about one third raised through Salt Spring Island Foundation and Lions Club grants and the rest through individual donations.
“At our fundraising events we had a cookie jar and a lot of people came by and when they realized what we were doing just dropped cash in the cookie jar, and wanted to know where the labyrinth was going to be and they wanted to walk it. So a lot of donations were made in that way, and then some people made larger donations.”
“The most expensive part of the project was the first part — the foundation of the labyrinth. It took time to raise those funds, because it was built to last,” she said. “The foundation was constructed so that the labyrinth might serve islanders now and in future generations.”
Two native plant species — yarrow and field chickweed — were planted on the paths, but only some of the yarrow has survived so far, Belknap said.
A kiosk on the site acknowledges project contributors and provides more information.
Belknap said studies have found that walking a labyrinth can positively impact one’s emotional well-being, and that’s been her experience as well. It’s an ideal spot for considering problems or possibilities, for example, which are physically taken into the labyrinth.
“You’ve got something you’ve been working on in your own mind . . . and you literally get different perspectives as you walk the circle. People find that new ideas come up, or they are just able to really relax and kind of look at things differently.”
One of the benefits is that people are forced to just be present as they walk.
“Some people think that a labyrinth is a maze, but they’re very different. A maze is meant to trick you . . . with a labyrinth, you just put your foot on the path and the path will carry you to the centre and out again. So in that space where you really don’t have to think about anything, you can just put one foot in front of the other, and you’re going to get to the centre and out again.”
The Sept. 13 opening celebration will include a short ceremony and expressions of thanks, with live music provided by islander Simon Millerd and friends.
As funds will be needed to maintain the labyrinth in future, donations of any size are welcomed. A Canada Helps page on the Anglican Parish website — with a QR code linking to the page on the labyrinth kiosk — being an easy way to contribute.