One-Day Labyrinth
2 min
How can you and 28 friends build a 60-foot-diameter stone labyrinth in one day? Here’s how, and why, Andrew Weil, M.D., made it happen! Read the whole story, then follow these steps:
Get 11 tons of river rock, in the six-inch to 12-inch size. Dump it strategically in four or five piles around the perimeter of the planned location for the labyrinth.
Pound a stake in the ground at the center of the planned location, then tie a slip knot around it, and pull the rope tight.
Put markings on the rope at two-foot intervals, pull the rope taut, and place stones directly under the marks.
Here's how the first rank of stones will look. These 12 stones are the beginning of the 12 concentric courses around the center stake.
Then move the rope like a clock's hand and lay another rank of stones a couple of feet distant. This allows other workers to connect the two ranks and start making the circular courses.
And so on. Just keep going!
Use the occasional "feature" stone like this lovely piece of rose quartz.
The only rule: If a rock has a particularly pretty face, make sure that face is pointing up.
For a labyrinth this large, wheelbarrows speed the process considerably.
Dr. Weil built a previous labyrinth on this spot with two friends, but floods in the summer of 2006 washed most of it away. This time, he was glad for the two dozen helpers.
The entry and exit channels, laid out with taut strings, are precisely aligned with the sunrise of the spring equinox. Once these channels are built, adjust the ends of the circular courses according to a layout chart. It's helpful to use two taut ropes stretched across the labyrinth at right angles to each other (dividing the labyrinth into quadrants) to determine where to make the returns.
Greta, a Weimaraner who belongs to friends of Dr. Weil, contemplates the feverish construction activity just before falling asleep.
Aerial view, taken from a treetop platform, shows the layout for an entry/exit channel.
Once the courses are laid, Dr. Weil and friends begin centering a 500-pound basaltic stone precisely in the center, where the layout stake had been. This new labyrinth was moved roughly four feet from the position of the old one, and the monolith had also been tipped over by the flood. So the stone needed both righting and centering.
The task, begun at 9 a.m., is done by 4 p.m. The 28 tired by happy workers are employees of Weil Lifestyle, LLC; doctors from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine; and members of Dr. Weil's ranch staff and their children.
Immediately upon completion, several workers take it for a spin.
