The Muse and the Builder
Labyrinths go back 4000 years, with the earliest traced to Mesopotamia and Egypt. In the Middle Ages, labyrinths started appearing on the floors of European cathedrals.
In 1996, Rev. Lauren Artress founded the World-Wide Labyrinth Project, which has led to the installation of 6000 labyrinths in the U.S. alone.
As an offshoot, Christine Katzenmeyer in 2014 founded the Legacy Labyrinth Project, which has gone on to create eight impressive labyrinths around the world.
Among them: The Adirondack Labyrinth, which was dedicated on July 27 on the edge of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness in Bakers Mills. This is the heart of Cabin Country, where wilderness conservationists Paul Schaefer and Howard Zahniser owned cabins 200 yards apart on Edwards Hill Road.
At center, Christine and Larry Powers cut the ribbon.
A place to “shed labels, histories, and conflicts,” the Adirondack Labyrinth is a “sanctuary for all and a symbol of the interconnectedness of all beings,” reads the plaque that was unveiled at the ceremony.
“If we're going to have sustainable communities, this is just the kind of innovative thinking we need —enterprises that are aligned with the town's unique place in the midst of wilderness,” said Jim Siplon, President of Warren County Economic Development Corporation.
"When we create things that both feeds peoples' souls and deliver commercial value, we've touched each part of what a sustainable community and economy can be."
The Muse and the Builder
“Asa” means “refuge” or “sanctuary” in Latin.
Christine and Larry Powers have driven this project for nearly three years. Christine was inspired by the Legacy Labyrinth Project's installation in Saskatchewan.
'The way it was situated on the grasslands in the Canadian National Park was majestic and open," she told the 50 or so officials and local residents who attended last week's event. "I immediately thought of this spot and decided we had to do something."
It took six months, but she ultimately got Larry's buy-in. "I'm the muse who comes up with ideas and he's the one who builds them," she said.
She found keen interest when she connected with Christine Katzenmeyer in September 2021. "By December, we were signed, sealed and delivered.”
Christine and Larry bootstrapped the project with $30,000 of their own funds and 40 others have contributed amounts ranging from $10 to $2000. Contributions have come in from Canada, Peru, Mexico, Holland, Italy, and France.
Closer to home, the Town of Johnsburg has made a major grant of occupancy tax funds. David Currie, founder of For the Good of All, also has been a good financial friend of the project, Christine said.
Welcome to ‘New Glampshire’
Bartman Road transitions from pavement to dirt about a mile in from the Route 8 intersection, which is situated at the base of Eleventh Mountain. After another half-mile on dirt, you'll arrive at the 100-acre property where Christine and Larry are developing the "sanctuary for your soul" they envisioned in 2016. That's when they sold their 3,500-square-foot home in Loudonville and drove their pickup to western Warren County with nothing more than two suitcases, and three laundry baskets full of clothes, bathing suits, and beach towels.
Two weeks before, everything they owned had been burned to a "massive pile of rubble in an eight-alarm fire."
“In that initial summer from July through October, we lived in a tent, a quarter-mile from the shack we were remodeling," says Christine. "At the time we purchased it, the shack had trees growing out of the roof. It had been a party shack that had been abandoned about 30 years before."
The next summer, they put up the tent again and started offering relatives, friends, and interested others to enjoy what they called "New Glampshire." They started offering transformational programs, ranging from two-hour workshops to five-day nature immersion retreats, and rebranded as Asa Adirondack, drawing on "asa" as the Latin word for "refuge" or "sanctuary."
Sacred Geometry
The design is the same as that at Chartres Cathedral. One important part of the project remained at the time of the dedication: the laying of sod on the path to be walked.
The Adirondack Labyrinth is modeled on one of the world's most famous, installed in the nave of the Chartres Cathedral in 1201. As you walk the labyrinth, you'll pass through the four quadrants representing the four elements of earth, air, fire and water. It's a reminder that there's a design and pattern to everything in the Universe, including you.
It’s interesting to see how the Adirondack Labyrinth interprets in a wilderness landcscape a design that goes back a millennium. The design is rooted in "Sacred Geometry," repeating patterns and proportions in nature that humans replicate for spiritual reasons in things we make and build.
Among geometric shapes and patterns that represent the divine are the circle, triangle, and the Golden Ratio. They represent fundamental principles of the universe and are often associated with metaphysical meanings.
There's no charge to walk the labyrinth unguided, but you do need to reserve a slot. Book your visit here.
Before you go, you might enjoy this documentary on the ways in which Sacred Geometry was incorporated in the design of Chartres Cathedral and its labyrinth.
See also this video in which labyrinth expert Tony Christie offers suggestions on ways to make a walk through a labyrinth most meaningful.
