Cassadaga Labyrinth

A new addition to the Camp.

  It took about six years to come up with the perfect location for a labyrinth at Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp.
          Rev. Richard Smith, task-master extraordinaire, is well-known for getting things accomplished when it comes to the grounds and building repairs in the Camp. Rev. Richard says he and others decided on the area next to the Fairy Trail in Horseshoe Park on Chauncey Street.
          “It’s something I always wanted to do,” he says.  
          Rev. Richard says it took about 30 hours to complete the seven-ringed, 24 feet in circumference, labyrinth. He says. he got about 85 round cylinders donated by the Department of Transportation. Before burying the cylinders, some a foot high, he primed them and then painted them blue. He says he found another 20 bricks from various places in the Camp.
          “There’s well over 100 all together,” he says. And then adds: “People are already walking it.”
At times, he said people confuse labyrinths and mazes. The latter has various paths, or choices in direction, and may have multiple entry and exit points and dead ends. A labyrinth has a single path leading to the center and then back out the same way. There are no dead ends.
“It shouldn’t be a race,” he says. “It’s supposed to be for meditational purposes to get in touch with yourself, Infinite Intelligence, God. That’s what it’s for. It’s not how fast you can get through it.”
Rev. Richard says he’s pleased with the finished product.
“The very last cylinder I put my hands over it and sent energy through the whole thing so all the pieces would be energized,” he says.  
Rev. Richard, who has travelled the labyrinth many times, says he’s hoping that on Gala Day, Saturday, May 11, people will create a circle around it to send more positive energy.
More than anything he says, “I hope people enjoy the labyrinth.”

Submitted by Lori Carter
SCSCMA Certified Medium and Teacher

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