The St Michael's labyrinth: history and explanation.

The labyrinth was built and inaugurated in the spring of 2003. It was made possible through a "community project" grant from the Sillery "Caisse Populaire Desjardins". The project had been proposed by Rev. Mia Anderson, rector of the parish. Although it is officially called "labyrinthe des Jardins", I prefer to use the "St Michael's" name for the design of that labyrinth.

The design and completion of the project were the result of a close and pleasant collaboration between Rev. Anderson and myself. I suggested the general design (derived from the Chartres labyrinth, but, as I later discovered, already contained in the Reims labyrinth). Mia insisted (against my initial resistance) to have a shortcut to the center. Since this could be done only by splitting the central "wall", I proposed the 2-wall-system (with two types of plants), which we enthusiastically adopted. We decided together of the placement, the dimensions and the orientation. I delineated the design on the grass. Mia chose the plants and directed the site works.

The labyrinth is made of hedges on grass. It measures 52 feet (16 m) across. It has 5 lanes. The central medallion is 10 feet (3 m) across. The lenght of the path is about 500 feet (150 m).

In its general design, the St Michael's labyrinth represents a simplified version of the typical medieval labyrinth. It is contained in the Reims labyrinth and can be "extracted" from it. One can also say that it is derived from the Chartres labyrinth, in a way which I explain in my book.

This general design, which comes from the Reims labyrinth, has been modified in two ways:

The medieval labyrinth is formed of two "wall" systems united on the central axis. If we split the wall section along that axis, the two systems become completely separate. Here, the two systems are differentiated by using two different plant types: one is a shrub hedge, the other is made of fine herbs and flowers. That differentiation emphasizes the lateralized aspects of the walk through the labyrinth.

The design was further modified by adding a direct shortcut way of access to the center. Of course this shortcut is easily built once you decide to separate the two wall systems. The shortcut is justified by practical reasons: maintenance and grass mowing, snow removal during winter, easier access for handicapped people or for gatherings. But it also makes sense in terms of the general symbolism of the labyrinth. The central medallion can represent a place of transcendance related to the vertical dimension; it can also represent the term of an operation that does not have to be (or should not be) repeated in the contrary direction (like the ploughing of a field). It is easy to get out of a small labyrinth drawn on paper or on a manuscript by simply lifting your finger towards the vertical dimension when the course is over. But coming out directly of a large labyrinth has to be done by walking physically across the lanes and circles, which is not acceptable from either a practical or a symbolical viewpoint. The shortcut is the answer to both of these problems.

The labyrinth is listed on the World Wide Labyrinth Locator (type "postal code": G1S).