When it comes to labyrinths, everything old -- very old -- is new again. If you've walked the contemplative steps at Grace Cathedral's renowned labyrinth in San Francisco, you probably know that its archetypal form is based on the 13th century pattern at Chartres Cathedral in France -- a medieval model you'll find elsewhere in the Bay Area and around the world.

But labyrinths comes in a variety of forms: classical (Greek, Celtic), medieval (seven-circuit, eleven-circuit), three-dimensional, natural, and a wide variety of interpretations across the board.

A labyrinth is not a maze. It's not designed to fool or disorient. You won't find a Minotaur at any of these Bay Area labyrinth locations. If you do, let me know and I'll make a note.

Labyrinth walks are an ancient meditative practice, wherein the participant enters the circular pattern and releases earthly worries on a slow amble toward the center. There's a meditative or prayer point in the middle where you can take time to contemplate. Then, as you walk the patterns from the center back outward, you rejoin and reconnect with your spiritual source, in whatever form that takes for you.

You'll find some public and outdoor Bay Area Labyrinths on this list -- where you can exercise your own form of planetary contemplation.

^{Photo © Aaron Harmon - Flickr Creative Commons}