The labyrinth has held an important place in human consciousness for millennia. This book on mazes and labyrinths explores the maze in all its varied aspects. Mazes and labyrinths are the meeting-place of symbolism, mythology, ritual, architecture and art. Turf mazes are a part of our national heritage, and yet we don't know why they were made or the purposes of their ancient creators. Leading earth mysteries researcher Nigel Pennick investigates the significance of these mysterious pathways and asks if they evolved as an expression of the meaning of life: a tangled web to which there is ultimately a solution. Today, the labyrinth is undergoing a major renaissance of renewed interest. Here is a complete account of ancient rock labyrinth and turf mazes, pavement and church labyrinths, puzzle hedge mazes and modern innovations in Britain and on the Continent.

Nigel Pennick is a writer and lecturer on ancient and modern mysteries, and is an authority on geomantic practices and labyrinths. For fifteen years he worked as a marine microbiologist and published papers describing eight new species previously unknown to science. A founder and co-ordinator of the Institute of Geomantic Research, Nigel Pennick organized the five Cambridge Geomancy Symposia, and has written many books including Geomancy, The Cosmic Axis and Labyrinths Their Geomancy and Symbolism. With Paul Devereux he is the author of Lines on the Landscape: Leylines and Other Linear Enigmas. His practical work includes geomantic design on an architectural competition entry for the La Villette Park project in Paris; remedial geomantic work in England and Germany; and the laying-out and supervision of the construction of the first permanent stone labyrinth in North America. He constructed a series of ten different temporary labyrinths as a demonstration at Art in Action at Waterperry House, Oxfordshire, and has also built labyrinths in Austria and Ireland. He lives in Cambridge.