The Gift of the Appleton How the “Appleton” Labyrinth dance came to me Many years ago, at an Oak Dragon Camp down in Devon after a day of workshops, we  were gathered round a fire at the top of the field. Musicians were playing and people  dancing while others sat in the shade of the wood enjoying the beauty of the soft evening  light as the sun dropped lower in the sky. One of the workshops I had attended was Sig  Lonegren’s about using the classical, seven path, ‘Cretan’ labyrinth as a problem solving  device by walking the paths with a question in your mind to find an ‘answer’ at the centre.  As you follow the 7 paths each can be seen to embody a different energy related to your  question. Starting with “What do I think about it?” followed by “What do I feel about it?”  and so on until the centre is reached. A place of No Thing where Something will come in to  your mind.  The full procedure, rationale and construction for this can be found in Sig’s wonderful book  “Labyrinths, Ancient myths and modern uses” published by Gothic Image, ISBN 978-0-  906362-69-3 and on his web site . As I danced by the fire I noticed a woman wearing a poncho who was, with arms  outstretched, whirling her way round the labyrinth, that we had made earlier in the day,  down across  the field. That looked good to me and so I ‘boogied’ down to join in. By the  time I got there she had come out and was coming back up to the group round the fire. I had taken my problem with me, it was “When is work ‘play’ and when is play ‘work’?” Alone I  stepped lightly along the ‘winding way’ and soon stood at the place of ‘No thing’ at the  centre and an answer came. This is part of it. Then, as I turned to leave the ‘maze’, I saw that my partner was dancing across the grass to join me. Just as she was entering and starting the path of Mars I was stepping towards her  to enter the Earth path. We met, smiled and joined hands. She turned left and I turned right  and we danced together yet in ‘opposite directions’ for our first circuit of the labyrinth.  Then we both turned left and went round again, anticlockwise this time, in the paths of  Jupiter and Saturn respectively, until we met face to face back on the other side of the entry  path. As seemed appropriate we hugged, moved past each other, switched hands and set off  once more clockwise round the centre, having exchanged paths. It seemed magical that we  could stay together while one of us was dancing to the centre and the other into the outer  world. To enter the labyrinth is to enter a place of enchantment. © Jon Appleton 2010 under construction Made with Xara by Jon Appleton This site brings together a kaleidoscope of ideas derived from 60 years of enquiry: it shares insights into fields as disparate as:- Archaeology, Landscape alignments, Megaliths, Henges, Prehistoric measurement, Astronomy, Mythology, Calendars of the past and Seasonal celebration. Click here to contact Jon   Yuletide Card (c) Jon Appleton