Labyrinth

'Labyrinth' is a pattern study The Patternbase textile design studio. Hand drawn illustration, digitized in Adobe Illustrator. Original illustration by Kristi O'Meara. 1600 x 2080 px.

“The labyrinth is an ancient symbol whose convoluted form, found naturally in seashells, animals’ intestines, spider webs, the meandering body of the serpent, the eddying of water, the internal structure of underground caves and the whirling galaxies of space, has always been highly suggestive to the imagination.The labyrinthine spirals indicate the symbolic passageways from the visible realm of the human into the invisible dimension of the divine, retracing the journey souls of the dead would have taken to reenter the womb of the mother on their way to rebirth...Contained within a compact space, a long and difficult path constantly doubles back on itself, leading circuitously to a mysterious and invisible center."

• The Book Of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images (Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism, 2010)