"Remember, we are always on the labyrinth." For Hogan (Intellectual Foreplay; Virtual Foreplay), walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for the spiritual journey we all make throughout our lives. Walking an illuminating labyrinth (which bears no real relationship to walking a disorienting maze, she is careful to point out) is an invaluable tool for gaining spiritual insight. Labyrinths have a 5,000-year-old history, and have been found in such far-flung locales as England, India, South America, North America, Greece and Scandinavia, yet we have no real explanation of how they came about. Hogan makes a powerful case that these ancient earth designs hold real power for people of all ages and cultures to reach their own "quiet internal center," to remember the Divine within and without. Hogan's clear style and structure mirror the precise experience of preparation, journey and return. It would be a mistake to perceive this slender, practical volume solely as a labyrinth manual; the book is just as much a profound, deceptively simple guide to the spiritual life as it is about negotiating, for example, the 800-year-old pattern on the floor of Chartres cathedral. Hogan's book will best be enjoyed by readers who are new to or slightly familiar with labyrinths. Her truths as times seem obvious, but perhaps this is because, like labyrinths, they are timeless. (Oct.)
