The Alchemical Labyrinth

By: Jerry Keis

Before continuing, find a quiet place.

Allow your breathing to settle into a natural rhythm.

You may be reading on a phone, a laptop, or on paper, but take a moment to pause.

To begin this exercise, engage your imagination and allow the mind a measure of creative freedom. I will be your conductor, so fear no danger.

Think of what follows as a walk through a symbolic labyrinth.

Along the way, I will ask you a few questions that you should write in detail. Hold your answers carefully until the end.

Right at the beginning of our journey, you walk a few feet when we discover that our route has been divided in two. On the right side, there is a dark, gloomy trail that looks difficult and challenging. On the other side, the trail is clear, easy, and has no obstacles whatsoever.

What path would you choose?

(Write your answer or record it somewhere.)

2. After some time, the path unfolds calmly before you.

The sky is clear and sunny, with a perfect temperature.

As you round a bend in the path, you encounter a lion standing nearby.

You notice the full presence of the animal, the weight of its body and the stillness of its gaze.

What would you do?

(Write your answer or record it somewhere.)

3. Eventually, you and I escape the obstacle unharmed, and we continue our adventure together walking steadfast along this path.

You stop in your tracks to look carefully at a wall right in front of you. You begin examining the material, the height, and the dimensions of this construction.

What is your next move?

(Write your answer or record it somewhere.)

4. There is a beach up ahead where you appreciate the color of the sea. A salty breeze fills the air, and you feel the sand under your feet, which makes walking slightly challenging.

What do you want to do?

(Write your answer or record it somewhere.)

Now that you are relaxed and the world is at your feet, I would like you to humor me with a drawing. Something that you can call yours, something that represents who you are and what you want.

You can even use the sand or the paper as a canvas for your creative masterpiece. It is yours, for you and nobody else. So feel free to do whatever you want.

To spice things up, let’s try to make it by using only:

• a circle

• a triangle

• a square

Try to repeat only one of the shapes three times.

Lastly, think of three animals that you love the most and write them on a list from the most favorite, the second favorite, and the last animal.

At this point, you are at the center of the Alchemy’s labyrinth. It is not quite the end of this journey, but it is the moment for you to think through in detail what just happened and to find some logic in this mad adventure.

Freemasonry has long used symbols to teach lessons about character, reflection, and self-knowledge. Yet symbols rarely speak in direct language. Instead, they invite the observer to interpret, question, and sometimes confront aspects of himself that remain hidden in daily life.

One of the oldest symbolic tools used for reflection is this labyrinth, a path designed not to confuse the traveler, but to slow him down. Walking such a path is less about reaching the center and more about observing how one responds along the way.

The labyrinth itself carries a long symbolic tradition that extends beyond architecture or myth. In the language of alchemy, it represents the inner process of transformation. The traveler enters uncertain, encounters obstacles, confronts instinct and fear, and gradually learns to observe his own reactions. Each turn becomes less about finding an exit and more about understanding oneself. What begins as confusion slowly becomes reflection, and reflection becomes awareness. By the time the traveler reaches the end of the path, the labyrinth has not changed the man, it has revealed him.

The animal placed first on your list often carries particular meaning.

It may reflect qualities you most wish the world to associate with you.

The second animal corresponds to how people might perceive you. All the attributes of this animal reflect the character presentation the world identifies in you.

However, the last animal may reveal qualities you recognize privately within yourself, representing your own self-awareness and self-perception.

Regarding your drawing, there is an interesting aspect to it. Later interpreters of Greek temperament theory sometimes associated geometric forms with personality types.

The square shape was associated with the phlegmatic and/or melancholic temperament. These were traits attributed to people who focused on detail, perfectionism, and practical action. It was also connected with the melancholic traits of rigidity, reflection, and calm.

The circle shape was related to the sanguine temperament, attributed to traits such as being social, energetic, optimistic, and talkative.

Finally, the triangle shape referred to the choleric personality traits, such as being dominant, strategic, and competitive.

All this theory was created by Hippocrates as one of the first attempts to describe human behavior rather than relying on oracles and stars to determine an individual’s fate.

In earlier societies, people frequently turned to symbolic systems to understand human nature.

Astrology, omens, and divination were often used to explain character and destiny.

Over the centuries, thinkers have attempted to connect personality with symbolic forms.

Later interpreters of Greek temperament theory sometimes associated geometric shapes with character types.

Modern psychology offers different perspectives.

Gestalt psychology, for example, focuses on how individuals organize perception and meaning when interpreting symbols.

Meanwhile, psychoanalysis would spend time deciphering the subconscious message and the deeper meaning for the individual.

In modern societies we regulate behavior through shared symbols rather than fate or prophecy.

A simple example is the red octagon of a stop sign, a symbol powerful enough to guide behavior across languages and cultures. Symbols do not determine who we are, but they shape how we respond within a community.

“Symbols do not create the man; they remind the man how to behave.”

– Author unknown, often misattributed to Freud.

Symbols have guided human behavior long before laws and institutions existed. A mark carved in stone, a color on a banner, or a simple geometric form could remind a community how to act and what to value.

Masonic symbols function within this same tradition. The square, the compass, and the working tools do not manufacture virtue; they serve as constant reminders of it. A Mason is not made honorable by the emblem he wears, but by the conduct those emblems call to mind.

In this sense, the labyrinth you have just walked operates like a symbolic tool of the Craft. It does not dictate meaning or assign character. Instead, it invites the traveler to pause, reflect, and observe his own reactions to challenge, fear, solitude, and choice. The symbol does not reveal the man; it gives the man an opportunity to reveal himself.

What matters, therefore, is not how a symbol is displayed, whether a ring faces inward or outward, or how regalia is worn, but whether the lessons those symbols represent are carried into one’s conduct.

You are still present on the beach, where the water symbolizes the human need to socialize.

Some individuals may rush toward the water, eager to immerse themselves in the waves. They might be considered extroverts, preferring to be completely immersed in the ocean, swimming, diving, and playing with it.

Introverted individuals may prefer to remain on the sand, building castles, sunbathing, or enjoying the scene from a distance.

There are also people who choose to wade along the shoreline, letting the waves wash over their feet and allowing the water to touch them without fully entering it. These individuals may be able to balance social life and privacy.

Your choices on the shore may hint at how you balance solitude and companionship.

As we prepare to leave this place, we encounter the wall.

This obstacle represents death and how one deals with this subject.

It is often a taboo in Western societies, and many people refuse to acknowledge this cycle of life. Some prefer to avoid thinking about it altogether.

Freemasons, however, are often reminded through rituals, symbols, and practices about this undeniable reality that every human must face.

This lesson is perhaps most clearly reflected in the story of Hiram Abiff, which reminds every one of us to live with dignity and principles that will speak for us long after we are gone.

Memento Mori is a phrase commonly seen in movies and on bumper stickers. It also resonates with the degree of Master Mason.

Human beings are the only animals who possess the rational awareness of their own natural demise. For Masons, it is an important reminder that our existence is limited and must be used wisely.

The lion introduces danger, instinct, obstacles, and adversity.

Possible reactions may include confrontation, escape, negotiation, or observation.

This stage explores how individuals respond to perceived threats.

In Freemasonry, this principle is reflected in the story of Hiram Abiff and his courage to confront his fate with dignity, maintaining integrity at all costs.

This encounter invites reflection on what lies deep within you and how our fraternity seeks to cultivate character among its members.

Finally, we return to the forked path that marked the first decision of your journey.

We have arrived again at the beginning.

The choice between the easy path and the difficult path reflects the tension between security and challenge, between certainty and discovery.

These decisions are made without knowing what lies ahead, which is precisely why they can be revealing.

They represent the exercise of free will and how you use this faculty in your daily life.

I am sure that any Mason would welcome Plato into our fraternity if history allowed it.

Throughout our subculture as Free and Accepted Masons, we emphasize self-improvement through the symbolism of the rough ashlar and its journey toward becoming the perfect stone.

We also encounter similar ideas in Greek philosophy through the motto:

“Know thyself.”

On the East Coast of the United States, Masons frequently use another phrase:

“Make good men better.”

To become better citizens, better men, and better individuals, we must increase self-awareness and identify our own flaws.

As a rough ashlar, the fraternity provides tools that help shape us into stones fit for the spiritual house not made with hands.

Carl Jung would describe this process as individuation, the integration of one’s shadow with the positive aspects of personality to form a conscious whole.

“A warrior’s greatest battle is within.”

– Freydís (Vikings: Valhalla, Netflix)

The interpretation of your journey does not lie in a single symbol, but in the quiet reflection that follows it. The labyrinth was not designed to give answers, but to create space for contemplation. Each turn of the path, each obstacle, and each image you encounter may reveal something different to every traveler who walks it.

For centuries, philosophers, mystics, and psychologists have used labyrinths as tools for reflection. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has no tricks and no dead ends. Its purpose is not to confuse the traveler, but to slow him down.

And sometimes, the path itself reveals more about the traveler than the destination ever could.

Now you stand again at the entrance, holding the memory of the journey and the notes you recorded along the way. Read them carefully. If necessary, return to them more than once. Within those simple answers may lie small indications of how you approach challenge, solitude, fear, and purpose. The labyrinth offers no final verdict, it merely invites the traveler to look inward.

And perhaps that invitation is not far from the purpose of Freemasonry itself. The Craft does not claim to transform a man by force, but to place before him symbols, tools, and reminders that encourage reflection. Just as the rough ashlar must be shaped through careful labor, so too must a man come to know himself through quiet examination. The journey through the labyrinth, like the journey of the Mason, is not meant to end with certainty. It ends with awareness and with the work still ahead.

To find your soul, you must look within.

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