Terracotta Angel, c.1896
Watts Chapel, England
Photo ©: Jeff Saward/Labyrinthos
Please note, the contents
of this website are
© 2012 Labyrinthos
unless stated otherwise.
Please contact us for permission to reproduce
any text or
images
Reprinted from Caerdroia 32 -
The Harmony Society built three labyrinths, one in each of the three towns it settled
in the American frontier from 1805-
The Harmonist Labyrinths
Lilan Laishley
The Labyrinth at New Harmony, Indiana was made according to an architectural drawing
in the Harmony Society archives of the original labyrinth. The grotto in the centre
of the labyrinth is a re-
A note of clarification is needed here. Though the terms labyrinth and maze are often
used interchangeably, today there is a growing distinction between the two words.
A labyrinth usually denotes a unicursal path that takes a convoluted way to the centre
and back out again; whereas a maze has a multi-
Historical Background
The Harmony Society originated in Germany in 1785 in a small Lutheran village in
Württemberg. It consisted mostly of farmers and mechanics who were not part of the
religious, intellectual, political, or economic elite of Württemburg. They came from
a pietistic tradition and developed as a small group dissatisfied with the state
church's overly educated ministers and the lack of spiritual rebirth in the congregation.
They contended that the church had decayed and that through the guidance of the Holy
Spirit they were trying to restore Christianity to the state of the first Christians
as described in Acts of the Apostles, including communal living.(1) They refused
government oaths, and military service. They wanted their own schools and to be able
to worship as they saw fit.(2) Under the leadership of a charismatic "prophet" named
George Rapp (1757-
Despite attempts to explain their religious position and their request to worship
separately, they continued to be subjected to harassment. So George Rapp left Germany
for America in 1803 to look for suitable land to build a community where they could
worship according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit. At that time he had approximately
10-
The Harmony Society was originally run as a theocracy, with George Rapp as the spiritual leader and ultimate head of the commune. He was an imposing man, over six feet tall and a weaver by trade. Though he had no formal religious training, he was very intelligent, a gifted orator, and "considered as having the call of God."(8) George Rapp made all the religious and communal decisions, and appeared to be genuinely loved and respected by most members of the Society, who called him "Father."(9) However, the influence and services of his adopted son, Frederick Rapp, on the success of the Harmony Society cannot be underestimated. It was Frederick Rapp who was the administrator and financial genius of the Society, as well as the liaison between the Harmony Society and the outside political and economic world. Frederick Rapp was an architect by trade and it was he who designed and engineered the Harmony Society's three towns.
The Society had about 1200 members at its peak. The Harmonists were incredibly self-
The Harmonists did not engage in proselytizing and, according to letters and accounts, membership into the society was discouraged.(10) After the death of George Rapp, a council of elders was chosen to handle internal affairs and a council of trustees to handle external affairs.(11) Due to the practice of celibacy and the lack of new membership, the Society declined. The Society was dissolved in 1905 and the last legal issue was settled in 1916.
The New Harmony hedge maze, from the 1939 plan prepared by
Schnitzeus & Sprague
The hedge maze at New Harmony, Indiana
Photo: Jeff Saward
Harmony Society Religious Beliefs
Though from a Lutheran background the Harmonists had a combination of religious beliefs that included millennial Christianity, mysticism, and alchemy. Their belief in the imminent return of Christ and the millennium appeared to be unfailing throughout the existence of the Harmony Society. They had calculated the date of Christ's return and believed that they would be joining Christ in Jerusalem in the year 1831.
In addition to communal sharing of goods, millenarianism, and celibacy, the Harmonists
were also very influenced by the Bible, especially The Revelation of John. The Harmonists
especially identified with the story of the Sun Woman as told in Revelations 12 (12).
The Harmonists thought of themselves as the Sun Woman who had fled the dragon (the
established Church of Germany) and gone into the wilderness (America).(13) In 1844
George Rapp wrote: "The key to the Revelation of St. John has been entrusted to our
congregation. The woman clothed with the sun and with the moon at her feet has given
birth, her son lives in the community spirit..."(14) Just as the Sun Woman fled three
times to escape the dragon, the Harmonists moved three times -
The Harmonists also believed, as indicated by their hymns and sermons, that they
were the chosen people and the Bride of Christ.(16) Revelations 21:2-
The Labyrinth
In each of their three towns (Harmony, Pennsylvania 1805-
The idea of the garden as paradise is an important theme in understanding the Labyrinth's connection to the garden. Mircea Eliade points out in Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries (1960) that the symbolism of Paradise is prevalent in the gardens of Christian Monks, with the monastery gardens reflecting and anticipating Paradise.(19) This longing for Paradise is central to Christianity, including a desire to recover the conditions of Paradise that existed before the fall. Eliade further states that it is mysticism that brings the soul to its earlier state, which to the Harmonists was a complete, androgynous Adam.(20)
There are reasons to believe that the Harmonists saw their gardens as symbolic of Paradise. They saw themselves as the Sun Woman of Revelations and that America was the new Paradise, a Paradise that they were chosen to build for the coming Christ. Raymond Shepard, director of Old Economy for fifteen years, believes that Rapp's garden represented the Garden of Eden, and that the deer park in both Harmony, Indiana and Economy, Pennsylvania, where George Rapp had animals eat out of his hand, was symbolic of the Peaceable Kingdom.(21) The labyrinth as part of the garden was also used for worship and biblical study.(22)
The importance and centrality of the Labyrinth to the Harmony Society is seen by the fact that they made a Labyrinth in each of their three towns. There are three distinct architectural drawings of their Labyrinths in the Harmony Society archives located at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Each drawing is in pen and watercolor. It is likely that Frederick Rapp did the architectural designs for the Labyrinths, as he was an architect by trade and was engineer of the Harmony towns.
Gardens and statuary in the Harmonist Garden at New Harmony
Photo: Lilan Laishley
Architectural drawing of what is presumed to be the 2nd Harmonist labyrinth at Harmony, Indiana, now known as New Harmony
Photo: Harmony Society Archives
Each one of the three architectural drawings follows the basic pattern of a hedge
maze: a circular design with multi-
"But most surprising of all was the Grotto, constructed on the Chinese principle
of pleasing by contrast. You approach, by a narrow tangled path, a small rude structure,
of the roughest stone, overgrown with wild vines, and with a door apparently of rough
oak bark. You enter -
Left: the surviving grotto at Economy, Pennsylvania, USA
Right: interior of the grotto at Economy
Photos: Lilan Laishley
Writings about the Harmony Society's Labyrinths
The writings in letters, diaries, and books confirm that the Harmonists had a Labyrinth in all three towns, further supporting the three architectural drawings that exist within the Harmony archives. These sources also affirm that the Harmonists saw the Labyrinth as having symbolic importance and was used as a didactic tool. There is no question that the Harmonists used symbolic metaphors. Aaron Williams wrote:
"…they make much use of the allegorical method. While not denying the literal verity of the historical facts, they seek a deeper typical or symbolical meaning beneath the surface; and thus they spiritualize the letter."(24)
John Melish in 1822 described the Labyrinth thus:
"From the warehouses we went to the Labyrinth, which is a most elegant flower-
Melish's account also shows that the Labyrinth was used by George Rapp as a way to let people experience the difficulties of Harmony. Melish stated an experience he had with Dr. Isaac Cleaver of Philadelphia who went to Harmony with him:
"Mr. Rapp abruptly left us as we entered [the Labyrinth], and we soon observed him
over the hedge-
Harmony, Indiana became the subject of greater scrutiny than either of the other two towns, largely because it had been sold in 1824 to Robert Owen, a Scottish Industrialist for his own utopian experiment. Robert Dale Owen, eldest son of Robert Owen, wrote in his autobiography Threading My Way (1874) of the Labyrinth, shown to them when they came to purchase the town:
When my father first reached the place, he found among the Germans -
Meaning of the Labyrinth as seen in books distributed to the Harmonists
The labyrinth was a symbol for the Harmonists that combined the spiritual and the physical including: the idea of harmony, the existence of paradise, the journey to paradise, the travails of such a journey, the transformation of the self, the union of opposites into one whole, the unwavering goal, that the spiritual nature is difficult to attain, and rebirth into spiritual perfection.
George Rapp wrote a book anonymously in 1824 entitled Thoughts on the Destiny of Man particularly with Reference to the Present Times. This book gave a first person account of the beliefs of the Harmony Society, written by their leader. A major theme expressed by Rapp was the necessary balance between physical and spiritual life, a balance that was a theme the Harmonists applied in their strong economic, yet deeply religious commune. Rapp stated:
Whoever imagines the Kingdom of God too spiritual, errs in head and heart. Every spirit in its progressive development seeks symmetry, equilibrium, and proportion, with its bodily substance, that it may be enabled to express itself, and act physically, in the human sense.(28)
Rapp wrote that this connection between body and spirit was difficult to obtain, and that it took practice to learn to use spiritual facilities in the body while avoiding carnal lust. Jesus Christ was the Harmonist model for this balance as he was the spirit of God in a physical body. For the Harmonists, Christianity had a strong social component, and once the perfect balance of physical and spiritual was reached in the individual, it should be used to help others fellow humans in their return to the original state of Godliness that was lost at the fall. Rapp stated: "In this religious and natural union exists practical Christianity."(29) For the Harmonists this focus on spirit in matter was more important than concerns of what happened after death in eternity.(30) The Harmonists lived a life of Christ in the actions of their daily life. They were extremely practical in their use of time and resources, blending spirit and matter in building Paradise for the coming of the Lord in a visible body.(31) Paradise, not just a spiritual concept, was seen in the Harmonist gardens which were a living garden of Eden. Their Labyrinths too, were a physical representation of the spiritual beliefs of the Society. The Harmonists combined their religious and work life, singing hymns while working in factories and fields, and having religious services outside or in the homes, in addition to the church.(32) In fact, they did not build a church in their first town of Harmony until they had been there three years, and the church in Economy was not finished until six years after they arrived.(33)
Even their interest in alchemy would show this striving for balance between material and spiritual realms; for the alchemical quest of turning lead into gold was not only a physical procedure for making money, but also a metaphor for the transformation of temporal man into a spiritual one. The fact that they took alchemy seriously is confirmed by the fact that there were at least three alchemical laboratories in Economy, Pennsylvania, their final town: one for George Rapp, Frederick Rapp, and Count Leon.(34)
In addition to this balance between temporal and spiritual affairs, Rapp wrote that all opposites needed to be united into "one great whole" (Rapp's italics).(35) Rapp described this union as containing meaning and purpose that connected even seemingly unrelated events to each other. Rapp stated that "...nothing does exist nor happen without a cause, every power and nation must stand in union with others..."(36) This Harmony, this union of opposites into one great whole, was represented by the Labyrinth. Visitors remarked that the path of the Labyrinth represented the difficulty of arriving at Harmony, which was symbolized by the grotto in the centre. Therefore the Labyrinth represented both the path and the goal. Rapp wrote:
What a harmonious people! To thee alone the path is not too narrow, nor the ascent too steep; in safety thou reachest the lofty summit, where few can travel & from which many fall, or become lost and bewildered in the labyrinth of the artificial philosophy of the world. But to thee o better race of men, a beautiful spring appears to reward thy painful efforts...(37)
In addition to this direct reference to labyrinths in Thoughts on the Destiny of Man, Rapp also made allusions that were reminiscent of the comments made by visitors to the Harmony Society about the Labyrinth. For example, he wrote of the confusion and chaos of the human spirit that needed to be worked out (the path), and of the rough external appearance of the chosen people (the grotto).(38) He also wrote of the difficulty of wandering while in search of a home.(39)
This reference of Rapp's to wandering in search of a home is similar to the theme of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), another book of the Harmonists and important enough to merit one hundred copies bought for the Harmony households.(40) John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrims Progress while in jail for preaching without a license. It was a metaphorical tale, told as a dream, of a pilgrim named Christian as he made his way from the doomed City of Destruction, along a difficult journey, to the blissful City of Heavenly Jerusalem. This journey of going from the City of Destruction to Jerusalem was very much like the Harmonist's journey from their persecution in Germany to the Paradise of America, described via the Labyrinth by Robert Owen as "types of toils and suffering succeed by happy repose."
Alchemical Labyrinth from De Goude Leeuw, by G. van Vreeswyk, published 1676.
Spiral pathway to Jerusalem from a 19th century edition of The Pilgrim's Progress.
Labyrinth 1:
This design is a circle within a square. The circular part of the Labyrinth has seven rows of hedges. There is no scale given. There is note on it signed by J.S. Duss (final trustee of the Harmony Society) that says "paths 3½ feet wide, beds 6½ feet wide." Based on these dimensions the circular part of the labyrinth would be approximately 160 feet in diameter, and the entire square would be approximately 270 feet across. Since there is some indication that the other two labyrinth designs were for Harmony, Indiana and Economy, Pennsylvania, this labyrinth might have been designed for Harmony, Pennsylvania.(49)
Labyrinth 2:
This design is circular with nine hedge rows and does not have a scale. This design has a handwritten note on it with no signature or date that says "New Harmony Ind. Labyrinth likely." Harmony, Indiana was renamed New Harmony by Robert Owen, a Scottish industrialist, when he bought the town from the Harmony Society for his own experiment in a communal utopia. If this was the Labyrinth at New Harmony, then it has been noted as being at least 140 feet in diameter. This design does have notation of the plants to be used.(50)
The labyrinth has been used to describe a pilgrim's journey to God in many different contexts, including the medieval church labyrinths which were called "The Path to Jerusalem," and seventeenth and eighteenth century drawings. In The Pilgrim's Progress the confusion in Christian's travels was described thus: "I saw also that he looked this way, and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because as I perceived, he could not tell which way to go".(41) This passage fits with the earlier descriptions by Harmonist visitors of the difficulty of entering into the Labyrinth and returning, the perplexity of the path, and losing oneself in the maze.
Not only is the difficulty of the pilgrim's journey portrayed by the Labyrinth's
path, but also the final destination of God was represented by the Labyrinth's centre.
Jerusalem was identified as the central goal of the medieval labyrinths, and in a
nineteenth century illustration of The Pilgrim's Progress, Jerusalem was situated
in the middle of a circle, reached by a spiral path. Jerusalem was also the final
destination for the Harmonists, who had $510,000 to make the trip with Jesus when
he arrived. In the Harmony Labyrinths, the goal was the grotto, that structure of
contrasts, which though rough on the exterior, was painted with gold and decorated
with stones on the interior. The description of Jerusalem in The Pilgrim's Progress
was similar to the temple-
Appendix: Plans of the Harmonist Labyrinths
Plans for three labyrinths are preserved in the Harmony Society Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, although as none of the plans are labeled, it is difficult to be sure which labyrinth was constructed at which location, but evidence to assign each drawing is given below. Each of the plans are hand drawn and coloured and over two feet (60cm.) square. All photographs courtesy of the Harmony Society Archives.
In 1941 the New Harmony Memorial Commission used this design, chosen on the recommendation
of John Duss, Harmony Society's final trustee, to recreate a Labyrinth, including
a grotto, in New Harmony, Indiana.(51) They used different plants than those noted
on the original design to enable it to be easier to maintain. They constructed the
grotto based on the only remaining Harmonist grotto, located at Old Economy, Pennsylvania.
Though the re-
Labyrinth 3:
This Labyrinth has a scale and was designed to be 160 feet in diameter with paths of 3½ feet and hedges of 6½ feet. The center circle for the grotto is 16½ feet in diameter. There is no indication on this drawing what plants were to be used. There is a note on it written by John Duss that states that when the backing was restored in 1921, the drawing was on a newspaper dated 1826. The Harmonists left New Harmony in 1825 to settle in Economy, Pennsylvania, so it is possible that this is the Labyrinth designed for Economy.(53)
It was builded of Pearls and precious Stones, also the Street thereof was paved with Gold. Now as they came up to these places, behold the Gardener stood in the way; to whom the Pilgrims said, Whose goodly Vineyards, and Gardens are these? He answered, They are the Kings, and are planted here for his own delights, and also for the solace of Pilgrims.(42)
The garden image as the final destination also fits with the Harmonists belief that they were creating a Paradise like the one before the fallen Adam, a Paradise that would be ready for Christ upon his return.
Philip Edwards in his essay "The Journey in The Pilgrim's Progress", sums up the notion of the journey as it deals with the following five aspects of Christianity:
1) the vicissitudes of the Christian life,
2) following the commands of faith,
3) practice
of the Christian life,
4) the larger road of which the path is only one part,
5) the
final goal of union with God.(43)
These five aspects can not only apply to The Pilgrim's Progress but also to the symbolism of the Labyrinth for the Harmonists, as written in the visitors accounts previously mentioned:
1) The Labyrinth represented the "difficulties of arriving at Harmony," a difficulty
punctuated by leaving the land of their birth and literally carving out a place in
a new world.(44)
2) For the Harmonists, following the commands of faith included celibacy,
communal sharing of goods, and preparing a worldly Paradise for an expected heavenly
Christ; a path that was narrow and "the arrangement was such that it was almost impossible
for anyone not accustomed to the construction to find their way…"(45)
3) Their practice
of Christian life was in their daily living which focused on preparing both body
and soul for the forthcoming millennium. To the Harmonists this simple lifestyle
was "rough on the exterior, showing that, at a distance, it has no allurements."(46)
4)
That the single path is but one part of a whole is reflected in the Harmonist philosophy
that the smaller microcosm is but part of the larger macrocosm and that "all things
are interconnected."(47)
5) To represent the final goal of union with God, the Harmonists
had the "little temple, emblematical of Harmony, in the middle… smooth and beautiful
within, to show the beauty of harmony when once attained."(48) This grotto is the
end of the journey, reached despite obstacles and losing one's way. It is the Heavenly
Jerusalem, the Bride married to the Bridegroom, and the community that acts as a
single, united soul -
B. L. Laishley, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; May 2001
Footnotes & References:
1) Karl Arndt, ed. Economy on the Ohio 1826-
2) as translated in Arndt 1972: 35-
3) Karl Arndt, George
Rapp's Harmony Society 1785-
4) Arndt 1972: 46
5) V. F. Calverton,Where
Angels Dared to Tread (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
6) Arndt 1972:
76
7) as translated in Arndt 1972: 72-
8) Melish 78
9) Karl Arndt ed. A Documentary
History of the Indiana Decade of the Harmony Society 1814-
10) Hilda Adam Kring, The Harmonists:
A Folk-
11) Kring 31-
12) Arndt 1972: 8
13) Arndt 1972: 101
14)
George Rapp in a letter to Dr. Ernst Ludwig Brauns on February 1, 1844 as qtd. in
Arndt 1972: 594
15) Hinds 15
16) Kring: 12: Arndt 1972: 587-
17) The Oxford Annotated
Bible NT 385
18) as found in Arndt 1972: 588
19) Mircea Eliade. Myths, Dreams and Mysteries:
The Encounter between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities. Trans. By Philip
Mairet (New York: Harper and Brothers 1960) 68
20) Eliade 66-
21) personal interview
with Raymond Shepard, director of Old Economy for fifteen years, May 8, 1998
22) Kring
61
23) Williams 67-
24) Williams 111
25) Melish 72
26) Melish 72
27) Robert Dale Owen,
Threading My Way: An Autobiography (1874, New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1967) 242-
28)
Rapp 12
29) Rapp 2
30) Gertrude Rapp in a letter to Frederick Rapp, April 8, 1824 as
qtd. In Arndt 1978: 838
31) Rapp 17-
32) Kring 58,61,64
33) Kring 43
34) Raymond Shepard,
May 8, 1998
35) Rapp 6
36) Rapp 29
37) Rapp 16
38) Rapp 9-
39) Rapp 9
40) Shepard personal
interview May 8, 1998
41) John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That
which is to come: Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream Wherein is Discovered,
The manner of his setting out, His Dangerous Journey; and Safe Arrival at the Desired
Country (1678, New York: Payson & Clarke Ltd. 1928) 2
42) Bunyan 218-
43) Philip
Edwards, "The Journey in The Pilgrim's Progress", The Pilgrim's Progress: Critical
and Historical Views, ed. Vincent Newey (Totowa: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980) 111-
44)
Melish 72
45) Victor Duclos as quoted in Lockridge 14
46) Melish 72
47) George Rapp
3
48) Melish 72
49) Harmony Society Archives, document no.06.72.17.52. The Archive
is located at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission/ Pennsylvania State
Archive, Third and North Streets, Box 1026, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108, USA.
50)
Harmony Society Archives, document no.06.72.17.51
51) per. interview with Jean Lee
of the New Harmony State Historic Society, August 5, 1998.
52) Lockridge 93
53) Harmony
Society Archives, document no.06.72.17.24
Note: this article is reproduced from Caerdroia 32, published October 2001.
This edition
is still available for sale.