Our logo is a graphic image based on the sixfoil center of the labyrinth at
Chartres cathedral.
The mediaeval Christian labyrinth was a cross-cultural creation, the product of a time in which much older western philosophy, architecture and symbols were re-visited and re-formed through the prism of the Christian message. The same spirit that revived the works of Aristotle and allowed them to creatively infuse the theology of Aquinas also took the labyrinth, an image found on clay tablets as early as 1200 BCE, and gave it a uniquely Christian character.
 Theologians and artisans layered the labyrinth richly with allusion and its difficult to know the precise meanings Chartres’ designers intended. At its core, however, the journey to the center of the labyrinth and back was almost certainly a metaphor for the Christian spiritual journey – a journey where we come to experience the source of our life in God and return to the world with that awareness as our constant partner.
The labyrinth’s sixfoil center was probably seen as a place of rest on that journey, where the mind is quiet, the heart open and the soul awake and receptive. This contemplative image stands firmly in the Christian tradition and for this reason, we adopted the sixfoil center as our logo.
In addition, modern anthropology tells us that labyrinths – a simple form that combines the circle and the spiral in a single, meandering but circuitous path – are found in many world cultures, from the Americas to the Far East. The labyrinth’s shape and meaning also evoke other archetypal images of wholeness: the mandala and the lotus.
As an image suggesting multi-cultural dialogue about the deepest truths of human life, the labyrinth sixfoil center also well represents the work of our Trust.
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