Veriditas: About: Veriditas Council

Veriditas Council Vision

The vision of the Veriditas Council is to serve as the voice between Veriditas and the Veriditas Facilitator Network.

Veriditas Council Mission

The mission of the Veriditas Council is to support the work of Veriditas working in collaboration and cooperation with the Veriditas Board, Regional Facilitator Representatives and all Veriditas Facilitators.

Veriditas Council Guiding Principles

The Veriditas Council is a Circle, peer-led and spirit-centered, grounded in the principles of rotating leadership, shared responsibility and the spirit of the sacred feminine. Our purpose is to develop practical ways to support the work of Veriditas as it moves into the future. Our charge is to think creatively and act cooperatively, as both a place of germination/ incubation/ gestation of ideas and a task-oriented working group organizing around areas of specific need. The Council works in cooperation and collaboration with the Veriditas Board.

The Veriditas Council... a brief history

Called together by Lauren Artres, Veriditas Founder, we formed in the spring of 2004 as The Spider Plant Project, with the purpose of helping, in collaboration with the Board, to vision the birthing of the second generation of Veriditas as it moved from a focus on peppering the planet with labyrinths to one more centered on the transformative experience of the labyrinth for both individuals and groups in a variety of settings. It was also a time when Lauren was beginning to think about shifting the tenor of her role as "Mother" of Veriditas to that of "Grandmother." The image of the spider plant, where the mother plant is continually bringing forth baby plants, each having the potential to thrive and grow, seemed a beautiful metaphor for the expanding and deepening work that lay ahead. In 2005, we changed our name to the Veriditas Council, which more literally fit the spirit and intention of our work (and was less confusing to others).

From the beginning, we have seen ourselves as a spiritual taskforce, which was articulated in the Mission Statement we began to develop at that first meeting. As we come together, we create a sacred space, based on the spirit of the sacred feminine, from which our tangible work is approached, supporting each other in the process. We are inspired and guided by Christina Baldwin's circle model, from her book Calling the Circle. Our meetings are structured to give ample time to meditation, labyrinth walking and sharing of personal process, interwoven with the business of the meetings. Each member has an equal voice, with rotating leadership, shared responsibility, and deep listening. We find that sharing spiritual practice and having time to get to know each other is essential in the grounding of the Council's work.

The issues and needs discussed in March 2004 continue to be refined, developed and implemented, and remain at the core of our work. For example: Wanting to support the Veriditas community, and the need for greater communication with Veriditas facilitators, has led the Council to take on the task of trying to build a visible center that can connect facilitators with each other and reconnect facilitators to Veriditas. One way this is being done is through a series of "Facilitator Renewal" events being planned across the country. Another is to be actively working to strengthen local and regional labyrinth groups, by establishing connections between veteran and newly trained facilitators, and trying to support the need for topical interest groups. We are hoping to help facilitate the formation of Regional Councils. Further, we are working on event guidelines that could help local groups produce labyrinth events in their communities.

What we first called "Training the Trainer" has developed into the Veriditas Apprenticeship Program, first talked about in Spider/Council and now organized out of the Veriditas office. This program allows for a small number of advanced facilitators to apprentice with Lauren at Facilitator Trainings, so that they may also teach this important program. This will allow more people to have access to training and also allow Lauren time to continue to write and lecture more widely.

Members of the Council have been developing new programs within Veriditas, such as The School of the Sacred Feminine and the Global Healing Response Network, as well as taking responsibility for organizing the Veriditas yearly on-line Auction. We are also working to build connections with other labyrinth groups around the country, and taking (and building) the labyrinth into places it hasn't been. We are working to create the Melissa Postnikoff Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for a beloved founding member, which could help bring greater financial access to programs. And so much more... We continually ask, "What does the labyrinth want of us now?"

Many of us on the Council today were at that first meeting and some of us are new. As a group, we meet twice a year in the spring and fall, and talk by conference call between meetings. Our membership has always been somewhat fluid and organic, with a limit of 15 people. As people leave the Council, new people are put forward. Regional representation is a consideration, as is labyrinth work and support of the goals of Veriditas. Interest in working in a spiritual circle and sharing a commitment to our mission are essential, as are attending meetings and willingness to take on tasks. There is always an extra chair at Council meetings, and guests are welcome. Please let us know of your interest.

Veriditas Council Core Circle Members
January 2008

Cindy Cleary
cindycleary@earthlink.net
Guerneville, CA

Cindy has been a member of the Veriditas Council since its first gathering in the spring of 2004. One of her main tasks has been to coordinate the logistics for our meetings. As an artist who works with memory, place and sacred space, the labyrinth continues to bring a deeper wisdom to her explorations of the intersections of art and life.

Tracy Friedl
friedlfamily@sbcglobal.net
Agoura Hills, CA

Tracy is an inactive attorney and an active mother, also involved with school and community issues. She is taking her first steps along the path of the labyrinth within the welcoming arms of the Veriditas Council. She lives in Southern California with her husband, four kids and an ever-changing assortment of animals.

Tina Margason
tmargason@comcast.net
San Francisco, CA< br>

Tina is a retired teacher who has been involved with labyrinths for ten years. She is currently serving on the Veriditas Board and as a member of the Veriditas Journal team. She lives with her husband in a house filled with memories of raising their three children.

JoAnn Mast
jomast@earthlink.net
Boulder, CO

Jo Ann facilitates sacred labyrinth walks, ceremonies, rituals and labyrinth dedications, and is currently an Apprentice in the Veriditas Master Teacher Program. Since 1999, she has been teaching and conducting retreats, workshops and seminars nationally and internationally. She is a former Veriditas Board member and founding member of the Veriditas Council. She lives and works with her partner Carlos Smith.

Dawn Matheny
dawn@veriditas.org
San Francisco, CA

Dawn became involved with the labyrinth by attending, and then assisting with, Women's Dream Quest over the past six years. As Executive Director of Veriditas, she brings to her job a background that combines administration, organization, communication and a decidedly integrated sense of the possible. All of which support her work with Veriditas and the Veriditas Council to promote the wisdom of the labyrinth.

Marge McCarthy
margemcc@newmexico.com
Santa Fe, NM

Marge is a certified Veriditas Facilitator, former Veriditas Board member and a founding Council member. She founded the Labyrinth Resource Group in Santa Fe in 1998. Her focus has been to bring the labyrinth experience to children, by producing a book and DVD, Kids on the Path, and by creating labyrinths in ten Santa Fe elementary schools.

Ellen Meuch
meuch@msn.com
Wheaton, IL

Ellen did her facilitator training at Grace Cathedral in 2001, and is a founding member of the Veriditas Council. Her passion is bringing the labyrinth, and helping others to get the labyrinth, into secured facilities. She lives in Wheaton, Illinois, works with her father in their family business, and is the mother of four children.

Linda Mikell
edlinmik@optonline.net
Commack, NY

Linda has been a Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator for five years at her Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Stony Brook, New York. She is also the originator and collector of the Little Miracles on the Path stories, which are available to facilitators each month.

Lisa Moriarty
veriditasreps@gmail.com
Stillwater, MN

Lisa creates labyrinths. From canvas to concrete, portable to permanent, she has a passion for co-creating walkable, spiritual art. She is Midwest Regional Representative and Coordinator of Regional Representatives for Veriditas, a Veriditas Advanced Facilitator, and Midwest Regional Representative and Vice President of the Labyrinth Society. She is caretaker of thirteen permanent labyrinths and a fleet of canvas rentals at her home in Minnesota.

Kay Mutert
kqmutert@earthlink.net
Tuscaloosa, AL

Kay is a certified Veriditas Advanced Facilitator who lives in the Southeast, working with labyrinths as part of her work in DaySpring, source of creative expression and renewal of spirit. She uses her experience as musician, minister and facilitator in working with groups and individuals from all arenas of life in discovering the possibilities of the labyrinth.

Melissa Postnikoff
member in perpetuity

Bonnie Ordiorne
bonniesophia@adelphia.net
Waterbury, CT

Bonnie was a part of the unfoldings of the first canvas labyrinth at Grace Cathedral. She is a certified Veriditas Facilitator and serves as the Coordinator of Veriditas Facilitator Interest Groups. She works in adult community education program development, currently at Post University in Waterbury, CT. Her spirituality is expressed through the labyrinth, involvement with Veriditas Council, as a Spiritual Director/Accompanier, an Associate of the Daughters of Wisdom and in her local church.

John Ridder
jridder@paxworks.com
Indianapolis, IN

John was introduced to the labyrinth in 1993, when Lauren Artress made her first visit to Indiana. He is an expert in design and construction of historical and contemporary labyrinths in a variety of media. He is a founding member of the Labyrinth Society, co-founder of the Labyrinth Coalition and he manages the Midwest Labyrinth Gathering, as well as other events. Through his work and his websites, he shares the labyrinth with the world.

Judith Tripp
judith@circleway.com
Woodacre, CA

Judith is a psychotherapist (MA, MFT), musician and workshop leader. She is a Veriditas certified labyrinth facilitator, leader of the Women's Dream Quest, and a tour leader of sacred sites tours to England. She has two CDs, Homage, meditative flute music, and Return Again, songs from the Dream Quest.

Jane and Craig Wirth
Craigus46@aol.com
Pittsburgh, CA

Jane and Craig live in the Bay Area and have been facilitators for ten and eight years, respectively. Together, they build labyrinths, facilitate workshops/trainings, have presented at national and regional labyrinth conferences, and work as Master Gardeners to bring information about garden labyrinths to a wide audience. They have visited and facilitated for Veriditas in Chartres several times, and will always remember becoming engaged in the center of the labyrinth there.

Veriditas Council Core Circle MembersJanuary 2008

Veriditas Council Core Circle Members
January 2008