FIRST QUARTER 2018 e-News

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Message from our Executive Director
Facilitator Spotlight: Murvet Gulseven
Canvas Labyrinths: Passing the Torch
Veriditas Council Update
Facilitator Renewal Day
In Memoriam: Rev. Jeremy Taylor
Global Healing Response
Little Miracles on the Path
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Dear Veriditas Community,

We are delighted to launch into 2018 in our beautiful new office space overlooking the Petaluma River. Our offices are filled with sunlight and surrounded by birch trees and green lawns. While we are up and functional, we still have unopened boxes to sort and pictures to hang.  Email us if you're in the area and come visit during office hours (Monday - Thursday 10-5).

Please note our new address:  101 H Street, Suite D, Petaluma, CA  94952

We have an exciting year ahead of us! We plan to open a VIA Facebook group, offer more online classes, add to course offerings with a new class that gathers groups to make a canvas labyrinth together, and lead a US pilgrimage in May to Ghost Ranch  titled "Sacred Circle, Sacred Land." with Rev. Carolyn Metzler. Our annual Labyrinth Summer School will be in Indiana in July.  And, we will be in Chartres this September with a variety of special programming with Judith Tripp, Dr. Kayleen Asbo, and Lauren Artress.  Don't wait any longer to plan a trip to Chartres.  Now is the time.

Join us on the path!

Dawn Matheny, PhD
Executive Director

Did you find the labyrinth or did it find you?

Both are true.  About three and a half years ago I started a course in Scola Hermetica that is called the ‘Wisdom of Archetypes’ and started working on the balance between my defects and qualities.   The responsible people there knew me well, knew what I was good at, and understood my desire to serve humanity.  They encouraged me to do something that involved motion and advised me to attend a course called “Labyrinth,” which was led by Vernon Frost. Later I attended that course where we were given an opportunity to walk a labyrinth during the breaks and at the beginning of the day. Walking that labyrinth made a big impact on my life.  During the next summer I was in Konya, and my assigned hotel room wasn’t available.  I was moved to a new room where I opened the curtains and saw a taped labyrinth in the garden!  I saw that I had found a long lost friend.   My heart was beating faster, and I felt such joy.  I went out to the labyrinth and walked with the people. Perhaps the labyrinth had a part in this reunion?

How did you learn about Veriditas and its work with the labyrinth?

After that experience, I immediately started searching.  I found the Worldwide Labyrinth Locator, The Labyrinth Society, Lauren, and Veriditas.  In Turkey we say, “All roads lead to Baghdad.”  In this case, all roads led to Veriditas!  Although I was and am working full time, I was able to get to California for the December training with Lauren Artress and Judith Tripp at the Earthrise Retreat Center in Petaluma.  I walked up to the Deerheart Labyrinth before and after the training sessions.  I was unable to go to Grace Cathedral this time but I hope to return to the United States next year for the Advanced Facilitator Training and for a visit to Grace Cathedral. 

Please tell us about the presence of the labyrinth in Istanbul and Turkey.

I believe only one labyrinth exists in Turkey in the south, but I don’t know if and how it is being used and by whom.  In Istanbul there are no fixed labyrinth activities available, but I have a strong conviction that I can bring it to Istanbul, step by step.  Through my network of corporate business and training, I have trained approximately 40,000 people in 16 years.  I sense that I can now use the labyrinth in most of my trainings and that the potential of a strong labyrinth community in Istanbul is very real.

How do you envision the labyrinth being used in Istanbul?

I feel empowered by the sense that “Now is the time, let’s move on, let’s move forward.”  As I await my first small canvas labyrinth, I am using labyrinths made of masking tape in my Creativity & Innovation trainings.   We are working with the balance between the right- and left-brain functions, and the labyrinth is an excellent experience in motion for this.  I will incorporate the trainees in the creation of the next labyrinths.  I also provide corporate training in Conflict Resolution, Problem Solving, Team Building, Change Management, and Leadership where I want to introduce the labyrinth.  I am also filled with ideas about situations where labyrinths could be useful and helpful, such as creativity and innovation rooms and in corporate staff facilities where relationships are critical. 

As a larger city project, I’d like to arrange for a large canvas labyrinth to be available in a conference ballroom and invite people to walk it.  I believe that the actual walking of a labyrinth is absolutely essential to feel its impact.  Some people will get it and will tell others; that is how we will grow.

Since you will be introducing the labyrinth in Turkey, what challenges do you imagine you might have?

When I began my quest to learn more about the labyrinth, my impression was that it was primarily oriented to Christians and to the Christian faith.  Since Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country, I am aware that I want to introduce the labyrinth as a universal tool with deep roots in history.  I am now reading “Dancing at the Edge of Death: The Origins of the Labyrinth in the Paleolithic” by Jodi Larimer. I want to research the ancient findings of the seed pattern, including at Gobeklitepe.  This is an archaeological site in southeastern Turkey near Sanliurfa and the Syrian border.   It is believed to date to 10,000 BC.  The area itself is shaped like a labyrinth.  There are also articles about Saymalitas, which is in Kirgizisthan where they have found seed pattern labyrinths (15,000 BC), and its connection with Gobeklitepe.

A second challenge is that people may think that laying the canvas labyrinth is enough to have people walk on it. It is important to complete a facilitators’ training before facilitating a walk or a workshop. As more people hear about the labyrinth and want use it, more facilitators will be needed. If a facilitator doesn’t have training, it may ruin the experience. For that, I will be using my new website by April 2018, www.labirent.info, and will start telling about labyrinths and the importance of having facilitator training. On the website, I will make a connection to Veriditas, the World-wide Labyrinth Locator and The Labyrinth Society.

A third personal challenge is that I will need to prioritize my time to provide days for my corporate training and my labyrinth work.  I often work 6-7 days a week.  I will need to work less and arrange more days for the labyrinth.

How is the labyrinth integrated into your personal life at this time?

I am fortunate to have a friend who is skilled in burning designs into wooden plates.  He responded with his skills to my desire to have a finger labyrinth and has burned the seed pattern into a beautiful piece of birch wood.  I have it on my altar in my home and use it every day.

What is your most expansive dream for the labyrinth in your country?

I am aware that the labyrinth has been extensively introduced historically and in contemporary times in the United States and Europe.  Now it is reaching out further.  Why not Turkey?  It is an ancient country with a population of Muslim, Jewish and Christian people.  I already feel this energy or love that is going to help us somehow.
I have imagined a labyrinth that is created with Turkish motifs.

How can the Veriditas labyrinth community be helpful to you?
Already Veriditas has been helpful to me by encouraging me to attend the December training, and, through this article in eNews, by introducing my name to the community.  I have had 20 years of experience working with different spiritual groups; all have contact with thousands of people.  I will explore these known resources to identify the right place to offer the labyrinth to Istanbul and will be in touch by email to others.   By 2018-2019, I believe I will have an active community that will be ready for a workshop and facilitator training.  I have a lot to do before anyone from Veriditas travels to Turkey, although. there is a good chance that Judith will come to Istanbul for a labyrinth workshop in September 2018.

Please tell us about a memorable experience on the labyrinth or with the labyrinth.

I was at my first labyrinth walk and asked the question, “What am I to do?”  The word “Tree” kept on coming to my mind. I did not understand what it meant. A year later I was stuck in my second book; I couldn’t write at all. There was the idea, but I needed a structure of the book to keep moving. One morning I woke up with the word “Tree.” I thought, “I must prepare the structure of the book like a tree!” I started writing the book.  Now my second book will be published in 2018. In the facilitators’ training, Lauren reminded me that the seed pattern also looks like a tree. My third book will be about labyrinths and will definitely have a tree on its cover.

After the facilitators’ training, I was both very enthusiastic and very worried. How to start? So many things to do, and not enough time. Also, I feel responsible to facilitate Turkish people discovering labyrinths. Having these thoughts in mind, I did my last labyrinth walk in Petaluma. Such a calming and moving experience! My received message was ”You are not alone. Just start using labyrinths. Help will come in many ways. Start with creativity trainings. Go with the ‘flow’. “ So here I am, in eNews, having a chance to meet with many who have the labyrinth in their hearts, who believe in the potential and message it carries, and are ready to serve. I am not alone! I am a tree within the great forest of the labyrinth community.

FACILITATOR RENEWAL DAY

Living the Labyrinth: A Labyrinth Renewal Day with Veriditas Council
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Stony Point, NY

From time to time we all need to return to the well and drink from its restorative waters.  The labyrinth offers many of us a temporary respite and is a well to which we return again and again to renew and replenish our spirit. The Veriditas Council cordially invites you to join us for "Living the Labyrinth," a Labyrinth Renewal Day to be held from 9am to 5pm on April 14th in Stony Point, New York. On this day, we will gather in community with labyrinth facilitators and enthusiasts to renew and refresh ourselves with a full day of living the labyrinth workshops, lunch, networking and a labyrinth walk. Topics include:

•     Enrich with Rituals, with Linda Mikell
•     Global Healing Response, with Ellen Bintz Meuch
•     Steps Toward the Other - Labyrinth in Community, with Kathryn McLean
•     Walking a Labyrinth Daily: Exploring a Spiritual Practice, with Chris Farrow-Noble
•     Dream Questing, with Judith Tripp

Open to any Veriditas trained or certified labyrinth facilitators, and labyrinth enthusiasts, this event is a specially-priced gift to you from the members of the Veriditas Council. Registration fee is just $90 and includes workshops, lunch, networking and a labyrinth walk. Lodging is not included.

Stony Point Center is an open space...a wooded and peaceful retreat center nestled in the Lower Hudson River Valley, between New York City and West Point.   Click here for more information.