When did you first encounter the labyrinth?
I first encountered the labyrinth at Kanuga Retreat Center in North Carolina about 12 years ago. I just discovered the labyrinth on the property there and thought, “Look at this, isn’t this interesting.” So I walked it and it was so silent. I grew up in a house that wasn’t silent at all. I didn’t know what silence was, really. The silence was such a powerful experience for me. It was quite a revelation.
A few years later, in 2006 to 2008, I was in graduate school in Santa Barbara. The motto of the school was “For the sake of tending the soul in the world”. Oh, my God! It was a most marvelous place. There was a final project that I had to do and the labyrinth returned to me in something called “an active imagination” which is a Jungian form of dream work – awake dreaming. The labyrinth returned to me for this project. My degree is in mythology, psychology and education. So the labyrinth returned in the form of a spiral in my imagination and that became the project. I ordered a canvas labyrinth and gave it to the church on Orcas Island. That was the beginning of the birth of the permanent labyrinth that I spearheaded at the church. That’s how I got involved. This labyrinth is built in the center of town on church property and it’s quite beautiful. It was a perfect spot. I just saw it and knew that was the spot. It was a five year project. We had our difficulties and ups and downs but people kept jumping on board and joining our wonderful, working labyrinth committee. During those five years there was a lot of stress. People would say that maybe it wasn’t supposed to be built there. I realized that this was where it needed to be. It just was and it is. After it was completed a lot of the public just started using it.
How did you get involved with Veriditas and Lauren?
I can’t remember how I first heard about Lauren. It might have been her books. What I do remember is that this woman named Lauren Artress seemed to be the perfect blend of what I could relate to: psychology and the fact that I am a cradle Episcopalian and that got to me. Here was a woman who was both. And I thought. “Now, isn’t that interesting, that’s a possibility.” So I went to my first training with Lauren in Grace Cathedral. I just jumped right in. Then I went to Chartres on pilgrimage with Lauren. Chartres experiences were completely powerful for me. The reason I love the labyrinth so much is that I love the metaphor. I remember walking in Chartres with just a few of us on a Wednesday night. I found a string on the labyrinth. I picked it up and I realized that this string was telling me to untie myself from my family, which I needed to do to find my own way. It was very powerful. It still brings tears to my eyes.
Will you tell us about your very special labyrinth on St. Croix?
We restored a 1750 sugar plantation on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. It has the names, distribution and jobs of the slaves and what their religions were. So it had a great deal of pain in the stones of the ruins. We have our house up on the hill and the ruins are down below, which is where the labyrinth is. I really built it to heal the stones and the energy of the property which has been successfully done. I can just feel the energy shift on the property since the labyrinth has been built.
