This is a complex time for colleges and universities—there are on-going issues related to the Covid epidemic which continue to affect us. For those of us in the U.S., the election has been emotional and seems to be involving more young people. As the violence in the Middle East continues to transpire, many students are feeling the need to step up and step out in new ways. And faculty, staff, and students may also need to sharpen not only their expressive skills, but their listening skills as well. Campus communities are needing to hold space for a wide range of concerns which can sometimes seem at odds with one another.

The labyrinth can provide common ground for everyone. Enroll for free to join the Zoom Webinar live or receive a link to the recording and resources to watch at your own time and pace. This event features panelists Frank Faine (Rollins / Rutgers) and De Acker (UC Merced / UC Santa Cruz) and is offered through the Veriditas Labyrinths in Higher Education Initiative in collaboration with the Labyrinth Society.

The labyrinth is an interactive field of memory, information and creative potential, offering metaphors for wherever you are on life’s journey. Could it offer us a cosmic map or a pattern for how the universe is unfolding through us? How can we tune into the field of the labyrinth and discover for ourselves what the labyrinth offers?

Come take a peek at some of the wisdom and metaphors embedded in the labyrinth experience, while discovering ways of interacting with the labyrinth to inspire you on your quest and support you in turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones. Bringing new insights from her recent Walking a Sacred Path pilgrimage to Chartres, Laura invites us into questions of personal and cosmic relevance inspired by the teachings of Brian Thomas Swimme, Lauren Artress, Phil Cousineau, and many more. 

You will emerge from the experience with an expanded understanding of how to relate with the labyrinth in this unfolding quest we call life.

Laura Esculcas, Faculty

With passion for myth and metaphor, Laura curates wisdom journeys and immersion experiences in Portugal’s mystical landscape. Laura is co-founder of EarthShamans, a SoulCollage® facilitator, and teaches Energetics of Art with Ubiquity University Wisdom School. She is trained in Sacred Landscapes, Intuitive Feng Shui, and the Personessence™ System of Understanding People. Laura holds both an M.A. in Wisdom Studies and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.

Originally from the US and having worked in Silicon Valley for over ten years in high tech operations and management, Laura moved to Portugal to pursue her dream of an integrated life lived as a sacred journey shared with others. Now informed by more than ten years of immersion in the Portugal ecofield, Laura uniquely blends depth of experience, keen curiosity, and genuine open-heartedness as she facilitates wisdom journeys and pilgrimage experiences into Portugal's place-based myths.

Laura first met the labyrinth in 2001, on an Advent Quiet Day in Santa Cruz, California. Since that day, Laura has been a Labyrinth Enthusiast. She has served with Veriditas as a small group facilitator in Chartres, and teaches qualifying workshops and Labyrinth Facilitator Training in Europe.

Laura speaks English and Portuguese and lives near Lisbon with her husband and son, and their two dogs.

Would you like to introduce the labyrinth to others, facilitate group walks and lead transformative workshops? Join Veriditas Faculty Members Laura Esculcas and Lars Howlett (see bios below) for our next Virtual Labyrinth Facilitator Training. Go deeper with your personal practice in the labyrinth, meet others on a similar path, and receive a hard copy of our updated 160-page facilitator's manual with a wealth of labyrinth resources! Past participants can also enroll in the course again for half-price as a refresher.

Take the training from the comfort of your home in five consecutive 4 hour Zoom sessions (with breaks totaling one hour). Laura and Lars will share their insights, experiences, and inspiration from their personal and professional work with the labyrinth. Attendance in a Qualifying Workshop within the past two years is required for participants to experience a shared labyrinth journey led by a Veriditas Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator. (Check our calendar for in-person or online qualifying workshops).  To become trained, you must actively participate in the entire 16-hour training. For more information about scholarship opportunities and the program see: Veriditas.org/ft  

So, what is a labyrinth facilitator? First, it's someone who understands what a labyrinth is and can speak about it to a variety of audiences. This is actually a bit tricky, since the definition is quite slippery, and the origins are mysterious. Also, the terminology and applications of labyrinths vary a lot depending on if you’re talking to a group of high school students, a church congregation, patients at a cancer treatment center, or employees in a corporate office. Likewise, there are an infinite number of applications for the labyrinth. You could walk for prayer, healing, transformation, creativity, problem solving, community building, or stress reduction, among other things. 
 The second main aspect is organizing events and optimizing the labyrinth experience. There are many aspects to leading a group walk from framing the labyrinth with music, light, and thematic elements to incorporating a ritual or interactive element. There's also the pace and flow of the walk-- conducting the symphony of different people entering and exiting into sacred time and space. Lastly, there is the practice of holding space for a variety of experiences and providing opportunities for processing the walk through small group sharing, journaling, or other creative reflective exercises. Finally, becoming a labyrinth facilitator creates a pathway to working professionally in the realm of labyrinths. 

This training runs from Monday, December 9th through Friday December 13th, from 9 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific time each day.

Laura Esculcas, Faculty

http://www.mysticalportugal.com

With passion for myth and metaphor, Laura curates wisdom journeys and immersion experiences in Portugal’s mystical landscape. Laura is co-founder of EarthShamans, a SoulCollage® facilitator, and teaches Energetics of Art with Ubiquity University Wisdom School. She is trained in Sacred Landscapes, 

Intuitive Feng Shui, and the Personessence™ System of Understanding People. Laura holds both an M.A. in Wisdom Studies and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. 

Originally from the US and having worked in Silicon Valley for over ten years in high tech operations and management, Laura moved to Portugal to pursue her dream of an integrated life lived as a sacred journey shared with others. Now informed by more than ten years of immersion in the Portugal ecofield, Laura uniquely blends depth of experience, keen curiosity, and genuine open-heartedness as she facilitates wisdom journeys and pilgrimage experiences into Portugal's place-based myths.

Laura first met the labyrinth in 2001, on an Advent Quiet Day in Santa Cruz, California. Since that day, Laura has been a Labyrinth Enthusiast. She has served with Veriditas as a small group facilitator in Chartres, and teaches qualifying workshops and Labyrinth Facilitator Training in Europe.

Laura speaks English and Portuguese and lives near Lisbon with her husband and son, and their two dogs.

Lars Howlett, Faculty

www.DiscoverLabyrinths.com

Lars Howlett is a leading expert in the design and creation of sacred space for walking meditation, centering prayer, personal healing, conflict resolution and community building. Lars is a practitioner of mindfulness and student of sacred geometry since 2003, experimenting with a wide variety of designs, materials, intentions and settings in his personal and professional projects. Universities, churches, health centers, retirement communities, mental health centers, retreats, and individuals find Lars for inspiration and insight in creating exact replicas of historical patterns or one-of-a-kind artistic installations. 

Lars was a three year apprentice to Robert Ferré, inheriting the tools, techniques, and teaching curriculum of a master builder. Lars is a Veriditas Faculty Member and Certified Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator trained by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress at Grace and Chartres Cathedrals. He was the Chairperson of World Labyrinth Day from 2013-18.

Lars is an inspiring teacher and passionate speaker on the history, spirituality, and practice of walking labyrinths, leading workshops to cultivate inner wisdom for personal transformation with slideshows of personal projects and visits to sacred sites on four continents. 

“If we walk far enough, we shall sometime come to someplace.”

― Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum

Compassion comes in all forms, but it must start with self-compassion. If we don’t have self-compassion, we will never master compassion for others. In this self-paced three-part course, we will explore how the tenets of Buddhist philosophy can help us learn and practice radical compassion for ourselves and others. The Labyrinth is the path that can lead us there and then out again to share compassion with the world.

Three hours of newly recorded videos on the Veriditas Teachable platform allow you to work at your own pace with instructional video modules, a printable handheld labyrinth, experiential exercises,  and the option to post questions and comments online to connect with others. Course recordings will be available December 19th for you to begin the course and participate at your own pace.* Robin will offer a free one-hour video conference in 2025 for all
pre-registered participants to share their experiences, questions, and next steps. 

Through the use of story, we will follow Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and her inner parts, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. We will weave in and out of our imagination, demonstrating how Dorothy’s journey of self-discovery shows her practicing deep compassion for her parts that feel stupid, scared, and heartless. We are more than the sum of our parts.

Together, we will discover through an imaginative journey down the yellow brick road (the Labyrinth) how to integrate Buddhist practices, creating new pathways of inner and outer change. We will use the 7-Circuit Classical Labyrinth and the Seven Aspirations of Buddhist Practice.

Our three take-aways:

• Engage in the Power of Story      
  
• Use the Labyrinth as a Transformative Tool
  
• Compassionate Practice: A Necessity for Real Tough Times
  

*Please note that as this is a pre-recorded self-paced class it does not count as a qualifying workshop for those seeking to attend Facilitator Training. Questions? Email Veriditas Webinar Coordinator Lars@Veriditas.org 

Dr. Robin B. Dilley brings over 35 years of experience to the table as an Arizona Licensed psychologist, author, and workshop facilitator. She has been an Advanced Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator since 2015 and recently became a Veriditas Faculty member. 

Since learning about the Labyrinth in 1992, Robin has drawn on her background in Experiential Family Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, and Jungian Theory to develop an active Labyrinth practice. She incorporates the Labyrinth into her work with clients in several ways. She explores its use as an ancient archetypal symbol for guidance and personal insight. Additionally, she teaches clients to use the Labyrinth as a tool for mindfulness and anxiety management, empowering them to use it for relaxation and stress reduction.

Now, through her newest endeavor, Arizona Labyrinth Connections, an extension of her psychotherapy and spiritual consulting practice, Dr. Dilley leads well-designed transformative workshops which include storytelling, journal writing, and a labyrinth experience.  She creates workshops regularly and has two signature workshops, “Lessons from The Yellow Brick Road” and “Lessons from The Miller’s Daughter.”

Robin is available to create a workshop for your group or individual consulting to enhance your life’s journey. She also publishes a regular newsletter, Continue Your Journey.

Robin lives happily with her spouse of 28 years, Pam Smead. They enjoy cruising, walking, reading, and exploring life together.  Don't hesitate to get in touch with Robin at drrobinbdilley@gmail.com to learn more.

The creation of a labyrinth begins at its center, where a point of inception is chosen, grounding the design in time and space. From the moment of conception, the journey unfolds through imagination and intention. We form a compass, orbiting the origin and shaping the circuits that engage our environment and form a pattern of perspectives. The outer circle creates the container, establishing the sacredness of the space and defining its domain.

Orientation is key— directing the entryway and determining what will be faced in the middle. A simple string will guide both the entrance path and the one that leads to center. A perpendicular line calls in the four directions, becoming an axis mundi connecting heaven and earth. Smaller arcs drawn from the line ends yield 180 degree turns, giving the walk rhythm and balance. At the center rosette, sacred geometry infuses the design with symbolism, while the perimeter lunations radiate a field of energy. The archetype is awakened, and the journey is yours.

In this workshop, we will discover the universal patterns and symbolism woven into the design and experience of the labyrinth. Participants will learn to easily draw a 5-Circuit Chartres Variation, using it as a map, mirror, and mandala for exploring the metaphors of life. The labyrinth can help us better understand our life journey as we return to our center and the source of creation. Together, we will reflect on our orientation, perspectives, and connection with the universe, using the labyrinth to behold our personal cosmology.  Through drawing, tracing, and walking labyrinths, we can find our role in the evolving universe. 

“Symbols enable us to enter into experiences that are otherwise impossible.”

 – Brian Thomas Swimme

Lars Howlett, Faculty

Lars Howlett builds, walks, and photographs labyrinths as a practice in mindfulness. He is a Veriditas Faculty Member and Certified Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator having trained with the leader of the labyrinth movement, Lauren Artress, at at Grace and Chartres Cathedrals. For three years he was the apprentice to Master Builder Robert Ferre, learning the art of sacred geometry and his methods of creating proportional and precise Classical and Medieval patterns. In 2015 he launched Discover Labyrinths LLC based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lars inherited his mentor’s custom tools, labyrinth library, and workshop curriculum. In 2017 Lars was named a Master Builder by contemporaries in his field.

Now leading a new generation in designing and building labyrinths, Lars works hand-in-hand with individuals and institutions. In workshops, writing, and tours, he shares his experiments and experiences. He has been an invited speaker at schools, retreat centers, art museums, and at Grace Cathedral, as well as the 2011-16 conferences of the Labyrinth Society (TLS). He is a member of the Wisdom Circle of TLS, serving as a board member from 2014-17 and was the coordinator for World Labyrinth Day from 2014-18, a global event with more than 5,000 participants in 30+ countries on the first Saturday in May. In 2021 he became a part-time staff member of Veriditas as the webinar coordinator, social media manager and resource developer.

Join us in the beauty of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California  for the 37th annual Women’s Dream Quest as we explore the theme of Dreaming Equanimity.  In these times of fracture and division, it is more important than ever to find our serenity, provide solace for our beloveds and generate peace for our world.  

Judith Tripp

Judith Tripp, MA MFT,  is a transpersonal psychotherapist, pilgrimage leader and musician.  She is on the Veriditas faculty and teaches at Chartres Cathedral.  She has led the Women’s Dream Quest at Grace Cathedral for 37 years as well as other venues all over the world.    She also  leads pilgrimages to Iona, Portugal and Avalon.  Judith has created the  musical offerings Homage, Return Again, and To Bless the Walk and authored the Book: Circleway, The Story of the Women’s Dream Quest.  More information on Circleway.com.  

Save the date! More information coming soon.

Please click here to read the Council Biographical Sketches

In this five day, four night contemplative retreat, we will be exploring the Archetypes of the Circle, the Spiral and the Labyrinth with paint, paper and pattern. We will be using these archetypes in a visual journal to find our rhythm as we slow down and engage with these patterns. 

We will walk both the eleven circuit medieval labyrinth and the five circuit classical labyrinth at the retreat center, and use our creative practices as pathways for integrating our labyrinth walks.

In addition, we will create a set of Spirit Stones using images and words. You could also call these stones Alchemy Stones, Symbol Stones, Vision Stones, Story Stones … they are a meaningful way to bring metaphor and symbols into a labyrinth walk. 

Click here for more information and registration

Catherine Anderson, Faculty

cathy@catherineandersonstudio.com

The labyrinth Catherine constructed in her backyard in 2007 has been an important element in her mindfulness and creativity practices and Catherine loves showing others how the labyrinth can support us in quietening our mind and uncover our creativity. She is the author of Journaling the Labyrinth Path, a book of finger labyrinths, quotes and journal prompts inspiring you to find your unique work in the world, and Meeting Your Soul on the Labyrinth: SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth as Pathways for Transformation.

Catherine uses the labyrinth, SoulCollage®, expressive arts, poetry and mindfulness as pathways for self-discovery and as ways of uncovering meaning and purpose in life. Her personal journey of self-discovery has taken her from a career as an attorney to photography-franchise owner, to creativity-workshop facilitator.

Photography is another creative passion for Catherine and her book The Creative Photographer won a Silver Nautilus Award in the Creative Process Category in 2012.  As a SoulCollage® Facilitator Trainer, Catherine loves teaching others how to facilitate workshops using the SoulCollage® process which uses images as a form of “soul language” to access our inner wisdom.

As a life-long learner, Catherine has been fortunate to train with Jean Houston, Seena Frost, Lauren Artress, Jan Phillips and many other wise teachers. In addition to her work in the US, Catherine leads creative pilgrimage retreats in South Africa, France, Italy, Mexico and Portugal.

www.CreativePilgrimage.com

Every year on the first Saturday in May thousands of people around the globe participate in World Labyrinth Day as a moving meditation for world peace and celebration of the labyrinth experience. Many “Walk as One at 1” local time to create a rolling wave of peaceful energy passing from one time zone to the next. Join the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress for a free Handheld Finger Labyrinth Walk in celebration of World Labyrinth Day. 

You are invited on a Veriditas Pilgrimage to The Sacred Valley of Peru facilitated by Judith Tripp and led by Mary Jo Saavedra as a Soul Shift Journey, May 10-15, 2025. Engage with Judith’s CircleWay, live the Blue Zones lifestyle of Urubamba, and experience radical amazement through mindfulness, live music, culinary delights, and cultural treasures of the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and the Cuzco region. As you traverse the awe-inspiring landscapes and iconic landmarks, witness the seamless fusion of Incan heritage and the vibrant pulse of modern Cuzco. 

Engage with healthy-longevity practices that inspire your path ahead with the included post-tour HOMELife Design Master Class. Designed to expand your experiences of positive aging from the pilgrimage, Mary Jo Saavedra, Gerontologist and Aging Life Care Manager, has developed a framework based on her Six Pillars of Aging Wellbeing that integrates step-by step evidence based healthy-longevity strategies to unlock your second half of life pathway to purpose, meaning, and connection. You will learn the practice of creating growth and resilience at every stage and age.

Please download the brochure for more information and the itinerary.

To register, please click here.

For more information see: https://maryjosaav.com/masterclass (early bird savings of $500 through December 15^th)

The waves of the ocean breathe with their natural rhythms of ebb and flow, of flowing forward, letting go and returning to source . How can we honor our own unique natural rhythm? How can we find a balance between inner and outer nourishment?

In this retreat we will explore these questions, using SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth to deepen our understanding of the natural rhythms around us, and to explore ways to create flow and ease in our daily lives as we consider living in a more cyclical way.

Our activities will include:

• Creating a Moon Mandala to better understand the phases of the moon
• Creating SoulCollage® cards to express the messages in each moon phases
• Connecting to our inner wisdom and intuition by dialoguing with our SoulCollage® cards
• Labyrinth walks to integrate and deepen the messages of our SoulCollage® cards.

Catherine Anderson, Faculty

cathy@catherineandersonstudio.com

The labyrinth Catherine constructed in her backyard in 2007 has been an important element in her mindfulness and creativity practices and Catherine loves showing others how the labyrinth can support us in quietening our mind and uncover our creativity. She is the author of Journaling the Labyrinth Path, a book of finger labyrinths, quotes and journal prompts inspiring you to find your unique work in the world, and Meeting Your Soul on the Labyrinth: SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth as Pathways for Transformation.

Catherine uses the labyrinth, SoulCollage®, expressive arts, poetry and mindfulness as pathways for self-discovery and as ways of uncovering meaning and purpose in life. Her personal journey of self-discovery has taken her from a career as an attorney to photography-franchise owner, to creativity-workshop facilitator.

Photography is another creative passion for Catherine and her book The Creative Photographer won a Silver Nautilus Award in the Creative Process Category in 2012.  As a SoulCollage® Facilitator Trainer, Catherine loves teaching others how to facilitate workshops using the SoulCollage® process which uses images as a form of “soul language” to access our inner wisdom.

As a life-long learner, Catherine has been fortunate to train with Jean Houston, Seena Frost, Lauren Artress, Jan Phillips and many other wise teachers. In addition to her work in the US, Catherine leads creative pilgrimage retreats in South Africa, France, Italy, Mexico and Portugal.

www.CreativePilgrimage.com