by Parishioner Marilyn Zimmerman
I’m not certain whether I discovered labyrinths or they found me.
In 2019, while struggling through a personal spiritual crisis, in which I felt disconnected from God and unable to connect to the sacred, I read about a course offering at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. The course was called “An Urban Pilgrimage: The Path of the Holy Fool.” One of the two course facilitators was Lauren Artress, the former Canon Pastor of the Cathedral and the person most responsible for the current labyrinth resurgence throughout the world.
I felt inexplicably compelled to enroll in this oddly-titled class, so I did. Two months later, when I flew to San Francisco, I was still questioning my decision.
The focus of the two-day course was honoring our own intuition and finding our own personal spiritual paths. As part of our meditations, we walked both of the Cathedral’s labyrinths several times. On one of my walks, as I silently followed the circuitous path into labyrinth’s center, I was focused on my own spiritual crisis when I felt, for the first time in many months, a deep sense of peace. More important and to my immense surprise, I felt the presence of the Divine. The ancient pathways of the labyrinth became a sacred space, a place where as I walked, I felt a connection between matter and spirit.
Intrigued and interested in learning more about labyrinths and the possibility of introducing them to others, that same year I trained with Lauren to become a facilitator of labyrinth walks. Back in Northport, during the summer of 2019 I borrowed a canvas labyrinth and introduced the people of St. Christopher’s to labyrinths. Following that, I continued to share the benefits of labyrinth walking with others, offering the circuitous path as a metaphor for the life journeys we are all experiencing, and the circle, which represents wholeness, as a sacred and safe place where we can pray, rejoice, meditate, reflect, grieve, and heal.
When the pandemic made it unsafe to gather for group labyrinth walks, I began facilitating the tracing of handheld labyrinths online, both at retreats with Kate Mason and on my own. I’ve been honored to lead these online retreats and, when the pandemic numbers allow, to facilitate actual walks. I’ve guided actual walks on both on the canvas labyrinth recently gifted to St. Christopher’s, and at the outdoor Chartres-style labyrinth in the Healing Garden at Traverse City’s Botanic Gardens. In 2022 I became a Certified Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator.
Interested in learning more about labyrinths? Please contact me via the St. Christopher’s office email.