Round and Round We Go
Walking for peace on World Labyrinth Day
There seems to be an official day for everything these days, yet still was I was surprised to discover that the first Saturday in May is officially World Labyrinth Day. Who knew there was such a thing?
Sebastopol resident Brighid FitzGibbon, that’s who.
FitzGibbon is a board member of Veriditas, an organization that, according to its website, is “dedicated to inspiring personal and planetary change and renewal through the labyrinth experience.”
The word "Veriditas" originated with 11th century Catholic mystic Hildegard of Bingen and means "the greening power of life."
The group trains labyrinth facilitators around the world and sponsors events that “promote further understanding of the labyrinth as a tool for personal and community transformation.”
FitzGibbon, a longtime Waldorf teacher in Sonoma County, completed her facilitator training with Veriditas in 2020 and has served as a small-group leader in Chartres, France, and at the Women’s Dream Quest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
This Saturday, May 6, at 9:30 am, in cooperation with the Labyrinth Society, she will be leading the 15th Annual World Labyrinth Day celebration and walking meditation for world peace at the labyrinth at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 500 Robinson Road in Sebastopol.
The labyrinth at St. Stephen’s was built in 2019, and it’s based on the design of the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral. It was designed and planned by Bay Area labyrinth designer Lars Howlett and built by church members themselves.
From the beginning, the church has kindly welcomed everyone, regardless of their faith (or lack of it), to walk the labyrinth.
“It was a place of such comfort and solace to me during the pandemic,” FitzGibbon said.
Why walk a labyrinth?
“Walking a labyrinth is a contemplative practice that can help focus the mind and open the heart,” FitzGibbon said. “Whether the walk is done in solitude or as a group, each person is on a unique journey that is supported by the pattern itself.”
“The unicursal path leads you to the center where you can pause before following the path back out,” she said. “It’s a great metaphor for life itself. There are twists and turns along the way; the path meanders, etc. As the saying goes, ‘In a maze you get lost; in a labyrinth you can only find yourself.’”
“For me, walking the labyrinth is a walking meditation that helps me feel centered and connected at the same time,” she said. “I experience feelings of release marked by an increased sense of presence, gratitude, and awe.”
The labyrinth at St. Stephen’s is built of small pale bricks set into the earth, but FitzGibbon said labyrinths have been built of all kinds of things – hedges, stones, earth mounds, flowering plants, even books.
As a part of this free community event, FitzGibbon will lead the walk with musical accompaniment by Jean Farmer, who is a member of the music group Notan and also a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal.
“We'll do an opening circle at 9:30, and Jean will play music,” Fitzgibbon said. “I'll open the walk with some information about the labyrinth and a couple of poems to set the mood and then I'll just stand at the entrance to help facilitate pacing.”
The paths of the labyrinth at St. Stephen’s are narrow, which FitzGibbon says helps people focus. It takes a surprisingly long time to get to the center.
The center is shaped like a flower with six round petals. She says there are several ideas about the symbolic meaning of this shape, the first being that it represents the Christian idea of six days of creation.
“The one that speaks to me the most is the idea of it as a unifying principle of the natural world, of creation: so this is the mineral kingdom, plants, animal, human, angelic, and the great mystery,” she said.
So if you’re looking for an encounter with the great mystery—whether within or without—you could do worse than to walk St. Stephen’s labyrinth in celebration of World Labyrinth Day this Saturday. Who knows where this path will lead?
You can find out more about Veriditas at https://www.veriditas.org.
.