Step into the winding path of the labyrinth and the spaciousness of your own inner voice. Journaling the Labyrinth: Writing Your Way Home invites you on a creative and restorative journey where symbols yield reflection, and words become companions on the path toward self-discovery.

Guided by Susan Borkin—psychotherapist, speaker, and author in the field of therapeutic writing—you’ll explore the intersection of labyrinths and journaling, two ancient practices that, when combined, open a powerful doorway to insight, healing, and renewal. Whether you are new to journaling, curious about the labyrinth, or simply seeking a fresh way to reconnect with yourself, this workshop offers a space for quiet exploration, laughter, and authentic expression.

What to Expect

• Gentle introductions to journaling as a form of self-care and creative awakening
• Experiential labyrinth-based exercises designed to deepen reflection and mindfulness
• Opportunities to write, share (if you wish), and listen within a supportive, confidential community
• A deeper understanding of the labyrinth and how to use it
• A blend of humor, inspiration, and grounded practice—Susan’s signature teaching style

You’ll Leave With

• Fresh insight into your own inner story
• Simple, portable tools for ongoing personal reflection
• A renewed sense of direction, clarity, and calm
• How jounraling and the labyrinth support each other to deepen the experience of both

This day long event serves as a Qualifying Workshop for going on to take Veriditas Facilitator Training

Susan Borkin, PhD, is a psychotherapist and speaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A pioneer in the field of writing therapy, she is the author (or contributing author) to six books on journaling. She is an advanced facilitator and member of the Veriditas faculty. 

Join Death Doula and Certified Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Debbie Charbonneau in conversation with board chair Patty Kohler for an exploration of how the labyrinth can support people through end-of-life, grief, caregiving, and times of profound life transition. Drawing from her experience accompanying individuals and families through the dying and death process, Debbie will share ways the labyrinth can offer a gentle container for reflection, release, remembrance, and ritual.

The webinar will introduce accessible practices including holding space for others and simple rituals that can be adapted for individuals, families, caregivers, hospice settings, and community groups. Together, we will explore how the labyrinth can help us face death as a part of life, engage grief, and navigate the thresholds of change and transition.

Register to join us live on Zoom on Monday, October 26th at 12pm Pacific or receive a recording link to watch at your convenience. VIA Members can enroll for free and will also receive exclusive access to a special half-hour Q&A with the guests following the one hour conversation.

Debbie Charbonneau is a Death Doula and Certified Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She works with individuals and families engaging with mortality, offering education, support, personalized rituals, and guidance through the dying and death process. She has also been involved with Hospice Care Ottawa and Community Deathcare Ottawa, including public education and community events exploring different ways of being with grief and learning about dying and death. Read more at: www.debbiecharbonneau.ca

The Virtual Facilitator Training, led by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, will be held online Monday through Friday each afternoon from 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm pacific time. We will mail you the Facilitator Training manual so you will have it to follow along with in the class. There will be plenty of time for questions along with the didactic material. Programs will be held on Zoom and you will be sent the link to join once you register.

The goal of Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Training is to prepare people to introduce others to the labyrinth in an articulate, professional and effective way.The training addresses meditative walking in a variety of settings, with a variety of different populations. It is focused primarily on the Eleven Circuit Medieval Labyrinth but is inclusive of all forms.

Walking the labyrinth is being embraced as a spiritual practice throughout the Western world mostly because of Veriditas trained facilitators. The Veriditas Facilitator Training -- which began in 1997 -- remains the most rigorous and comprehensive training offered. 

How to know if Facilitator Training is right for you?

• Want to deepen your own labyrinth practice?
• Want the tools and guidance that will enable you to bring the labyrinth to your community?
• Want to connect with a supportive community of Labyrinth Facilitators around the world?
• Find yourself heading up a labyrinth program at your church, school, hospital, college etc. and need broad training and/or specific answers?
• Considering offering labyrinth walking as part of your healing, counseling, yoga or  coaching business and are curious about the business considerations involved?
• Love the labyrinth and want to offer workshops of your own? Consider completing Facilitator Training on the path to becoming Certified, Advance Trained and Accredited. Our Veriditas Accredited Presenters are now offering some of our qualifying workshops.

We encourage you to join us! 

Please note: prior attendance at a Veriditas qualifying workshop is required. The online workshop prior to this training considered a qualifying workshop.

Learn more about becoming a Veriditas Trained Facilitator.

Payment plans are available - please select that option when you register.

The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress

The Women's Dream Quest is transforming into a Daylong Gathering of the Women at the Dance Palace in Pt Reyes Station, West Marin, California.  After our long residency at Grace Cathedral, this new format allows us to continue our rituals, labyrinth walking, songs, meditations  and sharing circles in a new, beautiful location.  We will meet from 10-5 on Saturday November 7, 2026  and sing and dance and dream as we have for the past 39 years.  Our dedicated team of small group leaders, musicians and artisans will be on hand as we continue our Tradition. 

Pt. Reyes is about hour from San Francisco, Sonoma County and the East Bay.  It offers many places to stay for those who would like to make a weekend of it.  

Our theme this year is Dreaming Our Gathering-- a celebration of our circle of Women as well as the circles of Ancestors and circles of all the beings we share our planet with.  Just after Samhain as the days grow short, we will celebrate our belonging.  

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 39 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. and Hamah's Quest. More information on Circleway.com.  

Like a labyrinth, the river traces a long, winding path from source to sea. The twists and turns slow its pace, allowing more time and space for absorption. Nature’s wisdom is woven into this organic design and replicated in the labyrinth. For thousands of years people have designed, drawn, and walked labyrinths to reflect and reconsider their own life journey. The labyrinth was born from the meander—a pattern that takes its name from an ancient river. The mystery of the meander forces us out of linear thinking and our rational mind allowing us to get lost in the present moment and tap into timelessness and innate wisdom.

Join Labyrinth Designer and Facilitator Lars Howlett for this online workshop reflecting on the journey through life as a meandering river from the headwaters (birth) to the sea (death). Learn about the history and design of labyrinths and return to your source through guided handheld labyrinth experiences. Reflect on the twists and turns of your life and how to embrace the magic and mystery of the meander. 

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 Veriditas Faculty Lars Howlett and Accredited Presenter Mary Ann Wamhoff to learn about labyrinths, experience a group walk, and explore how cosmology is meaningful in our lives today. Lars and Mary Ann will share applications and approaches for the labyrinth journey including their stories and provide opportunities for reflection and optional sharing. Lars will discuss how labyrinth designs reflect a personal cosmology and help us discover our role in the unfolding universe (no small feat!). Mary Ann will share the four-fold path of Creation Spirituality and The Work That Reconnects by Joanna Macy. Discover how we can align ourselves with universal principles as earthlings. This also serves as a Qualifying Workshop for the Labyrinth Facilitator Training that takes places over the weekend.

Arrive as early as noon for a BYO picnic before we start. A vegetarian chili is included at the end of the workshop. That evening a free, public labyrinth walk will be offered from 7-8:00pm.

For onsite accommodations visit the Mountain Light Retreat website.
and email: info@mountainlightretreatva.com

“We must feel that we are supported by that same process that brought the Earth into being, that power that spun the galaxies into space, that lit the sun and brought the moon into its orbit. […] Those same forces are still present; indeed, we might feel their impact at this time and understand that we are not isolated in the chill of space with the burden of the future upon us and without the aid of any other power.” 

-- Thomas Berry, “The Dynamics of the Future,” in The Great Work, 174

Lars Howlett

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. www.DiscoverLabyrinths.com

Mary Ann Wamhoff

After training with Lauren Artress in Chartres, Mary Ann became a Veriditas Advanced Accredited Labyrinth Facilitator. She has walked labyrinths since at least 1995, has studied with Caroline Myss, Andrew Harvey, Mirabai Starr, and Matt Fox among others, and is a Reiki Master. She regularly facilitated public walks sponsored by the Labyrinth Resource Group of Santa Fe, and spearheaded and helped build a 48-foot Chartres-style labyrinth. She is presently introducing her new Virginian community to the joys of labyrinth walking! As a Veriditas Council member, she supports facilitators in listening to what people need and is excited about being part of the Veriditas Inclusion Initiative. Coming from a tradition that believes in the unseen, she has both felt and seen the labyrinth's amazing power! 

The goal of Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Training is to prepare people to introduce others to the labyrinth in an articulate, professional and effective way. The training addresses meditative walking in a variety of settings, with a variety of different populations. It is focused primarily on the Eleven Circuit Medieval Labyrinth but is inclusive of all forms.

Walking the labyrinth is being embraced as a spiritual practice throughout the Western world mostly because of Veriditas trained facilitators. The Veriditas Facilitator Training -- which began in 1997 -- remains the most rigorous and comprehensive training offered. 

How to know if Facilitator Training is right for you?

• Want to deepen your own labyrinth practice?
• Want the tools and guidance that will enable you to bring the labyrinth to your community?
• Want to connect with a supportive community of Labyrinth Facilitators around the world?
• Find yourself heading up a labyrinth program at your church, school, hospital, college etc. and need broad training and/or specific answers?
• Considering offering labyrinth walking as part of your healing, counseling, yoga or  coaching business and are curious about the business considerations involved?
• Love the labyrinth and want to offer workshops of your own? Consider completing Facilitator Training on the path to becoming Certified, Advance Trained and Accredited. Our Veriditas Accredited Presenters are now offering some of our qualifying workshops.

We encourage you to join us! 

Please note: prior attendance at a Veriditas qualifying workshop online or in-person is required. The workshop prior to this training considered a qualifying workshop.

Learn more about becoming a Veriditas Trained Facilitator.

Payment plans are available - please select that option when you register.

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. 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 Facilitator trained by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress at Grace and ChartresCathedrals. Visit http://www.DiscoverLabyrinths.com

Mary Ann Wamhoff

After training with Lauren Artress in Chartres, Mary Ann became a Veriditas Advanced Accredited Labyrinth Facilitator. She has walked labyrinths since at least 1995, has studied with Caroline Myss, Andrew Harvey, Mirabai Starr, and Matt Fox among others, and is a Reiki Master. She regularly facilitated public walks sponsored by the Labyrinth Resource Group of Santa Fe, and spearheaded and helped build a 48-foot Chartres-style labyrinth. She is presently introducing her new Virginian community to the joys of labyrinth walking! As a Veriditas Council member, she supports facilitators in listening to what people need and is excited about being part of the Veriditas Inclusion Initiative. Coming from a tradition that believes in the unseen, she has both felt and seen the labyrinth's amazing power! 

Join Us for a Panel Discussion and Labyrinth Facilitator Meet-Up!

Are you a labyrinth facilitator looking to broaden your work with the labyrinth and introduce it to new communities? We warmly invite you to our upcoming Widening the Welcome Panel and Facilitator Meet-Up — a space to gather, reflect, and be inspired together.

️Tentative Date: Saturday, January 9th, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PDT Online via Zoom

This gathering is hosted by the Veriditas Inclusion Initiative in partnership with the Veriditas Council and is designed by facilitators, for facilitators — a chance to step away from the doing and simply be in community with others who share your passion for the labyrinth.

Our panelists and topics will be confirmed soon.

Whether you are newly stepping into facilitation or have been tending labyrinths for years, you belong here. Come as you are. Bring your questions, your wisdom, and your stories.

All are welcome. Please note this is a free event. The panel discussion will be recorded and emailed to all registered participants, but the break-out groups will not be included. If you are unable to attend live, feel free to register to receive the recording and resources.

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 3.5 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 certified, 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, January 25th through Friday January 29th, from 9 AM to 12:30 PM Pacific time each day with moderate breaks.

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. 

On the wild edge of Ireland, where sea, sky, and ancient land meet in quiet conversation, lies a stone labyrinth overlooking Clew Bay. Here, walking becomes a form of prayer, and photography becomes a way of listening. This retreat invites you into a creative pilgrimage where each step and each image becomes an opening into deeper presence, wonder, and soul.

Imagine…

Slowing down into the rhythm of the tides.

Letting the Irish landscape stir your senses.

Walking the labyrinth with a question, an intention, or a longing.

And allowing your camera to reveal what your heart is already noticing.

Photography, like the labyrinth, is a contemplative pathway. One offers a physical journey into the center; the other offers a visual journey into the essence of what calls to you. Together, they awaken a way of seeing that is spacious, intuitive, symbolic, and deeply personal.

More information on Catherine's website: https://www.creativepilgrimage.com/live-events/2027/5/essenceofmulranny

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