An online retreat of reflection, creativity, and connection, with Laura Esculcas.
*Winter Edition*

Whether you’re walking a labyrinth, traveling on pilgrimage, or navigating the inner terrain of soul-work, every journey brings with it unexpected gifts. In this creative, contemplative workshop, you’ll craft your own set of Pilgrimage Wisdom Cards—small, meaningful reflections made by hand and heart.

Through the art of collage and guided reflection, you’ll create 3–4 (or more) cards to inspire your personal practice. These cards can accompany you on pilgrimage, serve as daily meditations, be used before or after labyrinth walks, or become blessings to offer fellow travelers.

Together, we’ll explore the themes and rhythms of pilgrimage—including the three R’s of the labyrinth path: Release, Receive, and Return. The workshop includes:

• A handheld labyrinth meditation
• Group and small-group reflection
• Inspiration and prompts for card creation
• Instruction and time for hands-on collage
• A curated packet of NEW collage materials (mailed in advance*)
• You'll leave with a set of one-of-a-kind cards to carry forward—reminders of your own wisdom, creativity, and unfolding journey.

✨ Come with open hands and a curious heart. Let the path reveal its gifts. ✨

*Please register early to receive your art packet before the workshop. Serves as a qualifying workshop for those going on to attend Facilitator Training.

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.

In this workshop, we will discover the universal patterns and symbolism woven into the design and experience of the labyrinth. We'll explore this ancient archetype as a map, mirror, and mandala for exploring the metaphors of life. The labyrinth can help us better understand our individual and collective journey as we return to our center and orient ourselves with the universe. Together, we will reflect on our orientation, perspectives, and connection with the cosmos, using the labyrinth to behold our personal cosmology.  Through making, tracing, and walking labyrinths, we can find our role in the evolving universe. 

This class is for people new to the labyrinth or seasoned enthusiasts wishing to deepen their practice. It is a qualifying workshop for those wishing to take the labyrinth facilitator training with Lars and Laura Esculcas that continues the next week. For more information see: https://www.Veriditas.org/FT

“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.

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, January 26th through Friday January 30th, 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. 

FOR CERTIFIED FACILITATORS ONLY.

2:00 pm to 5:30 pm each day Pacific time – 5 sessions of 3.5 hours each. Must be present for all sessions. Held on Zoom platform.

Our Advanced Facilitator Training is a leadership and skill-building workshop for Veriditas Facilitators with at least two years of experience facilitating labyrinth activities. Open only to those Veriditas trained facilitators who have been certified (or have turned in an application to be certified). You will receive the latest Facilitator Training Manual.  After training, you will be eligible to apply for accreditation to hold Veriditas qualifying workshops. 

This is a 15 hour intensive virtual training that covers:

The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress

Lauren is author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice, The Sand Labyrinth Kit and The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform (Putnam/Riverhead Books, New York). She is the Founder of Veriditas and an Honorary Canon of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  She travels worldwide offering workshops and lectures on the labyrinth including a twice a year program in Chartres, France. In addition to being an Episcopal priest, she is a spiritual director and licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California.

Assisted by Dr. Dawn Matheny

Executive Director of Veriditas

Dawn became Veriditas’ Executive Director in 2007.  She has her PhD in East West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, 23 years of experience in a public sector Human Resource Department, and many years of experience working in a non-profit organization.  She has taught on the graduate level and amassed many years of designing and assisting with Veriditas programs around the world.  

Join Lars Howlett of Veriditas and Carmel Stabley of TLS to get ideas and inspiration for World Labyrinth Day (WLD) on May 2nd, 2026. Learn how to create a temporary labyrinth and host a walk in your area. Receive new planning materials including videos on facilitating for the sight-impaired, an event planning timeline, a land acknowledgement and more. Consider how to work with volunteers, themes, and music or art to deepen the experience and broaden your audience. Discover how other organizations and groups are supporting WLD. See how to partner with others to create accessible, meaningful events for people from all walks of life and celebrate World Labyrinth Day— a moment in time set aside for peaceful intention and planetary healing. 

Free to the public with two convenient times to choose from: 12 noon & 6 p.m. ET.

Please use the registration button to register for either time - you will receive join links for both times in your confirmation email.

“Listening to the divine voice within you"

What nurturing does your soul need? This workshop is an invitation to take intentional time out of the routine of your daily life, a sacred pause, for rest and renewal with time for listening with an open heart to the inner wisdom of your soul’s yearnings.

Together, we will engage in the intuitive spiritual practices of the Labyrinth and Soul Collage® with time for reflection both individually, in small groups and collectively.

The workshop includes:

• A handheld labyrinth meditation

• Time for reflection

• Labyrinth writing exercise

• Collage and creativity

Serves as a qualifying workshop for those going on to take Facilitator Training.

Sharry Nyberg:  is Co-Founder of Glide into Grace Retreats. She is passionate about sharing the labyrinth with others, training with the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress in San Francisco in 2002 and becoming a Veriditas certified Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator in 2019.  She is a trained SoulCollage® Facilitator and a creator of art. She retired after serving the United Church of Christ for over 21 years and continues to lead retreats, workshops and creative opportunities, as a spiritual companion on the journey, holding sacred space for others to experience and engage in rituals and practices noticing moments of sacred-nicity.

Join us for an enriching experience of presence using the mindfulness practices of labyrinth meditation and nature therapy amidst the stunning fall landscape at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, North Carolina. This one day workshop extends a warm invitation to all to slow down and unplug in order to re-connect. Learn about the labyrinth while also exploring the impact of being in right relationship with nature through the principle of reciprocity through the practice of giving back to nature in gratitude for what it provides.

This experience is open to all, whether you are brand new to the labyrinth or have walked many times. Come as you are. The path is waiting.

This in-person event is a Veriditas Approved Qualifying Workshop for attending a Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Training.

Registration Workshop fee $75
To register please complete this form, or call Christine at 802-782-4494.

Sunday night lodging for Qualifying Workshop

Christine Wiles

Christine Wiles brings a wealth of experience and a passion for holistic well-being to her role as a Veriditas board member and accredited workshop presenter. With a successful 25+ year career in Human Resources spanning diverse industries, Christine has seamlessly transitioned her leadership skills into the healing arts. She is a licensed Reflexologist and the Co-owner of InnateCreations, a family business that highlights the creative synergy of Christine and her husband, Nathan, through labyrinth building, workshops, nature crafting and wellness programs.

Christine’s journey in labyrinth work has been deeply transformative since walking her first labyrinth in 2014. Trained under the esteemed Dr. Lauren Artress and other Veriditas luminaries, she is an Advanced Accredited Labyrinth Facilitator and workshop leader. Her expertise extends beyond labyrinth facilitation, including certifications as a Reflexologist, SoulCollage® Facilitator, and Nature Therapy Guide accredited by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT).

With a curious and creative spirit guiding her, Christine finds fulfillment in leading wellness workshops, engaging in non-profit initiatives, and connecting with others on a journey toward holistic well-being. She embraces life’s adventures with enthusiasm and is eager to share her gifts in ways that inspire and empower others.

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! 

Housing for Qualifying Workshop and Facilitator Training

Please click here for accommodation for this training

Learn more about becoming a Veriditas Trained Facilitator.   

Betty (Elizabeth) Lopez Towey, Faculty

It was at Silver Bay on Lake George that Betty was first introduced to the labyrinth, an ancient walking meditation tool found in cultures around the world. This profound experience led to a deepening interest which soon became a passion. She was trained as a labyrinth facilitator by Lauren Artress in 2001 and has helped to build the outdoor labyrinth at Silver Bay Conference Center on Lake George, has painted canvas labyrinths with various communities and has carried her own painted canvas labyrinth into New York City Schools, Colleges, Medical Schools, Churches and Synagogues. She has continued her study of the labyrinth with Lauren Artress at Chartres Cathedral, the site of the original eleven circuit labyrinth and is now an Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator and member of the Veriditas Faculty.

Betty got started in education through an interest in finding the best school for her children in New York City. After her active engagement in their school, the then founder/director and Mac Arther Award winner Debra Meier asked Betty to join the staff. Betty's passion for supporting children and their families and working with staff led to her becoming a teacher, winning the 1995 Bank Street College, "Teacher of the Year Award". After 20 years of teaching and out of the classroom support roles, Betty was inspired to pursue an administrative position through her own experience on the labyrinth, which led to her starting a New York City Public School.

As the principal and founder, an important part of building this new progressive public school was to support adults and children in mind, body and spirit by incorporating the labyrinth in its development. Educators, Administrators and School Support Teams who attended these labyrinth walks came to know how valuable and effective the labyrinth is for our own personal and spiritual growth and as an effective ongoing practice within schools. Frequent Labyrinth walks can assist our schools in creating wonderfully deep and solid learning communities, that assist us in all of the many ways of supporting and working with children, parents and staff. It is an exciting time to consider how to inspire, support and grow schools that work in the important area of spiritual growth, as part of teaching and nourishing the whole child. Betty looks forward to offering Qualifying Workshops as she leads educators and members of varied communities into a deeper experience of being with one another through the use of the labyrinth.

As a life long seeker, Betty is also an active member of the diverse and inclusive Spiritual Life Team at Silver Bay Conference Center on Lake George in New York. She is a trained Spiritual Advisor and Reiki Master and is responsible for the Labyrinth programs, which are offered to conferences and retreats, including large and small groups of ministers, educators, business organizations and those seeking respite here at Silver Bay.

As a Veriditas Faculty member, Betty also designs and offers Qualifying Workshops and Labyrinth Facilitator Training.

www.wisdomjourney.net
[email protected]
LLC Wisdom Journey

Nathan Wiles, Faculty

Nathan Wiles is a professional in the field of labyrinth education, building, and design. With a background as an Interior Designer and Project Manager, Nathan draws upon his extensive skills and experience to create labyrinth builds and facilitate workshops.

With a career spanning over 30 years in building and designing, Nathan has honed his expertise specifically in labyrinth design and construction for over 15 years. Through his understanding of the labyrinth, he possesses the ability to tap into the collective consciousness of individuals and groups, bringing their visions to life.

Nathan's passion lies in unraveling the mysteries that surround us in today's diverse world, while maintaining both a secular and non-secular approach. He aims to expand the labyrinth community by collaborating with public schools, corporations, churches, and wellness facilities to foster education and raise awareness about the labyrinth's benefits.

Journey on, Heroine!

Over the course of many years, Judith and Ruth have collaborated on chants that express the arc of the spiritual life from pilgrimage to meditation to encouragement to be the hero/heroine of our life's story.

We will learn these chants together and unpack their messages during handheld labyrinth walks, writing practice and circle sharing. 

Join us to see what awaits us as we breathe and chant our way into the depths of our experience.

Judith Tripp, MA, MFT has created a body of work, which she calls Circleway which encompasses her passions for individual healing work through psychotherapy and spiritual counseling, the Women’s Dream Quest, Pilgrimages to Avalon, retreats and workshops all over the world as well as flute and vocal recordings.  Her book, Circleway, The Story of the Women’s Dream Quest, chronicles 25 years of her work with the Dream Quest. Trained in Transpersonal Psychology, Judith is a licensed  Marriage and Family Therapist. She began her work with the Women’s Dream Quest in 1987 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Today she leads Dream Quests all over the world.  She has been involved with Veriditas since its inception and trained as a labyrinth facilitator in 1996. She began her work at Chartres and her Avalon pilgrimages in 2000. Judith's produced musical offerings Homage, Return Again, and To Bless the Walk. Integrating a healthy psychology with a robust spiritual practice is a mainstay of Judith’s life and work. Well versed and practiced in diverse spiritual traditions, Judith is equally at home in a Cathedral, a Yoga Ashram, a Buddhist Meditation retreat, and the temple of Nature. She loves to chant and dance, meditate and pray.

Click here for Judith's Speaker's Packet
http://www.circleway.com/

Ruth Cunningham is a founding member Anonymous 4 and a sound healing practitioner. She specializes in early music performance as well as improvisational sacred music from varied spiritual traditions in both liturgical and concert settings. She works with individuals and groups on using the voice and music as tools for healing.  With Anonymous 4, Ruth performed in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East and made thirteen recordings.  Ruth’s own CD releases are Light and Shadow: Chants, Prayers and Improvisations and Harpmodes: Journey for Voice and Harp. She has released two CDs of multi faith chants with colleague Ana Hernandez: Blessed by Light and  HARC: Inside Chants. She was the musician for a number of summer courses for Ubiquity University in Chartres France. She has also performed and recorded renaissance music with Pomerium and has worked in a number of professional church choirs in New York City. 

www.ruthcunningham.com 
http://www.youtube.com/ruthreid

“Awakening the universe that dreams through us”

The universe is a dance of creativity, and each of us moves as a vital part of its rhythm. In this time of unraveling and renewal, imagination becomes sacred ground — the meeting place of soul and cosmos.

Join us for a journey into the living conversation between creativity and spirit, where uncertainty itself becomes the threshold to transformation.

Inspired by Brian Swimme’s vision of a universe alive with allurement, creativity, and communion, and by Diarmuid O’Murchu’s vision of a living cosmos ever birthing itself into being, we will explore imagination as the deep pulse of our becoming — a wellspring of resilience, wonder, and hope.  

Through shared dialogue, small-group reflection, daily SoulCollage® practice, and a private labyrinth walk in the luminous space of Chartres Cathedral - a place where human creativity and cosmic radiance meet - we will explore creativity as the universe expressing itself through us. Surrounded by centuries of devotion and light, we remember our original vocation: to say yes to the Great Work of co-creation — shaping a more conscious, compassionate, and vibrant world.

SoulCollage® is an intuitive collage process which connects you to your inner wisdom and a deeper understanding of your place in the cosmos. You do not need any prior experience in making SoulCollaeg® cards. All supplies and a generous supply of evocative images will be provided. Each participant will also receive their own book filled with images created specially for this retreat.

This is an invitation to honor the sacred impulses that seek expression through you, to follow their threads of allurement, and to live as a co-creator in the ever-evolving story of creation. 

Come. Join us in an ancient place of refuge and renewal.

The Chartres Experience

From June 8-12, 2026, the Veriditas pilgrimage to Chartres, France, offers a blend of spiritual practice, historical exploration, and personal reflection. Program registration begins at the Hotelliere St. Yves in Chartres, France at 4:00 pm on Monday, followed by an orientation and opening reception. Each day begins with a seminar followed by a large group conversation, and leader led small group discussions. Participants will experience the sacred space of Chartres through a tour of the cathedral, as well as an unforgettable private candlelit labyrinth walk with medieval music. Participants will also have an opportunity to walk with the public, allowing time for reflection, connection, and community. The program concludes with a celebratory dinner on Friday evening that ends by 10 pm. You may want to plan to arrive a day prior to the start of the program to give yourself time to recover from jet lag, and we recommend planning to depart on the Saturday after the program concludes.

Catherine Anderson

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 uncovering 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, Meeting Your Soul on the Labyrinth: SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth as Pathways for Transformation, and Tracing the Labyrinth Path, a book of finger labyrinths to use as a daily practice.

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 as contemplative practice is another creative passion for Catherine and her book The Creative Photographer won a Silver Nautilus Award in the Creative Process Category in 2012. Her book Contemplative Photography Retreat: Deepen Your Connection to the Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water is a self-guided retreat in nature with your camera.

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 pilgrimages to South Africa, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Scotland.

www.CreativePilgrimage.com

The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress

The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress is Canon Emerita of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice; The Sacred Path Companion: How to Use the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform; and The Path of the Holy Fool: How the Labyrinth Ignites our Visionary Powers. Her first book Walking a Sacred Path was instrumental in launching what the New York Times named The Labyrinth Movement in May, 1998. She founded the non-profit, Veriditas, the World-Wide Labyrinth Project, in 1996 to “pepper the planet with labyrinths.” With over 6,000 labyrinth sites in the U.S. alone, her nonprofit work embraces the vision to activate and transform the human spirit through the labyrinth experience. Lauren received the Gandhi, King, and Ikeda Peace Award for her work in bringing people together in creative, peace-giving ways. In 2021 she received the Extraordinary Visionary Leader award from Women Creating our Futures. She is on the Editorial Board of Presence Magazine, a publication of Spiritual Directors International. Lauren is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California.

Logistical Information

Travel to and from Chartres: We look forward to welcoming you in Chartres!  Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to and from Chartres. Most airline flights will arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France.  You have a variety of options on getting to Chartres from CDG Airport.

• • Consider taking an UBER to Chartres. It has proven to be a convenient and cost effective option.
  • The most economical way is to take a taxi to the Montparnasse Train Station and take a train to Chartres.  Chartres is about an hour outside of Paris by train.  For train information, please see the SNCF website.
  • You can make a reservation online for a car or small van to meet you at the airport and drive you to Chartres. 
• • You can also consider the option of taking a taxi all the way to Chartres, though the cost will be in the range of 150 – 200 Euro or more.  If several participants arrive at the same time, sharing a taxi will bring the price down.

We will be creating an online Circle group for participants to be able to connect with each other prior to the start of the Pilgrimage in case you want to plan to share accommodations or transportation to Chartres. An invitation to join the group will be included in your confirmation email when you register.

Accommodation: Veriditas has a very small block of rooms reserved at the Hotellerie St. Yves for each week that we will be in Chartres in 2025. You will receive a link to book your room after you register for a Pilgrimage.  Most participants find the rooms comfortable and convenient. Each has a small bathroom with a shower. Bedding and towels are provided, but you will need to bring a hairdryer. You may also choose to use booking.com to locate accommodation near to the Hotellerie St. Yves where the program is held.

Meals: Chartres is a charming, medieval village with many options for eating out from casual fare such as omelettes and soup to fancier formal restaurants. There is also a grocery store in walking distance that sells sandwiches and snacks. Breakfast is included in the cost of your accommodation if you book through our block of rooms at the Hotellerie St. Yves. You are responsible for your own lunches and dinners throughout the week.

Spouse packages (partner/family/friends) are available if they want to come but not participate in the full program. Includes opening reception, closing dinner and cathedral tour. Simply select spouse package when you register.

Cancellation Policy: We understand that life happens! When things don’t go as you planned, Veriditas has policies in place so that you always know what to expect should you have to cancel an event. Please read our updated cancellation policy here.

Travel Insurance: Veriditas strongly recommends purchasing travel insurance to cover your expenses in the event of an unforeseen circumstance that may hinder your ability to attend the program. . Click here for a link to Travel Guard, specializing in insurance for our Chartres programs. 

For additional information on our Walking a Sacred Path Pilgrimages, please click here.

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 Pilgrimage prior to this training in Chartres is considered a qualifying workshop.

Learn more about becoming a Veriditas Trained Facilitator.

It is an astonishing time to be alive — an age of tremendous peril and magnificent callings. It is hard to take in the generative possibilities of our time, and rise to our highest humanity, amidst the overwhelm of rupture. Yet the news that is, as we say, “breaking” is never seeing things whole. In this week, Krista Tippett will offer wisdom for tending the distress inside ourselves and those around — while embodying the world we want to inhabit as we go. Drawing on her quarter century of conversation with wise and graceful lives, she will offer ways of seeing and arts of living towards tangibly shifting our presence in the everyday and being of service to our larger crises and callings.

How to make sense of the gravity of being alive now?
How not to give in to overwhelm, and stay present to this world’s tenderness and its pain? How to muster a reasonable hope? How to anchor in what we love, and orient towards healing? How to walk forward if not together at least towards a shared future? How to discern what is my work to do?

We can train our imaginations and our lives towards what, amidst all that is breaking, wants to be born.

Come. Join us in an ancient place of refuge and renewal.

The Chartres Experience

From June 15-19, 2026, the Veriditas pilgrimage to Chartres, France, offers a blend of spiritual practice, historical exploration, and personal reflection. Program registration begins at the Hotelliere St. Yves in Chartres, France at 4:00 pm on Monday, followed by an orientation and opening reception. Each day begins with a seminar led by Krista Tippett, followed by a large group conversation with Krista and Lauren Artress, and leader led small group discussions. Participants will experience the sacred space of Chartres through a tour of the cathedral, as well as an unforgettable private candlelit labyrinth walk with medieval music. Participants will also have an opportunity to walk with the public, allowing time for reflection, connection, and community. The program concludes with a celebratory dinner on Friday evening that ends by 10 pm. You may want to plan to arrive a day prior to the start of the program to give yourself time to recover from jet lag, and we recommend planning to depart on the Saturday after the program concludes.

Krista Tippett

Krista Tippett is a Peabody-award winning broadcaster, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author. She created the groundbreaking public radio show and podcast On Being, which pursues deep thinking, moral imagination, social creativity, and joy towards the renewal of inner life, outer life, and life together. It has won the highest honors in broadcast, Internet and podcasting, and been downloaded over 450 million times. The On Being Project, which Krista founded in 2013, also engages “quiet conversations” to accompany the generative people and possibilities within this tender, tumultuous time to be alive. She received the National Humanities Medal at the White House in 2014 for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On air andin print, Ms. Tippettavoids easy answers, embracing complexity and inviting people of every background to join her conversation about faith, ethics, and moral wisdom."

Krista grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, attended Brown University, worked as a young journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin, and later received a Master of Divinity from Yale. She is the author of three books, most recently Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. 

The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress

The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress is Canon Emerita of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice; The Sacred Path Companion: How to Use the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform; and The Path of the Holy Fool: How the Labyrinth Ignites our Visionary Powers. Her first book Walking a Sacred Path was instrumental in launching what the New York Times named The Labyrinth Movement in May, 1998. She founded the non-profit, Veriditas, the World-Wide Labyrinth Project, in 1996 to “pepper the planet with labyrinths.” With over 6,000 labyrinth sites in the U.S. alone, her nonprofit work embraces the vision to activate and transform the human spirit through the labyrinth experience. Lauren received the Gandhi, King, and Ikeda Peace Award for her work in bringing people together in creative, peace-giving ways. In 2021 she received the Extraordinary Visionary Leader award from Women Creating our Futures. She is on the Editorial Board of Presence Magazine, a publication of Spiritual Directors International. Lauren is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California.

Logistical Information

Travel to and from Chartres: We look forward to welcoming you in Chartres!  Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to and from Chartres. Most airline flights will arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France.  You have a variety of options on getting to Chartres from CDG Airport.

• • Consider taking an UBER to Chartres. It has proven to be a convenient and cost effective option.
  • The most economical way is to take a taxi to the Montparnasse Train Station and take a train to Chartres.  Chartres is about an hour outside of Paris by train.  For train information, please see the SNCF website.
  • You can make a reservation online for a car or small van to meet you at the airport and drive you to Chartres. 
• • You can also consider the option of taking a taxi all the way to Chartres, though the cost will be in the range of 150 – 200 Euro or more.  If several participants arrive at the same time, sharing a taxi will bring the price down.

We will be creating an online Circle group for participants to be able to connect with each other prior to the start of the Pilgrimage in case you want to plan to share accommodations or transportation to Chartres. An invitation to join the group will be included in your confirmation email when you register.

Accommodation: Veriditas has a very small block of rooms reserved at the Hotellerie St. Yves for each week that we will be in Chartres in 2025. You will receive a link to book your room after you register for a Pilgrimage.  Most participants find the rooms comfortable and convenient. Each has a small bathroom with a shower. Bedding and towels are provided, but you will need to bring a hairdryer. You may also choose to use booking.com to locate accommodation near to the Hotellerie St. Yves where the program is held.

Meals: Chartres is a charming, medieval village with many options for eating out from casual fare such as omelettes and soup to fancier formal restaurants. There is also a grocery store in walking distance that sells sandwiches and snacks. Breakfast is included in the cost of your accommodation if you book through our block of rooms at the Hotellerie St. Yves. You are responsible for your own lunches and dinners throughout the week.

Spouse packages (partner/family/friends) are available if they want to come but not participate in the full program. Includes opening reception, closing dinner and cathedral tour. Simply select spouse package when you register.

Cancellation Policy: We understand that life happens! When things don’t go as you planned, Veriditas has policies in place so that you always know what to expect should you have to cancel an event. Please read our updated cancellation policy here.

Travel Insurance: Veriditas strongly recommends purchasing travel insurance to cover your expenses in the event of an unforeseen circumstance that may hinder your ability to attend the program. . Click here for a link to Travel Guard, specializing in insurance for our Chartres programs. 

For additional information on our Walking a Sacred Path Pilgrimages, please click here.