This workshop is a unique storytelling event that promises to take you on a journey deep into the river bottom of your soul. The featured story, titled "The Nubian Woman," is a powerful tale of anguish and betrayal. Through her struggles, she embarks on a journey to the wound inside, ultimately leading to transformation and healing. Come join us and be transported to that liminal space inside where your soul is transformed through the power of storytelling.

We will use the Labyrinth to weave our way through the many lessons by traveling through the circuits to meet the old oozing hag at the river bottom, lick her wounds, receive our ancestral necklace, and return to the world with our radiant and happy soul. The Labyrinth provides us with safety, guidance, and courage as we do the hard work to heal our inner wounds. As a qualifying workshop, you will discover how to use the Labyrinth as a valuable tool for inner healing, receiving guidance, and quieting the fear within. 

The Virtual Facilitator Training, led by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, will be held online Monday through Friday each morning from 9:00 am - 12:30 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

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.

Prior to, or during, the workshop you are invited to create a life map using the On Being River of Life exercise. This workshop is a Veriditas Qualifying Workshop for those wishing to complete the Facilitator Training online or in-person and can also be taken for independent study.

Bio: Lars Howlett is a professional Labyrinth Designer, Master Builder, and Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator. He is a member of the Veriditas Faculty and part-time staff member based in the Washington DC Area. After twenty years of living in relationship to the Pacific Ocean he now finds himself living next to Rock Creek and the Potomac River. He is fascinated with sacred geometry and natural patterns through which he discovered labyrinths. He created and walked a labyrinth for healing which led to mentorships by Lauren Artress and Robert Ferré, leaders of the modern Labyrinth Revival. In 2015 he launched Discover Labyrinths LLC to design custom labyrinths he creates by hand for schools, hospitals, public parks, churches, retreat centers, and backyards. Learn more about his work at www.DiscoverLabyrinths.com

Rob Hodges will join us as our special guest musician.

The Virtual Facilitator Training, led by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, will be held online Tuesday through Saturday 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

FOR CERTIFIED FACILITATORS ONLY.

9:00 am to 12:30 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.  

SAVE THE DATE! More information coming soon!

Click here to register for the 9 AM Pacific / 12 noon Eastern Session.

If you are interested in becoming a labyrinth facilitator or simply learning more about the labyrinth, this Qualifying Workshop is for you. In addition to its basic components, we will cover best practices for walking the labyrinth and an excellent video introducing the labyrinth as a walking meditation (narrated by Veriditas founder, Lauren Artress). Woven throughout the workshop will be numerous easily applicable journaling methods to help you deepen and transform your own labyrinth practice. Join us!

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. 

The Virtual Facilitator Training, led by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, will be held online Monday through Friday each morning from 9:00 am - 12:30 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 wild west coast of Ireland provides a perfect background for this week-long exploration of our inner landscape using SoulCollage® as creative expression and the labyrinth to ground, integrate and deepen our experiences. Our retreat home for the week, Essence of Mulranny, overlooks magnificent Clew Bay and Ireland’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick.

More information on Catherine's website

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

Join Jill Geoffrion as she unveils the celebrated and hidden treasures of the Chartres Cathedral and its labyrinth during an eye-opening and heart-expanding week of pilgrimage. Through visual presentations, embodied explorations, and labyrinth-inspired pilgrim rituals, you will have opportunities to come to know the Cathedral and the Chartres labyrinth deeply in its context. As you study and contemplate the stained-glass windows, sculpture, architecture, and history of the Chartres Cathedral you will understand--with both your mind and body--that the labyrinth on the floor is part of a huge conversation, which involves beauty, mystery, depth, and wonder. Learn on-site how the Cathedral’s stained-glass relates to the labyrinth and enjoy discovering images that can inspire you as you walk its path.* Come listen as the echoes of the past resonate with your inner explorations. 

Jill’s goal is to fill the treasure chest in your heart to overflowing with the wonders of the Chartres Cathedral and its labyrinth. Expect to return home from your pilgrimage with many memories and experiences to integrate further into your own life and to share with others.

*To fully benefit, please bring a good pair of binoculars.  

The Rev. Jill K. H. Geoffrion, Ph.D. D.D.

The beauty of the Chartres Cathedral inspires Jill to use her gifts and training in service of all those seeking to experience deep and transformative Divine Love through this medieval building, its labyrinth, and its imagery. Whether on-site or on-line, Rev. Jill Kimberly Hartwell Geoffrion, PhD, DD combines stunning

images and historical research to create contemplative prayer experiences. Jill has authored several books and many articles on Chartres, including Visions of Mary: Art, Devotion, and Beauty at Chartres Cathedral, Praying the Chartres Labyrinth and Praying the Labyrinth.

See JillGeoffrion.com to learn more about Jill’s ministries on four continents where she often serves in places of acute suffering. Follow links to her art-based prayer blogs and sites on labyrinth prayer and the Chartres Cathedral. Her professional photography graces each page.

The Chartres Experience

What better place to feel nurtured than the sacred space of Chartres Cathedral? We begin with a reception to meet each other followed by an opening ritual and orientation to the program. Then each day, there is a morning seminar, a small processing group, and an experience of what Chartres has to offer. On Tuesday afternoon, there is a tour of Chartres Cathedral. Then, on Wednesday, there is an orientation to the labyrinth followed by a once in a life-time candlelit labyrinth walk with medieval music on the Chartres Labyrinth.  Thursday afternoon is a tour of the Crypt , and a closing celebratory reception and dinner are on Friday.

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.

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 practicethroughout 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.

Accommodation:

You will receive a link to book your accommodation at the Hotellerie St. Yves once your registration has been completed.

FOR CERTIFIED FACILITATORS ONLY.

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.  

Led by Judith Tripp, MA, MFT, a member of the Veriditas Faculty, a transpersonal psychotherapist, leader of Women's Dream Quest, and teacher.  She leads pilgrimages and retreats in the US, Europe and Australia.  She is also an author, a musician and singer.

Anyone who comes to Chartres whether it be to visit the labyrinth, to explore the magnificent medieval architecture or to meditate in the glory of this always sacred site, soon realizes that this holy place is an homage to Mary. The Sacred Feminine is alive and well in Chartres and has been throughout history.

We will create a sacred circle to explore how Mary has been honored in Chartres throughout history. We will meet her spirit through lecture, meditation, art, music and ritual. We will share insights, creations and stories. Includes one special evening labyrinth walk in Chartres Cathedral. 

This can be a stand-alone workshop or a perfect pairing with to Cycle One of Walking A Sacred Path. No meals are included.

Lean back and look at the beauty of the night sky,

lean forward and gaze at the sublime vision of a medieval cathedral,

lean in and walk labyrinth.

You are no longer the same person.

The Universe is thrumming with energy, mystery, and beauty. These qualities are marvelous gifts from Creation, but as the mystics and poets tell us, we must actively participate with joy amid the sorrows of the world. When we embrace courage, we begin a pilgrimage toward “the task of tasks that help us move from being destructive to creative presences on our struggling planet.” We are co-creating a New Story.

In our workshop we will explore this glorious New Story, bringing a convergence of science, spirituality, and the arts under the rubric of Cosmogenesis.

For cosmologist Brian Swimme, Cosmogenesis is the realization Creation didn’t happen only out there, billions of years ago—but is happening in here and now and is revealed in the development of our own imaginations. His work reflects a wild faith in the intelligence of the universe that “knew” from the very beginning that life was coming on a spiritual quest.

For mythologist Phil Cousineau, the New Story is a Numinous Narrative reflecting our desire to create art, a recognition of the alluring power of beauty, in the classical Greek sense, and personified as Aphrodite or Venus.

What better place to delve into these mysteries than the great pilgrimage center of Chartres! Our week features presentations by Swimme and Cousineau including storytelling, poetry, film clips, creative exercises and ample time for conversation.
A Vocal artist will lead a daily call-and-response as well as an evening of music around the St Yves Labyrinth.

Our time together will be highlighted by an evening of star gazing along the Eure River with Brian, and an afternoon of sauntering with Phil around the medieval streets in the spirit of notitia—the practice of noticing everyday beauty with the eyes of the soul. Each activity is designed to renew your own sense of awe and wonder about the universe and to aid you in creating your own New Story which reflects the twists and turns of your life pilgrimage. Please join us.

The Chartres Experience

What better place to feel nurtured than the sacred space of Chartres Cathedral? We begin with a reception to meet each other followed by an opening ritual and orientation to the program. Then each day, there is a morning seminar, a small processing group, and an experience of what Chartres has to offer. On Tuesday afternoon, there is a tour of Chartres Cathedral. Then, on Wednesday, there is an orientation to the labyrinth followed by a once in a life-time candlelit labyrinth walk with medieval music on the Chartres Labyrinth.  Thursday afternoon is a tour of the Crypt , and a closing celebratory reception and dinner are on Friday.

Recommended Reading/Viewing:

• The Art of Pilgrimage, Phil Cousineau, Conari Press, 1998, revised 2022.
• Who Stole the Arms of the Venus de Milo? Phil Cousineau, Sisyphus Press, 2023.
• Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe. Brian Thomas Swimme, Counterpoint, 2022.
• The New Ecozoic Reader: Reflections on Brian Thomas Swimme. The Center for Ecozoic Studies, 2023.
• Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice. Lauren Artress. Riverhead Books, revised and updated, 2006.
• GLOBAL SPIRIT with Pico Iyer
  
• TED X Talk on Mentorship and Following Your Passion
  
• On Pilgrimage for Banyan Books, Seattle, WA
  
• Conversation between Lauren Artress and Phil Cousineau

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.

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 practicethroughout 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.

Accommodation:

You will receive a link to book your accommodation at the Hotellerie St. Yves once your registration has been completed.