The creation of a labyrinth begins at its center, where a point of inception is chosen, grounding the design in time and space. From the moment of conception, the journey unfolds through imagination and intention. We form a compass, orbiting the origin and shaping the circuits that engage our environment and form a pattern of perspectives. The outer circle creates the container, establishing the sacredness of the space and defining its domain.

Orientation is key— directing the entryway and determining what will be faced in the middle. A simple string will guide both the entrance path and the one that leads to center. A perpendicular line calls in the four directions, becoming an axis mundi connecting heaven and earth. Smaller arcs drawn from the line ends yield 180 degree turns, giving the walk rhythm and balance. At the center rosette, sacred geometry infuses the design with symbolism, while the perimeter lunations radiate a field of energy. The archetype is awakened, and the journey is yours.

In this workshop, we will discover the universal patterns and symbolism woven into the design and experience of the labyrinth. Participants will learn to easily draw a 5-Circuit Chartres Variation, using it as a map, mirror, and mandala for exploring the metaphors of life. The labyrinth can help us better understand our life journey as we return to our center and the source of creation. Together, we will reflect on our orientation, perspectives, and connection with the universe, using the labyrinth to behold our personal cosmology.  Through drawing, tracing, and walking labyrinths, we can find our role in the evolving universe. 

“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.

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

A Labyrinth and SoulCollage® workshop to honor this potent time of year known as Imbolc, Candlemas, or Brigid’s Day. In community, experience the potency of the Labyrinth and SoulCollage®, two contemplative practices that offer an opportunity for reflection. As we cross the threshold between Winter and Spring, this workshop invites us to deepen and ground intentions for the coming season.

All materials and snacks provided.

Please bring a sack lunch and a journal, and wear layers.  Weather permitting, we will have an outdoor labyrinth walk. 

Workshop fee: $100

This is a Veriditas Approved Qualifying Workshop for those seeking to attend Facilitator Training.

Please click here to register.

Join us in the beauty of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California  for the 37th annual Women’s Dream Quest as we explore the theme of Dreaming Equanimity.  In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to find our serenity, provide solace for our beloveds and generate peace for our world.  

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 37 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.  More information on Circleway.com.  

The Veriditas Council invites you to join us for the 2025 Virtual Facilitator Renewal Day - a transformative workshop titled Coming Full Circle and centered around the themes of renewal and interconnectedness. This event, geared particularly toward Veriditas-trained labyrinth facilitators, emphasizes the cyclic nature of life, highlighting ways our social interactions and personal experiences reflect the larger patterns of nature we encounter in our work as facilitators on the labyrinth path.

Participants will engage in creative and reflective practices that serve as intuitive catalysts for personal growth and understanding. Through these activities, we will explore the universal symbols, patterns, and rhythms that encourage our journeys toward completion and wholeness. The event will begin with a special visit from our founder Lauren Artress who will be leading our walk.

Join us for a day dedicated to refreshing our minds, nourishing our labyrinth work, and replenishing our souls as we Come Full Circle.

Registration is required for this enriching experience. Please register early. A portion of the registration proceeds support the Scholarship Fund for the ongoing outreach of Veriditas.

Please click here to read the Council Biographical Sketches

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.  

“To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together.” ~ Barry Lopez

In this transformative online retreat, we will weave together the ancient wisdom of rivers and the timeless journey of the labyrinth. River Wisdom on the Labyrinth invites you to explore the natural fluidity, cycles, and rhythms of the river as a profound mirror of your own life's path. Rivers teach us about change and resilience, reflecting the rhythms of rising and releasing, healing and renewing. They are catalysts for creative expression. Just as the river continuously flows, shifts, and re-adapts, so too do our lives—filled with moments of discovery and transformation.

Rivers, sacred in many traditions, carry the wisdom of both stillness and movement, of deep currents and surface ripples. In the Celtic tradition, stories tell of rivers that are revered as vital spirit-filled beings — nourishing as well as destroying, guiding and teaching those who listen. The labyrinth, with its meandering path leading to the center and back out again, offers a powerful archetype for navigating the inner landscapes of our hearts and minds. Together, these two symbols invite us to reflect on how we move through life's cycles, how we embrace change, and how we find solace in the flow of our own journey.

As this season unfolds, we might ask: How are we navigating the shifting waters of our own lives? Are we resisting the currents or surrendering to the flow? Recent natural disasters lead us to ask questions about the dominance of nature, our fear of losing control, the necessity of hope, and our innate desire to gather in supportive community. Through this retreat, we will dive into the river's wisdom to navigate these times of change and uncertainty—drawing strength from the river's movement and the labyrinth's steady rhythm.

Through creative practices such as song, poetry, mandala-making, journaling, and ritual, we will explore how the river’s many phases—rising, swelling, calming, and receding—mirror the different stages of our personal journeys, culminating in our walk on the labyrinth. The labyrinth provides a sacred container for grounding these reflections, offering a space to walk with intention and to embrace the fluid path that unfolds.

In her book, Walking a Sacred Path, Lauren Artress interrelates labyrinths with other creative expressions, stating: "At workshops, I encourage people to journal or draw mandalas in order to capture in concrete form the inner process that is occurring." (p.131) In our time together, participants will be guided to do both – to journal and create a personal mandala that embodies their response to the river and labyrinth themes shared throughout the day. (Participants may choose their own art materials – watercolor, inks, collage pieces, colored pencils/pens – to create a mandala reflecting their own thoughts and feelings about rivers.)

In community, we will:  

Explore the river as a symbol of life's flow, embracing its wisdom in both its wild and calm aspects.    

Walk the labyrinth as a path of connection, where each turn brings us closer to understanding our inner landscape and our relationship with the ever-changing world around us. 

Engage in creative practices to express our personal and collective journeys—using poetry, journaling and mandalas to capture the river’s essence in our own lives.    

Honor the sacred rhythms and mystery of both water and earth through ritual, meditation and music, tapping into the deeper wisdom of nature's cycles and our role as guardians.

This retreat invites you to listen deeply to the call of the river, to reflect on the shifts in phases and rhythms of your own life, and to discover the gifts that emerge when you trust the flow. Together, we will deepen our connection to the sacred waters that sustain us and explore how the labyrinth can guide us through the twists and turns of our personal and collective stories.

Join us in this sacred space of reflection, creativity, and transformation—let the river’s wisdom guide you on the labyrinth for your own journey.

This is a Veriditas Qualifying Workshop for those who wish to take the Facilitator Training.

Barrie Carter Gibby:

A long-time educator, writer and avid traveler, Barrie interweaves her background in design, music, theater production and ritual-making to facilitate labyrinth workshops across the nation on a variety of themes. Her many pilgrimages to the 13th c. Chartres Cathedral labyrinth and others worldwide have guided her passion for the layers of symbology, cultural understanding and synchronicities in her labyrinth work. As an Advanced Certified Facilitator and on faculty at Veriditas, Barrie finds sacred spaces everywhere.

Lynn Karegeannes:

Lynn Karegeannes is a native of South Carolina. She completed her undergraduate degree in art history at Rice University and then her Master’s, also in art history, at the University of Texas, Austin. After a short time working in arts education, she returned to South Carolina to complete her second Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. She worked in the New York Public Library system and then returned to the Southeast with her husband to raise their children in Asheville, North Carolina. In Asheville she has devoted her time to professional and volunteer work with organizations centered on issues relevant to women and the arts. Lynn first learned about labyrinths through Lauren Artress’ book, Walking a Sacred Path. Lynn’s interest in and experience with labyrinths has grown over the years. She currently works as an artist, and expressive arts and labyrinth facilitator through her business, Full Life Arts. Her website is at https://full-life-arts.com/

Join us for an uplifting evening of reflection, walking meditation, and soul-stirring music to celebrate the Spring Equinox with a candlelit labyrinth walk. This is rare opportunity to walk the labyrinths to the sublime soundscape in the majestic beauty of Grace Cathedral. Live music will be provided by Jennifer Berezan, Jami Sieber and Agu.

Hosted by Lauren Artress and Veriditas music begins at 6 PM, opening comments at 6:15; both indoor and outdoor labyrinths will be open; the evening ends at 9 PM with tickets offered on a sliding scale here.

Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco 94108. Public Transportation Advised.

Veriditas is a 501c3 non-profit educational organization. If you would like to make an additional contribution to support future labyrinth walks, workshops, pilgrimages, and events please support our mission at : https://www.veriditas.org/donate

Jennifer Berezan is a unique blend of singer/ songwriter, teacher. Her lifelong involvement in environmental, women’s, and other justice movements as well as an interest in Buddhism and earth-based spirituality are at the heart of her writing. Berezan’s ground-breaking work as a recording artist and teacher has established her as a leading voice in the field of music and healing. She is an acclaimed producer of large scale multi-cultural ecstatic musical events. She teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. jenniferberezan.com

Electric cellist and vocalist Jami Sieber reaches inside the soul with compositions that are contemporary, timeless, lush, and powerfully evocative. Her style of performance has been recognized internationally. An innovative musician, Jami’s music moves beyond the surface, seeking and re-seeking her truth by creating musical bridges and connections, committed to doing what moves her and inspiring listeners with her honesty, musical prowess, and humanity. jamisieber.com

Agu worked as an educator in the public schools for over 30 years. She began using singing bowls with her students to center and ground. Since leaving teaching, she plays for ceremonies, storytelling events, healing sessions, workshops, and public-school settings. Agu’s recording REACH IN is available online. www.agu-reachin.com

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

In this five day, four night contemplative retreat, we will be exploring the Archetypes of the Circle, the Spiral and the Labyrinth with paint, paper and pattern. We will be using these archetypes in a visual journal to find our rhythm as we slow down and engage with these patterns. 

We will walk both the eleven circuit medieval labyrinth and the five circuit classical labyrinth at the retreat center, and use our creative practices as pathways for integrating our labyrinth walks.

In addition, we will create a set of Spirit Stones using images and words. You could also call these stones Alchemy Stones, Symbol Stones, Vision Stones, Story Stones … they are a meaningful way to bring metaphor and symbols into a labyrinth walk. 

Click here for more information and registration

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

SAVE THE DATE! More information coming soon.

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.

Every year on the first Saturday in May thousands of people around the globe participate in World Labyrinth Day as a moving meditation for world peace and celebration of the labyrinth experience. Many “Walk as One at 1” local time to create a rolling wave of peaceful energy passing from one time zone to the next. Join the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress for a free Handheld Finger Labyrinth Walk in celebration of World Labyrinth Day. 

SAVE THE DATE! More information coming soon!

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 Sunday through Thursday 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

Our stories are part of a large inheritance, leading to what comes next. Reflecting on history is a spiritual practice. It gives us a capacity to see more deeply into the reality of our lives and the world around us, to understand who we are and where we are going. Learning our history is not just analysis, but a call to live more intentionally, uncovering how we steward the flow of storylines that guide our future.

“It's healing to realize that our lives are just one thread in the grand mystery we are participating in.” – Lauren Artress

Our lives compose a legend much larger than ourselves. In retracing the footsteps of the past, we write stories that forge paths for those who follow. In life’s labyrinth, we meander the mysteries of time, encircling each other and co-creating a beauty of connectedness. How can we find ourselves in the stories of the past? What do we do with difficult histories that we would rather forget? Can we uncover the wisdom of lost folktales needed for today?

“Historians are like mystics. As we live our lives in conversation with the past, we write the histories that the people who come after us will build upon.” - Diana Butler Bass

Join Dr. Diana Butler Bass on a Veriditas Pilgrimage to Chartres Cathedral as explore the spiritual practice of an honest history. Coinciding with the jubilee celebration of 1,000 Years of Pilgrimage, immerse yourself in the Chartres Medieval Labyrinth with Lauren Artress as your guide. Follow in the footsteps of millions who have walked this sacred path in a timeless tradition of healing, renewal and transformation.

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

The Chartres Experience

From June 2-6, 2025, 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 Dr. Diana Butler Bass, followed by a large group conversation with Diana 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.

“Tradition is history remembered in ritual, ideas, architectures and creeds.” - Diana Butler Bass

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 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.

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.

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

Diana Butler Bass

Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America’s most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality.

Diana’s passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world – a passion that ranges from informing the public about spiritual trends, challenging conventional narratives about religious practice, entering the fray of social media with spiritual wisdom and smart theology, and writing books to help readers see themselves, their place in history, and God differently. She does this with

intelligence, joy, and a good dose of humor, leading well-known comedian John Fugelsang to dub her “iconic,” the late Marcus Borg to call her “spontaneous and always surprising,” and Glennon Doyle to praise her “razor-sharp mind” and “mystical heart.”

She holds a doctorate in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of eleven books. Her bylines include The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader's Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented on religion, politics, and culture in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and in multiple global news outlets. In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly column on religion and culture for the Santa Barbara News-Press, which was distributed nationally by the New York Times Syndicate.

Her work has received two Wilbur Awards for best nonfiction book of the year, awards from Religion News Association for individual commentary and for Book of the Year, Nautilus Awards Silver and Gold medals, the Illumination Book Award Silver medal, Books for a Better Life Award, Book of the Year of the Academy of Parish Clergy, the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize for Church History, Substack Fellowship for Independent Writers, multiple nominations for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards, and Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Book of the Year.

She and her husband live in Alexandria, Virginia, with their dog and their sometimes-successful backyard garden.

You can follow her online at www.dianabutlerbass.com, her public author page on Facebook, and Twitter @dianabutlerbass, or her newsletter, ”The Cottage” at

https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/.

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. 

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.

Accommodation:

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

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.

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.  

Dr. Robin B. Dilley brings over 35 years of experience to the table as an Arizona Licensed psychologist, author, and workshop facilitator. She has been an Advanced Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator since 2015 and recently became a Veriditas Faculty member. 

Since learning about the Labyrinth in 1992, Robin has drawn on her background in Experiential Family Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, and Jungian Theory to develop an active Labyrinth practice. She incorporates the Labyrinth into her work with clients in several ways. She explores its use as an ancient archetypal symbol for guidance and personal insight. Additionally, she teaches clients to use the Labyrinth as a tool for mindfulness and anxiety management, empowering them to use it for relaxation and stress reduction.

Now, through her newest endeavor, Arizona Labyrinth Connections, an extension of her psychotherapy and spiritual consulting practice, Dr. Dilley leads well-designed transformative workshops which include storytelling, journal writing, and a labyrinth experience.  She creates workshops regularly and has two signature workshops, “Lessons from The Yellow Brick Road” and “Lessons from The Miller’s Daughter.”

Robin is available to create a workshop for your group or individual consulting to enhance your life’s journey. She also publishes a regular newsletter, Continue Your Journey.

Robin lives happily with her spouse of 28 years, Pam Smead. They enjoy cruising, walking, reading, and exploring life together.  Don't hesitate to get in touch with Robin at drrobinbdilley@gmail.com to learn more.

We are an evolutionary species with an unfolding story of some seven million years. World religions, including Christianity, are only beginning to come to terms with our long sacred story, in which the Holy One has been co-creating over these several eons. As Earthlings, who belong deeply to the natural world, we have developed capacities for wisdom and faith from our long evolutionary experience that witness powerfully to the divine at work within and around us.

The implications of this enlarged horizon are substantial. They challenge the inherited understandings of God, Jesus, creation, human meaning, and open new evolutionary thresholds for a more dynamic, creative, and peaceful way of relating to our world. These new understandings support evolutionary growth to the benefit of all the creative beings with whom we share the web of life.

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

The Chartres Experience

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 Diarmuid O'Murchu, followed by a large group conversation with Diarmuid 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.

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 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.

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.

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

Diarmuid O'Murchu

Diarmuid O'Murchu, a member of the Sacred Heart Missionary Order, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin Ireland, is a social psychologist whose early working life had been in social ministry, predominantly in London, UK. In more recent years he has worked as a workshop leader and group facilitator, conducting programmes on Adult Faith Development across several countries. He is a widely read author, with many of his books listed on this webpage. Now as a retired missionary, he lives in Dublin, Ireland.

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. 

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.

Accommodation:

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

The creative energy of the universe has, over fourteen billion years, brought forth a Milky Way galaxy filled with stars, an Earth throbbing with life, and a restless human species in search of its soul, its mission in our universe. Our destiny is to create harmony. We have been born into this evolutionary process to participate in the cosmic act of bringing a fragmented humanity into a vibrant Earth community. Us-and-them categories are no longer viable; contemporary biology has discovered that genetically we are all relatives. Suffused with the energy that constructed two trillion galaxies, we are ready to imagine ourselves as planetary humans. In Chartres cathedral, one of the great spiritual centers of human history, we will feel the reverberations that always accompany the emergence of a new era. In lectures from cosmic storyteller Brian Thomas Swimme, in walking the Labyrinth together, in creative exercises, in dialogue with all, in star gazing within the Milky Way galaxy, in contemplative music, and in imagery the size of a cathedral, we will enter a heart-centered pathway into the next era of humanity's journey.

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

The Chartres Experience

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 Dr. Brian Thomas Swimme, followed by a large group conversation with Brian 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.

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 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.

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.

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

Dr. Brian Thomas Swimme

Brian Thomas Swimme is the Director of the Center for the Story of the Universe and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon in 1978 for work in gravitational dynamics. He brings the context of story to our understanding of the 13.7 billion year trajectory of the universe. Such a story, he feels, will assist in the emergence of a flourishing Earth community.

Swimme is the author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and The Universe is a Green Dragon. He is co-author of The Universe Story, which is the result of a ten-year collaboration with cultural historian, Thomas Berry. Swimme is also the creator of three educational video series: Canticle to the Cosmos, The Earth’s Imagination, and The Powers of the Universe. Most recently he co-wrote and hosted the 60-minute film Journey of the Universe, broadcast on PBS television stations nationwide.

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. 

The waves of the ocean breathe with their natural rhythms of ebb and flow, of flowing forward, letting go and returning to source . How can we honor our own unique natural rhythm? How can we find a balance between inner and outer nourishment?

In this retreat we will explore these questions, using SoulCollage® and the Labyrinth to deepen our understanding of the natural rhythms around us, and to explore ways to create flow and ease in our daily lives as we consider living in a more cyclical way.

Our activities will include:

• Creating a Moon Mandala to better understand the phases of the moon
• Creating SoulCollage® cards to express the messages in each moon phases
• Connecting to our inner wisdom and intuition by dialoguing with our SoulCollage® cards
• Labyrinth walks to integrate and deepen the messages of our SoulCollage® cards.

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