What a delight it has been to once again be welcoming people to events at the Forest Labyrinth. “Breathing the Path”, in May, was a fusion of guided breath-work with a labyrinth walk. And in June, Summer Solstice brought a great turnout for a drum circle followed by a lantern-lit labyrinth walk at dusk.
In addition to the gift of peoples’ presence and energies, over $200 was donated at these two events. The entire amount of donations in gratitude for the Forest Labyrinth is equally divided and sent to Chapman House Hospice and M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre at the end of each year. Thank you kindly for your thoughtfulness, and your support of what this is.
These events are a bit of an experiment for me, and they’re always going to be a bit emergent. Having now lead one and facilitated one, for the next event I’m aiming to do something where my role is to hold space more so than create the space. That said, I don’t know what or when that event will be. Any suggestions? Something you would like to see happen? Stay tuned 🙂
I created the labyrinth as a resource to be shared and I am also open to the possibilities of it being used for other’s events that are non-commercial (no fee charged, though may be private events need not be open to the public) and compatible with labyrinth core elements of insight, surrender and peace.
Over the past few weeks, two people close to me have used the labyrinth as part of their process moving through the loss of beloved pets. Labyrinth’s utility in grief processing is well established. Like many things with the labyrinth, there is no particular way to do it—often one just starts to engage with the labyrinth and see what emerges. It’s a bit like how they say about labyrinths: the only decision required is to enter. But, seeing as the journey along the labyrinth path is widely seen as a metaphor for life journey, that could be a starting point for overlaying labyrinth use with the grief journey.
For detailed discussion, including suggested labyrinth activites and rituals, on this topic see the books The Sacred Path Companion by Lauren Artress and Labyrinth: Your Path to Self Discovery by Tony Christie.
If you were at the Solstice event, you would have been the very first labyrinth walkers to see the wonderful new holder for the orb at the labyrinth centre. This piece was custom created for the Forest Labyrinth by Chris VanderHout, the master craftsman behind BioConstruction.ca in nearby Ayton using Sugar Maple from his own property. It’s such a great example of form and function, fitting organically into the Forest Labyrinth, and I’m grateful to Chris for his skilled efforts to bring it to reality. Not visible in the pictures is the angled circle cut to securely cradle the orb!
At the drum circle, someone asked about the variety instruments I had brought out. Well folks, that wasn’t not even the half of them LOL! If the idea of having a whole bunch of hand drums, percussive and other unique instruments to play around with sounds like a load of fun you can have them access to them all in a lovely bright yurt by booking a day retreat through SoulTrail (click for details). Grab a few friends (or have your own little introvert party if that’s your style) and have a do-it-yourself music jam!!
Warm regards from here to there,
The Forest Labyrinth 