Wednesday Notes, October 27,2021
Sharing the view from my window and sometimes way beyond
Last week on a crisp fall day people from all walks of life gathered around a labyrinth at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
The date:
Thursday, October 21, 2021
The occasion:
Dedication and blessing of a brand new 7-circuit brick labyrinth on the college campus. (Photo credit: Rollins College)
While leaves fell quietly from nearby trees, and a squirrel chattered, Rev. Katrina Jenkins, Dean of Religious Life at Rollins College began the litany of blessing. (Photo credit: Lucy Tobias)
“We come today to bless and consecrate this reflective space.”
We lifted our programs and read the response:
“As we circle around this ancient path, we welcome and embrace its power to heal and transform all who will come to walk its path alone or in community with others.”
The journey to this awesome day started three years ago as a calling to enact global peace and healing right here at this college campus by installing a living witness - a labyrinth.
The first labyrinth on this long journey was a portable one that had to be taken out of large bags, unrolled and laid flat.
At a college labyrinth event in 2018, Jenkins along with Frank Faine, Project Manager, Rollins Labyrinth Project, carefully unrolled a classical 11-circuit canvas labyrinth on a campus green space.
I joined them. Once the labyrinth was set up, we sat nearby feeling like anxious fishermen casting a lure into a stream and hoping fish rise to the surface to check it out.
Students walked by carefully avoiding direct eye contact with us. Still, they managed to look sideways at the labyrinth lying on the ground.
Some stopped. Jenkins or Faine got up, explained the walk, gave them a brochure.
Several took off their shoes and walked the walk.
And so, a journey began that moved from portable labyrinth down a long and winding road traveled by Jenkins and Faine to this permanent sacred space and its possibilities - a journey filled with college meetings, education, countless prayers, and the process of gathering partners like the Legacy Labyrinth Project.
Labyrinths are found all over the world. But for the first time, at this dedication, I realized the word “universal” has layers of meaning I never dreamed existed.
The Rollins College labyrinth is a Legacy Labyrinth. It joins six other Legacy Labyrinths found around the world. All are created to facilitate positive energy and compassion around the globe.
By joining the other Legacy Labyrinths, I mean that literally.
And we did the deed!
Christine Katzenmeyer, executive director the Legacy Labyrinth Project and Tisha Strauch, LLP program coordinator, came from Denver, Colorado for this dedication. They brought with them small vials that contained earth, sand, or other small pieces from every Legacy Labyrinth. (Photo credit: Lucy Tobias)
Each person was given a vial. We opened our vials and, one by one, added all those elements to a bowl passed around containing small pieces from the Rollins labyrinth.
That mixture was then placed into the earth around the labyrinth. Now all the Legacy Labyrinths are literally connected.
Wow!
Think about that. Every time a person steps on this Rollins College labyrinth they are connecting, supporting, and facilitating healing and inclusion for individuals and communities on a global scale.
Oh my. The word “universal” has moved to whole new levels.
Also in the service, two Rollins College students, Lexi Shroll and Samantha Alenius, wrote and sang an original song called “Seven Rings” to celebrate the seven circuits of the labyrinths.
I listened and felt my heart lifting. The two students were energized and, yes, transformed by this labyrinth experience to create original music. Thank goodness for their presence. (Photo credit: Lucy Tobias)
It is the youth that is our future (not us, we will be yesterday’s news by then).
As the guitar played and the harmonies unfolded, I felt assured the future is in good hands.
To find out about upcoming labyrinth events at Rollins College, and future plans to connect colleges in Florida that have labyrinths, contact Rev. Katrina Jenkins at: kejenkins@rollins.edu or Frank Faine at: ffaine@rollins.edu
A labyrinth is not a maze. You cannot get lost. There is one path to the center and the same path goes back out to the beginning. (Photo credit: Lucy Tobias)
I will be back to walk the Rollins College labyrinth again. It is open to all. You are welcome here.
TO KNOW MORE
https://labyrinthsociety.org/special-projects/9846-rollins-college-labyrinth-project
https://labyrinthlocator.com/
http://www.lucytobias.com/books/circling-center-labyrinths-florida/