Veriditas and the Labyrinth Project

By Lee Penn

Grace Cathedral (Episcopal), San Francisco,  is home to Veriditas,(593) led by Lauren Artress, an Episcopal priest and an honorary Canon of the Cathedral. (594) Veriditas is also known as the Labyrinth Project.

The two labyrinths at Grace Cathedral are copies of the labyrinth that has been at Chartres Cathedral in France since the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims to Chartres could walk this labyrinth as the culminating point of their journey. Similar labyrinths also exist at a few other medieval cathedrals in France and Germany. A story from the Grace Cathedral web site reports:

"Early Christians took a vow to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem at some point in their lives. During the Middle Ages, as the Crusades made travel to Palestine unsafe, other means were needed to honor that sacred commitment. Labyrinths were adopted by the Roman Church to offer the congregation a way of fulfilling their sacred vows. Christians made their pilgrimages to the cathedral cities of Chartres, Rheims or Amiens, completing their physical and spiritual journeys in the cathedral labyrinths." (595)

The Chartres labyrinth is normally covered with chairs; it is cleared of obstructions for special events - such as the Labyrinth Project pilgrimages.(596)

Despite this link to a Christian tradition, the labyrinth walk - as practiced and promoted by Veriditas - is New Age in origin and spirit. The same story from the Grace Cathedral web site, written by a supporter of the Labyrinth Project, shows the extensive non-Christian lineage of religious use of the labyrinth:

"Labyrinths predate Christianity by over a millennium. The most famous labyrinth from ancient times was the Cretan one, the supposed lair of the mythological Minotaur, which Theseus slew with the aid of Ariadne and her spool of thread. Turf labyrinths still exist in England, Germany and Scandinavia, and are thought to be linked with local feminine deities and fertility rituals." (597)

Veriditas' own literature about the meaning of the labyrinth is virtually free of specific connections to Christian tradition or practice. For example:

"What is a Labyrinth? The Labyrinth is an archetype, a divine imprint found in religious traditions in various forms around the world. ... The labyrinth is a mandala that meets our longing - for a change of heart; for a change of ways in how [sic] we live together on this fragile island home; and for the energy, vision, and the courage to become agents of transformation in an age when no less will suffice to meet the challenges of survival."(598)

Veriditas promotes walking through labyrinths as a transformative spiritual experience, a way for "all to find healing, self-knowledge and our soul assignments and to continue weaving the Web of Creation."(599) According to Artress, the Labyrinth is also "a perfect spiritual tool for helping our global community to order chaos in ways that take us to the vibrant center of our being. You walk to the center of the labyrinth and there at the center you meet the Divine." (600)

Veriditas newsletters and advertisements consistently invoke an amorphous form of spirituality, as if the Incarnation had never happened. For example, a November 1998 article at the Grace Cathedral web site said, "In 1992 the Reverend Lauren Artress brought the labyrinth to Grace Cathedral in an effort to bring people back to their center and allow them to experience Spirit for themselves."(601) The name, the Lordship, and the saving acts of Christ are rarely mentioned by the Labyrinth Project - a radical difference from widely used Christian walking devotions such as the Stations of the Cross. This is no accident; the mission of Veriditas is not to promote a specifically Christian use of the labyrinth as a devotional tool. Instead, as Artress said in the first Veriditas news letter:

"Veriditas is an interfaith non-profit religious corporation. Its mission is to propagate the use of labyrinths - from all traditions - around the world and to teach people its use as a spiritual tool."(602)

Labyrinth Project literature demonstrates that the Project does not provide a Christian context for this "spiritual tool."(603) The Project calls upon God as "God," "Living God," Living Light," "the Divine," "Divine Mother," Divine Life Force," "Source," and "sacred feminine." Some of these names are firmly within the Christian tradition, and others - such as the "Divine Mother" and the "sacred feminine" - are not. The project's literature assiduously avoids providing the specific Christian content that anyone could get from the Lord's Prayer, the Apostle's Creed, the Rosary, or the Jesus Prayer.(604) In the three Labyrinth Project newsletters published in 1998, there is no mention of the Trinity, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Empty Tomb, God the Father, or God as Lord and King. The Holy Spirit is not named as the Third Person of the Trinity. The words - and the concepts - of sin, divine judgment, heaven, hell, repentance, redemption, and salvation are likewise absent. Stories in the Project's newsletters mentioned Jesus only three times over the course of a year.

Since 1995, Artress has promoted the Labyrinth as a way to make a connection with "the Divine feminine," "the God within, the goddess." A friendly reviewer of Artress' Walking A Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool, a book published in 1995, quotes one of Artress' descriptions of the Labyrinth: "The labyrinth is a large, complex spiral circle which is an ancient symbol for the divine mother, the God within, the goddess, the holy in all creation."(605) Artress led a Labyrinth workshop, "Sacred Circles: A Celebration of Women's Spirituality," at the Episcopal National Cathedral in July of 1996; one of the speakers was Jane Holmes Dixon, the Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Washington.(606) (In recent years, Ms. Dixon has made several forced visits to conservative Episcopal parishes in her diocese that do not recognize the legitimacy of ordaining women as priests or bishops.) Regarding this workshop, Artress said, "we are doing a wonderful women's conference called Sacred Circles. It is based on the labyrinth and the sacred walk being connected to the Divine feminine."(607)

In July of 1999, the Labyrinth Project advertised a "Women's Dream Quest" workshop called "Dreaming the Abundance of the Divine Mother." (Lauren Artress and Judith Tripp were the co-founders of the "Women's Dream Quest)."(608) The announcement states, "In the fullness of summer's bloom, we experience the generosity of the mother who nourishes her family, her projects, her planet, and herself. We celebrate the abundance of the Divine Mother and open to receive her blessings."(609) Other "Women's Dream Quest" workshops held at Grace Cathedral and advertised by the Labyrinth Project have included "Inviting the Tender Spring to Come," "Dreaming the Midsummer's Night Dream," and "Dreaming the Rich Darkness of Autumn," all held in 1998.(610)

Jean Houston: mother of the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral

An on-line news story provided by Grace Cathedral states that Artress' "mentor and teacher" is Jean Houston, "a leading figure in the Human Potential Movement" and "co-director of the Foundation for Mind Research in Pomona, New York."(611) Artress first walked the labyrinth "in a workshop at psychologist Jean Houston's Mystery School" (612) in 1991; from that time onward, "the idea to place the labyrinth in Grace Cathedral suddenly dominated her life. ... This initial experience nurtured her spirituality and sent her imagination sparking with the idea of creating a universal walking ritual open to people from all traditions."(613)

Houston can thus add the Veriditas Project to her long list of accomplishments on behalf of the New Age movement. Houston claims wide influence, having "worked to implement cultural growth and social transition in more than 40 countries with international development agencies, and in Bangladesh and Burma with UNICEF. She consults to CEOs and leads workshops at companies such as Kraft, Xerox, General Electric, Beatrice Foods, and others."(614) Over the years, Houston's collaborators and advisers have included a host of advocates for the post-1965 spiritual upheaval in the US and Western Europe, including Stanislav Grof, Elaine Pagels, Joseph Campbell, Margaret Mead, Alan Watts, Moshe Feldenkrais, and Edgar Mitchell.(615)

Houston, like Artress, promotes "spirituality" per se as a good thing. However, not all spirits are good ones. Opening the door to the "divine mother" can open the door to worship of pagan goddesses. Dr. Robert Masters, Houston's husband (616) and a co-founder of her Foundation for Mind Research,(617) provides an example of this. He describes himself as one who has "devotedly followed the Way of the Goddess Sekhmet for more than thirty years."(618) The on-line bookstore at Jean Houston's web site sells two article reprints and one book that offers honor to "Goddess Sekhmet."(619) Part of Masters' "Invocation of Sekhmet" calls upon this Egyptian goddess: "Thou art the Terror Before Which fiends tremble! Thou are Lust! Thou art Life! Ever-Burning ONE!"(620)

Veriditas is also offering "labyrinth seed kits" for $125, plus shipping costs. It appears to be a Western way to invoke New Age energy, using "equations of sacred geometry" to build a labyrinth with "the intended balanced, energetic climate":

"The Veriditas Seed Kit enables groups to make this powerful transformational tool available for ritual and spiritual discovery. The Seed Kit is designed to assist groups in creating a portable eleven circuit canvas labyrinth. It contains a series of booklets that give basic information on the materials you will need to assemble, the steps to take in making the labyrinth and the necessary equations of sacred geometry you will need to layout [sic] and make a labyrinth. ... The kit is unique in that it follows the lost tradition of sacred geometry allowing you to make the labyrinth with the intended balanced, energetic climate that is created regardless of size."(621)

A Labyrinth devotee describes the results of this spiritual practice for him:

"It has opened my creativity and has aroused my personal senses for feelings and promoted relationships with others. I have been drawn to the symmetry, brain re-mapping and energy production possibilities. I have every hope that the labyrinth will do the same for others who walk this ancient sacred path."(622)

This poor fellow does indeed write as if his brain has been re-mapped. As for "energy production" - can he give us any evidence of net gain in kilocalories or joules due to use of the Labyrinth?

Meanwhile, word of the Labyrinth spreads worldwide; as Artress says, "We have been on the Peter Jennings ABC Evening News, on the front page of the New York Times and even been taped for the 'Remembering the Spirit' segment for Oprah!"(623) Artress claims that "over a million people have walked the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral alone, with hundreds of other sites springing up across the country."(624)

Some Catholics have been drawn into the Labyrinth, as well. Foremost among these is Fr. Francois Legaux, Rector of Chartres Cathedral. He first visited the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in May of 1997.(625) After this visit, Fr. Legaux wrote to Lauren Artress that "I returned to Chartres convinced that I need to open myself more to this labyrinth way and to offer its use even more."(626) Since then, Fr. Legaux has hosted several Labyrinth Project pilgrimages to his cathedral.(627) Fr. Legaux was installed as an Honorary Canon of Grace Cathedral at a "Festive Evensong Service" held on June 17, 1999; he also was one of the three presenters at the "Moments in Time" labyrinth pilgrimage at Grace Cathedral on the weekend of June 18-20.(628)

In addition, Labyrinth workshops have occurred at these Catholic sites: the Franciscan Renewal Center in Portland, Oregon (October, 1997(629) and November 1998)(630), the Serra Retreat Center in Malibu, California (October 1998 (631) and February 1999)(632), the Bons Secours Retreat Center in Marriotsville, Maryland (March/April 1998(633) and August, 1999)(634), and the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, California (March 1996)(635). If the Labyrinth walk at these sites is led as a Christian meditation by Christian facilitators, this is not a problem. If, however, the Labyrinth walks at these Catholic facilities is led in the fashion suggested by the Labyrinth Project, then these facilities are - knowingly or not - helping their guests connect to "the Divine feminine."(636)

Footnotes

Excerpted from False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-World Religion to be published in the fall of 1999 by the Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project. You may order the complete story from the Journal, or subscribe to the Journal, by calling (510) 540-0300, or by writing to the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Post Office Box 4308, Berkeley, CA 94704.

NOTE: Internet document citations are based on research done between September 1997 and August 1999. Web citations are accurate as of the time the Web page was printed, but some documents may have been moved to a different Web site since then, or they may have been removed entirely from the Web.

593 Lauren Artress, "The Birth of Veriditas," Veriditas, Winter 1996, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 1; according to Artress, this word - spelled viriditas in classical Latin - means "springtime"

594 Lauren Artress, "The Birth of Veriditas," Veriditas, Winter 1996, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 1

595 Peter Corbett, "Pathfinders: Walking medieval labyrinths in a modern world," Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/features/fea_19981120_txt.shtml, p. 2

596 July 9, 1999 e-mail from Bryan Dunne, reporting on a recent BBC program about the labyrinth; July 4, 1999 e-mail from Cathy Conwill, who visited Chartres in the fall of 1998

597 Peter Corbett, "Pathfinders: Walking medieval labyrinths in a modern world," Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/features/fea_19981120_txt.shtml, p. 2

598 Labyrinth Project, "What Is A Labyrinth," Internet document, http://www.gracecom.org/veriditas/press/whatlab.shtml, 1996

599 Lauren Artress, "The Launching of the Labyrinth Network: Restoring the Web of Creation," Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1996, p. 1

600 Lauren Artress, "Q and A with Lauren," Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1996, p. 18

601 Peter Corbett, "Pathfinders: Walking medieval labyrinths in a modern world," Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/features/fea_19981120_txt.shtml, p. 1

602 Lauren Artress, "The Birth of Veriditas," Veriditas, Winter 1996, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 1

603 The analysis in this paragraph is based on a detailed review of these Labyrinth Project publications: Source, no. 6, Spring 1998; Source, no. 7, Summer 1998; Source, no. 8, Fall 1998, and "Moments in Time," a Veriditas brochure issued in the spring of 1999

604 "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

605 Lauren Artress, Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Sacred Tool, Riverhead Books/G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1995; sentence quoted by Pamela Sullivan, "Book Review," Pacific Church News, June/July 1995, p. 8

606 Advertisement, Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1996, p. 6; "Spiritual Perspectives Program: A Look at the 1996 Sacred Circles Conference," Internet document, http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/nca/spiritual-perspectives/sacred.html, p. 1

607 Lauren Artress, "Q and A with Lauren," Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1996, p. 15

608 Veriditas, "Dreaming the Abundance of the Divine Mother," advertisement in brochure issued in the spring of 1999, p. 3

609 Veriditas, "Dreaming the Abundance of the Divine Mother," advertisement in brochure issued in the spring of 1999, p. 3

610 Advertisement for "Women's Dream Quest," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 4

611 Kristen Fairchild, "A Passion for the Possible: An Interview with Jean Houston," The Spire, Textures 11/04/97, Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment, p. 4

612 "Spiritual Perspectives Program: A Look at the 1996 Sacred Circles Conference," Internet document, http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/nca/spiritual-perspectives/sacred.html, p. 1

613 Lauren Artress, "The Labyrinths of Grace," Grace Online, 07/01/97, the archives; Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment, p. 1

614 "Jean Houston On-Line: CountryLiving's Article," Internet document, http://www.jeanhouston.org/articles/genius.jean.html, p. 3

615 "Foundation for Mind Research," Internet document, http://www.jeanhouston.org/foundation.html, pp. 1-2

616 Paula Span, "Spirits Lifted, Not Summoned," Washington Post, June 25, 1996, p. C01; Internet version obtained from http://washingtonpost.com

617 "Foundation for Mind Research," Internet document, http://www.jeanhouston.org/foundation.html, p. 1

618 Robert Masters, "The Sekhmet Project," Internet document, http://www.robertmasters.org/sekhmet/sekhmet.mail.html, p. 1

619 Jean Houston and Robert Masters Bookstore, Internet document, http://www.jeanhouston.org/books/bookstore.html, p. 1

620 Robert Masters, "The Sekhmet Project," Internet document, http://www.robertmasters.org/sekhmet/sekhmet.mail.html, p. 3

621 "Seed kit," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 4

622 "meet Stu," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 7

623 Lauren Artress, "Imagine ...", Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 8, fall 1998, p. 12; for further information about Oprah Winfrey, see Ron Rhodes, "The 'Oprah Effect'," SCP Journal, Vol. 22:4-23:1, 1999, ISSN 0883-13, pp. 26-37

624 Grace Cathedral, " 'In the labyrinth,' Artress says, 'the set path takes you to the center' ..."; Internet document, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment

625 Lauren Artress, "An Honored Guest from Chartres Cathedral," Veriditas, Vol. II, no. 1, spring 1997, p. 1

626 Chanoine Francois Legaux, Letter to Veriditas, Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), Vol. II, no. 2, summer 1997, p. 2

627 Advertisement, "Mary and the Birth of the Soul," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 2 and Source, no. 8, fall 1998, p. 13; also, advertisement, "Let Us Walk With Mary," Source, no. 8, fall 1998, p. 2

628 Advertisement, "Moments in Time," Veriditas, brochure issued in the spring of 1999, p. 1

629 Advertisement, "Circles of Inspiration," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), Vol. II, no. 2, summer 1997, p. 21

630 Advertisement, "The Theatre of Enlightenment," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 23

631 Advertisement, "The Theater of Enlightenment," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 7, summer 1998, p. 2

632 Advertisement, "The Theater of Enlightenment," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 8, fall 1998, p. 22

633 Advertisement, "The Theater of Enlightenment," Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 6, spring 1998, p. 23

634 Source (newsletter of the Labyrinth Project), no. 8, fall 1998, p. 22

635 "Lauren's Travels 1996," Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 1, Winter 1996, p. 6

636 Lauren Artress, "Q and A with Lauren," Veriditas, Vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1996, p. 15