Remembrance Cretan labyrinth-walk-in-the-park organized by Interfaith CommUNITY of Gilbert, Arizona

 

On Saturday December 7 2013 we walked our first labyrinth-in-the-park with

Interfaith CommUNITY of Gilbert, Arizona

 

 

 

 

Anne and I had a try out the day before to connect all the colors and to lay out the foundation of the Cretan labyrinth.

 

On Saturday afternoon we started out to collect all the shoes people brought to place them in the labyrinth and to donate them afterwards to the WAMMS (Walk a Mile in My  Shoes) organization

 

Cliff and Sue brought candles and placed them in the labyrinth. The labyrinth gourd that I made for this occasion was placed in the center. Since this was a Remembrance walk the gourd was placed there to hold all the tags with the names of deceased loved ones that people would put in the gourd once entering the center.

 

RevJ welcomed everybody and blessed the event. We started out with a poem by James Dillet Freeman, a Unity pastor. He wrote this poem on the death bed of his wife. I altered the poem to be suitable for this event.

 

The Travelers

by James Dillet Freeman

 

They have put on invisibility

Dear Lord, I cannot see

But this I know, although the roads ascends

And passes from my sight;

That there will be no more night;

That You will take them gently by the hand

And lead them on

Along the road of life that never ends,

And they will find it is not death but dawn.

I do not doubt that You are there as here,

And You will hold them dear.

Our life did not begin with birth,

It is not of the earth;

And this that we call death, it is no more

Than the opening and closing of a door

And in Your house how many rooms must be

Beyond this one where we rest momently.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the faith that frees,

The love that knows it cannot lose its own;

The love that, looking through the shadows sees

That You and they and I are ever one.

 

 

 

Cliff and Eddy provided beautiful music, playing 'Nada te turbe, Nada te espante' while we were walking the labyrinth!

 

Then everyone started whenever feeling ready, entering the labyrinth at their own pace.

 

 

For the closing of the labyrinth walk we all gathered around Cliff and Eddy to sing one of the beautiful songs of the Taize Ecumenical Community in France: 'Nada te turbe, Nada te espante'. This is a singing meditation based on a prayer by Teresa of Avilla, a prominent Spanish mystic (1515-1582).

       

       Nada te turbe.         

Nada te espante.
(Todo se pasa.
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia
Todo lo alcanza).
Quien a Dios tiene
Nada le falta.
Sólo Dios, basta!

May nothing disturb you.
May nothing frighten you.
Everything passes on
but God is always there.
With patience
Everything is attained.
Whoever stays in God
Lacks nothing.
God is our Source!

 

We closed our Remembrance and Healing labyrinth walk by getting the labyrinth gourd out of the

center and holding it in the circle, saying all the names of our deceased loved ones and by voicing

and proclaiming "PRESENT" as a token of the fact that they live on in our hearts, holding dear

their spiritual heritage.

RevJ took the labyrinth gourd with the name tags with her to bring it into the service the next

Sunday morning for a continuing ceremony for everyone who was not able to attend the

Remembrance labyrinth walk.

 

What a Blessed and Special Remembrance and Healing labyrinth-in-the-park we had!!

Thank you all, especially Cliff and Eddy and everyone who brought shoes... 

And so we all went home, remembering the words of 'The Travellers":

"...And this that we call death, it is no more

Than the opening and closing of a door...

and that You and they and I are ever one."

 

 

the Cretan Labyrinth

The Cretan labyrinth and the chakra's.

Labyrinths are found all over the world. They are ancient symbols known to date back at least 3500 years and probably much farther.
They appeared on most inhabited continents in prehistory, with examples known from North and South America, Africa, Asia and across Europe from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. The labyrinth symbol was incorporated into the floors of the great Gothic pilgrimage cathedrals of France in the twelfth century.

In the previous labyrinth walks we used the so called Chartres labyrinth at the Mariposa Memorial Gardens. The Chartres labyrinth is the largest labyrinth or the so called 12 circuits labyrinth. It has beautiful petals inside the labyrinth and some say they are connected to the Lord's Prayer. Kathleen McGowan wrote a wonderful book about this:"The source of Miracles", 7 steps to transforming your life through the Lord's prayer.  

The Cretan labyrinth, one of the oldest and maybe even the oldest labyrinths, is a so called 7 circuit labyrinth and is different in form and size. This labyrinth is as we can see built out of 7 circuits and it is also called the 'Chakra's and Healing labyrinth'.
In the 3rd century BC coins from Knossos are still struck with the labyrinth symbol. The predominant labyrinth form during this period is the simple 7-circuit style known as the classical labyrinth. As a unicursal (one way in, one way out) path, a labyrinth is showing and teaching centeredness. This differentiates a labyrinth from a maze which has many paths & dead-ends leading to confusion. Like life & destiny, a labyrinth may be a long journey but it has a specific beginning and a definite end. Like mandalas, a labyrinth offers a holistic route (meandering radius) from the periphery to the center. A labyrinth imprints a 'royal groove', a ceremonial pathway designed according to principles such as Harmonic Proportion and Alternance of Energy. For instance, the clockwise (sunwise) and counter-clockwise (moonwise) spins of the meanders map out a balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.



The seven circuits of the classical Cretan Labyrinth pathway have also associated with the seven primary chakras of the body. Chakra is a Hindu word meaning 'wheels of light.' They are spiraling vortexes of energy that make up the energy field of our bodies. Yoga works with the chakra system as do various complimentary healing modalities. Notice that you don't walk these paths in order from one to eight. The sequence of the paths is 3-2-1-4 and 7-6-5-8. This is a pattern that repeats itself twice: 3-2-1-4 and then 7-6-5-8. Since we are walking on December 7, on Remembrance Day the Cretan labyrinth will comfort us by touching the chakra's while we walk, by giving us the possibility to touch us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritualy. The labyrinth balances our energy when we walk with the intention of balancing your chakra's, or your acupuncture meridians.It really is the Healing Labyrinth path!

Music
We will connect our healing with music! Cliff Cordes will play for and with us on his harmonica and hopefully we will have a flute also. What we will chant is the song 'Nada te turbe' from the Taize Community in France. To get familiar with the music just click on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvfTVxgkWpo 

The history of the Cretan labyrinth
Labyrinth is a word of pre-Greek ("Pelasgian") origin absorbed by classical Greek, and is apparently related to labrys, a word for the archaic iconic "double axe", with inthos connoting "place" (as in "Corinth"). The complex palace of Knossos in Crete is usually implicated, though the actual dancing-ground, depicted in frescoed patterns at Knossos, has not been found. Something was being shown to visitors as a labyrinth at Knossos in the 1st century AD. Greek mythology did not recall, however, that in Crete there was a Lady who presided over the Labyrinth. A tablet inscribed in Linear B found at Knossos records a gift "to all the gods honey; to the mistress of the labyrinth honey." All the gods together receive as much honey as the Mistress of the Labyrinth alone. "She must have been a Creational Goddess."
According to Greek mythology, King Minos of Crete had the craftsman Daedalus construct the Labyrinth in order to conceal the Minotaur, the half-bull, half-human offspring of Minos' wife Pasiphae and a bull. For some unknown reason, Daedalus and his son Icarus were confined in the Labyrinth. Constructing wings of feathers and wax, the two were able to escape by flying above the walls of the Labyrinth. Young Icarus, however, impetuously flew too near the sun. His waxy wings melted and he drowned in the Icarian Sea. 7-Fold Cretan Labyrinth
Another couple associated with the Labyrinth was Theseus and Ariadne. Theseus was the son of Aegeus, King of Athens. At the time Athens had to a pay tribute of seven boys and seven girls to Crete - as food for the Minotaur - every nine years. Theseus decided to put a stop to this and joined a tribute group going to Crete. There, Ariadne, one of Minos' daughters, fell in love with him. She gave Theseus a ball of string, which helped him find his way out of the Labyrinth after he had killed the Minotaur.That the Cretan labyrinth had been a dancing-ground and was made for Ariadne rather than for Minos was remembered by Homer in the Iliad where, in the pattern that Hephaestus inscribed on Achilles' shield, one incident pictured was a dancing-ground like the one that Daedalus designed in the spacious town of Knossos for Ariadne of the lovely locks. Even the labyrinth dance was depicted on the shield, where youths and marriageable maidens were dancing on it with their hands on one another's wrists - circling as smoothly on their accomplished feet as the wheel of a potter and there they ran in lines to meet each other. The labyrinth is the referent in the familiar Greek patterns of the endlessly running meander, to give the "Greek Key" its common modern name. In the 3rd century BC coins from Knossos are still struck with the labyrinth symbol. The predominant labyrinth form during this period is the simple 7-circuit style known as the classical labyrinth.

source: http://www.crystalinks.com/labyrinths.html

Walking in Remembrance: a healing labyrinth on Dec. 7,2013

Walking in Remembrance

 

Interfaith CommUNITY

480-593-8798

Welcomes you at

The Countryside Park in Mesa Ramada #6 at the corner of Los Alamos and Southern/32th Street

For a

 Healing-labyrinth walk at 5pm

On Saturday, December 7, 2013

*

We will sing, walk and pray together and remember and honor

our loved ones.

*

Please bring your gently worn or new shoes as we will use them to form the labyrinth and then donate them to WAMMS (Walk a Mile in My Shoes) organization.

*

Dress warm, bring some cookies to share and bring your children/friends/neighbors too!

Peace One Day Celebration,Saturday, September 21 2013

Dear All,

this is to let you know that the world wide celebration of PeaceOneDay is near! This coming Saturday, September 21 all over the world events, celebrations and marches are organized to inspire people to recognize our own responsibility to be at Peace, to live in Peace and to share and celebrate Peace.

 

"Peace is not only about stopping wars. It is about recognizing the conflict in our own lives and committing to take te first action towards peaceful dialogue and reconciliation..."

 

Interfaith CommUNITY of Mesa AZ is organizing a celebration week end starting with Friday evening, September 20:
a Peace concert by Celia a singer/songwriter/comedian at CCNT (Community Church of New Thought) at 5013 E. Broadway Rd., Mesa AZ,

Saturday September 21 at 5:00 pm
a Peace One Day presentation and Service,
followed by an illuminated Labyrinth walk at 6:30 pm with refreshments and a Labyrinth sharing at 7:30 pm at the Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park, 6747 E. Broadway Rd, Mesa AZ

Sunday September 22 at 10:00 am
will host a continental breakfast prior to the Celebration of Peace Service & Gong Meditation at Interfaith CommUNITY, 1275 E. Baseline, # 108, Gilbert AZ

You are heartily invited to join and participate all the above! And for those who walked a labyrinth with me before: this time we will have an illuminated Peace Labyrinth Walk right after the Peace Service, followed by refreshments and a Labyrinth sharing and closing which I will be honored to facilitate.

It will be such a wonderful and uplifting experience for all of us to be part of this world wide PeaceOneDay event. The time is NOW!

For more information see : www.interfaith-community.org or phone Rev. Julianne Lewis at 480-593-8798 or you can call me at  480 319 2390.
 

 

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JLgr8mA9OkY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgr8mA9OkY

 

 

Reflections on the first World Labyrinth Walk 2013 in Mesa, AZ

"Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice..."

Baruch Spinoza

On Saturday May 4 2013 we had our first World Labyrinth Walk for Healing and Peace in Mesa, Arizona organized by Interfaith CommUNITY of Mesa! We all concluded that 1pm local time for the walk is not the most ideal time  for us Arizonans :-)
But there were plenty of water bottles available and people were well prepared wearing sunhats and sun shades.

We gathered at the beautiful Chartres Labyrinth at the Mariposa Memorial Gardens Park over at Broadway and Power. The Dignity Company had offered to host us again. They provided a beautiful cool room and light refreshments afterwards, which we are very grateful for!
We had a lovely group of 17 people, including Chaplain Lori Elward of the Interfaith CommUNITY of Mesa, who did the opening prayer. We then sung the canon 'Dona nobis pacem' together as a prelude to our walk.
Rev. DonnaChristine Park joined us with her WAMMS organization, which stands for Walk A Mile In My Shoes. She was our Angel of the day, welcoming everybody with 'a hug that's just your size!...'

Everybody entered the labyrinth at their own pace and rythm. Rev. DonnaChristine and I were garding the participants in and blessing them on their individual ways.



In the center of the labyrinth I had placed two jars with quotes on Peace and Healing and everyone could take one out and reflect on it or take it home with them.
You could tell that everyone was very focussed and concentrated and that this was indeed a Blessed Time... The heat didn't bother us and also the traffic noise did'nt bother anyone...

After the walk we all gathered at the Memorial Building to share and reflect, to cool down and to enjoy the refreshments.

It turned out we were quite an international group ourselves, with people from Croatia, Argentina, Costo Rica, France, East coast, West coast and the Netherlands...

We shared our backgrounds and our feeling of connectedness with Arizona's spirituality.



Some people were quite clear about the feelings and insights during the labyrinth walk, others had to reflect on it some more. All loved the quotes and to some they were very in synchronisity with their current lives.

We closed the labyrinth walk with a poem I just came upon some days before our first global walk (thank you Deanna Stulgaitis!), reminding me of a quote I love and live by: "Life is a journey of remembering...'. The poem is reminding us that 'We (already) are...'
I posted it already on my previous blog, you can read it there.

And so we all parted and went our different ways, back into the world. The labyrinth had refreshed us, inspired us, comforted us, empowered us and blessed us so we ourselves could be a blessing for others.

That is my wish... NAMASTE! 



We are...

In preparing for the World Labyrinth Walk of tomorrow, Saturday May 4 I came upon a beautiful poem by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and American poet. It goes very well with the quote I like so much and am using in every possible way: 'Life is a journey of remembering !'...
Walking the labyrinth is a spiritual and physical experience, some call it a 'pelgrimage'. Sometimes we are looking for comfort, for re-assurance, for meditation, for worshipping, for celebrating and also for grief. Sometimes we want a better understanding of who we are and what we are doing here. This poem is about remembering who we are and what we are capable of...

ƸӜƷ …We do not become healers…
We came as healers…We are…
Some of us are still catching up to what we are…

We do not become storytellers…
We came as carriers of the stories…
We and our ancestors actually lived… We are…
Some of us are still catching up to what we are…

We do not become artists…We came as artists…We are…
Some of us are still catching up to what we are…

We do not become writers..dancers..musicians… helpers.. peacemakers…

We came as such…We are…
Some of us are still catching up to what we are…

We do not learn to love in this sense…
We came as Love…We are Love…
Some of us are still catching up to who we truly are…

 

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes… ƸӜƷ

I hope you like it!

World labyrinth day 2013 flyer

A global celebration of the labyrinth

Organized by 'Interfaith commUNITY' of Mesa

Facilitated by Rev. Helga van Muijen

The first Saturday in may

May 4, 2013

“walk as one at 1”

Be part of a rolling wave of peaceful energy

as the earth turns at 1pm local time.

Where: at the (Chartres) Labyrinth at the Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park, 6747 E. Broadway Road, Mesa, 85206

Light refreshment will be provided by our host.

Rev. DonnaChristine Park will join us with her WAMMS (walk a mile in my shoes) organization. Please bring your old and gently worn shoes to donate!

World labyrinth day, a project of the labyrinth society, is a day designated to

bring people from all over the planet together in celebration of the labyrinth as a Symbol and a Tool for healing and peace.

For more information please visit: thelabyrinthway.blogspot.com

RSVP : 480 319 2390

World Labyrinth Day general info

World Labyrinth Day, an initiative of The Labyrinth Society, is a day designated to bring people from all over the world together to walk labyrinths. It is celebrated every year on the first Saturday in May. This is a day when people all over the world can join together to walk labyrinths for the good of all.

“Walk as One at 1”
People are encouraged to have the main labyrinth walk of the day at 1 pm in every time zone to create a wave of labyrinth walking around our planet as it turns in space. There can be great power for good manifested in this effort of unity.
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with reports of negative and terrible events, it can be frustrating to know what we can do to help on a global level. People joining together to walk labyrinths at the same time, on the same day and with the same intention of healing the earth can bring about great change.
 
World Labyrinth Day can be a day to inform and educate the public about labyrinths. Many large group walks are planned, but no event is too small. Individuals who wish to participate may use a finger labyrinth, draw a labyrinth or meditate the labyrinth pattern. In the past, a variety of events were held at over 100 locations worldwide, including the Ellipse in Washington DC, public parks, churches, a maximum-security women’s prison, retreat centers and many private labyrinths. Countries joining the celebration include: the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, the Bahamas, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, China, South Africa, Australia, and the list grows every year.
Much excitement was generated last year by the TLS Facebook events page where there are over 1000 members of the group.
The World Wide Labyrinth Locator, an online database, lists over 4000 labyrinths around the world.
Make a commitment to participate on May 4, 2013 for the fifth annual World Labyrinth Day and join hundreds of people around the world who will be walking labyrinths.

We will be joining this wonderful event at the Chartres labyrinth at the Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park, Mesa AZ (see flyer)

History of the labyrinth

History of the labyrinth

Many people are discovering labyrinths today. Althought labyrinths have existed for centuries to a lot of people labyrinths and labyrint walks are new topics to discover.
I've noticed it when talking about our Equinox labyrinth walk with people in my neighborhood and even with friends, that to a lot of people this seems very strange, odd and even uncomfortable.
So maybe a little history could help us realize that labyrinths have been around for a long, long time...

*************************************************************************** 

Labyrinths and mazes

"Mazes are places where one gets lost
Labyrinths are places where one is found..."


Mazes and a range of labyrinth designs are found all around the world in many cultures and civilizations. They are found carved in rock, ceramics, clay tablets, mosaics, manuscripts, stone patterns, turf, hedges, and cathedral pavements. The earliest known designs are about 3000 years old. The significance of them for the various cultures they were part of and the story of how they developed from one place to another (or simultaneously appeared in several) is often mysterious and hard to fathom. The most ancient and widespread design looks complicated but can be drawn quite easily if you know the method.

7-Fold Cretan Labyrinth

The labyrinth has since ancient times been associated with the legend of the Minotaur, the monster half-man half-bull which dwelt in the heart of a labyrinth on the island of Crete. Theseus was able to get to the centre of the labyrinth, slay the Minotaur and find his way out again by following the thread he had trailed behind him on the way in. But the story has caused confusion ever since, because clearly the Minotaur's lair was a maze that you could get lost in, whereas a labyrinth, however confusing it looks, has only one twisting path that weaves its way to the centre and back out again. There is only one entrance and exit, no dead ends, and no crossing of paths with a choice of which way to turn. 

Cathedral Labyrinths

The Romans adapted the ancient labyrinth symbol as a decorative floor pattern, and the Christian artists and thinkers of early medieval times developed the Roman pattern into a new and beautiful form which was used as a feature in many medieval cathedrals. It was marked out on the floor in coloured stone or tiles and usually between 10 and 40 feet in diameter. A range of designs were explored, but the pattern used at Chartres Cathedral in northern France is the archetype and perfection of all medieval labyrinths

Chartres Cathedral, about 1750, Jean Baptiste Rigaud

The best known example of a labyrinth is embedded in the stone pavement of Chartres Cathedral near Paris. The Middle Ages was a time of pilgrimages. Since most people could not make the grand pilgrimage to Jerusalem, considered by Christians to be the center of the world, and symbolizing the Kingdom of Heaven, they would make pilgrimages to important cathedrals such as Canterbury, Santiago de Compostella and Chartres. Once there, they would end their pilgrimage by walking the labyrinth to the center, and then slowly retracing their steps to regain the 'outside world' and return to their homes.  People believed that if you walked the labyrinth with the full dedication of a pilgrim, you would be transformed, the old you will be grounded at the threshold stone a purified you emerging, ready to tackle new directions in your life's journey. The new Cathedral labyrinth patterns were all laid out according to the same basic pattern twelve rings that enclose a meandering path which slowly leads to a center rosette. The path makes 28 loops, seven on left side toward the center, then seven on the right side toward the center, followed by seven on the left side toward the outside, and finally seven on the right side toward the outside terminating in a short strait path to the rosette. Like all cathedral labyrinths, it draws upon the ancient northern Celtic, middle eastern, and Classical Greek and Roman origins of the Christian faith. The Medieval builders were careful to incorporate their understanding of sacred architecture into the design and location of the labyrinths, which were usually placed near the entrance at the west end of the nave, beside the baptismal font at the foot of the Church. This location symbolizes our first steps on the spiritual journey.

Modern Labyrinths
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the labyrinth symbol, which has inspired a revival in labyrinth building, notably at Willen Park, Milton Keynes; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; Tapton Park, Chesterfield; and the Labyrinthe de Harbor 16 in Montreal. Countless computer games depict mazes and labyrinths, e.g. the Lara Croft series. On bobsled, luge, and skeleton tracks, a labyrinth is where there are three to four curves in succession without a straight line in between any of the turns.

     ******************************************************************************************

In the summer of 2012 I visited Chartres Cathedral together with my family. It was wonderful to be there, walk there, contemplate there and to be still...
Unfortunately the labyrinth was covered with chairs. We learned that the labyrinth walk is only open once a month to the public. But to be there in that sacred space was a blessing in itself!

Next time I will focus on the 'Man in the Maze' labyrinth of the Hopi Indians and the labyrinths in Arizona.



 

Equinox Labyrinth walk March 20, 2013

'Solvitur ambulando'
St. Augustine


'It is solved by walking'...
This is a reflection on the first Labyrinth walk offered by Interfaith CommUNITY of Mesa, AZ and myself as facilitator.
The walk was hosted by the Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park on E. Broadway Road in Mesa, AZ. They have a beautiful Chartres labyrinth right next to the Memorial Garden. They provided a room for us for starting and closing ceremonies, folding chairs at the labyrinth to wait for eachother and offered light refreshments as well! How wonderful!

We walked with 14 people. Some people signed up in advance and had to cancel due to life circumstances and some people signed up the night before and some the same morning and other people just showed up. And it was All Good!

What people have shared after our walk gave a beautiful insight in everyone's place in the Labyrinth of Life.

*One person had found more clarity about whether to stay in the Valley or to move back home (because she heard me say when she was doing the finger labyrinth "oh, you're back too soon' and that became relevant to her question),
*one said she was comforted by walking with so many others,
*one said she had walked the labyrinth many times in grieving about her mother but she felt more light and joyeous this time,
*one said 'because of the sand in my sandels I took them off and then wanted them on because all of a sudden I realized 'I do not have to suffer' and being brought up in a Catholic Church that was really imprinted in my thinking, that I have to suffer first before I can enjoy!
*one said she felt very loved in the labyrinth
*one said she had 5 relatives on the premises amongst them 2 of her sons and she invited them all to walk with her. But then she said 'it became to crowded, I felt to enclosed, so I thanked them and said they better go now...'
*one said that this was really a special day for her since on this exact day her husband passed away and she always spend the day in rememberance of him for more than 30 years now.

Personal reflections

I am very greatfull about our labyrinth experience yesterday having it as a group. Seeing all of you walking the labyrinth was a great delight and very touching. Knowing that All is Well and that everyone is on his or her own journey in such different ways but that we're all connected by being fellow travellers through Life, has opened up so much Gratitude and Joy...

And for me it is the deep knowing and the confirmation that my ministery is about 'walking around'. That's what I always said and believed to be true for me: I do not need to establish a church in a certain place or time, my ministery is 'a Walking Around Ministery of Love, Light and Laughter'. That's what I said in my ordination 'speech', I can hear my self say it.

At that time I had no idea how that would work out, but I was sure it would be great!

And now it has come True and I was realy laughing out loud this morning when it dawned to me that by facilitating labyrinth walks I was exactly doing that! Both in a spiritual and physical form: walking around...

Talking about that our words have Power!

'Chronos and Kairos"
In preparing for this Labyrinth walk I came upon a phenomona that was already familiair to me but came ALIVE this time for me. I read it with new eyes, with 'magic eyes' so to speak. Isn't that amazing that some many things are outhere already -ALL ready- for us but that we only see them when we have the right eyes to see them... For me every time that happens it brings back the rememberance of the true meaning of the sayings of the little Prince, a book by the French writer Antoine de Saint Excupery, in wich he says: "the realy true things you can only 'see' with your heart"...
What came alive to me was the fact that the ancient Greek used two words for the measurement of 'time': 'Chronos' and 'Kairos'. And where 'Chronos' is know for it's lineair, numeric time (look at 'chronologicly' for instance) 'Kairos' is the other aspect of time, a more qualitative, instinctive, intuitive aspect. It is defenitely a right brain activity where the Chronos aspect is a defenite left brain activity.
Wow!
Connecting to the Labyrinth now it means for me that the walking time in the Labyrinth is Kairos time. It is a time to appreciate our intentions and choices of spending our time. It gives us the opportunity to transcend numeric time and it opens us up to another zone where we can connect to the Divine.

The Vernal Equinox
In the Vernal or Easter Equinox the sun stands right above the equator, which means that there is perfect balance between day and night. The sun enters into the sign of Arius and sunlight becomes equal with the dark growing into dominance entering the Summer solstice. At this time we begin a new solar round an this is the time to plant new seeds and set new intentions that are expected to bear fruit sometime in the near future.
But it is complicated. The keyword here is Balance! 

5 parts of walking the Labyrinth
1 preparation
drop your physical baggage (at first I was reading accidentely 'carbage' ha ha) like key chains, car keys, cell phones, watches (Chronos) or other noisy items
2 letting go
letting go of the daily activities and circulating thought in your life
the walk in is a time of letting go of your burdens and give them to God
3 illumination
the center offers itself as a place of meditation and prayer. In the center you simply receive what is there for you. Relax and wait for whatever 'comes to your mind'. Allow God to speak to you.
4 union
during the illumination you are deeply aware of God's touch and presence. On your way out you have time to think about God's power and Presence. It is the walk out that helps you to empower you and feel His direction in your life.
5 implementation
this represents your live outside of the labyrinth. It is the place where your Insight is carried out and effects your daily live.

For the closing ceremony I chose a song by Susan Boyle 'I AM who I was born to be..'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6AgxgPt6dE

and a poem by C.S. Lewis:

“It may be hard for an egg

 to turn into a bird: it would
 be a jolly sight harder for a bird
 to learn to fly while remaining an egg.
  We are like eggs at present. 
 And you cannot go on indefinitely
  Being  just an ordinary, decent egg.
We must be hatched  or go bad.”

And as Susan Boyle is singing:
....And so here am I
open arms and ready to stand
I've got the world in my hands
and it feels like my turn to fly...

Let's go fly....