"When self-reflection, gardening, forging community, walking labyrinths and just pure beauty come together, you are soul-making." -Lauren Artes, author
"The healing power of nature - so important to physical, mental, and spiritual well-being and so undervalued in comtemporary medicine - is the central theme of how people everywhere can work to create public greenspaces that soothe and refresh and help heal communities and the world." -Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D.
"The Therapeutic Landscapes Network provides information, education, and inspiriation about landscapes for health - healing gardens and other spaces that foster health and wellness through contact with nature. We are a resources and virtual gathering space where people can obtain and share information, inspire each other, and collaborate to design, build, fund, study, and benefit from therapeutic landscapes."
More information can be found at HealingLandscapes.org
"TKF Foundation is a private grant-making foundation whose purpose is to create "open spaces, sacred places". It partners with organizations to create sacred places which increase a sense of community and contribute to a deepening of human connections. These sacred places foster the development of human spirituality and are open and accessible to people of all beliefs, faiths, and cultures."
More information can be found at tkffndorg
"The Labyrinth Society is an international organization whose mission is to support all those who create, maintain, and use labyrinths and to serve the global community by providing education, networking, and opportunities to experience transformation."
More information can be found at thelabyrinthsociety.org
"Open Spaces, Sacred Places is a book that dramatically demonstrates how nature has the power to heal and unify in our increasingly frenetic 21st century world. It is a series of inspirational stories told through the voices of "Firesouls", those passionate and persistent people who have brought communities together to create public areas of respite.
The book depicts a wide variety of sacred places, including a meditation garden inside the walls of a prison, a sculpture garden built by at-risk youth in the inner city, and a theapeutic healing garden at a rehabilition hospital These public green spaces are places of peace and refreshment, where people can tap into their own deep wisdom and find an antidote for the stressful, divisive, and isolating effects of life in today's complex world.
While each of hte profiled spaces has its own unique focus and character, they all have one common element - a bench with a journal attached where each visitor has the opportunity to anonymously reveal provate thoughts and feelings. The journal entries, collected over 12 years, reinforce the essential human need to take time out in nature. Open Spaces, Sacred Places presents a sampling of these entries along with more than 150 beautiful photographed images that bring these spaces to life."
More information can be found at openspacessacredplaces.org
The labyrinth is an archetype, a divind imprint, found in all religious traditions in various forms around the world. By walking a replica of the Chartres labyrinth, laid in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France around 1220, we are rediscovering a long-forgotten mystical tradition that is insisting to be reborn.
The labyrinth has only one path so there are no tricks to it and no dead ends. The path winds throughout and becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives. It touches our sorrows and releases our joys. Walk it with an open mind and open heart.
There three stages of the walk:
Purgation (Releasing) - A releasing, a letting go of the details of your life. This is an act of shedding thoughts and distractions. A time to open the heart and quiet the mind.
Illumination (Receiving) - When you reach the center, stay there as long as you like. It is a place of meditation and prayer. Receive what is there for you to receive.
Union (Returning) - As you leave, following the same path out of the center as you came in, you enter the third stage, which is joining God, your Higher Power, or the healing forces at work in the world. Each time you walk the labyrinth you become more empowered to find and do the work you feel your soul is reaching for.
Guidelines for the Walk - Quiet your mind and become aware of your breath. Allow yourself to find the pace your body wants to go. The path is two ways. Those going in will meet those coming out. You may "pass" people or let others step around you. Do whatever feels natural.
(Information provided by the St. Charles Episcopal Church in St. Charles, Illinois)
To find a labyrinth near your, go to thelabyrinthsociety.org
If you would like to contribute something to this page, please mail or email your information to:
Companions in Hope
P. O. Box 638
Geneva, Illinois 60134
mail@companionsinhope.com
Thank you for your interest and participation.