The keynote speakers, Sig Lonegren, Jim Buchanan, and the Turning Point group  Zara Renander, Kerry Holder-Joffrion, and Ray Bennett, offered very different views on liminal space. Sig’s autobiographical tour began with growing up dyslexic and took us, spellbound, through the theory and experience of archaeo-astronomy, sacred geometry, and the earth energies, with stops on the way for dowsing, Greek and Roman theology, and liminal portals all over the world and throughout consciousness itself. Jim Buchanan’s presentation was an overview of his creative process throughout his career, starting with a definition of liminal as “relating to the point or threshold beyond which sensation becomes too faint to be experienced.” Using sensation as the thread and focusing in design on the walker’s experience, he took us through a “sketchbook” of ideas, including warming up with a page of 3-circuit drawings, designing walks rather than installing walls, “drawing as thinking” and as “continuous movement” with no apparent start or finish, the challenges of working on the beach, radius as body height, breathing and walking, working with the emWave, a biofeedback tool registering heart coherence, its impact on his designs in sand, the horizon as porous and elusive. It was both beautiful and fascinating. 

A very different, terrible beauty unfolded in the Turning Point presentation, a scripted “conversation” amongst the three Christian ministers on the use of the Labyrinth as Honor Walk in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in American veterans, that opened with an image of a labyrinth set up by the group beneath the looming bulk of the Space Shuttle Pathfinder for a Veterans Day walk, and accompanied by a jarring quasi-military soundtrack reminiscent of Tom Waits. Predicated on the idea that PTSD is a disorder of identity rather than anxiety, the team uses the labyrinth as a mythic container within which to unpack and reframe the experience of the troubled veterans, for whom the suicide rate is 32% (to say nothing of the violence, homelessness, and addiction rates in the remaining 68%). Powerful in content, extensively researched and grounded in myth and depth psychology, admirably professional in its delivery, the experience for the audience was memorable, moving, and deeply troubling, especially for those who question the wisdom and morality of US foreign policy and militarism. That a TLS Gathering hosted such a controversial event can be taken as a sign of our organisation’s maturity. We are currently in dialogue with Turning Point about ways in which to connect with and support one another, and will keep our members posted about this important opening for our work in the world.   

Shifting now to other ways to work in the world, amongst the many memorable moments of this year’s Gathering was a public contribution to the Spanish DVD Translation Campaign. Hallie Sawyers, Director of Outreach and godmother of the project, tells us what this means:

Thanks to José F Cuesta who gave a very generous donation and moving speech at The Gathering about the need for a Spanish translation of the TLS DVD. He spoke first in Spanish with images in the background of his work with labyrinths in Colombia. The audience was mostly English speaking. I found myself confused, interested, and frustrated while I wondered what he was saying. I realized this is the exact experience most Spanish speaking people must have of our current DVD which is only available in English. José ended his speech with an English translation and offered a very generous amount toward the Spanish translation project which was donated by his Colombian friends and labyrinth enthusiasts. It was a very powerful way to make the point. THANK YOU JOSÉ!

Finally, if you couldn’t make it to Delray Beach this year, there are many collections of wonderfully evocative images, (including Warren Lynn’s Drone-enabled photography!) accessible especially easily through the TLS Facebook Gathering page and Lars’ Gathering album. The Gatherings truly are the heart and highlight of the TLS experience, and the Gathering team goes to great lengths to make each one unique, accessible, enjoyable, and filled with warm memories.

See you at next year’s Gathering, “Branching Out”, October 16-18, in Waycross, Indiana!