Poster Presentations from 2023

WHILE THE "CALL" FOR 2024 POSTER PRESENTATIONS IS CURRENTLY OPEN, please review below the poster presentations that were offered at the 2023 Gathering

Labyrinths in Wonderland: An Exploration of “Labyrinth Clusters”
Presenter: Tom Vetter
Explore a new, mind-boggling labyrinth category, which the presenter calls "Labyrinth Clusters."  A Labyrinth Cluster is a finite (but generally huge) collection of labyrinth variations derived from a shared "gene pool" using a simple set of rules. The presenter will share how he discovered them, how to design them, and how to access them in cyberspace.

Tom Vetter has been designing and building unique temporary labyrinths for over 15 years, as well as hosting labyrinth events at Spirit United Church in the Twin Cities. He is interested in the psychological dynamics of the labyrinth experience, particularly from the perspectives of Imagination and Identity. He is currently honing his computer programming skills to explore new labyrinth territory and to create new labyrinth experiences. He welcomes your insights and questions.

From Paris to Chartres: Revitalizing an Ancient Pilgrimage Path
Presenters: Lisa Gidlow Moriarty and MJ McGregor
This poster presentation features the centuries-old walking pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres in France. The pilgrimage has been recently revitalized and since 2013 small groups of women have experienced the ancient paths and engaged on a spiritual journey of sole and soul. Come along on a journey of images and stories culminating at the pavement labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral.

MJ McGregor was introduced to a mowed Chartres labyrinth in 1998 that captured her heart. In 2003, she walked the stone labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral that changed her life. Since 2008, MJ has presented retreats and pilgrimages in Chartres, where she and her husband seasonally reside in their 15th century pied-a-terre. As part of the cathedral hospitality team, she welcomes individuals from around the world to the labyrinth. Each fall, she and Lisa Moriarty co-guide a walking pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres. MJ facilitated a monthly “Walking in Harmony” for a decade at Wisdom Ways Spirituality Center, St. Paul, MN.

Lisa Gidlow Moriarty is an artist, master labyrinth maker, Veriditas Advanced facilitator, and TLS past president. As the owner of Paths of Peace, Lisa has designed and installed labyrinths professionally for over 20 years, making hundreds of labyrinths, from canvas portables to permanent concrete installations. On her website, she sells exquisitely detailed Chartres replica finger labyrinths and other designs in wood, metal and jewelry. Lisa leads labyrinth making workshops, tours, and spiritual pilgrimages to international sacred sites, including an annual women's walking pilgrimage to Chartres, France. She has a passion for leading others on the creative journey.

Labyrinths as Images of the Cosmos
Presenter: Lilan Laishley
Labyrinths as Images of the Cosmos is a beautiful poster that illustrates how rituals performed on the labyrinth are diverse and inclusive. It has images and descriptions of 10 pluralistic beliefs and practices referred to as ‘sacred cosmos’ since they expand beyond the confines of institutional religion including: Greco-Roman, Judaism, Christianity, Native American, Christian Hermeticism, Buddhism, Astrology, and Hinduism.

Dr. Lilan Laishley blends psychology and spirituality with a background in academic study and a long history in the healing arts. With a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, she is a university professor who traveled the world investigating sacred sites and teaching religion. She is a specialist in the use of symbol and ritual across diverse spiritual and religious systems. She is a founding member and former Director of Research of The Labyrinth Society and author of Religious Diversity on the Labyrinth: Rituals that Engage a Sacred Cosmos. For 40 years she is also a consulting and teaching Astrologer.

Developing a Continuous Scale for Assessing the Labyrinth Experience
Presenters: Melissa Powers, Nishra Patel, Colin Gaston
This poster presentation will describe the development of a revised version of the Labyrinth Walk Questionnaire (Rhodes, 2007; Rhodes, 2019) which allows for description of the labyrinth experience using a continuous data scale.

Melissa Powers, Ph.D., is Professor of Kinesiology & Health Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is a Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator and serves as the Campus Labyrinth Coordinator. Melissa has collaborated with students to conduct research on the labyrinth and uses the labyrinth as a tool for reflective learning in her physical activity and aging courses.

Nishra Patel is a graduate of the Wellness Management – Exercise Science program at the University of Central Oklahoma. She has served as a graduate research assistant on an internally funded labyrinth research project.

Colin Gaston is a senior in the Exercise Fitness Management program at the University of Central Oklahoma. He completed Veriditas Student Labyrinth Guide Training and has served as a research assistant on an internally funded labyrinth research project.
 

A Labor of Love: A Personal Journey of Building a Walking Labyrinth
Presenter: Barbara Rowe
Building a walking labyrinth as a personal retreat or garden space need not be an overwhelming challenge. Using naturally available rocks, solid planning, and lots of hard work, this is an example of how constructing a labyrinth on your own property can become a reality which will be enjoyed in the present and by future generations. When a space speaks to you, listen intently and manifest your vision for a walking labyrinth. 

Barbara Rowe is a retired higher education professional who has been an amateur labyrinth aficionado for the past 20 years. She, her husband and labrador retriever live in Lexington, Virginia and have a cabin in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina where she recently constructed her seven-circuit walking labyrinth. She enjoys painting, sewing, gardening, thrifting, collecting rocks, and spiritual retreats.  
 

CHARTres 4 PEACE Contemplative LAByrinth prActivism ™ & TRANSITus LABwork ™
Presenter: Sheila Scotese Spremulli
CHARTres 4 PEACE TRANSITus LAByrinth ™ is a visual metaphor for the “inner shaping tendencies” (Thomas Berry) of human embryogenesis and birth. TRANSITus LABwork ™, a subtle form of inner Labyrinth Activism, curates and cultivates these innately intelligent tendencies to inform adult spiritual development and foster the greening of the “ecological self” [that] is in, and of, nature from the very beginning of ourselves”
(Arne Naess).

Sheila Spremulli BA blends her experience as an Obstetrical Nurse and DONA Birth Doula with certifications in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Ecotherapy, EcoSpiritual Direction, and Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitation. She discovered the CHARTres 4 PEACE LAByrinth ™ puzzle, and its variant, The Rhyming Spirals, by deconstructing the 11-circuit labyrinth in 2015. In early 2023, she reconfigured four of the puzzle pieces to create the TRANSITus LAByrinth ™ . She uses all of them as contemplative learning tools in her work as an APPPAH certified Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology Educator. Her article, The CHARTres 4 PEACE LAByrinth™ was published in Labyrinth Pathways (13), 2019 and is a member of the Labyrinth Activism
Network.