Photo: The Bahamas Weekly
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Freeport, Bahamas - On Friday, January
22, 2010 an OPEN LABYRINTH WALK will be held at the Grand Bahama
Labyrinth in the Garden of the Groves between the hours of 4 and 7 pm.
Persons are encouraged to offer a monetary donation at the labyrinth to the
Bahamas Red Cross for Haitian Earthquake Recovery. All Labyrinth Donations received during
the month of January will be sent to the Bahamas Red Cross for Haitian Earthquake
Recovery.
The walk will be facilitated
by Barbara Chester, qualified Labyrinth Facilitator who was trained
by Dr. Lauren Artress, author of Walking a Sacred Path and founder of
the Veriditas organization. Barbara will be present to offer insight
into the sacred tool, to answer questions and provide illumination about
labyrinth history, perceptions and meaning.
Labyrinth facilitators
around the world will be hosting labyrinth walks on January 22nd as
an opportunity to provide healing for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.
Events are
planned throughout
the United States and also in Canada, South Africa, Japan and the Netherlands.
Formation
of the Global Healing response.
The Global Healing
Response (GHR) was introduced to a network of worldwide labyrinth facilitators
on August 9, 2005 by Ellen Bintz Meuch, Certified Labyrinth Facilitator.
It is a Veriditas (www.veriditas.net) sponsored program. The GHR is
a simple plan using the labyrinth in a unified response to promote stress
management, grief integration and healing in case of an emergency or
disaster from any force. The intent was to create a plan with
clarity and vision before a disaster occurs rather than when everyone
is distressed. The GHR was first implemented in response to Hurricane
Katrina on October 15, 2005.
History
and Benefits of the labyrinth:
Labyrinth can be found
all over the globe. Various religious traditions—both ancient
and contemporary—have used them as tools for prayer, introspection,
clarity and peace. The Christian tradition is no exception.
Inlaid into the floor of the Chartres Cathedral (1220AD) in France was
placed a 42 foot, 11 circuit labyrinth. Pilgrims would walk the
labyrinth as an expression of faith, as a path to life, hope and newness.
The ancients said, “Salvator Ambulando” which translates, “It
is solved by walking.”
Many different styles
and formats of labyrinths will be used on January 22nd —
permanent, portable; outdoor, indoor; large, small. Labyrinths
are currently being used world-wide as a way to quiet the mind, find
balance, and encourage meditation, insight and celebration. They are
open to all people as a non-denominational, cross-cultural tool of well-being.
They can be found in medical centers, parks, churches, schools, prisons,
memorial parks and retreat centers as well as in people's backyards.
(For more information about labyrinths visit www.veriditas.net)
It is our hope that
the unified power of healing will be felt by people all over the world
on January 22nd.
Grand Bahama Labyrinth
Garden of the Groves
Grand Bahama Island
242. 374 7778 / 9
Sponsored by
the G.B.Labyrinth Committee & the Garden of the Groves
www.GrandBahamaLabyrinth.com
The G. B. Labyrinth is open daily for
Prayer Walks during Garden of the Groves open hours.
