The Santa Rosa Labyrinth Comes to Earth
MAY 23, 2018
Moving From Paper to the Earth
On May 23rd, 1997, the Santa Rosa Labyrinth went from paper to the ground for the very first time and became a physical place to enter into the heart of discovery.
Photo by Marilyn Larson
A mutual friend said that the two of us should meet and share our fascination with labyrinths. And so we did. It was a Memorial Day weekend that Marilyn Larson and myself made our way to the parking lot of the Salmon Creek Beach in Northern California. Walking silently through the dunes, after introducing ourselves to each other, we emerged onto the beach. It should have been crowded with people, but instead, it was as if an invisibility cloak had spread around and over us and we had the beach and water to ourselves.
I took out the piece of paper that held a copy of the then-nameless labyrinth design that had come through me but two months before. We began to draw the design in the sand as if our bodies were giant compasses or pencils.
Walking this new labyrinth for the first time was a thrill and filled me with a joyous excitement that I will never, ever forget. Our endeavors that day became an offering in the night when the ocean came and took the design that we had placed there earlier that day. It was also to be an initiation of our friendship that deepened and turned into many more labyrinthine adventures in the years to come.
Walking this new labyrinth for the first time was a thrill and filled me with a joyous excitement that I will never, ever forget. Our endeavors that day became an offering in the night when the ocean came and took the design that we had placed there earlier that day. It was also to be an initiation of our friendship that deepened and turned into many more labyrinthine adventures in the years to come.
View more

Labyrinths provide us with a path to practice change. Some labyrinths have withstood the passage of time for thousands of years. Others are here for just an afternoon, drawn in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Many modern labyrinths were meant to last for years, but because of unforeseen circumstances their time is shorter than intended. And they once again help us to practice letting go and giving thanks for the time they are with us. The Labyrinth of Life at the Sebastopol, California Teen Center reached such place of letting go and is at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter that is yet unknown.

Sometimes... a labyrinth can take years to become a physical reality. In 2018 I met with my friend Deb, to discuss her desire to have a labyrinth on the beautiful land she lives on. Despite our plans and several meetings, listening to the land and finding the right spot, the labyrinth did not come to fruition. Fast-forward five years and in the blink of an eye... it happened!