Quarantine Labyrinth 
"The Labyrinth is a spiritual tool that has many applications in various settings.
It reduces stress, quiets the mind and opens the heart.
It is a walking meditation, a path of prayer, and a blue-print where psyche meets Spirit."
Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress

World Labyrinth Day is always held on the first Saturday of May. This year, that is the very first day of the month, offering a chance for people to discover how labyrinth work is adapting to the public health situation.
Working with labyrinths is always about connecting with well-being and insight and blessings, and there are no circumstances would a labyrinth walk go forward if the walkers were at risk. As a result, the activities that were usual and predictable in 2019 have been altered, remade, or entirely replaced with alternatives.

Walking a labyrinth path has always been quiet and contemplative, it has also very often been a group event. Stepping along a winding path where others were also following the turns and corners meant that sometimes we walked side by side in the same direction, or met and passed each other in close proximity. This is not currently a safe practice, and facilitators all over the world are discovering and creating alternative methods for interaction with the labyrinths we are dedicated to share.
I was called to the labyrinth in 2008. I was fortunate to be able to walk indoor as well as outdoor paths. With the zeal of the new convert, I also purchased several table-top labyrinths. These were an auxiliary resource, a way I could bring the experience to people who had mobility challenges or were simply unwilling. I found that the small paths were used by walkers who had completed the walking path, and wanted to extend their relationship with the winding movements and the energy flow by using their hands.
Table-top labyrinths also offer the opportunity to feel the energy of many different patterns in a small space and a short time. Hand-held versions enhanced and expanded the walk, while remaining optional, and very much secondary.

Using the fingers to trace a labyrinth path is a solitary activity. While groups of people could walk a full-sized path together and learn from their interactions and responses to others, those using the small version were alone, often choosing to sit with their backs to other activity, focussing closely on what they were doing.

Safety measures to protect people from COVID19 have brought hand-held labyrinths to the centre of practice.
Even people with easy access to outdoor public labyrinths had their solo walks prevented by Stay-Home orders. Only the fortunate few with a path on their own property were able to walk a path with inhabitants of their domestic-social-bubble. 
Meanwhile, Veriditas, Home of the Labyrinth movement and source of worldwide community support and education about Labyrinths was at work encouraging and inspiring a new way to practice.
The hand-held labyrinth, previously a solitary and quiet practice to supplement walking a path in a garden, a church, a park, or in an institutional setting became the centre of a well-populated global Zoom community which now meets every week. 

Each participant brings a hand-held labyrinth which they then use in their own location. Each week a host shares an inspiration or introduces a theme, directing the energetic flow that embraces every attendee. 
Slowing down was always a part of walking a labyrinth. Being quiet and calm in the meandering path interrupted the business of life. 

Labyrinth walks have entered into our kitchens and living rooms and comfy chairs where using a small path requires a deep commitment to being Here, Now. The traditional necessity of emotional and mental labour in the household and especially in the solitude of quarantine is brought into full focus by this new practice.  
These online gatherings, which would have been inconceivable five years ago, are a pandemic gift. Necessity mothered this invention and has birthed strengthened relationships across astonishing geographies and time-zones while forging new appreciation of the power of the labyrinth.  

There are many aspects to my work which can help you to focus your activities and enjoy the expansion that 2021 supports. 
I have been practising Numerology since the 1980s, I was certified as a Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator in 2012, and created The Wisdom of the Garden Path in 2019. I bring to each session whichever modality best suits the circumstances.
We can meet in FaceTime, FaceBookVideo, Zoom or on the telephone. start the process by getting in touch here.  
Check out my FaceBook Live on Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern on the Exploring Paths to Cosmic Wisdom FaceBook Page