Lauren Artress is an Episcopal priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and the founder of Veriditas, the Worldwide Labyrinth Project. This boxed kit contains an eighty-page paperback, a bag of sand, two labyrinth patterns, and a wooden box. The sand labyrinth can be used in the home or office, especially in times of stress or periods of decision-making. The act of tracing the labyrinth with your finger through a fine layer of sand helps you tap into your intuition and draws you into a clam, meditative state.
Artress, the author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool, encourages users to experiment with the two labyrinth patterns for different needs. The classical seven-circuit one, with its broad sweeping turns, tends to create a relaxed, extroverted state of mind. The eleven-circuit medieval labyrinth takes you through many more turns, in both directions, before you reach the center. It tends to leave people in a more introverted and reflective state.
Artress suggests that it may be helpful for practitioners to think of the labyrinth experience as having three phases releasing, receiving, and returning. The author, who also teaches an annual month-long program at the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral in France, presents five spiritually rich sections on specific uses of this ritual. They are: allowing healing into your life, creativity as a spiritual practice, discovering your soul assignment, awakening self-knowledge, and experiences on the path. Each section includes a fine selection of quotations for reflection. Artress concludes: "Whether walked or traced in sand, the labyrinth pattern is a powerful tool for reflection, meditation, realignment, and a deeper knowledge of self."