On Wednesday, August 24th, there was a beautiful sunset, the late summer rays peering through the western windows of the Large Seminar Room at Prana. Prana is an Italian-style mansion built in the early heyday of Los Angeles, an elegant lady primped and powdered for guests. There, forty or fifty participants gathered for a Blessings Workshop and Candlelight Labyrinth Walk, in the cool of the evening.
Prana, also known as Peace Labyrinth and Gardens, is an amazing environment right in the middle of the city, with fountains, hedges, tropical plantings, flowers, and all sorts of scents wafting on the air. The stone labyrinth in the mid-garden area was modeled on one in the Cathedral at Chartres, France, and the process of walking the labyrinth allows one to open to one’s own secret heart.
Before we went outside, however, we spent some time looking at our blessings, and also at those things in our lives that don’t appear to be blessings at first glance. We shared with each other about how we saw our blessings working, under the masterful guidance of facilitators Deborah Allen Siegel and Beth Hinman. Some were attending this Peace Theological Seminary class, and the Labyrinth Walk, for the first time, and it was amazing to watch their eyes and hearts begin to open to the Spirit that was so present.
After a short break (and after the sun was gone), we went out the back doors, down the rotunda steps, past the reflecting pool, and stood at the beginning stone of the labyrinth path. The lights of the city sparkled off in the distance. Kind assistants handed each participant a glass globe containing a lit candle, and one by one, we started our process. Some walked quickly, others slowly; some removed their shoes, some did not. The mood was hushed, reverent and sacred, as all glided silently across the patterns of the stones, each walking that deep inner path to True Knowledge. From a bench on the sidelines, it looked like dozens and dozens of fireflies interpreting a ballet of lights.
The evening came to a close with Urth Caff
