b________
Feature
Quiet the mind, open the heart, look within
WEdNEsdAy, ApRil 19, 2000
MEGAN OLDENSTADT
Managing Editor
The ClAckAMAs P rint
Class, people who had studied the
labyrinth and who knew each
other. Secondly, as open as I am
to spiritual practices, I couldn’t
see how walking around a giant
circle could really do anything for
me.
The room is dimly lit. Music is
softly playing in the background,
but drowned out by my concentra
tion. I am focusing on a white path
outlined in royal purple. Trying
It is amazing what a little re
to put one foot in front of the other, flection can do. People were en
to keep my legs moving although I couraged after the walk to write;
feel wobbly. I am slightly uncom
write about what they felt, what
fortable, in a room full of people I they thought about and the whole
have never met or barely know, i
experience. It was peaceful and
Try to be small, so as to not in
relaxing. You are away from out
trude into others' space.
side distractions and are able to
look inside your self and focus
The labyrinth I walk on is 30’ in
on you.
diameter and a unicursal (one
path) design. There are no tricks,'
I soon figured out
or decisions to make. I just follow why I had gotten so
the path. I start to get dizzy as I go
worried about
around a turn. Did I just make a
being on the
wrong path,
wrong turn? Oh no, am I still on
about tak
the right path? I keep walking,
unsure if I took a wrong step.
ing
the
I have to be careful when walk
wrong
ing by someone on a different part turn on
of the pathway. We both slightly the laby
rinth. In
turn, politely avoiding each other,
and carry on with our walking
my life, I
meditation.
am at a
It sterns like an eternity, but I cross-
soon arrive in the center of the
road of
decisions-
labyrinth. “The six, ” or.petal ro
where
I
sette, is a place for quiet medita
tion where you can sit, relax and want to go in
my life, and if I
meditate. I then return to the walk.
There is only one pathway to
am traveling in
wards and away from the center,
the right direc
tion. The labyrinth
so I have to step around people
who are making their way the op
allowed me to see this.
posite direction. Once again I am
I was able to escape from
walking the winding path that is
my everyday distractions in life
often referred to as a mirror for the and focus on what has been look
twists, turns and passages of life.
ing me in the face for quite some
Once out of the labyrinth, I put time.
my shoes on and go sit for awhile,
The Labyrinth, which was on
observing others and reflecting on
campus April 13-15, is an ancient
my experience.
spiritual tool that has been used
I was a little apprehensive go
in many cultures and faith tradi
ing on the walk in the first place.
tions around the world.
First of all, I was joining Social
Briare first brought the Laby
Science Instructor Bill Briare’s
rinth to campus last year as a way
Honors Comparative Religion
to allow students and community
members to experience this nonde-
nominational tools powers.
Jan Jonnson, certified labyrinth
facilitator and modem dance in
structor at Clackamas, has been
providing workshops, retreats and
seminars and introducing people
to this particular Veriditas laby
rinth for more than three years.
One of the 200 facilitators (world
wide) trained under the guidance
of Dr. Lauren Artress. Jonnson has
stayed within Oregon with her
"sanctuary for the arts"
labyrinth.
Some of the earliest forms of laby
rinths are found in Greece, dating
back to2500-2000B.C.E. TheChartes
design, a classical, eleven-circuit
labyrinth (eleven concentric circles),
with the twelfth being the center, is
the design brought to Clackamas.
It originates from the thirteenth
century where it was laid into the
cathedral floor at Chartres in Paris,
France.
Around 500 years ago, it is
speculated the scientific revolution
of the time caused the labyrinth to
fall out of use. The great Chartes
floor was covered with chairs and
pews, and the labyrinth was out of
sight, and in a way out of mind.
Around ten years ago, Reverend
Doctor Lauren Artress brought it
back to life. She is the creator of
the Labyrinth Project and fa
ounder of Veriditas, the World
Wide Labyrinth Project.
Labyrinths are now found in hos
pitals, prisons, churches, air
ports, parks, community
spaces, retreats, and
seminars; and in
people's back
yards around
the world.
Laby
rinths and
mazes have
often been
confused.
When
people hear
the word
“labyrinth,
they often
think of a
maze. A laby
rinth is not a
maze. A maze is
like a puzzle to be
solved- it has twists,
turns and dead ends; the
purpose is to trick you. It is a
left brain activity that requires logi
cal, analytical, sequential activity
to find the correct path. A laby
rinth is a right brain task that has
only one path. The way in is the
way out. It involves intuition, cre
ativity and imagery.
I am glad I walked the labyrinth.
It is an experience that I never ex
pected, that I am grateful for, and
that I hope others get to experi
ence as well.
LOCAL PUBLIC LABYRINTHS
MARYLHURST COLLEGE
Liturgical Sacred Art Center
17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43)
Marylhurst, OR
800.634.9982 ext. 6259
contact: Melissa Coe
call for availability
type. Canvas, indoor, portable
SOPHIA CENTER
7732 SE 13th Ave.
Portland, OR
503.231.8123
contact: Gloria Chaney
open for scheduled events
type. Canvas, indoor, portable
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
147 NW 19th Ave.
Portland, OR
503.222.9811
contact: Sally Newlands
call for availability
type. Canvas, indoor, portable
To find a labyrinth close to you
go to Grace Cathedral's laby
rinth locator: www. grace
cathedral.org/labyrinth/loca-
tor/index.shtml
OTHER RESOURCES
♦ Jan Jonnson
inpower@teleport.com
503.635.6402
♦ www.gracecathedral.org
♦ www.lessons41iving.com/
labyrinth.htm
♦ Walking a Sacred Path
by: Lauren Artress
♦ Labyrinth in Culture and
Society
by: Jacques Attali
♦ Exploring the Labyrinth
by: Mellissa Gayle West
♦
Step by Step, How to
Introduce the Labyrinth
by: Georgiana Lofty
) Anne Pardington: making life transitions easier
_______
TAM OLIVER________
Staff Writer
Most Clackamas students don’t
know that there’s a class you can
take for credit, that comes with a
tuition waiver, and that has been
considered so valuable by some
that they have repeated it a few
years down the road.
“I don’t think there’s anyplace
else where you can take a look at
your whole life, your personal his
tory, your interests and values in
the same way as you do in this
class,” said Instructor and Coun
selor Anne Pardington about the
Life and Career Options Program.
Pardington knows what she’s
talking about. As the co-developer
of LCOP, as it’s fondly called by
students and graduates, she
knows you can have a job that fits
who you are. After all, that is how
LCOP was bom.
Seventeen
years
ago,
Pardington and another counselor,
Carol Strazer, were looking for a job
that would enable them to job share
because both still had children at
home. As this wasn’t the type of
arrangement you could find then
(or even now) in the help-wanted
section of the local newspaper, the
two of them started going out to
talk to people, looking for ideas.
When they arrived at Clackamas
County Women’s Center, they were
told of federal money available
through the Jobs Appropriations
Act. They needed to come up with
a plan and write a grant. If the grant
came through, they would be al
lowed to run their program out of
the Women’s Center.
In the early 1970’s, there were
many women who, through divorce
or other circumstances, suddenly
found themselves thrust into the
job market without any current job
skills. They needed a way to be
come employable. Pardington and
Strazer focused on their needs.
When the two women submit
ted their plan, the Clackamas
County Board of Commissioners
awarded them the money with
which to begin the Displaced
Homemakers’ Program.
“It’s one of those wonderful ex
amples of what networking can do
for you,” Pardington stated with a
twinkle in her eye.
Between 1983 and 1985, the Dis
placed Homemakers’ Program was
the only program available in the
state of Oregon for displaced
homemakers. Then in 1985, money
became available through the Carl
Perkins Vocational Education Act.
Ultimately, this led to the develop
ment of 17 programs throughout
Oregon.
“People starting up new pro
grams would come to us and ask,
‘How are you doing this? We need
to do it too,”’ recalled Pardington.
Today, 15 years after the pro
gram moved to Clackamas Com
munity College, networking, or
talking to people, is just one of
the many techniques taught in
what is now the Life and Career Op
tions Program. It has grown from a
program designed for displaced
homemakers into a program for
anyone in a life or career transition.
This includes people displaced
from their jobs or desiring differ
ent careers, students on the verge
MIKE POLLOCK / Clackamas Print
Anne Pardington founded the Life and Career Options program,
which has grown from a program for displaced homemakers into
a program for anyone in a life or career transition.
of college graduation who want the
best shot at the job market, and
men as well as women.
Pardington is visibly proud of
LCOP and her students, many of
whom have turned their lives
around after graduating from the
program.
“Now we are beginning to see
children of people that took the
class in the 80’s,” she said, laugh
ing.
Life and Career Options is a six
or seven-credit class depending on
whether you take it during the day
or at evening. It is taught on cam
pus at the Family Resource Center
(FRC);for more information about
this life-changing program, call 657-
6958 ext. 2526.