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Armenian Heritage Park NEWS

On the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Boston

Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston: Slated to be completed by Fall 2010 with a Labyrinth!

Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is slated to be completed by the Fall of 2010 reported Armenian Heritage Foundation President James M. Kalustian at a recent Board meeting. A gift to the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and recognized as one of the better designed parks, Armenian Heritage Park is consistent with one of the  themes of the Greenway: to acknowledge the history of Boston as a port of entry for immigrants worldwide and those who have migrated to our shores and contributed to the richness of American life and culture.

Armenian Heritage Park includes lawns, benches, fountains, shade trees as well as two key features, a labyrinth and sculpture, both to engage and delight children and adults. The Labyrinth, a circular winding path in grass and inlaid stone with a single jet of water at its center, is symbolic of life’s journey and in celebration of achievements in art, science, commerce and service.

“We are delighted that the labyrinth is such an integral part. The ancient pattern of the labyrinth has crossed time, cultures and religions throughout history and has become a universal metaphor of peace, harmony, contemplation and healing…an imaginative and creative device for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to engage one another…the labyrinth invites all expressions of faith and culture, and ethnicity to walk the path of diverse community together. It quite literally circumscribes common ground for all to

walk! The lessons are deep, but very obvious with every step we take: We are all on this path together. We may not walk at the same pace, and often we may feel like we are going in different directions, sometimes in step with each other, sometimes alone. But ultimately all of us are on the same path, and that path offers us all opportunities for reconciliation, wholeness and hope...”, comments Rev Kathleen Musser, Labyrinth Guild of New England

Visit www.ArmenianHeritagePark.net for further information.

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On Tuesday August 12th amid the gently falling raindrops, which we in new England have become accustomed to this summer, several members and about a dozen guests of the New England Labyrinth Guild gathered at the home of Tony Pelusi in Reading MA for a peaceful walk.  Beth Mace, president and one of the directors of the Guild welcomed all with a brief introduction on the history of the labyrinth.  Before commencing their walk everyone gathered around and shared in a reading honoring the power of the circle as told by Black Elk.

The walkers ranged in experience from first timers to those with some and others with extensive experience with the energy of labyrinth.  The peacefulness of the walk was enhanced by the sound of raindrops gently cascading onto the oak leaf canopy that covers most of the labyrinth.  After completing their walk several guest visited the altar that is also located on the property.  And thereafter all sat, communed, and shared about their experience before departing.

This labyrinth was constructed with the assistance of several guild members in the fall of 2005.  Tony chose to construct a seven circuit concentric design, which was lovingly placed in its serene location with the assistance of some intentional dowsing and intuition.  The special gift that this particular labyrinth brings with it is its power to transform the grass that originally covered its interior into a lush blanket of beautiful light green moss perfect for a barefoot walk!  The ample center of this labyrinth was graced with a bouquet of beautiful hyacinth and several gifts left behind by fellow travelers.

If you wish to walk this labyrinth you are invited to contact Tony @ 781.944.9449 and arrange a convenient time to do so.

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On July 13, The Labyrinth Guild of New England and the Center at Westwoods (www.centeratwestwoods.com).  hosted a Sunday afternoon labyrinth walk as part of world-wide Global Healing Response labyrinth walk for the victims of Myanmar and China.  Globally, more than 15 groups organized walks.  At Westwoods, there were 10 participants walking the beautiful outdoor labyrinth. There were a number of participants that serendipitously ended up focusing on the Lord’s prayer and the themes of “Give us our daily bread”, and “Deliver us from evil”.   There was a sense that we were walking and reciting the prayer in the same moments with others less fortunate and in great need.    This walk was the third in a series of global labyrinth walks dedicated to healing in response to global disasters. The Global Healing Response (GHR) was introduced to a network of worldwide labyrinth facilitators on August 9, 2005 by Ellen Bintz Meuch, Certified Labyrinth Facilitator.  GHR is a simple plan using the labyrinth in a unified response to promote stress management, grief integration and healing in case of an emergency or disaster from any force.  The intent was to create a plan with clarity and vision before a disaster occurs rather than when everyone is distressed.  The GHR was first implemented in response to Hurricane Katrina on October 15, 2005.  As Ellen says “Remember, never underestimate the power of the labyrinth AND healing energy!”

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Guild member, Christine Milner, Director of Faith Formation at St. Anne Parish, sent us the following account of the birth of their outdoor labyrinth:

On a frigid, gray day in February 2004 the parish secretary and I waited in the car while the director of the Labyrinth Guild of N.E., Tricia Kibbe, paced the 4 possible sites we had chosen to build a labyrinth of our own on our parish/shrine grounds. On the very last site, Tricia seemed to take an exceptionally long time and when she returned to the car, she asked us if anything else had ever been on that piece of ground. We told her that the site had been where the old St. Patrick Church had been moved to many years before, when the two parishes had merged. It had fallen into disrepair and was taken down, with some windows and furnishings saved for the present St. Patrick Chapel now housed on the shrine grounds. Tricia calmly said, "This has to be the site of your labyrinth - I have felt a special presence of the holy. This is already holy ground." Who were we to argue with that???

And so began the planning and laboring, with the kind and expert help of the Guild and Parish staff and volunteers, that went into the St. Anne Labyrinth which now beckons to pilgrims from all over the world to come walk its sacred path!

We have since facilitated a number of morning and evening spiritual programs that incorporate the labyrinth and dream of offering many more.

A sincere thank you to the members of the Guild who made our dream come true!

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Guild Member, Magdalena, Creator and Caretaker of Magdalena's Meditation Gardens

Madalyn's Labyrinth Walking Garden had its beginning long before it actually manifested. My husband and I used to live in Mass. and five years ago we decided to move and one of the major reasons was that the property we had at the time did not have enough flat space to build a labyrinth. You see along with the impulse to move had come the divine impulse to build a labyrinth. This had never been a particular interest of mine; in fact I had never even walked a real one (outside).

We looked for property for more than a year. Then I really surrendered to Spirit about the location and type of house, believing Spirit could do a better job than I. The next morning my husband said to me, "Honey, you've been looking for so long, maybe I should take a turn at all this looking." Amazed once again by the divine order of things, I relaxed and knew it would be fine. When we first made the decision I had told my husband we needed enough flat land for a labyrinth, he never blinked an eye, even though he had no idea what a labyrinth was.

During that year the labyrinth became a constant part of my thoughts, it had already been created and was just waiting to manifest in this reality. I had drawn and scaled it out on paper a few times and had a clear idea of what would be needed. Two weeks later, as we drove down the driveway of the house in Windham, NH, my husband said, “I want this house”. And sure enough, the clearing in the back yard was just exactly the right size for a labyrinth.
We began building in the spring and used about 90 yards of fill to level the circle, built retaining walls, carted stones, shells and planted plants. During the year and a half of waiting, the imagery I received had included the specifics of planting thyme in the borders and using shells for the walkways. The shells brought in a definite water element to work nicely with the grounding element of the trees and surrounding area. The thyme plants were to be used as a lovely metaphor for time, 'taking time', 'a step in time', etc. We put in 2,750 plants that first year and by midsummer it looked and smelled wonderful. Many lovely events have been held in the labyrinth and hundreds of people walk its 1700 ft. of pathway doing their own walking meditations and having their own private journeys.

This past spring, the beginning of its fourth year, many of the thyme plants did not winter very well and needed to be replaced. This had happened in a smaller way in previous years, but the amount of loss made it clear that there was a message in it. Meditation (walking the garden) told me that it wanted a little change in color and even the addition of a few rows of flowers. We're still seeing the impact of this change, one being the increase of weeds generated in the paths and borders, but it also made the wedding we had here last week much prettier in pictures.

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Guild Member, Karen Keefe, Organization Development Consultant and Well-Being Facilitator sent us her labyrinth story:

In February 1999 I had my introduction to the labyrinth at a walk that was held in Framingham hosted by the Labyrinth Guild of New England. I experienced for the very first time the gift of the uplifting energy, deep serenity and connection from walking the labyrinth.

Later that year, I was "camping out in my back yard" at my mid-construction house-site. I was bundled in a down comforter in a beach chair, looking up into the heavens at 2:30am as I was watching the show of shooting stars that occurs every August. While I had not consciously reflected on or thought about labyrinths since February, the vision was instant, vivid and crystal clear. I felt myself at the center of a labyrinth that was surrounded by a natural flower garden. The labyrinth basically came to me and I felt directed, sort of commanded to create one as my back yard. I often call these types of insights “Divine intervention” so I responded with a question back to the Universe and the starry heavens – “OK, I get the picture - how do I do that”?

Well, be careful what you ask for... Without much effort, the ideas of how to proceed came easily. Like a human compass I found myself with a rope staked to the ground at the center and an old broom stick handle drawing concentric circles around my gravel back yard. From the eleven concentric circles spaced about a yard apart I was able to draw the turns and connections of the medieval-patterned labyrinth, which was the only one I had a picture of from the handout I received at the February walk in Framingham.

Across the 90-foot diameter, I used string and a hairpin every 4 inches (that's a lot of hair pins) to secure string into the ground that outlined the walking path. On my hands and knees I felt the effort melting into the joy of co-creation - something was definitely fueling this labor of love and I just went with the flow. As I secured the outline, the image of the labyrinth center became clear to me. It was to be the "yin/yang starburst" that had become my healing symbol and was the logo for my Being-Wise consulting practice. I used string and the hairpins to form the healing symbol as the center of the labyrinth. For the first year I used the spray marking tape that is commonly used for marking football and soccer fields.

After the first winter the string disintegrated and I replaced the outlines with plastic-coated clothes line with a hairpin every 4 inches. During the second year, crab grass and weeds took over the walking paths - if I heard "nature abhors a vacuum" once, I heard it a hundred times. After I spent most of April on my hands and knees replacing the lines, I spent most of August on my hands and knees pulling and clearing weeds.

Each year the labyrinth project expanded. In the third year, with the help of some friends, a 4-foot garden strip was added around the outer edge of the labyrinth. The gardens came alive as friends and family contributed garden cuttings and gifted the labyrinth with colorful plants. Eventually, the center was designed with stones and in the spring of 2005 my boyfriend, Jeff, and I replaced the clothes lines with cinder-bricks – 2,386 bricks to be exact (that's a lot of bricks)! Jeff lifted and hauled each brick and I, on my hands and knees, blessed and placed each brick in the labyrinth.

The brick-lined walking path is still a labor of love. It needs weeding twice a year and the gardens always need some attention. Surrounding the gardens are symbols that represent all the realms that take pleasure and assist in the magnification of universal healing and harmonizing energy. There is a statue of St. Francis of Assisi (Ascended Master Kuthumi) that signifies the Great White Council of Ascended Masters - those who once had lives in human form on the earth and continue to serve all the lives on the planet (Jesus, Mother Mary, St. Germaine and others). There is a tree sculpture of the Queen Faire Goddess representing all of the elemental realm (elves, fairies, devas, sprites and more). In addition, there is a 6-foot cathedral angel symbolizing the Arch Angels and their legions of angels. (Michael, Gabriel, Ariel, Raphael, Chamuel etc.)
The Company of Heaven and the beings and bringers of light, love and wisdom assist everyone who enters the labyrinth and follows the unicursal path to the center, where they receive insight and direct Source Energy that can be carried out of the center back out to the world.

The Lancaster Labyrinth is always open and accessible; all are invited to walk it, experience it and contribute their truth and energy to it. The more who walk it, the more the transformative, healing energy is magnified and available.