The first time the Santa Rosa Labyrinth was made on the ground, Salmon Creek Beach, CA, Memorial Weekend, 1997, Lea Goode-Harris with Marilyn Larson. ©photo Marilyn Larson

The Santa Rosa Labyrinth in our backyard. This project has been through several stages. In the summer of 1998, we walked Sue Anne Foster's beautiful Santa Rosa Labyrinth Ivy Path, painted on canvas, on the intended site. Then with rope on the grass, we celebrated the Fall Equinox of 1998. March of 1999, I began the brick installation and we celebrated the Spring Equinox in its new form. By the Spring Equinox of 2002, the extra circle of outer bricks were installed, providing a circular path and frame.

Coordinates: N 38o 26.874'
W 122o 42.616'
183 ft. above sea level

The Sebastopol, CA Labyrinth of Life Santa Rosa Labyrinth at the Teen Memorial Gardens. Installed by Lea Goode-Harris in 1999 with the assistance of Jeffrey Edelheit, DeAnna L'am and the City and Community of Sebastopol. This was the first public installation on the West Coast!

Govan's Presbyterian Church's Santa Rosa Labyrinth in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the first permanent installation of the Santa Rosa Labyrinth on the East Coast!

"The Fearless Five," Alyssa Hall, Marilyn Larson, Sue Anne Foster, Lea Goode-Harris, and Kimberly Saward held in the center of Sue Anne's Santa Rosa Ivy Path a year after we drew the Santa Rosa Labyrinth design on one of Sue Anne's blank canvas in Occidental, CA. This picture was taken at the 1999 Labyrinth Society Conference in Denver, Colorado.

In November of 1998, Robert Ferré of Labyrinth Enterprises contacted me to inquire about his making Santa Rosa Labyrinths. He had seen Sue Anne’s Santa Rosa “Ivy Path” Labyrinth for the first time at the Labyrinth Gathering in St. Louis in 1998. Here Robert paints his own rendition of the Santa Rosa “Ivy Path” Labyrinth.

Centenary United Methodist Church’s Santa Rosa Labyrinth in St. Louis, Missouri was created using stained concrete by Robert Ferré and staff at Labyrinth Enterprises

Robert’s assistant, Judy Hopen, of Labyrinth Enterprises is the main drawer and painter of the Santa Rosa canvas labyrinths that they make. Here she paints a canvas Santa Rosa Labyrinth in their St. Louis studio.

St. Ann's Episcopal Church's Santa Rosa Labyrinth in Nashville, TN, installed by Robert Ferré and Labyrinth Enterprises

Ashworth Gate's Santa Rosa Labyrinth, installation by Annette Reynolds and Terri Geer, and a lovely ©picture by Keith Harrelson.

"Does
the walker
choose the path?
Or, does the path
choose the walker?"

-from Sabriel, by Garth Nix-

David Rush, a Ponca and Tonkawa Native American, walks the Santa Rosa Labyrinth in ritual and ceremonial dress with a relative. This labyrinth project, which reclaimed part of a hazardous waste site at Standing Bear Native American Park, in Ponca City, Oklahoma, was coordinated by Gael Hancock and built and ©photographed by Marty Kermeen of Artistic Pavers

St. Luke's Santa Rosa Labyrinth in Shreveport, Louisiana,installed and ©photographed by Marty Kermeen of Artistic Pavers

This picture was taken right after construction...

St. Luke's Santa Rosa Labyrinth, installed and ©photographed by
Marty Kermeen of Artistic Pavers

...and then again with the
prayer garden added...

St. Luke's Santa Rosa Labyrinth, installed and ©photographed by Marty Kermeen of Artistic Pavers

And another view.

12 x 12 foot Santa Rosa Labyrinth "Ivy Path" painted by Lea Goode-Harris and inspired by Sue Anne Foster's Santa Rosa Ivy Path.

This beautiful "Evergreen" Santa Rosa Labyrinth is made of sand, river rock, and pavers, surrounded by evergreen trees. Carol says, "Since the labyrinth is in a severe winter climate, the foundation is made up of about twenty tons of gravel and sand to assure proper drainage. The rocks that make up the 'lines' are all from Lake Erie....and, there are MANY special tiny rocks from my two daughters' childhood rock collections." Carol Comstock

Labyrinth builders lay out the first lines of a Santa Rosa Labyrinth in Carrollton, Texas at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church. This labyrinth is part of a memorial garden to a beloved church member as well as being part of the outreach program and is accessible to the community.

Diane Terry-Kehner writes about her experience of making a temporary Santa Rosa Labyrinth in the sand on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean on the eve and anniversary of the assumption of Mary. She wonders if it is the first time that a Santa Rosa Labyrinth has been made on an East Coast beach, knowing the story about the first time the labyrinth was made on a West Coast beach…

“My bare feet are on the moist sand,
padding along...
The wind is blowing my hair,
my clothes...
The Holy Spirit is very present,
blowing,
cleansing, blessing, and filling me…
And then I reach the center.
It is huge and empty and open!
I dance around and around in the wind…”
August 15, 2002
©photo Bill Kehner

Young girls dance
the Santa Rosa Labyrinth
drawn by Diane Terry-Kehner at
Sea Isle City, NJ

Assumption of Mary
August 15, 2003
©photo Diane Terry-Kehner

Piñata Sponge Bob
visits our brick
and sod Santa Rosa Labyrinth
on Cinco de Mayo 2003.

Rod and Hazel Brandreth from Western Australia write... “We have built the Santa Rosa labyrinth with a gravel base, using brick pavers for the lines, the walking path is filled with washed river sand. It is some 42 feet in diameter, and is in an Australian bush setting surrounded by gum trees and grass trees. The Kangaroos have taken quite well to it and walk the half circles, and small lizards run around the circles on the brick pavers. It has been used by a number of people, who have had many beautiful and amazing walks.”

This aerial photo of Judy Miller's Santa Rosa Labyrinth in Indiana gives us a bird's eye view of her beautiful property and the care and love she brings to the land each year as she mows and walks her labyrinth. Judy says, " I laid it out in our back yard and have mowed it into the grass each year.  Well, after the initial lay out, I just mow it off in the spring and then mow the paths all summer long.  The grass grows about waist high each summer and wild flowers go to seed in the "not paths".  I had planted a young oak tree in the back yard and had to lay the labyrinth out so that the tree would not be in a path... and now the tree is about 8 feet tall.  I thank it regularly for being a part of my labyrinth.  The wildlife who have taken up residence in it or pass through seasonally are special to me, too." Judy has many stories to tell of the people, and critters, that come to visit her labyrinth.

Sometimes, in the making of a labyrinth, it is important for the builder to be with the organic process of positioning the lines. Listening and following your inner promptings on how to make your labyrinth might be more important than making sure every line is straight. You will know if changes need to made. And sometimes, you will find, that things are fine just as they are, not everything is always symmetrical and perfect. It is our ideas of perfection that can get in the way.