Creating Sacred Space – Chartres Labyrinth Video

Oh how thrilled I was when the inspiration dawned on me to create this video two months after having visiting Chartres with my Mary Magdalene Pilgrimage group.

Juxtaposing the white light-people from the sound & light show on the Cathedral facade with the light-people inside (thanks to a luminescent filter I discovered on my phone video-making app) transported me into creative bliss, beyond what I even remembered feeling there. I’m so glad June Round, assistant facilitator and chef for our pilgrimage, wore white for her labyrinth experience.

This Chartres labyrinth dates back to 1205. It’s the same one I’ve painted several times since 2017. You may recognize it from

• Sky Dancer
• Peace Garden II
• Walk in Peace
• The Journey All the Way Home to Myself
• amongst others…

When we arrived in Chartres on a Thursday, the labyrinth was covered up with rows of chairs. Although I found the centre to stand in, it was obvious other visitors had no idea what they were walking on. Nor did they know that it was the exact size as the rose window you’ll see in the video. If that wall was laid flat, the window would land right on top of the labyrinth!

This labyrinth is cleared for the public only on Fridays. Our tour leader made sure we were there for that. When June mentioned she’d be there early to help create sacred space along with other visitors and regulars, I started dreaming of doing a timelapse video of the process. I was in tears when one of the church staff gave me permission to climb up in the pulpit to do so.

Witnessing and therefore helping create the sacred space was as, if not more moving to me than walking the labyrinth this time. It was like watching over the opening of a prayerful space to welcome communion with community from this realm and beyond. Wow! I hope you can feel that in the video. By watching it, you too become a part of the experience.

Before starting to write this blog, I lit a beeswax candle, smudged myself and my space, cleared the desk and invited my Team of Divine Helpers to join me in being here with us.

In Italy for 2 months, at the Academy of Art, Creativity & Consciousness, our core group would gather half an hour before weekly students to create sacred space. One of my chosen tasks was to smudge the whole building with the smoke of palo santo wood from the Andes to cleanse the energy. We’d also bring fresh wildflowers for the altar, mop the floors, set the circle of chairs, mix the paints, clear the cobwebs, open the windows, etc.

How can you create sacred space in both your environment and your day? How can you involve others in the process? 

Try it – it ads a layer of sacredness to your life that oozes that delicious high vibration that makes everything more meaningful. 

Next week, I’ll share more about labyrinths because this one and the one in the yard of our monastery-hotel (also in the video) in Chartres weren’t the only ones I experienced this summer.