Anyone who knows me, knows I love the labyrinth. I have been walking labyrinths and facilitating walks since the time I was first introduced to the labyrinth in 1998. I love the labyrinth!

For those of you who do not know what a labyrinth is, it is a walking meditation that is thousands of years old and crosses all cultures, religions and beliefs. It is a Universal symbol that stands for wholeness and unity. It carries no dogma and is a pure idea that merely allows the one walking it to experience themselves at their very Center. A labyrinth is not a maze, but is one purposeful single path that travels inward toward the center and returns the opposite way back out into the world. If you want to know more about labyrinths and where you can find one, check out this site: www.labyrinthsociety.org.

I’m writing this blog to present to you the labyrinth that I will call the greatest manifestation of my own lifetime, at least up to this point. I have built three permanent labyrinths in my life. The first one was at the NoHo Arts Center for New Thought. It was painted on a carpet, simple and useful. We held many amazing walks there. The second one was a vision a friend of mine and I had that was built at the California Penitentiary at Norco. We built it with the inmates there. I have also carried portable labyrinths to prisons, parks and beaches to hold walks.

The third permanent labyrinth is the labyrinth that was laid at Center for Spiritual Living Kaua’i’s Institute of Magnificence yesterday. It is a labyrinth built from Love and for Love. It’s purpose is to bring the message of self-love to the walker. My husband, Rev. Patrick Feren and I believe self-love is the only love that will heal the world. I set the intention that each person who walks this labyrinth will feel their self-worth and loving being.

This labyrinth began with a vision I had to have a permanent labyrinth at our new space on the Hongwanji property in Kapaa. We knew it would be costly. As we did our research different ideas and focuses for its creation evolved. Finally, Isha Doellgast, an amazing artist stepped forward to help. Along with my friend Melissa Mojo, we decided that the labyrinth would be superimposed on one of Isha’s paintings. It was a long process and we still didn’t know where the funds would come from. We kept going, and I held the vision of us all walking this labyrinth on the 31st of December 2023 – New Year’s Eve. I let go of the hows and means by which it would happen and we just kept planning and creating. That was when the miracle occurred.

Previously, I had brought two souls together through a deep intuition. They fell deeply in love. One night, quite surprisingly, they called me weeping in joy. They were so happy to have found each other and wanted to thank me. With heartfelt emotion they merely said, “We want to pay for this labyrinth in thanks.” That was it!

So, yesterday, Dec. 27, 2023 with the help of an intentional group of people, we laid the labyrinth on the floor of our Institute of Magnificence. Forty feet by forty feet in all its glory with the Goddess Sophia painted into its essence and quotes of love from different mystics of different traditions, it is ready to meet the walkers of the world.

I am so grateful for the Power of Love and Law and our ability to truly use it. When Ernest Holmes, Founder of Religious Science spoke these words, “There’s a Power for Good in the Universe greater than we are, and we can use it,” he spoke truth. I used this great Power to create this Labyrinth of Love and the great souls of others joined in to make it happen. It traveled across an ocean to get here and we are ready.

It is said that labyrinths appear on earth at the time they are most needed. This is a challenging time on planet earth for many of us. May this Labyrinth of Love be a beacon of light and a comfort to all who walk it and may that love spread out into the ethers of time and space, lifting the magnetic field of the earth to its innate Nature – LOVE and PEACE!

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co Spiritual Director, Center for Spiritual Living Kaua’i