MAGAZINETOLEDOT H E B L A D E , T O L E D O , O H I O S U N D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 8 S E C T I O N C , P A G E 6

ABOVE: � e pattern of the labyrinth at the Weber Center in Adrian is evident when facing the entrance to the path in this 1999 � le photo.

� e Rev. Bridget Co� ey, right, along with parishioners at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2770 Central Ave., built the church’s labyrinth in May. � e labyrinth is located near the church’s front entry and is open to the public.

THE BLADE/SARAH BAIRD

LEFT: � e labyrinth at the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the original community in Monroe was built in 2007 and dedicated to a nun who passed away in 1999. � e labyrinth is made of brick and is open to the public.

THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER

BELOW: A Labyrinth near a peace pole at Collingwood Pres-byterian Church on Collingwood Blvd.

THE BLADE/LORI KING

RIGHT: A large lab-yrinth is the center-

piece of the garden of the late Norma Stark

in Perrysburg. � e garden was built for

meditation in memory of Norma’s parents,

Norman and Anna Belle Swaisgood. In a 2009 photo Mike Miklosek, top center, stands next to the recently installed

labyrinth as he directs Je� Miller in planting a tree in a garden at the Angels Landing Spiritual Center on Meadowbrook Court in Toledo. THE BLADE/LORI KING

COURTESY OF DON SCHOONER

THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY

THE BLADE/LORI KING

Spiritual pathsArea labyrinths are popular spaces for contemplation

An aerial view of the labyrinth at Schoo-ner Farms, 14890 Otsego Pike in Weston,

Ohio. � e obelisk in the labyrinth’s center is aligned with the spring and fall equinox.

Don Schooner, owner of Schooner Farms, used lavender plants to turn a grassy � eld into a replica of the indoor labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France.

By KIRK BAIRDBLADE STAFF WRITER

In Greek mythology and Hollywood fantasy, the labyrinth was a perilous maze with either death (the mon-strous Minotaur) or doom (David

Bowie as the shaggy-haired Goblin King) awaiting those who made it to the center.

At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2770 Central Ave., the recently completed lab-yrinth, located near the church’s front entry and open to the public, is a conduit to personal re� ection and perhaps spir-itual insight for anyone who walks the single-path journey to the center and back.

“I have found that walk-ing a labyrinth helps clear and calm the mind in or-der that we might focus our thoughts and enter more fully into a contem-plative space,” said the Rev. Bridget Co� ey, rec-tor at St. Andrew’s. “� e experience is never the same twice, but each can bring about profound and holy moments. Our hope is that anyone who passes by will feel welcome to en-ter into that sacred space of contemplation even in the midst of the busyness passing them by.”

� ere are nearly a dozen — perhaps more — publicly accessible labyrinths in northwest Ohio and south-eastern Michigan. � e website labyrinth-locator.com provides the address to some of these and thousands of others world-wide.

Among the more popular labyrinths in the Toledo area are those at the IHM (Sis-ters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) River House Spirituality Center at 805 West Elm Ave. in Monroe and the Norma Stark Memory Garden and Laby-rinth Foundation at 345 W. South Bound-ary in Perrysburg.

Both labyrinths were completed in 2007 as memorial tributes: the former to

Sister Ann E. (Mary Aquin) Chester, who died in 1999, and the latter to Mrs. Stark’s parents, Norman and Anna Belle Swais-good, who died Oct. 13, 2005, and April 23, 2006, respectively. Mrs. Stark died in 2011 at the age of 62.

Molly Hunt, communications director for the IHM Sisters, said the labyrinth’s appeal transcends the speci� cs of age, from children on bikes to those in their 80s with walking canes, with no one way to experience it. Some are keen to hurry through only a portion of it, while oth-

ers take their time and go through all of it.

“� e wonderful thing about the labyrinth is there is no right or wrong way to do it,” she said.

Almost as varied as the paths people take in the labyrinths are the path-ways themselves, which can be made of bricks, grass, stones, or painted on an indoor surface in a church or even an o� ce building.

Don Schooner, own-er of Schooner Farms at 14890 Otsego Pike in Weston, Ohio, about eight miles west of Bowling Green, said he planted 750 lavender plants to turn a grassy � eld into a replica

of the indoor labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral in France. Unlike the original, though, the Schooner Farms lab-yrinth features an obelisk at its center that aligns with the spring and fall equinox, a symbolic nod to its location on a farm.

� e labyrinth is not only open to the public — visit shoonerberries.com for hours — that is its point, Mr. Schooner said.

“Walking, self-re� ection, healing, meditation, and all those reasons, that is about the Me,” he said. “But the reason we built it is for the many Mes, the We.”

Contact Kirk Baird at:kbaird@theblade.com

or 419-724-6734.

‘ I have found that walking a labyrinth helps

clear and calm the mind in order that we might focus our thoughts and enter

more fully into a contemplative

space’Rev. Bridget Coffey, rector, St. Andrew’s