SFTS Labyrinths

Labyrinths have been known to the human race for over 3,500 years, and have been used in many different religious ways by many peoples. The labyrinth is a single path so there are no tricks to it and no dead ends. The path winds throughout and becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives; it touches our sorrows and releases our joys. It is a symbol for our life's journey. So, we walk it with an open mind and an open heart - for it leads to healing, to blessing, to self-knowledge, to clarity, to balance, and the shedding of guilt, while providing us with an embodied form of prayer.

We invite you to experience the labyrinths as an aid to meditation and prayer, a place to seek peace, centering, and healing. Time spent here is healing and refreshing. You are welcome to return as often as you like.

The campus of San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California has both the Spirit Walk Labyrinth (a Cretan, or classical style) and the Geneva Terrace Labyrinth (a seven-circuit modified Chartres style). These labyrinths were funded by an anonymous gift to the Seminary and were organized, drawn and constructed as a loving gift from Seminary students to the community.

If you would like to experience the Geneva Terrace Labyrinth, it is located at the top of Seminary Hill outside Geneva Hall (the tall white building with a terrace at the top of the stairs). While the exterior of this building is patterned after the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy, that church did not have a labyrinth. The Geneva Terrace Labyrinth is a seven-circuit Chartres style, patterned after a turf labyrinth in Great Britain. Geneva Hall offers an elevator from the ground level during library hours for all those who desire easy access to the labyrinth.

If you would like to experience the Spirit Walk Labyrinth, it is located at 17 Austin Ave., down the hill to the west of Seminary Hill between the Lloyd Center and Baird Hall.

There is also a permanent, indoor 11-circuit modified Chartres style labyrinth in Duncan Hall at First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo. The church is directly north of the campus of SFTS at 72 Kensington Road. Duncan Hall can be entered through the central patio from Kensington Road. The church invites the community to use their labyrinth, but since that labyrinth is in a mixed-use space, please observe the scheduled times posted for walking there.

Time spent walking the labyrinths is healing and refreshing. The Seminary invites you to experience our labyrinths as an aid to meditation and prayer, a place to seek peace, centering, and healing. You are welcome to return as often as you like.