Lauren Artress

Biographical Information
"Lauren Artress is a Canon of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Laurance S. Rockefeller recognized her visionary work and funded her creation of Quest: Grace Cathedral Center for Spiritual Wholeness in 1987. It was out of the spiritual programming she did through Quest that she taught herself large group spiritual work. This work eventually led her to the labyrinth.

"She founded a non-profit named Veriditas, the World-Wide Labyrinth Project in 1996 to “pepper the planet with labyrinths”. With over 3500 labyrinth sites in the US alone, her non-profit work has embraced the vision to activate and transform the human spirit through the Labyrinth Experience. The Veriditas offices are located at the Institute for Noetic Sciences retreat center in Petaluma, CA. Lauren is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California. She offers Spiritual Direction, Life Coaching and brief psychotherapy in her home office or by phone. She offers couples’ therapy to those in the Bay Area.

"Lauren received her Bachelors Degree in Special Education at Ohio State University, her Master’s Degree in Education at Princeton Theological Seminary and her Doctor of Ministry Degree in Pastoral Psychotherapy at Andover Newton School of Theology. She trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute at the Institute of Religion and Health in New York City and held a private practice there from 1974 to 1986. She holds an honorary doctorate from The California Institute of Integral Studies in 1999. She received the Gandhi, King, and Ikeda Peace Award for her work in bringing people together in creative, peace-giving ways. She is on the Editorial Board of Presence Magazine, a publication of Spiritual Director's International. She is a panelist on the Washington Post/Newsweek blog called On Faith."

"She is the author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool (Putnam/Riverhead Books, New York), The Sand Labyrinth Kit, (Tuttle Publishers) and The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform (Riverhead, 2006).

"Lauren is a priest of the Episcopal Church, and her home parish is Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. From 1986 to 1992, she served as Canon Pastor and then as Canon for Special Ministries until August 2004. In May of 2006, her rediscovery of the labyrinth was honored by Grace Cathedral and she was designated Honorary Canon, a lifetime title."

From 2006: "Lauren serves on the Board for the International Transpersonal Association as well as the Transpersonal Institute." 

Affiliations

 * Council of Sages, California Institute of Integral Studies
 * Faculty Chair Labyrinth Studies, Wisdom University
 * Council, Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence
 * Advisor, Spiritual Paths Foundation

Related Sourcewatch

 * Erling