‘Gather at the Labyrinth’ planned at Chaffee Crossing

story by Marla Cantrell
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On Saturday (June 26) night, before the full moon rises, a gathering of women at the Learning Fields at Chaffee Crossing will begin a ceremony to bring about peace.

The idea for this event, called “Gather at the Labyrinth,” originated in San Antonio, where the first such meeting took place in 2007. From there a spark ignited in Mobile, Ala., and in March another mass meeting was held.

“Approximately 10,000 packed into the convention center for the three-day event,” said Clara Jane Rubarth, organizer for the Chaffee Crossing event. “There were women dancing and singing and telling their stories. They were from every continent except Antarctica. … Two women from Jerusalem, one Jewish and one Palestinian, had a joint craft project. … When I got back here I told everyone how exciting it was. During April some of the master gardeners said let’s do one at the labyrinth here.”

Rubarth knew she’d never be able to draw 10,000 to Fort Smith in such a short amount of time. That didn’t stop her from forging ahead with the June event, which she emphasized is a spiritual meeting and not a mystical or religious one.

“It’s like the butterfly over here,” Rubarth said, her hands stretched wide, waving the fingers on her right hand. “And the tsunami over here,” waving the fingers on her left hand. “Only good will happen.”

Publicity, for the most part, has been by word of mouth. Rubarth has been speaking to groups from different faiths and to community organizations.

Gather at the Labyrinth will begin at 7 p.m. and end at 9 p.m., at the Learning Fields at Chaffee Crossing.

Already, Keri Powers, from the Fort Smith Historic Site; Sister Rosalie and Sister Macrina, from St. Scholastica; and Diane Burl, pastor of Quinn Chapel AME, have signed on to help. There will be a flute and drums ensemble, a circle dance, a Native American ceremony, as well as walks through the garden path. The uniting theme will be an opportunity to “speak peace.”

“Speaking peace means having a concern, like the oil spill in the Gulf, light a candle and say it, pick up a crane and say it, walk the path and say it,” Rubarth said. “You plant a seed and the seed grows.”

There will also be 1,000 origami cranes on hand, which Rubarth has been constructing over the past weeks. She estimates it takes 40 hours to complete the task.

“Cranes are traditionally for long life and good health,” Rubarth explained. “I was on the faculty at UALR and one of my students was a Japanese exchange student and had just folded a thousand cranes for her grandmother who was ill. Apparently, after the atomic bombing (in 1945), there was a major movement in Japan to fold cranes to restore the nation.”

It is not lost on Rubarth that Gather at the Labyrinth is being held on former Fort Chaffee land, where soldiers trained for battle. The River Valley Master Gardeners have transformed the Learning Fields, digging through the rock and clay of a parking lot where tanks once sat, amending the soil, planting herbs and wildflowers and constructing the labyrinth. Soon there will be a lavender field where one of the barracks now stands.

She is hoping for a large crowd for the free event. Ceremony is important, Rubarth said, because it’s the way we remember, the way memories are anchored into our understanding. And this ceremony, she believes, will do even more.

“Women by their nature — and this is talked about in the current issue of The Atlantic are gatherers, connectors, communicators, not competitive, naturally want to gather and nurture. This is not a gender bias thing, it’s reality. Men by their very nature are competitive, structured and willing to go alone. … If the women of the world get together and speak in one voice there will be a change.”