The Reconciliation labyrinth has been used many times and on many occasions in many places ranging from intimate events such as weddings to festivals and carnivals. It has been used to mark the annual National Day of Reconciliation in South Africa (December 16th) in public venues such as a public park (Wynberg, 2002), the beach (Muizenberg 2004) and a lighthouse (drumming circle at Slangkop, 2004). It has been a part of the annual carnival of the eMzantsi Project in the southern suburbs of the Cape Peninsula since it’s inception in 2005. The byline of the project is ‘It’s not about the carnival, it’s about celebrating the people and culture of Cape Town’s south peninsula’. It was used in a ceremony in a cathedral to mark the 60th Anniversary of the end of the war in Europe (Amsterdam, 2005) and in public parks to facilitate discussions about diversity (also in Amsterdam, in 2005). An information pamphlet about the labyrinth was distributed in Seoul, South Korea, at the World Methodist Conference in 2006. The labyrinth was laid out in rope when the International Association of Analytical Psychologists (“Jungians”) met for their four yearly Congress at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in September 2007. In December 2009 it played a part in the World Council of Religions in Melbourne, Australia. It will also be a part of the IUC Interfaith Understanding Conference http://interfaith2010.naz.edu to take place in Rochester, New York from April 11th to 13th 2010.
The Reconciliaton Labyrinth has been built as a permanent installation in three places in South Africa (Slangkop Lighthouse, St.John’s Diocescan School for Girls in Pietermaritzburg and at the library in Masiphumelele, Cape Town). Permanent and semi-permanent reconciliation labyrinths have been built in six places in the USA and in various school, professional and spiritual settings while portable labyrinths of this design are widely used. The first permanent reconciliation labyrinth built in the USA is at a multi-disciplinary professional practice in California which focuses on helping divorced parents to find a way of working together effectively for the sake of their children. Perhaps the best way to find out more about the ways it has been used is to Google for it.
There are a number of different versions of the Reconciliation Labyrinth, depending on the number of circuits or ‘circles’ in the design. The first version used was the nine-circuit version (Wynberg Park, 2002). The most commonly used version is the five-circuit labyrinth, such as the one built at Slangkop Lighthouse in Kommetjie, about 20km from Cape Point.
The Reconciliation Labyrinth also comes in both a seven and three-circuit version. The three circuit labyrinth is the quickest to set up and has often been used for ceremonies such as weddings, reconciliatory, therapeutic and commitment explorations and journeys and, in March 2010 it will be used for a ritual blessing ceremony for as yet unborn twins. This latter version is the one that has been made into bead pins which is also the logo of this website. Beadpins following this design are made by unemployed women in the high density suburb of Masiphumelele, near Kommetjie, and sold to labyrinth-users at sites in many parts of the world. Orders from the sale of these beads sustains a number of households.
The ways of using the labyrinth are limited only by imagination.