We acknowledge that the Newton Medicine Wheel is situated on the unceeded territory of the Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Katzie people.

Deepest respect for our mentor, Cree Elder, Grandma Amy Eustergerling, Manchus S’Kao, Earthworm Woman. Greatest gratitude for your teachings over the years as we enter our 5th year of Solstice and Equinox observation at the Newton Medicine Wheel

Grandma Amy has always taught the importance of balancing the elements for the good health of mother earth and all her inhabitants.

Spring is a time of growth, of good growth. When we have growth of uncontrollable virus threating people’s daily life across the world, it is an evident imbalance. With Grandma Amy’s teaching and guidance, we know how important it is that we continue to raise our awareness, and bring our actions back into alignment with the Laws of Nature. During this time of imbalance, it is especially important to remember this, and it also a time when our prayers and healings are needed most.

About two weeks before our scheduled Spring Equinox celebration the Health Authority recommended social distancing. To protect our elders and for the safety of our community, the Newton Medicine Wheel team made a decision to observe this year’s Spring Equinox in an adapted form. We asked the public to send in their prayers and blessings for us to bring to the Spring Equinox Ceremony on Saturday, March 21, 2020.

The prayers came in and swelled all of our hearts. They touched us all, knowing the time it takes to think about and write them – a moment removed from anxiety and worry, and instead looking into the inner beauty! Unable to list the names of everyone here, please know you are appreciated immensely. This is the good medicine the world needs right now. Among the prayers received, was one from our Sister of the North, Ms. Giselle Jenereaux, who recently moved to Columbia.

On the day of the Equinox Ceremony, we placed copies of all the prayers around the Newton Medicine Wheel, each with a small stone, symbolically signifying the presence of those who submitted the writing.

To begin the ceremony we spoke Grandma Amy’s prayer for the four directions, and for each direction we lite a candle and placed our offering.

For the East, the earth element, we offered a planter of soil with pea seeds planted. These seeds signify healthy new growth and healing for Spring.

For the South, the element of fire, we placed a yellow candle. This candle had been blessed by a ritual lighting at an Imbolc celebration hosted by Ms. Virginia Gillespie. A candle that had been lit by a mother candle at a Brigit celebration in Ireland was brought home by Virginia who then symbolically and literally passed the flame to the candle we used in ceremony. The fire we offered for the South direction traveled far and strong. It shall bring us lots of healing energy.

For the West, the water element, we offered sacred water in a beautiful oyster shell. The water, a gift from Ms. Pamela Swanfeather, was a mix of waters from several sacred sites and sources all over the world. The shell it was poured into was from Ms. Teresa Klein, who brought it from from Savary Island.

For the North, the element air, we offered a fish and bird like figure adorned with feathers, beads and shells that had been created by Alex Tees.

Just as the offerings were finishing, Grandma Amy surprised us by her appearance. Joining PLOT volunteers Jasmeen Virk, Rella Tees and Steve Webster at the Medicine Wheel, with all keeping the physical distance required for COVID 19 containment, Grandma Amy offered a song to the circle. Drumming and singing she sang “Oh, Great Spirit” a song for the four directions written by Grandma Harris. Dear Teresa Klein joined in via telephone to sing the song with us.

As the ceremony continued, the four PLOT members present, each standing in one of the four directions, began reading the prayers. Starting in the East, we rotated sunwise around the circle, each reader acknowledging and standing in for the writer as if they were there. The prayer was read out loud, and then a rock was placed for that person in the Medicine Wheel, while sending the same good prayer back to the writer.

The circle was filled with prayers, and each of the prayers is now planted in the Newton Medicine Wheel in a good way, so they may grow and radiate out beyond the Newton Medicine Wheel for the healing of all.

Copies of Maori Elder Suzanne Robinson of Yewstone Gardens and Ms. Teresa Klein’s prayers and reflections were laid in the centre of the Newton Medicine Wheel, for their essence to be absorbed by the land for healing of all.

All the offerings and prayers at the Newton Medicine Wheel for this year’s Spring Equinox are a collective of well wishes from the good hearts of and for the community and the world.

For All My Relations.

Rella Tees