March’s Water Blessing was held at the Hillsburgh Pond, on the Elora/Cataract Trail, near Hillsburgh.
People from the area, as well as from Guelph, Elora and Erin gathered on March 12 to appreciate water’s many gifts and reflect on what officials call “our duty to protect it.”
Organizers Heidi Matthews and Val Steinmann, from Transition Erin, Heart and Soul, led the group through activities of meditation and recollection and sharing of water memories. Participants retold brief personal vignettes of enjoying water throughout the seasons.
Matthews began the event by reminding the group they stood on traditional indigenous territory of “people who held water as a sacred trust and continue to model this important value.”
She said, “We need to honour these values to protect water – to protect what we love.” She also named many faith traditions that acknowledge water as sacred gift.
When members of the group were asked to think of a personal water memory, Steinmann led participants through stories of special places on lakes or rivers, at sunset or sunrise, and tales of a refreshing plunge into cool clean water on a hot summer’s day or of skating on a smooth, frozen lake, as far as legs could carry you.
The Full Moon Water Blessings provide opportunities for community members to demonstrate their support for water as a public trust – for life, not profit, officials stated.
Wellington Water Watchers invites groups with a variety of faith and cultural traditions to co-host Full Moon Water Blessings.
For more information contact the Wellington Water Watchers at wellingtonwaterwatchers@gmail.com.
