Spring Equinox events are happening in Guelph and area in the coming days.
Massage and energy therapist Heather Oliver is organizing the Spring Equinox 2016 Celebration at St. Brigid’s Village at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre, 5420 Highway 6 N., on the northern edge of Guelph. The villa is on the far west side of the property, and is surrounded by woods and fields. It happens Sunday afternoon.
“It is my hope that my Spring Equinox 2016 Celebration will touch and deeply enrich the lives of those who come to the event,” said Oliver, who wrote and published the book Stories from the Heart: The Ladybug Wish.
Through its stories, the book encourages readers to explore the natural world with a sense of renewed wonder – to find beauty in out of the ordinary places where you may not expect to find it.
Part mini-festival of spring and part workshop, the celebration runs from 1:30-4:30 p.m. and includes storytelling, face painting, singing, colouring and drumming. Oliver said there will be reflexology and other healing offerings at the event.
“I decided that I wanted to do something fun and playful,” said Oliver, who has a long-established healing practice as Ignatius’ Orchard Park building. “I have a love for the land up there, so there is an added connection for me. I’ve been on retreat at the Loyola House, and I have a garden out there.”
She hopes the combination of community, nature, the fun activities, and an interactive connection with the land will make the experience a memorable one.
The cost is $44 for individuals, $66 for couples, and $77 for families. Those in attendance will receive a signed copy of Oliver’s book.
“Part of the event will be sharing some stories from the book, as well as some songs that have come to me that I will be sharing,” she said. “These are interactive songs.”
The event, she added, will celebrate gratitude for the winter we have had, “no matter how challenging it was for people,” and gratefulness for the coming spring.
“I want to give a portion of all the books sold to the Old Growth Forest project at Ignatius,” she added.
Musician Gary Diggins is once again hosting The Big Beat, a spring equinox celebration. It happens on Saturday at Mitchell Hall, 99 Woolwich St. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the cost is $25.
The event features dancing, drumming and dreaming, and is sponsored by the Guelph Resilience Festival. Tickets are available at www.eventbrite.com/e/the-big-beat-tickets-21743335903
Guelph’s Ondine Chorus will be performing in Cambridge on March 23, part of a Spring Equinox celebration. The performance happens from 7-8 p.m. at Queen’s Square, 1 North Square, Cambridge.
The Ondine Chorus creates evocative vocal works, either original or arrangements of traditional songs, or poems into a “hushed and compelling experience of the collective voice.”
