STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Ann Christensen and Bequel Smith waved the burning stub of white sage around the outline of each person who entered the Sawtooth Botanical Garden Thursday evening.
Then they did the same with Palo Santo, taken from a mystical tree dubbed “Holy Wood” that grows on the coat of South America and is related to frankincense and myrrh.
The idea, Smith told those who asked, is to clear away negative energy ahead of the fire ceremony that was to follow.
Darkening clouds overhead held their peace as nearly 100 men, women and children gathered in a circle around a Dutch oven dotted with marigolds and colorful pouches in a Peruvian medicine ceremony that has opened the Sun Valley Wellness Festival for the last several years.
Toni Childs, a three-time Grammy nominated recording artist then took over, leading those present in a guided meditation.
“I want you to reflect on a precious moment in your life, a moment when someone extended a special kindness to you,” she said. “Feel your feet on the ground in reflection of that memory now.”
Longtime Wellness Festival Board Member Pam Jonas chimed in as attendees sought gratitude and healing.
“We are your children—here to make a difference I the world,” she said.
“Guide us to the highest essence—in service of our creation,” added another woman.
Childs instructed those before her to hug one another.
“We want to be touching one another because we’re not really very good at touching one another,” she said.
Childs noted that each had been given crystals that they were to wear around their necks as Gratitude Ambassadors during the Festival.
“In becoming a Gratitude Ambassador you bring the seed of joy—a fire that burns with no flame—into every workshop you attend and into every interaction you have during the festival,” she said. You’re going to be bringing vibrational energy and absorbing more gratitude from the people you meet,”
Childs and Traci Ireland will facilitate a Closing Ceremony for the Sun Valley Wellness Festival from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 29, at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden.
The two will light the fire of Gratitude for all Festival attendees have experienced and received over the weekend. And Childs will sing “Stardust” and “Ascent” music from her new album, “It’s All a Beautiful Noise,” during the ceremony.