.March 24, 2001

Eden Is Given a Shaman Blessing
Ceremony at £86 million project honours relationship between man and the environment

by Andy Greenwood

The Eden Project has been given a blessing from a shaman and medicine man.

Nicholas Noble Wolf, from Colorado, conducted the ceremony at the multi-million pound site which included prayers and chants to heal the land in Cornwall [England].

"We are part of the Earth," he said. "Whatever happens to the Earth happens to us. By honoring the relationsip we have with the Earth, and taking responsibility for how we treat it, we are also honouring ourselves."

Shamanism is recognised as one of the world's oldest spiritual paths and originally evolved when people lived in closer contact with the land. Although it has been stamped out in many parts of the world, it has enjoyed a renaissance in the past decade.

Peter Hampel, creative director of the £86 million scheme was delighted with the ceremony and said it was particularly apt because of the objectives of the project.

We were delighted that Nicholas was able to visit us whilst he was in Cornwall." he said. "It demonstrates the spiritual aspect of our relationship with the environment and, hopefully, represents the way so many different cultures relate to the plant kingdom.

We felt it entirely appropriate for Eden to be blesed by someone who works so closely with nature."

The ceremony marked the latest chapter in the short, but hugely-successful, life of the environmental project.

Last weekend more than 10,000 people visited the project which has transformed a former china clay pit near St. Blazey in mid-Cornwall. Home to thousands of plants and the world's biggest greenhouses, Eden has continued to attract a similar number of visitors throughout the week.

"After the weekend, we have consistently had around 3,000 people a day," operations manager George Elworthy said. "We seem to have found a level very quickly which is excellent."