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Bennie LeBeau
2004 BIG BEAR (CA) Medicine Wheel "Phenomena"  
TWO YEARS LATER - Nov 2006
By Gina Weiss



        The Big Bear Valley, a mountain resort area in Southern California, is making progress toward a community consciousness that honors Mother Earth. In the Fall of 2004, a year after devastating wildfires caused the evacuation of the entire mountaintop, a group of local residents met Eastern Shoshone elder Bennie "Blue Thunder" LeBeau. Blue Thunder has a unique and extensive understanding of the energy systems of the earth, and how to prepare ceremonies designed to repair the damage done to Mother Earth's energy grid by development. These residents decided to enlist Blue Thunder's assistance to end the six year long drought. The story of the Big Bear Medicine Wheel Ceremony can be found on Blue Thunder's website www.teton-rainbows.com and www.aplacetogrow.com/medicinewheel .



Photo Caption: (Top) Bennie "Blue Thunder" LeBeau - (E. Shoshone/Serreno)
leader of the Medicine Wheel Ceremonies around the Grand Tetons and Big Bear
(Middle) Big Bear Medicine Wheel Hub Diagram
Big Bear Medicine Wheel

        At the same time the residents approached Blue Thunder, the Valley's civic leaders had another plan to bring water to the mountain - cloud seeding. A total of nearly one-half million dollars had been pledged by various agencies over a three-year period to seed the clouds with silver oxide. Again, the residents went into action. Joe Bradley, a high school Physics teacher, led the research of the environmental and health risks of silver oxide. The results of his findings eventually led to a requirement for an Environmental Impact Study before the cloud seeding could continue.

        Before the Big Bear Medicine Wheel Ceremony, Big Bear Lake was down 17.5 feet from full. By the end of January, the lake had gained over 10 feet and was virtually full by summer. Meteorologists and network weathermen were baffled by the fall and winter seasons' unprecedented precipitation. Within the community of Big Bear, a growing number of people attributed Mother Earth's blessings of water to the ceremonies that honored Her. While civic leaders did not acknowledge the Medicine Wheel Ceremony, they did agree that there was no need to pursue the EIS for future cloud seeding.

        Since the initial Big Bear Medicine Wheel Ceremony, a grassroots movement of earth healing ceremonies, drumming circles, and environmentally conscious organizations has been accelerated in the Valley. Blue Thunder has returned to Big Bear three more times to assist in the healing of this land, once under the umbrella of NVF. While scientific documentation of the results of these projects must await further funding, the naked eye can't help but observe a full lake, running streams, bountiful pinecones, healthier trees and abundant wildlife.
 

      Dr. Masaru Emoto (center) sharing his "key of life" crystal research at a seminar in Big Bear Lake (S.CA) with (L-R) Suzy Chaffee (Olympic skier), Gina Weiss (host), and Blue Thunder (Bennie LeBeau - E. Shoshone Elder), leader of the "phenomenal" Big Bear Medicine Wheel Ceremony. Photo credit: Christie Walker
Doctor Emoto and Friends 



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