The News from Four Quarters

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Building, planting and planning. Sharing ceremony and good, home raised food.
Oddities in the weather and how the orchard did.
Observations on the Global Crisis.
Earth Spirit and Earth Living.
These are all parts of the News from Four Quarters. Enjoy.

August 6, 2018

Nightmare at Four Quarters: From the Treasurer

Disney/Horror Fuel

Hi All!

Orren here.

Having personally survived the late 80's and early 90's peak of the neo-pagan scene, I can tell you these young people are more decent than my own peer group was during their own youth. It should be noted that at this point 50% of our new memberships and new staff come to us through the young people first attracted to Four Quarters through EDM events. We began doing EDM in 2003, we now reap the fruits. The numbers tell the story:

Samhain Peak Attendance 2007 @ 145, 2017 @ 117
Yule Peak Attendance 2004 @ 75, 2017 @ 44

And we are one of the very last organizations that do any kind of traditional Samhain or Yule. Why? Because what is past, is past, and these kids are the future. Think of it! Traditional Samhain in the Stone Circle. And new Samhain ceremony for 2,000+ in New Camp! It makes my heart soar!

August 6, 2018

Nightmare at Four Quarters

Photo by Badass Raves

To Our Members and Friends,

Providing Spiritual Opportunities to New Seekers

For five years young adults have flocked to the Nightmare music festival in Maryland in celebration of the themes, aesthetics, and energy of Halloween. A new ordinance passed by county supervisors has left this event, scheduled for the last weekend in October, without a home.

After much consideration, the Board of Directors has decided to take in these young people, and to take on the challenge of hosting Nightmare in New Camp, alongside Samhain in Main Camp. We will be reaching out to a population of Seekers who have had a lot of personal losses in their young lives; this is important work for our Church and fitting of our mission.

We make ceremony for ourselves and we welcome those who have come to the Land seeking, as has been the way of things for many years. We will share Samhain on our Land, standing in service to the young people who have lost their own place for celebration... a pain Four Quarters knows all too well from its own history. We will honor our Ancestors in our traditional ways, and we make healing ceremony for both long-time attendees and those with us for the first time.

August 4, 2018

Update on Road Case

Photo by Joy Stamp on Unsplash

To Our Members and Friends,

We thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and positive energy sent our way for the most recent trip to the Bedford Courthouse.

To recap as succinctly as possible: Two of our neighbors, Joyce Plake and Luther Conrad were still contesting our use of the road, claiming the volume of traffic and the repairs we wish to make are unreasonable, though the judge has already agreed that we hold the dominant easement by implication and have a responsibility to maintain the roadway. This trip was our chance to fill in much of the evidence that was not entered at the initial hearing in August 2017 due to our attorney's unexpected and severe illness. The judge reopened the proceeding to allow us this opportunity and the Board, in consultation with our excellent legal team, Attorneys Passarello and Bucknum, made certain this opportunity was not wasted by preparing exhaustive evidence.

Further, on Tuesday, July 31 into August 1st, Four Quarters received nearly 5" of pounding rain which significantly collapsed the culvert near Luther's property. The road is currently impassable to industrial traffic (eg. port-a-pots, firewood, kitchen deliveries, etc.), and barely passable for emergency services and passenger vehicles.

July 20, 2018

Special Announcement:
Upcoming Trial Date August 3, 2018 at 9am

Bedford County Courthouse. (via bedfordbusinessdirectory.com.)

To Our Members and Friends,

Many of you know that we are in the midst of what has become a long court battle with two of our neighbors over our right to repair and use the access road to Four Quarters for which we have an easement, and that we had a trial in August of 2017 over these issues.

In his interim ruling the Judge did recognize our 1868 easement; however he preliminarily accepted our neighbors' arguments that:
1: Our use of the easement is sudden and excessive;
2: That we are not a "real" Church.

July 16, 2018

The End of A Tradition That’s Time Has Come

History. Stone Stacking in Sideling Hill Creek - Nov. 2014.

Some attentive visitors to Drum ’N’ Splash 2018 might have spotted a small notice at the end of the event program –

“About Stone Stacking in the River – We are asking that this once time honored and playful Drum ‘N’ Splash and Four Quarters tradition be allowed to slip into history and legend. We have discovered that the practice is destructive to the creek’s ecosystem and all the wee things that live there. It’s Time to Stop.”

Yes, Something has changed in the creek, and for the better.

June 12, 2018

New Plantings!

Office planting 1 crop Have you seen the new plantings in Camp and around the Office? They add beauty and smiles whenever you visit.

We want to give a big thanks to Jason Steiber for organizing the work done during Member's Weekend and for agreeing to spend time throughout the season adding plants cleaning up decorative planters.

They look wonderful! Coffee Dragon main planter 2 crop

Check back over the summer and you'll see the projects progress as the season does.
I especially look forward to how the Hilltop Well House will slowly turn into a "Hobbit House" as the grass grows over the top.

June 11, 2018

Drum & Splash: Celebrate the 4th of July with us!
Wednesday, July 4th - Sunday, June 8th

DS composite 1

One of Four Quarters' best kept secrets, Drum and Splash is simply a Very Good Time, and a great way to Celebrate an Alternative Nation's Birthday with Family, Friends and Tribe, with no agenda other than to Drum all Night and Swim all Day, sharing a working vision of the possible through Community, Sustainability, and Personal Responsibility.

To check out all the cool stuff happening this event and to Register, go Here!

Weekend Highlights:

Welcome Fire and Drum Circle!
Dance and Drum Performances
Workshops with the Masters of Drum and Dance
Planned activities for the Kids’ Tribe
Fireworks, Fire Spinning, and Fire Arts
The Dragon Dance and Procession of Talent
Qi Gong, T’ai Chi, Meditation, and Yoga
New! The Middle Eastern Vibe of The Kasbah
The Terrifically Talented Teen Tribe
Sweat Lodge
Mad Hatters’ Tea Party
Pig-pickin’ Feast and lce Cream Social
Universal Temple of Spirits Ceremony
Stone Stacking Sculptures in the Creek
Nature Walks and Nature Journaling
Bathing Aphrodite Procession
Rubber Ducky Race
All Night Fire, Dance, and Drum!!!

The News from Four Quarters

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