The News from Four Quarters

NewsLogo 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.

May 27, 2019

The Blessings of Oshun

Ceremony to Oshun, at the Rainbow Bridge Site, Click to play Video

Saturday evening, May 18th, we gathered at the river's edge to beseech the Orisha Oshun to bring good health to her daughters, the Women of our Community. After the permission and blessing of both Eshu and Oshun were received, they began making gifts of melon, cantaloupe, oranges, sweet honey, spicy Cinnamon, flowers, cloth and candle light as our Adimu to the river.

May 20, 2019

Rainbow Bridge Update

Click through for Video Montage.

The weather Gods have smiled on Flower of Life and it is now possible to walk the length of Rainbow Bridge without a safety harness! Saturday nights Full Moon Service during FoL was a full gift giving and blessing to the Orisha Oshun, for the health of all women, and her blessings for this bridge which crosses her river. Ellegua has been fed and has given his blessing for this new crossroad on the Land, which he owns.

Over in Big Dub land our friends are launching a special ticketing for Big Dubbers attending WickerMan, and a GoFundMe Campaign to help finish out the bridge.
We have spent over $50,000, with at least another $25k to go. Target for fundraising and (mostly) finish is late July. Check it out here.

May 11, 2019

A Moon Service for The River

Reresentation of the Orisha Oshun.

In the Yoruba tradition, fresh water rivers and all things Feminine, are the concern of the Orisha Oshun. Gold and yellow, honey and cinnamon, birth and children all belong to Oshun. And she lives in the free flowing fresh waters of the river.

For our Full Moon Service this coming Saturday, May 18th; we will offer gifts to Oshun and ask her blessings for Rainbow Bridge, which crosses her domain. After a Farmhouse Church Supper about 5pm, we will gather at the Hemlock Hole and prepare rafts of fruit, honey, colored cloth, candles and sweet perfumes; and set them floating on the water as our gifts for Oshun. Then ask for her blessings. And hear her answer.

Please do join us!

May 8, 2019

Beltaine Celebration 2019

Pulling the Seed Stone at Beltaine 2019.

The start of our event year, Four Quarters celebrated Beltaine once again on the land. We had a lovely, relaxed weekend with friends old and new, celebrating the return of life and spring and the people to the Land. It was a wet weekend, but the elements were gentle with us and blessed, rather than purified, our ritualsl. We danced the Maypole surrounded by exuberant May green. We showed off the stunning new span of Rainbow Bridge, linking Main and New Camps. We held our firsts - the first labyrinth walk, first fire circle, first sweat lodge of the new season, culminating in a magical evening ritual in the Faerie realm. Sunday as is our custom, an eager pack of young’uns pulled and raised the seed stone, a promise of large and heavy things to come.

May 6, 2019

Four Quarters is pleased to announce “Rainbow Bridge.”

The Rainbow Bridge arcs across Sideling Hill Creek connecting Main and New Camp.

This 210 foot long cable suspension bridge soars through the tall Tulip Poplar trees of the Big Bottom's river bank, to land 30 feet above water level in New Camp's Old Forest area. The two halves of the hidden valley that is Four Quarters are now permanently connected, making the place where "A river runs through it," whole and complete.

Planning for Rainbow Bridge has always been an integral part of our risky decision to purchase New Camp in 2015. Design work began that year with final engineering surveys completed in the summer of 2018. Structural steel orders were placed in October of 2018 and we broke ground the first week of March, 2019. A full photo essay of the construction of Rainbow Bridge will be published shortly.

April 29, 2019

Interesting Project!

This thing... might have something to do with that other thing.

If you’ve been following our news posts, we dangled a teaser for you good folks last time. But anyone who’s been about Four Quarters any amount of time knows that we do from time to time build stuff. Bunkhouses, Kitchens, Shower houses, Dining Pavilions, Stone Circles... Typically these are improvements to the camp to make things more comfortable for Members, guests and visitors and make the camp more efficient and safer to operate.