Stones Rising XXIX: 2023

Traversing the Shadowlands: A Journey into the Mystic Realms

Wednesday, August 30th - Monday, September 4th - 2023    Our 29th year!

Sunday, September 3rd - The Rising!

The Circle of Standing Stones

is the beating heart of Four Quarters.

Join Us in the Great Work

Gather, Labor Together, Build a Circle for Yourselves and those not yet Born.

We raise Stones the old way

...the hard way, with ropes, rollers, and people. A Work of years, Stone by Stone.

We build it together as a Community

growing the Stone Circle and our Interfaith Sanctuary

We celebrate a Ceremony of Ceremonies

a multi-day matrix of ceremony, service, and celebration of the Divine, the Land, and the People

Share in the magic of the Standing Stones

Six days of transformative Ceremonies and Pathways of Service.

The Stone Circle is here for All

We welcome new ones to the community through the Mother Stone.

There is a place for you at Stones Rising

Only you can make that place your own; Step up and Serve.

The Pathways of Service

By giving Service to the Stones, you become an integral part of the ceremonial whole

A deep wellspring of commitment

to the Land and People, a diverse community of Spirit

The Stones are Calling You...

Join us at Stones Rising and Raise Stones!

    Sharing a Weekend of Community...   Ceremony, Intention and Purpose.
      Daily Meditative Rituals, Evening Ceremonies, Sweat Lodge, Fire Circle...and Working with the Stones!
      Sharing our food is key to our sharing of community... all meals are included in your registration.

      Sunday is The Rising: a Sunday day-trip is free... to Raise A Stone and Share Our Feast. Please... join us!

        All hands are needed! There is much to do in preparing the Stones, the foundations, our equipment...
      and ourselves, for The Rising and The Feast of the Standing Stones on Sunday.

 
A Work of Years... Stone by Stone.

          Four Quarters is an Interfaith Sanctuary: a place of Spirit, allowing all the opportunity to Seek, Evolve and Grow as they would wish. The heart of our Sanctuary is the Circle of Standing Stones, begun nearly 30 years ago when a single Stone was raised to inspire those that would come after, Follow in their Footsteps, Gather, Labor Together, Build a Circle for Yourselves and those not yet Born.
          Stones Rising is a six-day intentional community, where all actions are done with the purpose of furthering the growth of the Stone Circle, our Interfaith Sanctuary, and the far-flung greater community of Members and Guests. It is a deep wellspring of our commitment to the Land, our Church and our Community. Each ritual is a step along the way, and from Wednesday evening to Monday noon we recognize that all Service is Sacred.
          We celebrate the service provided by those around us, for it is by working with on behalf of each other that Community is formed, Traditions are carried forward...and The Stones are Raised!

Traversing the Shadowlands: A Journey into the Mystic Realms

Throughout history, mankind has always been aware of hidden worlds that lay arm in arm with our own. Mythic spaces where the substance of lore and legend lived. Even today, the names of these places bring a frisson of magic into our awareness: Lyonesse, Xanadu, Shangri-La, Atlantis, Avalon.

These floating worlds are both mythic and liminal, existing outside of normal space and time, accessible only to the gifted or the blessed. In many legends, the Initiate’s journey leads him/her into the paths of these Lands.

Join us as together we Traverse the Shadowlands to seek inspiration, guidance and enlightenment as we continue our Sacred Work of the Standing Stones...

Stones Rising is a participatory ceremonial event; all attendees are requested to offer their Service throughout the event. There are many ways to serve: working with the Stone People to prepare the Stones; tending to the Sacred Sites, Altars and inspirational places on the Land; assisting in the Kitchen; helping with Ceremonial preparations, and many more. We encourage people to be part of ceremonies; if you feel you can help, please do so! 

We hope to see everyone together in Ceremony and Service...

Planning sessions for each day's work will be held after Brunch and Dinner.
Please join us and discover the Sacred Celebration that is Service to the Community.

Draft Schedule for Stones Rising 2023

Registration Information Stones Rising Registration.
Membership Privileges Apply. Children under 16 are loved, cherished and FREE.

Members Only Early Bird: by June 5: $80

6 Days: Arrive Wednesday/Thursday:
             - Pre-Registration by August 14 - Members $100; Guests $120
             - After August 14/at the Gate: $140 

4 Days: Arrive Friday or after:
             - Pre-Registration by August 14 - Members $85; Guests $105
             - After August 14/at the Gate: $125

Sharing Food is Sharing Community!
     All meals from Wednesday Dinner to Monday Brunch are included!
             Wednesday - Dinner; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - Brunch & Dinner;
                   Sunday: Loaves of the Corn Mother, Sacral Foods, and The Feast of The Standing Stones
             Monday - Brunch

           We can accommodate vegetarian and gluten free, let us know when you register.
           Our meals are hearty and all-you-can-eat, but...  do bring high energy snacks for in-between times!
           Donations for meals are welcome. $10 per meal about covers costs.

Credit Card Registrations on-line at  Stones Rising Registration.
Or call the office at 814-784-3080 with your questions or to RSVP / register.
Late Registrations, CALL US!
Handicapped, Special Circumstances? CALL US!

You are welcome to arrive before Wednesday and stay later than Monday.
              - Early In and Late Out camping is $10 a night for Members and $15 a night for non-members.

In-Camp Car Camping Permits are $15 each. (Your vehicle must remain stationary)
In-Camp Car Parking Passes are $25 and very limited. (You may enter and leave camp with your vehicle.)
Unlimited free Main Parking.   RV hook-ups, contact our office.
Handicapped? Please contact us for your free In-Camp parking pass.

Lodging at Four Quarters -  Call the office to inquire. 
Rooms have double-beds, blankets and pillows; Bunks have fitted sheets. 
Must call the Office to reserve. 814-784-3080.

 

• Stones Rising... photos (30) Stones Rising... photos (30)
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://4qf.org/stonesrising#sigProId4dd86cda7c

The Stone Circle is the Heart of Four Quarters.

It is a work of years, and each year we gather at Stones Rising to celebrate and continue that work.

Though it is a group experience, Stones Rising moves every person in a different way. For some it is the opportunity to unplug: to serenely walk the Labyrinth; to contemplate the misty mountains in the early morning; or immerse themselves in the magic of the creek. For others it is the expectation of meeting new people—people who will go from being strangers to family in only a few short days. But for all of us Stones Rising is the opportunity to do something that matters—something that will last far longer than any of us will. It is the opportunity to continue the creation of sacred space as we raise megaliths with our brothers and sisters.

The Circle's story is not just about the Stones: it is overlaid with personal histories, with hundreds of stories and memories and milestones. You will often see people laying their hands on the Stones. They might tell you that this is the first Stone they helped raise, or how it was raised in the rain, or how the rope broke. They might tell you about how this Stone took all day to pull, prompting you to remark, “It's so small compared to the others!” The other person will smile and say that the Stones have minds of their own. They might tell you of the year that their baby was passed through the Mother Stone during the Baby Blessing, and of the people who were there who no longer come to the Farm. And with each year, the Circle's history grows richer.

No membership or specific faith binds us. What binds us is a belief in the value of this world, this life, and the humanity we all share. Can you help raise Stones if you're not a Four Quarters member? Yes! Can you help raise Stones if your path is spiritual path is solitary and unique? Yes!

What if you're new and have never set foot on the Land before? Can you help raise Stones? YES!

We raise Stones the old way, the hard way, with heavy Ropes, Rollers made from tree trunks...and People. It could be done so much more easily, with so much less sweat and strain, if we would just use heavy construction equipment. But what would be the point? Machines are not important: it is the hands, feet, and hearts of the people who move and raise the Stones that is important.

When we raise Stones together, one or two at a time, we have the opportunity to take a moment and think about the Sanctuary we are creating. In the interval between one Stones Rising and the next, we have time to appreciate that what we are doing is holy work. It is the work of creating Connections between all of us regardless of how different our spiritual paths may be.

We are not here to recreate Stonehenge or Avebury. We are here to create This Circle, here in This Place. We are here together on this sacred Land to join hands, to join earth with sky—to raise Stones.

... And we'll all stand together and we'll Raise another Stone,
                                                                                    To the Seventh Generation and the Children Yet Unknown! ...

 Stones Rising is a Ceremonial Intensive.

We celebrate the seasons of the earth here at Four Quarters; and as summer wanes and harvest begins, our community gathers together to Raise new Standing Stones, gathering in the achievements and abundance of the year. Stones Rising is ancient tradition made new. It echoes the burial grounds, cairns, and megaliths that were built millennia ago by our ancestors; the act of building and growing the Circle is our Gift, Hope and Promise to Ourselves, to our Ancestors, and to the Generations yet to come.. 

 Stones Rising is a Ceremonial Intensive that brings together ritualists representing the world’s Earth Religious traditions including: Wicca, Santeria, Druidism, Shamanism and Trance, Tibetan Buddhism, Ceremonial Magic, Voodoun, The Black Madonna, The NeoPagan Revival and the world’s indigenous peoples. The ceremonials begin Wednesday afternoon and continue to build through Sunday’s Rising of the Standing Stones.

We gather to celebrate a Ceremony of Ceremonies: a multi-day matrix of ceremony, service, and celebration of the Divine, the Land, and the People. Each ritual is a step along the way, and together all of them create a single ceremonial act of commitment to the Vision that is the Stone Circle on the Land of Four Quarters. All actions of work, devotion, service, ceremony, and celebration---and rest---are sacred. 

There is a place for you.

There is a place for you and yours at Stones Rising. Feel free to offer to help out in any activity, or to ask if other help is needed. Only you can make that place your own; join us in this new year of Stones Rising, sharing in the magic of the Standing Stones.The threads that connect the ceremonies, people and Stones are the Pathways of Service: the means through which any person at Stones Rising is able to personally make a ceremonial commitment, see it fulfilled and become an integral part of the ceremonial whole. Together, these Ceremonials and Pathways create six days of ritual that is transforming.

A Few Pathways of Service 

Stone Movers.  It takes a community to move a Stone! We need people on the ropes for the Stone Pull. Community Teamwork brings the Stones into Circle.

Stone People.  Who take on the dangerous work of rigging and positioning the Stones for their Rising.

Vesta’s Hearth.  Perhaps the most demanding commitment at Stones Rising, helping the kitchen crew with daily meals and to prepare The Feast of the Standing Stones.

Ceremonial Support.  Working with Ceremonial Planners to 'set the stage' for their rituals. Volunteer at the Ritual Shed to help with Stage, Light, Sound, roles for ceremonies, special altars, and other activities.

Fire Circle Tenders.  Maintaining the Heartbeat of the Tribe through our Service to the Fire Circle, each night through the Eve of The Rising. Chopping wood, raking sand, and ceremonially preparing and tending the Fire Circle as an Altar for Trance, Dance and Drum.

Altars Tenders.  Tidying and freshening the altars of Four Quarters.

Loaves of the Corn Mother.  Baking the hundreds of loaves of bread on Stones Eve needed to share during Sunday’s Rising of the Standing Stones.

Sweat Lodge.  Chop wood, carry water, haul stones, tend the sacred fires in a place of prayer and purification.

Ceremonial & Spirit Drums.  Through rhythm, song and chant, honoring the Stones, People, Land and Spirits.

Stonesingers Chorus. For ceremony and celebration, and any other excuse we can think of.

Sacral Foods.  Preparing and serving food and drink to fuel the Stone Crews, Commitment Makers, and Witnesses during The Rising.

Service, Ceremony, Celebration - Our 29th Year of Raising Stones!

Accompanied by witnesses, the Stone Movers lean into the ropes to  bring a new Stone into the Stone Circle.

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you.
                     If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you.
                                    Whatever good things we build end up building us..” – Jim Rohn

Building the North Copse

    At Stones Rising 2023 we will continue the construction of the North Copse section of the Stone Circle, which begin at Stones Rising 2019. 

    Our Pennsylvania quarry came through for us and provided enough of the very special stone required to begin construction of the North Copse. And what is the North Copse you ask? With The Great North Stone as its northernmost minor axis, the Copse is a 45'x30' ellipse set with the stones almost touching. Intended to create a Sanctuary within a Sanctuary, very much in keeping with the "Fore Courts" associated with British neolithic long barrows.

In order to follow the very tight curves of such a small ellipse, we need stones no wider than 4 feet, and hopefully in the 12 foot range in height, and all of the same beige colored sandstone of The Great North Stone. Such stones are not easy to find, even when the good folks at the quarry are setting their blasting charges just for us. 
     In a bit of luck, in 2018 we found a wonderful slab that had a natural bedding plane running lengthwise with the rock. In the spring of 2019, the quarry staff set upon that slab with wedges and gently coaxed the flaw into a full split, creating two mirror image book-matched slabs of stone, whose faces are actually the interior surfaces of the previous whole slab. And as luck would have it the irregular outlines of the two slabs almost perfectly match the shoulders of the Great North Stone.
   We cut two other slabs that flanked these book-matched stones, their final trim and dressing done during Stones Rising 2019...which added to the very challenging task ahead. The space within the copse is very tight, and our intention was to set these stones no more than a hands-width apart. Careful planning was called for, the rigging complicated, and we needed everyone in boots and gloves... no bystanders allowed!...to perform the delicate work.

We think the results of our efforts came out very well... actually quite spectacular. We expect to continue the work on the pearl of the string of the North Copse at Stones Rising 2022...will you bring us your sweat, good hands and hearts, and your witness? Join us!

 An Invitation to our Big Dub Family

You've seen the Stone Circle and you've danced with the Standing Stones. Four Quarters wants you to be a part of building the Circle too!

     We raise the Stones Sunday, September 4th; Labor Day Weekend. We make Ceremony, raise the Stones and share a great Feast together, prepared by The Starvin' Artist Kitchen.

      Please feel welcome on the Land as we raise up Stones! Traditionally we don't charge for Sunday arrivals; but we do ask for a telephone RSVP and whatever donation you care to give, so that we can plan for the Feast.

     Please let us know if you plan to attend; contact the Office at 814-784-3080 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.