Four Quarters is Many Things
It is an incredibly beautiful tract
of Land set aside for Earth Religious use. As the Four Quarters InterFaith Sanctuary it is
an InterFaith Church holding open Moon Circles throughout the year. As Four Quarters Farm
it is a Membership-based Camp making the Land available for the private use of our Members
and outside cultural groups. And as The Community of Service it is a living religious
community, a Monastery of Earth Religion and the Modern Neo Pagan Revival.
Our Church, The Four Quarters InterFaith Sanctuary of Earth Religion, is
incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania, is governed by our Board of Directors and
Members Advocates, and practices rigorous financial accountability. The Church was founded
to provide an opportunity for Earth Religious worship within safe and sacred natural
surroundings... without requiring any kind of religious affiliation. The Church holds
regular New and Full Moon Circles throughout the year, sponsors cultural gatherings during
the camping season and celebrates the major holidays of the neo-pagan revival including
Beltaine, Samhain and Yule. There is no requirement of Church Membership in order to
participate in any religious activity at Four Quarters, or to enjoy Four Quarters Farm
Membership.
Four Quarters Farm is 150 acres of extremely beautiful and diverse land here
in the Allegheny foothills of south central Pennsylvania, and is the Camp administered by
the Church Corporation. We are located 15 miles west of Hancock Maryland and the
intersection of Interstates 68 and 70, just a mile across the state line into
Pennsylvania.
 The Church Camp proper is
surrounded on three sides by a horseshoe bend in Sidling Creek as it cuts through Town
Hill Mountain, one of the cleanest free-flowing streams in the state. The creek forms a
naturally secluded retreat, framed by high cliffs and blessed with fine natural swimming.
The Land features a broad range of ecological
habitats ranging from creekside wetland to dry cliff face, mature forest to hilltop
meadow. Four Quarters is listed as the most ecologically diverse tract of land in Bedford
County, Pennsylvania by The Western Pennsylvania Nature Conservancy and we are ever
mindful of this trust in caring for this land. Providing access to exceptional natural
surroundings for the individuals’ spiritual growth is a primary purpose for which
Four Quarters was founded.
Four Quarters Farm is home to family campouts and private ceremony, as
well as the larger religious and cultural gatherings sponsored by Four Quarters. Most
importantly, it is the home of the Circle of Standing Stones, our great work of creating a
living ceremonial sanctuary.
Four Quarters began in 1995 with old woods roads, a long-abandoned farm house
and an idea... one solitary Standing Stone raised on a hilltop as an expression of Earth
Religious Community. Today, twenty-five Stones stand on that hilltop, with North and West
Altars in the center. A forested creekside Altar for private ceremony, the Fairy Cairn and
a very beautiful Sweat Lodge site have also been created on the Land for ceremonial use.
By 1997 we built over a mile and a half of graveled roads, the sanded
Fire Circle, our covered Stage and hot showers. In 1999 we purchased our first
Church-owned real estate and created the Members Village, allowing wintertime Moon Service
accommodations. The Bardic Circle was created and the foundations to the Church Hall and
Kitchen were laid. In 2001 the Kitchen was finished and stocked with commercial food
service equipment. And we launched our first major Capital Funds Drive, with the goal of
raising $40,000 in donations. In the spring of 2002, we used those gifts to purchase the
65-acre tract of land that is the heart of the Camp and transfer it to the perpetual
safekeeping of the Church. How has this all been done?
Through the Members of Four Quarters. People who have come to the Land
and sensed something special, and who have made the choice to support it in their lives.
In fact, over 30% of Four Quarters’ budget is in the form of dues, gifts and
donations from our Members.
And this is as it should be, a profound statement of support from the
Community of Four Quarters.
For it is Community, people in their relationship with each other, that is
the magical key of Four Quarters. Human relationships sustained by the continuity of the
Land. An appreciation of our diversity combined with a jealous protection of our
traditions. And an insistence upon responsible behavior from ourselves and our Earth
Religious institutions, knowing that only then are we truly free. To experience, to learn
and to grow.
We take a very long view here at Four Quarters. Working with the
Standing Stones makes one quite content to grow slow and sure. This is reflected in our
planning for the Stone Circle, whose inner ring alone will take another 15 years to
complete. By our Camp improvement program, which proceeds as the donations become
available to fund it and as we achieve the wisdom to work the Land gently. And by our
reverence for Family in all of its colors, and not necessarily defined by physical
relatedness. For us that means we are very protective of our Children, their Parents, and
our community’s Aunts, Uncles, and Gay and Lesbian Members who help raise those
children, even if they have chosen not to have children themselves. All working to support
the Young Families with Children, who are our common future, and who will be the
inheritors of stewardship for the Stones, the Land and our Community.
Our commitment is to EarthReligious Traditions, not as a social club or
counter-cultural statement, but as a relevant and very much needed rebirth of ancient ways
for this terribly modern world. Traditions that can change the world... one person at a
time.
We hope that your visit here will be a time of slow-paced reflection,
when you can literally stop to smell the flowers. Where in a place of sanctity you may
discover a deeper meaning in your own ceremonials, or perhaps rediscover your heart’s
memory of them. A first Sweat Lodge or Full Moon Service. Or simply spending the weekend
listening to the leaves rustle may be just the tonic.
But whatever your needs, if they are of your heart and soul and the
Earth you walk upon, we think you may find them at Four Quarters.
Blessings of the Land, Upon You and Your
House.
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