The Mother Stone, spring 1996 

    This should be a long story, because it lies at the heart of Four Quarters and every thing that we are. But the full story can wait for the campfire.
    The beginnings of Four Quarters were difficult and the winter of 1995-96 especially so. Little money or food, a brutally hard winter and little time to prepare for the Rising, then scheduled in mid-May. By April our quarry was still frozen out of the their mountaintop works and it was only by the first of May that they could get in to work the rock face. With ten days before the Rising The quarry called; they had two stones for us. We traveled out to the mountain and found two beautiful stones, but one was riven by a crack that ran through its heart. And that crack was sure to spread.
     The megalithic monuments of Europe include "portal" or "spirit" stones that have a large hole bored through their center; and the only way to stop a crack in stone is to drill out it root. With this in mind we asked the quarry to carve an 18 inch hole through the center of the stone. They did and made delivery of the stone just 3 days before that years Stones Rising. As the stone waited to be raised, we kept it covered.

    Finally during the Rising, we uncovered this new stone and there was a palpable gasp from the people as it rose into position to form the second stone of the east gate. A huge beautifully colored stone with a hole through its center.
    And through the crowd the whispers began, "It's the Mother". and parents then spontaneously began to bring their new babies to The Mother Stone and pass them through the hole, re-birthing them into circle.

    Thus it began as all traditions begin. As something so plain to see that it seems obvious; and as time goes by becoming so important that we cannot imagine doing without.
    Now, ten years later, the ritual of passing the babies through The Mother Stone is one of the most important parts of the complex of ceremonials that take place on the day of The Rising. When the Mothers and Fathers present their new children to The Tribe, to be welcomed into Circle.

    It is our tradition and our ThanksGiving.
    Celebrating the fruit and increase of the people within a Circle of Standing Stones.