Stones Rising: An Introduction

Even now in our fifteenth year it is difficult for me to get my arms around Stones Rising, and with this introduction I can only hope to lift the curtain a little bit for others. Because Stones is not a festival as that concept is commonly understood. We do not offer to entertain you and we offer no message that can be expressed in words.

For Stones Rising is a community’s exploration of itself and the individual’s expression of their own Spiritual sensibilities. You should be here for your own experience of ceremony in the first person, and to share the meaning that you find within your own heart with those around you. For there is great meaning here on the Land, in Ceremony, working with the Stones, the People and with Spirit.

We offer a tool kit of Ceremony, Set and Setting, from which you can weave your own experience within the context of a functioning Ceremonial Community. And that community of shared experience is a continuum; living, breathing, changing with the years, as we all grow and change in our experience of the Standing Stones and of each other. For no Stones Rising is like the one that came before, and I dare say they will never repeat themselves. There is no beginning and certainly no end to the process, no beginning or end to the Ceremonial Circle. No single Rising can transmit all that is to be learned, as each year becomes an indivisible part of what came before and what will come after. Stones Rising is a community of shared intent and commitment, struggle and achievement that goes far beyond any one person or time.

It is true that some of us have been privileged to be present when the first Stone was raised, and for some this will be a first time under the Witness Arbors. But it is our hope that no matter when you joined us, you will find that you too stand in the Center of the Circle.
We are honored to stand here with you.

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