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Our gift to you:
A stone from the magickal gardens of The Hermit’s Grove
Some history
Our gardens are a magickal place, filled with herbal spirits and the ritual site we call the Dancing Circle where the Rowan Tree Church holds its Full Moon and seasonal celebrations during the warmer half of the year. From our cottage to the east end of our property (which is a wooded area with second-growth trees) we have a 45,000 square foot garden. The only grass is in the Dancing Circle and the visitor explores the labyrinth through myriad pebble paths.
Creating such large gardens in a region which has been well-glaciated we unearth numerous stones. The largest ones are honored as decorative watchers for the gardens and line the network of paths. The smallest ones (about an inch) we harvest and these are used to ‘pave’ the paths.
Originally we had rock piles but digging out any errant blackberries or other deep-rooted weeds (planted by the birds eating overhead in the plums) pretty much meant moving the loose stones. I began building rock bins out of scrap lumber. These worked so well that in a couple of years I began replacing them with treated two-by-sixes. Within a few years there were more than a dozen of these rock bins scattered throughout the gardens, an average size of three feet high, six to eight feet long and two or more feet wide. Yet in this winter-wet, temperate climate even this lumber will decompose so I decided to move all of them, one bin at a time, one bucket of rocks at a time, and relocated all of the bins to the perimeter of the ‘camping square’ near the entrance to the wooded area of our gardens which is known as the memorial Grove.
Most of the rock bins had already been moved when, in December of 2003 ce, in a light rain, I was moving stones, their color brought out when wet. I remembered how thrilled Judith K. was with the stones she found. Judith loved stones and had her own tumblers, often bringing stones to add to the Stone Circle or for sharing in the Sunday morning Circle conducted by The Rowan Tree.
As if the stones suggested it, I realized that we, too, could find a rock tumbler. I immediately interrupted my work, went into our office in our cottage and found one on eBay for very little money. We’ve been tumbling stones ever since.
When people tour our gardens they take home a stone or two as a ‘souvenir.’ Stones are added to our Stone Circle after being part of the healing and prayer which is part of the Rowan Tree’s gathering every Sunday morning. Sometimes a stone will be tucked into an herb shipment.
Our gardens are a tribute to the magick of herbes and the warmth shared when we offer guests some of our home-grown organic fruit juice (we can about 350 quarts each year). It has been a source of joy to be able to give such a gift as one of these stones. The stones in our paths are hand-collected when we work in the soil of our gardens, which are in honor of our Mother Earth. We walk these paths when in meditation and when at work, when on our way to labor among the beds and when walking to one of the Circles for ritual. Each stone carries with it the magick of healing and the magick of the love which we extend to you.
Would you like a stone?
Would you like a stone? At present we are willing to send them out for free, assuming our small, cottage organization can sustain the costs of tumbling and shipping.
Because The Hermit’s Grove is definitely non-profit (sometimes too non-profit for its own good) this project will welcome any donations. The cost of a stone (including postage, mailer, and the tumbling grits and polishes) runs one or two dollars for stones sent within North America.
Those who send money to help fund the project for those who cannot make any donation will be a blessing to Mother Earth. Any person sending a donation of $50.00 or more will be listed as a Friend of the Stone Devas.
Have you a stone to share?
And, just as we are sending stones around the world, perhaps you might want to mail us a stone from your garden, home or favorite location. The Stone Circle, a place for worship and meditation among the trees in the Memorial Grove, has stones from places as diverse as adjacent the Parthenon, Great Pyramid, Lhasa (Tibet), the Dragon Cave (Vietnam) and numerous countries throughout the world. When someone is going travelling, we ask them to send us a stone. Why not join in?
The card we print and send with the stones contains this information:
This stone has spent many years, if not centuries, residing in what we humans know as The Hermit’s Grove. Quite possibly brought here from places unknown during the last glacier’s journey, it was selected by the Beyerls from the countless thousands of small stones which ‘pave’ the network of paths which weave the Magick of our gardens. We walk these paths to reach the Dancing Circle for our Full Moon and Sabbat Rituals and to walk back into the Memorial Grove, the woodland garden where we have our Stone Circle.
With its kin, this stone spent a month in the tumbler experiencing two grades of grit and two types of polish. Prior to our finding it ten years of Lothloriën Rituals took place within tossing distance of this stone and it is part of the Magick which permeates our gardens.
We enjoy the stones we find as much as the plants and trees and birds and hope that the love we have of our gardens can be felt.
We hope this stone will allow you to better empower your connection with the Magick of our gardens and the Magick of Lothloriën.
Be very blessed.
Friends of the Stones & Devas
- Paula B., Edmonds, WA
- Alice B., Gold Bar, WA
- George E., Bloomsbury, NJ
- Annette E., Ridgewood, NY
- Jackie S., Harris, MN
Our garden stones have found new homes in:
in the United States:
Alaska
Juneau
California
Citrus Heights, Lawndale, Long Beach, Mammoth Lakes, Reseda
Colorado
Denver, Granby
Hawaii
Hilo
Idaho
Post Falls
Illinois
Aurora, Moline
Indiana
Indianapolis
Massachusetts
Agawam, Grafton
Michigan
Saint Clair Shores
Minnesota
Harris, Lakeville, Minneapolis, St. Paul
Mississippi
Greenville
Nebraska
Plattsmouth
New Jersey
Washington
New Mexico
Hobbs
New York
Ridgewood, Sayville
Ohio
Worthington
Oregon
O’Brien
Pennsylvania
New Milford
South Carolina
Turbeville
Texas
Aransas Pass, The Colony
Virginia
Reston
Washington
We give stones to folk who visit our gardens, to students and friends
so we’ve covered the Puget Sound region.
West Virginia
Lynn
Wisconsin
Colby, Glendale, Pine River
in Canada:
British Columbia
Ontario
Pembroke
10 viii 2004 ce