We, John and Michele, came to Amberley in 2005 to set up a certified organic market garden. After tossing around ideas, the name Stonecircle popped into our consciousness and refused to budge and so the business became known as Stonecircle Organics Ltd. 

To celebrate our new venture and the shift to our new home, we organised a farm warming party.  “Well the farm is now called Stonecircle Farm so perhaps we need an actual stone circle!!!!!” John intuited where this stone circle was to go – in the meadow. He said it needed to be big enough to be seen from the air and so the 8m circle was marked out on the grass.  

Family and friends were invited to bring special stones to create the circle. These stones mark the inner circle. They are of all shapes and sizes and many come from afar; England (smuggled in a suitcase); Vanuatu (a fertility symbol) and Mt Erebus. Many are also of much significance to those who offered them. Much thought and enthusiasm went into the placing of these stones and they marked the beginning of the creation of community on this land. 

After the creation of the inner circle we bought 8 big rocks to mark the outer circle and with the help of a hiab these stones were placed to mark the 4 directions – north, west, south, east and in between. 

Years later, Barry Brailsford, a local historian, archaeologist and author of many books including the “Song of Waitaha, Histories of a Nation”, offered to visit the farm and measure the ley lines (energy lines) running through this land and the energy centre of the farm. John’s intuition was correct. The energy centre of the farm turned out to be in the stone circle. It’s marked by a small cairn topped by a pounamu stone. This energy centre is fed by over 50 energy (ley) lines that gather, creating a place of great power and significance within the circle.  

The power of the circle continues to grow as many gather in dance, song, ritual, qigong, yoga, meditation, prayer and quiet reflection.  

Stone circles have traditionally marked the passage of the sun, the moon and the planets of the seasonal cycles of life by ancient cultures all over the world. Let us continue to embrace their wisdom and reverence for life which was highly connected to the spiritual realm and carry it forward into our future.