Rainbow families/communities...I need your help?!

i remember some of those kind people!

 

bet your glad ya didnt fly out huh?

but we should think about trippin on out together for 07 too we'd have a blast i think again
maybe get a caravan together and go hippynap these ppl and take em totheyre 1st
its really hard to think about wriiting about what it all is and means baesed off others experienceswithout experiencing it 1st hand

 

pete, you'r absolutely right! you can read, write and do all of that type of stuff, but you will never know unless you experience it yourself. we will go out together to the 07 gathering fo' sho'!

 

awesome but we gotta get frieden and eartygirl to gotoo

 

Ohhh well count me in!!!!

 

your already in

 

WAHOO!

 

finny how u can feel the excitement building even like 8 months away huh

just wait till your on the way and in the last couple hundred mile stretch and your grinnin ear to ear

 

Ahhh now I'm just hoping and counting on the time to fly by!!!

 

hahaha its amazin how fast it sneaks up on ya and your scramblin to get everything together in time

 

It's fun hearing everyone's stories, so I thought I'd share some bits, too.

Ask just about any Rainbow and you'll hear that their first Gathering changed their life, and it was certainly that way for me. My first one was CA '04. I had been wanting to go for a few years after hearing about some friends' experiences, so we planned out a route and headed down to Cali. It was only a 2-day drive (from Northern Idaho) and we camped somewhere in the middle of Oregon. I traveled with my boyfriend Sen, our dog Juneau, and a friend - along with all our gear in my little Ford Escort. The trip was pretty uneventful until we started getting closer to Rainbow. Every place we stopped we started running into Rainbows. I remember meeting a couple who had hit a moose in their bus and had to get it fixed, we chilled with them for a while and wished we could've fit them in the car...

As we got closer to Rainbow we could feel the energy pulling us in, but we really didn't know what to expect. Once we got on the dirt roads there was a pretty steady stream of cars. Once we got there we parked and then started hiking in. Everyone was smiling and saying "Welcome Home" and giving out hugs - it truly felt like home, instantly. We finally found a spot to camp near Warriors of the Light kitchen, met the neighbors (and Juneau met all the lady dogs in the neighborhood of course) and decided to hike up to the big rocks overlooking the gathering.

Up at the top of the rocks, we looked over the gathering - it was huge and so spread out, with teepees, kitchens, fires, and tents everywhere. We ran into a friend on our hike - it's funny how you'll accidentally bump into old friends at the gathering and find each other among all those people! I was also amazed at all the different communities and kitchens that were set up, and my first meal at main circle was truly amazing. It reminded me of the Biblical story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread & some fish. Except that everything at main circle was vegetarian or vegan. The food was AMAZING - so much variety and so much new stuff to try. It was eating this food, prepared with love and all vegetarian, that changed me and convinced me that I should go vegetarian. Right then & there I stopped eating animals - and it was the best decision I've ever made. It was something I'd wanted to do for years but never had the balls to do it - Rainbow convinced me not only that it was possible, but that it was DAMN TASTY!

Anyway, the CA Gathering was a spiritual experience and one I'll never forget. Other highlights include going on an herbal walk, participating in a council circle, meeting all kinds of wonderful people, trading at the trade circle, and hiking up the mountain above the Gathering. The hike was especially amazing. When we got to the top there was a glacier on the other side! Juneau is a husky and got soooo excited when he saw that snow. We climbed up a big rock outcropping near the top of the mountain to take in some sun (and some solars) and rest a bit. We met an awesome guy up there and chatted for a while. Then we saw some kids running down the mountain. They were going really fast and I mentioned that I hope they didn't fall. Then one of them came running back up towards us, yelling for help. His friend had broken his leg! So we rushed down the mountain to find the kid with a definitely broken leg in lots of pain. We all lifted him off the rocks to a more comfortable spot and gave him some water and what little medicine we could offer. Sen made him a splint and stabilized his leg and we waited with him until more people and an EMT arrived and eventually they had to get an ambulance up there and carry him to it on a stretcher. So, kids, don't run down mountains!!!

The sense of community and love I felt renewed my faith in the human race. The most powerful experience was probably the July 4th circle. No one speaks until after the circle, so we were silent for most of the morning. Everyone gathered in the main meadow and formed concentric circles of people holding hands. Everyone began chanting "OOOHHHHHHHMMMMMMM" and the whole valley vibrated with positive energy. After a while a parade of children came from Kiddie Village and entered the circle. Once they reached the middle the prayer turned into a party and everyone celebrated. The energy of that prayer circle was probably the most intense vibe I've ever felt - everyone there was gathered to pray for peace and manifest it.

On the way out a week later, we piled a couple needing a ride in and took them most of the way home. We had a great time and some great conversations with them, and it was a good way to make the Rainbow energy last just a bit longer.

So that was my first gathering. A life-altering experience and one I highly recommend. I also went to CO this year, which was amazing as well. We drove our '82 VW bus that we'd just bought days before the Gathering. It was like it was meant to take us there, my boyfriend picked it up and drove it home and the day after we left. This time it was just Sen, Juneau, and I. We went through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks on the way down there and of course stopped at some hot springs along the way. We got to see Old Faithful erupt at sunset in Yellowstone! We were really nervous because we'd heard about the roadblocks and the arrests, so when we got into Steamboat Springs we checked it out and asked around a bit, and ended up waiting until really late to roll in. We got in without seeing any cops, parked and crashed in the bus.

Colorado had a bit more hectic parking than Cali did, but the location was just as beautiful. We made sure to stop in the hug tent on the way in and volunteered at a kitchen right away. We set up camp - and ended up moving camp a few times while we were there - and just soaked in the energy. It felt even more like home than the last Gathering. Some of the cool things I saw in CO were the talent show at Granola Funk (they had built a pirate ship stage out of logs and it was awesome!), lots of live music and drumming, PopCorner (a kitchen that served popcorn and chai all night), and we ran into another old friend on the 4th! I made some awesome trades at the trade circle (got the coolest patchwork pants I've ever seen!) and when my boyfriend got sick, an acupuncturist & energy healer healed him instantly using the energy of crystals (and her own energy of course). It was amazing - he had been sick and unable to hold down even water all day, and right after seeing the healer we went and ate at main circle and he was fine.

The 4th was a little crazier than Cali - one BIG circle instead of several concentric ones, but the party in the middle was so much fun! I've never seen such an outpouring of joy and music. We helped clean up and caught the last few songs of a Michael Franti & Spearhead show at Steamboat Springs on the way out of town. And just as we got out of the Gathering and back into Babylon, I saw a Rainbow stretching across the sky, I swear it was coming from the Gathering....

It was so hard to leave, but we ended up going to Denver & Boulder with our friend, giving a sister a ride to Boulder, and going through Rocky Mountain National Forest (in the fog & rain) on the way home. We went back through Grand Teton & Yellowstone as well, and the bus did really well the whole trip.

Wow, I think this is the longest post ever. Anyway, I highly recommend you watch this movie Warriors of the Light - I've got a link to all 3 parts on YouTube on the barter fair site, here: http://www.barterfair.org/blog/2006/08/some-awesome-videos.html

Enjoy & I hope you can make it HOME in 2007!

 

thats so funny we ran into them too along the way..ot no..when they got there...it tookus 2 days from philly..drivin nonstop...just burnin up miles...but we started seein rainbows 2-3 states away

you camped real near me as well i'm not sure i know you but i know your dog
we probly met tho i'm sure
we had the camp behind there where every1 ended up when trippin thru the woods no matter where in the site they were headed.....jus behind yomamas and wariors

yes isnt main circle amazing? the food is so incredible and plentiful and like only a handful of change feeds everyone so amazingly
the hat on thre 4th might bring in $2500 at a high.. but can feed 30,000 easily... plus 1/3 to calm and & kid villiage & 1/3 to cleanup
funny ive been veg maybe 1-2 years longer then been goin to gatherings (nc..87?)

i eat sooooooo much better at gatherings..and sleep better too..
i'm glad you made the choice to go veg .... damn i miss rainbow cookin soo much in babylon
oh speakin of food we were the 1's makin the navajo frybread u mightve smelled sometimes..yummmmmmm

the herb walk was with sevensongs? or 1 of his students? sevensongs is an incredible teacher.. his herb school gets like tons and tons of applications but he only takes 12 or so students.. and part of theyre senior year thhey have to work at calm
he always freely shares his wisdom at gatherings but gets kinda busy..so if u get a chance to do more of his herbwalks ya definately should..
but the council circle is where everything happens.. sure sometimes it can be hours and hours to talk about but we make everything we do through circles the councils are always open to all and every cincgle view counts the same..
it only takes 1 person to block a concensus so we work untill everyones satisfied...or if not satisfied but can live with the decisions...
but thats only when decisions need tobe made the copuncils also a heartsong circle or hipstory circle ..

and trade circle..iused tospend too much time there .. but i love trade circle and some of the best trades were if id trade something nice toa kid for pocket random objects pebbles trinkets rubberbands whatever..
someone will trade for something of those for some other strange thing & ya do random trades and end up with a drum
if i hadta gues at like a monitary progression it was $35-18cents-2.50-25-200 with a buncha hops in between.. but every trade ended with both smillin real big & givin a hug ut that wasnt cali..all igot there was all iwanted a great big hat to stuff my dreads in

yea that goes for all ya older kids too..lol
i didnt make it up that mountain unfortunately it looked so beautiful.. just the hike to granola on the cliffs was pretty hard in a wheelchair so was the altitude i wasnt lookin to go no higher..lol
but that site was 1 of the most beautiful .. well arizona looked beautiful but i didnt make it 2 that 1

the sillence is incredible isnt it? the sillence in caliwas the closest ive ever heard tothe entire site being totaly silent...you could hear footsteps on the path quite a distance away
the sillence however is suposed to goon untill the kids parade comes into the circle, that is the concensus for many many years
does it always end that way? no as you plainly saw sometimes spirit has a concensus all its own but it would be so nice to have the ohm wait for the kids more often (some1 remind me of last time it waited? i cant remember)
but the energy on the 4th can be very intence and deeply emotional and spiritual
if you made it tothe 4th at your 1st gathering you definately had the right experience

they allll ways are the energy at the vermount gathering wasso intence ppl were having all sorts of intence emotional i guess breakthroughs.. and it was just really intence powerful circle..and there was a sillent tipi not far away that was in sillent meditation inside the whole gathering ..there were massive crystals..1 300 pounds.. explodes shreddding the tipi.. but even withlike 30 people init not 1 was hurt.. thats how incredible the energy wss there
we create alotta love and light..alotta magical things happen there

hell yea..packit in..packit out.. and if ya got room take a lil more..
i love allthe crazy conversations with brothers or sisters ya just picked up yea its definately like just takin alittle family along the way with ya
i dont mind takin a roundabout route on the way back either just to keep with the flow

u saw our trip there so ill jump to the cops
when did u arive? i arived later then i ever have at any gathering..on the 1st ithink..but we stop in town and theres kids parked along the highway in smokin & we stop and they say if u wait till 6 they all go away.. so at 6 we drive in past a convoy of 38 leo vehicles.. they pay us no mind we smole and wave..we get to the checkpoint keep in mind our camper on thr trucks held together with rope and duct tape..we stop at the chdckpoint and hes like ya know this is an unpermitted illegal gathering and i say yup.. he says ya know your subject to possibly fines and prosicution & i say ok..& smile..& we moved on

i believe it we have some of the best healers in the world
and that stage was so amazing wasnt it?
incidently http://rainbowtribe.net has music fromboth and more

igot there late in co..but i stayed untill there were only a couple hundred left
it was a really beautiful site and it needed a gathering badly..
i absolutely loved the whole area around there we were drivin in slow in awe just pissin off all the locals staring at the scenery..
the 4th circle seemed really really huge,, even just the center circles that didnt move out was a fewthousand
just kid villiage took 20 minutes to parade in.. to me cali and co both seemed like really huge gatherings..no way anyone could ever guess even semi accurately

the circle after sunset there was like 50 or 60 still in main meadow on the 4th just ohmmming with just became sighs and joyful noises and hugs and carresses and before ya know it theres a beautiful writhing cuddlepuddle
it was just a magical musical flowing love

omg ive seen so many amazing rainbowsat gatherings or on the way toor fro that were magical
on way home from cali 1 followed us for 4 hours..we could always seee 1 end or the other just like following us ive never actualy seen the rainbows end before and espiecialy not following us for hours

beautiful i love getting a 50$ van and just go and hope and somehow u just have the best of luck
sounds like a nice route back too

thaznks i'll hafta look later ..the long post long replies was exhausting..heehee

if we did meet in co so happy to see ya again sis
ohhh wait a min..ithink i can picture your tent..ithink i know who you are maybe hugggggs tightly!!!!!!!!

 

Wow, small world - a lot of people find me or remember me from my dog Juneau:

We actually celebrate Juneau's birthday (July 2) at Rainbow every year. He turned 1 in CA and 3 this year.

It was sevensong at CA that I did an herb walk with - he was amazing and very smart. It's wonderful how many educational and enlightening opportunities like the herb walk there are at Rainbow. We learned a lot, his school looked awesome, too.

I'm not sure if I'll be going to the 2007 Gathering yet or not - depends on where I'm at and where it's at. If I'm still working I might not have enough vacation time since I'll be going to Europe in the spring. Our bus needs quite a bit of work (we just converted it to run on waste veggie oil) and we're moving before next summer, too, so hopefully we can make it happen but we'll see... where there's a will there's a way!

 

BarterMama, thanks for the story and the links to the videos! Those were amazing!!!

 

Hey no problem, glad I could help. I love showing those videos to people when they ask what Rainbow is all about. The Warriors of the Rainbow was filmed at the 2004 CA gathering. Since it was my first one it definitely makes them extra special for me.

 

bartermomma do u remember asister named mystique?
your dog hung out with her dog sadie alot

were u camped with 3 other sisters?
if so i was right near u..and the 1 sister with u would always have a nice big smole for me when i woke up
but thats all i remember
heehee

freiden check out the movies on spunone too, theyre very real even if the quality isnt great on em..they give ya a real good feel for what its all about

 

Juneau played with a lot of girl doggies but I can't remember their owners' names too well. I was camped with 2 guys, so it probably wasn't me you remember. You don't look too familiar but who knows. There's always next Gathering too....

 

and the next and the next and the next

not gonna stop goin anytime soon so im sure eventualy you wont be able to avoid me anymore