Should I go to this year's Rainbow Gathering

[Audiohealing]

Hi fellow Tao Bums!

 

I feel this may be an "its up to you, man" question to ask, but perhaps some may have experience with the yearly Rainbow gatherings held around the world.

 

It's basically a 3-week gathering of a few thousand people where people "live off the land" in a completely remote place. Daily activities include gathering food, getting water, building fires and shelters, meditating, talking, (some) do entheogens (hallucinogens) or other drugs although no alcohol is allowed. The gathering is famous for an event in which everyone forms a giant circle holding hands and everyone chants "om" at the same time.

 

I'm not of the hippy mindset at all, and I'm a bit of a hermit myself and dislike being around people most of the time (I'm 23)

 

My girlfriend is hell-bent on going (again) this year, as she said she went last year and it was a transformative experience.

 

Should I go? Will I learn something about myself? I'm an inner cultivator... not a hippie... and I have some unconscious prejudices against some things .... I am undecided.

[Sahaj Nath]

well, let me be the first to chime in really quick.

 

if you were going by yourself, i would say go for it. then, if it's really not your scene, just bail. no harm, no foul.

 

but if you have a girlfriend who's more open, more outgoing, and has already been changed by the experience, the hard truth is that an even like that could actually make or break the relationship. you should consider that. it happens more often than you think.

 

plus, if you're thinking of the event as a sort of transactional opportunity in which you'll gain some abstract spiritual value, you're really not ready to embrace the experience and you'll likely miss what's actually there. not sure if that's fair, but it reads like that's where you're coming from.

 

so that's it. it's on you though.

[2souls]

Dude, you are obviously young so please take advice from some of the guys on taobums that had been there. Anytime people are ok taking hard drugs but forbid you to have a beer, I would not take anything they say seriously.

 

You are cultivating energy and doing fine then find others up to your speed if you think that will help, maybe a real meditaion group or chi kung class, but do not dwarf your practice for a bunch of camping stoners.

 

Now as for the gf.. if she wants to go for 3 weeks in the woods and do drugs with strangers? I would say goodbye for good, and when she tried to get you back in a month and she would! I would surprise her with my new and improved gf.. healthy, happy and sober.

[doc benway]

Daily activities include gathering food, getting water, building fires and shelters, meditating, talking, (some) do entheogens (hallucinogens) or other drugs although no alcohol is allowed.

Interesting...

This is certainly not cultivation, IMO, but entertainment.

What are you looking for?

Edited June 9, 2011 by steve f

[Oolong Rabbit]

[Oolong Rabbit]

 

I'm not of the hippy mindset at all, and I'm a bit of a hermit myself and dislike being around people most of the time (I'm 23)

 

My girlfriend is hell-bent on going (again) this year, as she said she went last year and it was a transformative experience.

 

Should I go? Will I learn something about myself? I'm an inner cultivator... not a hippie... and I have some unconscious prejudices against some things .... I am undecided.

 

I have rarely regretted going to a retreat, workshop etc.. Many times that little inner voice will come up with 101 reasons why it's not a good idea. That little voice plays on our fears and primitive drives for safety, stability and security. This is the lower self, stagnation... the reptilian brain stem. Don't listen to it. These experiences will transform you, and you can begin to disempower your lower self. For what it's worth, I have never been to rainbow, but have heard many raving about it similar to your gf.

 

Perhaps meditate on why you do not want to go. Go to the root.

 

Brgds!

[doc benway]

[Audiohealing]

I should add that it's not really a drug-using community. Well, yes and no actually. The youngsters (about 5%) of the group are tripping out on various entheogens (no hard drugs), and most others (I'd say 75%) smoke pot. Pot is the currency there. There is no money. You exchange pot for goods.

 

I'm not an unsociable person, I'm just in a phase where this sort of this is unappealing to me at all. I visited the location and the couple that is organizing the event and their supposed "shaman" son who is my age. The mom dresses up like some kind of loon from the 40's and seems relatively normal. This son of theirs is convinced he was taken up by aliens, and has done large amounts of psylocybin mushrooms in mexico and is convinced he has communed with the maya! He looks like a space-case but my girlfriend says he's a reaaaaaal shaman, yep!

 

My girlfriend isn't one to cheat- yes- she wants to go live off the land in the woods some time in the future with me. We've been through good times and really, really bad times together and she's stuck by my side the whole two years we've been together. The main reasons she's going back is to see her friends and display her art and to (obviously) relive the experience most notably the sweat lodge and the hippie OM circle. She stated she has "met some of the most intelligent people she's ever met".

 

Why would this be grounds for me leaving her? Sure I'm not cool with her going by herself, and she might have gotten raped last year because someone slipped roofies in her drink (not at the rainbow, but a similar techno-ish event that was taking place a couple hours away when the rainbow had ended). She denies it but says "she doesn't remember anything".

 

You pee wherever you want and you poo in a hole you dig and then you cover it up. Most everyone is naked.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I've been to a similar festival, though it was just 3 days. I think it had some affiliation with The Rainbow People, or at least there were a lot of Rainbow People who attended and helped with the set up.

 

The 3 days was beautiful, with a community feeling I'd never experienced with more than a houseful of people.

 

You might want to test the waters first with a Summer Solstice Festival coming up this month, since it's only 3 days (or longer if you help with set-up which I recommend for the extra camping time with chill people).

 

The no alcohol thing is great because it keeps the ego out of things and everyone gets along like (as I said) nowhere I've been before.

 

The different workshops and such are not mandatory. Some of them require you to be sober to take part.

 

3 weeks is a long time. You might have to latch on to your girlfriend if you feel the characters are too much. There will be people like you there too, but if you can't accept that people are using one of the only means they have to a transformative spiritual experience (ie entheogens) then you'll find yourself feeling very judgmental and you won't have a good time. If you can say

 

"that's their trip, their way of discovery, if it's getting them somewhere they want to be then that's fine with me. I have my way, people might think their way is better, but I'm going to practice in the way that I've found to be progressive for me. It's good that we can all do our thing. I'm not going to impinge on them, and I'm looking for guidance from them so I'm just gon' do my thing and enjoy the freedom."

 

If that's an attitude that you can really hold, then you'll be okay.

 

Plus, it's a great place where you can practice and no one will look at you like you're a freak. Just roll with it if you turn around and see some long haired naked guy following your tai chi movements

 

 

edit: oh, any maybe bring some cheap incense that smells too strongly and stick them in the ground near the porto-potties.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[Audiohealing]

More info can be found here: http://www.welcomehere.org/gathering_of_the_tribes/annual/

 

FWIW if I go with my GF we won't be staying the whole 3 weeks. Just 10 days.

 

I've done my fair share of drugs in the past. Not something I'm interested in anymore. I know what they do and how to use them. It was fun for a while.

 

There's just something weird about some guy being high on shrooms, dancing around naked and bowing down and kissing the ground repeatedly saying "thank you mother earth, thank you, thank you".

 

Maybe I'm a bit jealous because I don't have such a connection with nature. Maybe I'm jealous because some of the people there will be more advanced then I am. I am human and have an ego... I guess it's just natural. I'm being honest with myself here.

 

What are the chances my girlfriend would cheat on me if I let her go myself? I have no idea honestly. In my past experiences with women all it takes is the right guy at the right time and women will do pretty much anything. Of course, I would probably never find out. But she's the honest type and would probably blurt it out upon arriving. I don't know why I'm debating her fidelity, really. It just annoys me to no end when talks about how great the event is and how special all the people there are. Armchair psychology 101: my own inner issue, I suppose. There is no freaking way I can be enthusiastic listening to her talk about this.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Audiohealing

[Oolong Rabbit]

You have convinced me, when do we leave?

 

Wow you bought that line?

[suninmyeyes]

I should add that it's not really a drug-using community. Well, yes and no actually. The youngsters (about 5%) of the group are tripping out on various entheogens (no hard drugs), and most others (I'd say 75%) smoke pot. Pot is the currency there. There is no money. You exchange pot for goods.

 

I'm not an unsociable person, I'm just in a phase where this sort of this is unappealing to me at all. I visited the location and the couple that is organizing the event and their supposed "shaman" son who is my age. The mom dresses up like some kind of loon from the 40's and seems relatively normal. This son of theirs is convinced he was taken up by aliens, and has done large amounts of psylocybin mushrooms in mexico and is convinced he has communed with the maya! He looks like a space-case but my girlfriend says he's a reaaaaaal shaman, yep!

 

My girlfriend isn't one to cheat- yes- she wants to go live off the land in the woods some time in the future with me. We've been through good times and really, really bad times together and she's stuck by my side the whole two years we've been together. The main reasons she's going back is to see her friends and display her art and to (obviously) relive the experience most notably the sweat lodge and the hippie OM circle. She stated she has "met some of the most intelligent people she's ever met".

 

Why would this be grounds for me leaving her? Sure I'm not cool with her going by herself, and she might have gotten raped last year because someone slipped roofies in her drink (not at the rainbow, but a similar techno-ish event that was taking place a couple hours away when the rainbow had ended). She denies it but says "she doesn't remember anything".

 

You pee wherever you want and you poo in a hole you dig and then you cover it up. Most everyone is naked.

 

'Most everyone is naked.'

This made laugh so much becouse it is true.A friend of mine went to one of this Rainbow things and decided to go for a yoga lesson there,but the yoga instructor was naked ,and had a lot of male following who were also naked.

So my friend decided that it is a bit too much sharing for her and has decided to leave.

 

You being there for 10 days could be a long time..

Edited June 9, 2011 by suninmyeyes

[doc benway]

Wow you bought that line?

Hook, line, and (bong bubbles rumbling in background).... sinker!

[Dainin]

My response: See if your girlfriend would be willing to agree to do a ten day silent Vipassana retreat or Zen sesshin with you. If her answer is yes, then go hang out with her and the hippies, and later have her come to a meditation (or related subject) retreat with you. Hopefully, this type of exchange of experiences outside of your respective comfort zones will lead to mutual growth, and not resentment.

[thelerner]

My response: See if your girlfriend would be willing to agree to do a ten day silent Vipassana retreat or Zen sesshin with you. If her answer is yes, then go hang out with her and the hippies, and later have her come to a meditation (or related subject) retreat with you. Hopefully, this type of exchange of experiences outside of your respective comfort zones will lead to mutual growth, and not resentment.

 

I like Dainin's answer.

 

Still, with any kind of extreme retreat you have to have a solid connection and motivation. Two or three days can be faked, but 10 days is a long time for something you don't have an affinity for.

 

It might be better to follow the old saying-

 

If you trulylove someone

let them go

If they come back (without a venereal disease)

then its meant to be.

Edited June 10, 2011 by thelerner

[zerostao]

Question about the "daily activities." You missed mention of two important daily activities: peeing and pooping. Where will these activities take place? In the woods? In a lean-to? In port-a-potties?

 

Years ago I went to a weekend festival at Bread and Puppet in Vermont, USA. Wonderful event, lots of fun art and politics and group energy. But what I also remember was the stench of the port-a-potties and sleeping next to my friend's car. Which was next to everyone else's cars. Which wasn't too far from the......port-a-potties!

you are having a gathering?! how nice

next time take a tent or a hammock at least. trees wont mind you hitching up

a temporary hammock.

i always take my own drinking water.

gathering of rainbows all that loving light.

once i was roaming around the woods , not far from my backyard.

and these dudes with tie-dyed gowns were out there and they said to me

"welcome home" i was like yeah , but who the heck are you?

then they asked if i happened to have any peanut butter on me??

anyways i unwittingly stumbled into a rainbow gathering

such is the way with serendipity.

there were the naked folks running about and there were entheogens.

at one moment of time they were calling me "the keeper of the stash"

on the way out i encountered more folks i wasnt use to seeing out in the woods

and these guys were wearing police uniforms

never know what adventures await

[Informer]

Dude, you are obviously young so please take advice from some of the guys on taobums that had been there. Anytime people are ok taking hard drugs but forbid you to have a beer, I would not take anything they say seriously.

 

You are cultivating energy and doing fine then find others up to your speed if you think that will help, maybe a real meditaion group or chi kung class, but do not dwarf your practice for a bunch of camping stoners.

 

Now as for the gf.. if she wants to go for 3 weeks in the woods and do drugs with strangers? I would say goodbye for good, and when she tried to get you back in a month and she would! I would surprise her with my new and improved gf.. healthy, happy and sober.

 

Lighten up!

 

It sounds like a genuine self-improvement class to me. People should be free to choose what they consume, imo.

 

You can learn a lot especially some respect by living off the land and in harmony. I'm pretty sure no one is going to pressure you into doing drugs, and if they do, take it as a test of your will power. Also, you don't own your gf, so don't treat her like an attachment, you will look jealous.

[templetao]

When I first read the title of this thread I thought this was a meeting for people who attained the rainbow body or something. lol

[Owledge]

Hi zero, a Rainbow Gathering, not a Rainbow_Vein Gathering... I won't be there.

 

 

Wouldn't the prime trouble be that no one could find one another, as everyone would be invisible?

As I understand it, invisibility of that kind is relative. It's an 'interstate' vibe-difference. So two people 'on rainbow body' should vibe quite well and see each other ... if you can still call it "seeing", that is.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

 

It just annoys me to no end when talks about how great the event is and how special all the people there are. Armchair psychology 101: my own inner issue, I suppose. There is no freaking way I can be enthusiastic listening to her talk about this.

 

Perhaps, as you said, you're just jealous because she knows people who are more advanced. If so, you should go just find that impulse and abolish it. If you don't know how to appreciate these qualities in people you will be at a loss in personal development. Learn to see how some of these people are more advanced than you. You'll maybe see how they are not perfect, and in doing so realize that both of you have work to do before you've attained any levels of perfection. There's nowhere to go without knowing that there's somewhere to go, you know what I mean? I'm not invincible to the same failing but I know it is of utmost importance to destroy such impulses. I'm just seeing this to be a possible dojo. You're committed to personal cultivation, so...

 

 

Plus, you'll really know where your girlfriend is coming from, and, if needed be able to disagree using references that put you both on the same page. You can lead her spiritually if you feel you need to, but you'll know where she's at. Your connection will be stronger, or you'll know something you're only suspicious of -- that she's loony

[2souls]

I should add that it's not really a drug-using community. Well, yes and no actually. The youngsters (about 5%) of the group are tripping out on various entheogens (no hard drugs), and most others (I'd say 75%) smoke pot. Pot is the currency there. There is no money. You exchange pot for goods.

 

I'm not an unsociable person, I'm just in a phase where this sort of this is unappealing to me at all. I visited the location and the couple that is organizing the event and their supposed "shaman" son who is my age. The mom dresses up like some kind of loon from the 40's and seems relatively normal. This son of theirs is convinced he was taken up by aliens, and has done large amounts of psylocybin mushrooms in mexico and is convinced he has communed with the maya! He looks like a space-case but my girlfriend says he's a reaaaaaal shaman, yep!

 

My girlfriend isn't one to cheat- yes- she wants to go live off the land in the woods some time in the future with me. We've been through good times and really, really bad times together and she's stuck by my side the whole two years we've been together. The main reasons she's going back is to see her friends and display her art and to (obviously) relive the experience most notably the sweat lodge and the hippie OM circle. She stated she has "met some of the most intelligent people she's ever met".

 

Why would this be grounds for me leaving her? Sure I'm not cool with her going by herself, and she might have gotten raped last year because someone slipped roofies in her drink (not at the rainbow, but a similar techno-ish event that was taking place a couple hours away when the rainbow had ended). She denies it but says "she doesn't remember anything".

 

You pee wherever you want and you poo in a hole you dig and then you cover it up. Most everyone is naked.

 

 

Well thanks for sharing, that changes everything. I think you should go if she does, even though you are not that into it,

If only to protect her from some scum. Your mind will be more at ease that way and she will have you to rely on. Denying a rape is not uncommon, often a way to not deal with it untill shes able. If she brings it up just remind her its not her fault regardless of what drugs she took.

Damn, these places can be a hot bed of shity behavior, and not just the kind you can cover with a little dirt. Maybe you are the best source of strength for her now so keep cultivating, add lots of meditation before you go. -Stay strong bro.

[Seth Ananda]

Hehe, I have been to 5 Rainbow gatherings here in Australia, but none of the International ones, nor unfortunately a world gathering, which is the largest of the species, with only one called a year.

 

Here is my Report.

 

I Love Rainbow, its my favourite kind of festival. No money involved whatsoever. everyone works [who wants to] to make the festival happen. The funny thing is because of the communal nature of the event, You [meaning me, who is generally lazy] find your self wanting to work, to help it all happen. I often found myself doing 12 hour days, quite happily. I think because I was working with others for something that felt good.

 

I have had some extremely heart opening moments there, and it began the healing of that part of me that thinks people are shit.

To see beautiful people together, supporting each other and working together, in a feeling of love, for the good of everyone there... Moved me to tears a number of times.

its a great social experiment, and when you go back to your normal life, It will cause some interesting reflections.

 

It has some strong cliques.

 

there are your travellers who are usually all round good value. I have made so many good friends over the years there.

 

the Fleathers [feather and leather crew] are their usual pain in the ass, not quite sure if they can trust a person who doesn't have dreads, and want to be an American Indian who smokes lots of pot and talks about 2012. They are usually just very insecure people and not that bad. Still even there there are some Gems among them.

 

then there is the Hippy/spiritual crew. Most of them do yoga, study advaita or some eastern philosophy, and love listening to deva premal, shimshai, Tina amalia...

Chanting bliss heads. Only a small percentage of them do drugs, most are extremely 'pure' vegan types. There are usually a few INCREDIBLY anal types in here, but some of the loveliest people i have ever met are in here. Devotional souls with Big hearts dedicated to simple service.

 

Then there is your 'Action types' who are more uncomfortable sitting still. survivalists, anarchists, activists... They do get a lot done. They are who I go to when I need some sparring. There is always a handfull of obsessive martial artist types in there... You can usually recognise their camps by the series of 'massive' masterfully suspended tarps, tree scaling equipment, and cammo not rainbow colours.

 

Then the Families. They Often camp together to minimise party noise too close to kids trying to sleep. they would be from any group that ended up with child, and thus started clanning with like minded parents.

 

There is usually a smaller group of 'philosopher' types, who are usually sitting around debating whatever...

 

then there are the more normal alternative types, that just love rainbow, or just do not feel the need to join exclusively, one particular clique.

 

All that said, these are obviously general category's, and there are many people who blur or transcend all these subjective boundaries.

 

 

I would go to any Rainbow, any time anywhere if I had the resources.

 

The toilets are a ditch dug in the ground that you straddle and squat over, then partially fill in. Little walls get put up for privacy.

 

Rainbow is always always next to running water, so the swimming is wonderful.

We try to do them with permission from the locals, who usually come down for a gander. many end up staying after seeing their first naked hippy girl. and the tribe looks after them well, educates them when they get Inappropriate, as sometimes happens when a hard core redneck stumbles across a bunch of stunning faries naked in the bushes.

 

There are so many Golden moments at a Rainbow. But plenty of shit ones too. The talking circle, while fun at first, now drives me nuts. I refuse to stay longer than half an hour these days. Having to hear crap poetry from 400+ hippies while they hold the talking Feather or stick, is extremely testing.

 

I forget the exact format, but if you want the full experience, go to the seed camp. It starts sometimes up to two months before the gathering, and that is all the preparation set up. I love this. It may mean you get near 3 months camping with good people. Nothing I like more... At seed camp its digging shit pits, making the kitchen, with running warer if possible. Making food storage, making sure washing happens down stream from swimming holes, collecting the donation money and getting the masses of food that will be needed, setting up first aid spaces, organizing where parking will happen, making sure emergency vehicles will be able to get in and out, clearing bramble from camping areas, setting up the various communal covered Tarps, tipi's and yurts, liaising with local council and police. { the cops so far have loved us, and at one came in each night for that 'strange drink' called chai lol }

 

Anyway. I think thats it. The absence of alcohol makes it a very un-aggressive event, so that is a good thing. Stoned people are boring, but not problematic. Drunk people can be quite a different kettle of fish. Nearly every ugly moment I can think of, where we had to physically restrain someone and call the cops was when that person was drunk. so no alcohol. [its a dick head substance anyway, government allowed, to keep workers enslaved. No one would work most of their life in a shit job, if they could not go home and have a drink afterwards. anyway I digress]

 

Great community of people, plenty of politics [like any group]. And also this is all about the Australian gatherings I have been too. I hear they are much larger overseas but with a similar vibe.

[Adishakti]

Go.

 

Refer this link:

 

http://www.starsrainbowrideboard.org/welcomehome_mirror/rainbow/songs/palu/palus_songs.html

 

 

 

 

Hi fellow Tao Bums!

 

I feel this may be an "its up to you, man" question to ask, but perhaps some may have experience with the yearly Rainbow gatherings held around the world.

 

It's basically a 3-week gathering of a few thousand people where people "live off the land" in a completely remote place. Daily activities include gathering food, getting water, building fires and shelters, meditating, talking, (some) do entheogens (hallucinogens) or other drugs although no alcohol is allowed. The gathering is famous for an event in which everyone forms a giant circle holding hands and everyone chants "om" at the same time.

 

I'm not of the hippy mindset at all, and I'm a bit of a hermit myself and dislike being around people most of the time (I'm 23)

 

My girlfriend is hell-bent on going (again) this year, as she said she went last year and it was a transformative experience.

 

Should I go? Will I learn something about myself? I'm an inner cultivator... not a hippie... and I have some unconscious prejudices against some things .... I am undecided.

[NeiChuan]

Question about the "daily activities." You missed mention of two important daily activities: peeing and pooping. Where will these activities take place? In the woods? In a lean-to? In port-a-potties?

 

Years ago I went to a weekend festival at Bread and Puppet in Vermont, USA. Wonderful event, lots of fun art and politics and group energy. But what I also remember was the stench of the port-a-potties and sleeping next to my friend's car. Which was next to everyone else's cars. Which wasn't too far from the......port-a-potties!

 

Haha Gross

[zerostao]

Hehe, I have been to 5 Rainbow gatherings here in Australia, but none of the International ones, nor unfortunately a world gathering, which is the largest of the species, with only one called a year.

 

Here is my Report.

 

I Love Rainbow, its my favourite kind of festival. No money involved whatsoever. everyone works [who wants to] to make the festival happen. The funny thing is because of the communal nature of the event, You [meaning me, who is generally lazy] find your self wanting to work, to help it all happen. I often found myself doing 12 hour days, quite happily. I think because I was working with others for something that felt good.

 

I have had some extremely heart opening moments there, and it began the healing of that part of me that thinks people are shit.

To see beautiful people together, supporting each other and working together, in a feeling of love, for the good of everyone there... Moved me to tears a number of times.

its a great social experiment, and when you go back to your normal life, It will cause some interesting reflections.

 

It has some strong cliques.

 

there are your travellers who are usually all round good value. I have made so many good friends over the years there.

 

the Fleathers [feather and leather crew] are their usual pain in the ass, not quite sure if they can trust a person who doesn't have dreads, and want to be an American Indian who smokes lots of pot and talks about 2012. They are usually just very insecure people and not that bad. Still even there there are some Gems among them.

 

then there is the Hippy/spiritual crew. Most of them do yoga, study advaita or some eastern philosophy, and love listening to deva premal, shimshai, Tina amalia...

Chanting bliss heads. Only a small percentage of them do drugs, most are extremely 'pure' vegan types. There are usually a few INCREDIBLY anal types in here, but some of the loveliest people i have ever met are in here. Devotional souls with Big hearts dedicated to simple service.

 

Then there is your 'Action types' who are more uncomfortable sitting still. survivalists, anarchists, activists... They do get a lot done. They are who I go to when I need some sparring. There is always a handfull of obsessive martial artist types in there... You can usually recognise their camps by the series of 'massive' masterfully suspended tarps, tree scaling equipment, and cammo not rainbow colours.

 

Then the Families. They Often camp together to minimise party noise too close to kids trying to sleep. they would be from any group that ended up with child, and thus started clanning with like minded parents.

 

There is usually a smaller group of 'philosopher' types, who are usually sitting around debating whatever...

 

then there are the more normal alternative types, that just love rainbow, or just do not feel the need to join exclusively, one particular clique.

 

All that said, these are obviously general category's, and there are many people who blur or transcend all these subjective boundaries.

 

 

I would go to any Rainbow, any time anywhere if I had the resources.

 

The toilets are a ditch dug in the ground that you straddle and squat over, then partially fill in. Little walls get put up for privacy.

 

Rainbow is always always next to running water, so the swimming is wonderful.

We try to do them with permission from the locals, who usually come down for a gander. many end up staying after seeing their first naked hippy girl. and the tribe looks after them well, educates them when they get Inappropriate, as sometimes happens when a hard core redneck stumbles across a bunch of stunning faries naked in the bushes.

 

There are so many Golden moments at a Rainbow. But plenty of shit ones too. The talking circle, while fun at first, now drives me nuts. I refuse to stay longer than half an hour these days. Having to hear crap poetry from 400+ hippies while they hold the talking Feather or stick, is extremely testing.

 

I forget the exact format, but if you want the full experience, go to the seed camp. It starts sometimes up to two months before the gathering, and that is all the preparation set up. I love this. It may mean you get near 3 months camping with good people. Nothing I like more... At seed camp its digging shit pits, making the kitchen, with running warer if possible. Making food storage, making sure washing happens down stream from swimming holes, collecting the donation money and getting the masses of food that will be needed, setting up first aid spaces, organizing where parking will happen, making sure emergency vehicles will be able to get in and out, clearing bramble from camping areas, setting up the various communal covered Tarps, tipi's and yurts, liaising with local council and police. { the cops so far have loved us, and at one came in each night for that 'strange drink' called chai lol }

 

Anyway. I think thats it. The absence of alcohol makes it a very un-aggressive event, so that is a good thing. Stoned people are boring, but not problematic. Drunk people can be quite a different kettle of fish. Nearly every ugly moment I can think of, where we had to physically restrain someone and call the cops was when that person was drunk. so no alcohol. [its a dick head substance anyway, government allowed, to keep workers enslaved. No one would work most of their life in a shit job, if they could not go home and have a drink afterwards. anyway I digress]

 

Great community of people, plenty of politics [like any group]. And also this is all about the Australian gatherings I have been too. I hear they are much larger overseas but with a similar vibe.

excellent report Seth, thanks for sharing. i guess i have been to 4 of these , 3 were in kentucky and one in ocala florida. not sure if the power of suggestion applies here

but at each gathering i attended and one i couldnt quite find, i could hear the drums and that was frustrating but i think it was becoz who i had with me.

but at each gathering i did in fact see a rainbow in the sky. the one camp we couldnt find me and my friend still saw the rainbow, this one was different , as it was a vertical straight beam(no arc) it came out of dark clouds. i was the passenger and could not convince the driver to go over to it. he said "don't you know you can never get to a place like that" of course we were out in the middle of a national forest and on old log roads. so maybe it would have been dificult to find that pot of gold.

i still wanted to try