Colorado 2022 Rainbow Gathering

When I get into the woods, my brain changes. The way my brain works changes.  The way I interact with other life on this planet changes.  Being in the rhythm of the woods is a magical part of the gathering. Everyone changes in the woods. I connect with human beings under the canopy of Douglas Fir and cedar trees. My brain slowly returns to rhythms marked by sunrise and sunset, rain and sun. It is a helpless feeling at first because I am so used to the endless push to analyze texts, fix computer problems, and tame databases.  The pace is relentless not just in what I am doing but in the already identified list of things to be done. Walking on forest duff, I deal with that which is in front of me. I slide into non-logical ways of knowing and stop thinking in words. Under the panorama of stars, I awaken all my ways of understanding. As Glen Slater writes in his article “Cyborgian Drift,” ,“the privileging of the intellect over other aspects of being—animal sensation, instinc...

The filmmakers of Ritual Nation explore ritual in our lives not just related to rainbow gatherings, but I think shows the importance of rituals in our lives and specifically at the gathering. Shot in the 1990s, it's a beautiful introduction and statement about why people gather in many different ways. Especially relevant to the big rituals, which happen at the gathering, like the prayer for world peace .

This comes from a wonderful sister Medicine Socks bit I will add my two cents. I never support duct taping of people. Sometimes we need to restrain people to prevent them from hurting themselves or others and then rolling them up in a blanket or sleeping bag is much more loving than duct tape. If for any reason, someone is being restrained, please have a professional medical person supervising the situation so that the person's vitals can be monitored.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ On to the guest post ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ it's been a while, i'm too old, poor and crippled to involve myself in rainbow gatherings nowadays, so this qualifies as something like armchair quarterbacking... but i was once all gung ho, a regular local folkielizer and all about dealing with the some major instances of weirded out shit that sometimes came up at the getherings i was part of...especially around kid village... so here's some shanti sena lessons i learned in the trenches first of all, it means, tran...

In my humble opinion, the gathering is good at many things, but what we are best at is creating communities made up of diverse people.  One of my fondest memories is of the Utah gathering in 2003. Just across the dirt road from INFO and CALM was a small meadow that held three small camps sharing one bliss pit:  Krishna Camp, Jesus Camp, and a punk/anarchist camp. Evenings when I stopped by the bliss pit, people were discussing and sharing ideas, perspectives, and yes sometimes arguing a bit.  Communication and community were being created. When we gather in rural towns, many gatherers connect with many of the locals in sometimes strange but usually positive ways. Many locals plug into the gathering and give deeply despite disagreeing with some of our behaviors. On the surface, I feel this is what our entire country needs to do. Have those conversations around a bliss pit or coffee table, online, or via the phone. Talk about what we can agree on. Encourage those who do not...

This is an amazing performance my friends have written and produced. If you go to the gathering, you'll be able to see it live, but in the meantime, here's a recording of it from 2011.

Following Standing Rock, the saying Water is Life or Mni Wiconi in Lakota has become a familiar saying.  Most of us know what that means in relationship to the struggle to protect water sources from pipelines, but how many of us really understand what that means in relationship to the gathering? When people scout for a gathering location, they always look for sources of water that can keep our camp alive.  Finding water is hard. Finding water that is uphill from where we want to gather is critical as gravity can help transport water to our population centers, kitchens, medical care, etc.  Protecting these water sources is important.  The water we drink keeps us alive, maintains our health, and can contribute to or prevent the spread of disease among gatherers. The Great Lakes region has lots of surface water, but that is not always the cleanest water for drinking and cooking. Making sure each and everyone has enough clean and safe water to drink is critical to maint...

The raps are collective wisdom for gatherings that have been written down. Some of the raps were written 30 or more years ago. Other raps are more recent. One convention is to give the raps numbers. For example Rap 107 is called "Gathering Basics" and is designed for a someone coming home to learn the most critical ideas concepts. Sometimes, folks at the gathering print the raps on paper and pass them out. For example the "Rap & Map" we often pass out at the gathering with a site map on one side and Rap 107/701 on the other. Rap 107 Sometimes,  people paint fabric with colorful renditions of one or more of the raps and then hang them at the gathering -- combing art and information. Sometimes, people post the raps online in various places for people to read before they come home. When Butterfly Bill was alive, he made a great collection of raps available on his website . That being said, the raps aren't set in stone and evolve as the times change. New raps ar...