Om

From sunrise to noon on July 4, join us in the silent prayer/meditation for world peace and the positive evolution of the planet.  Respect the children and let them get into the center of the circle before we break the OM and the Silence. Click here for more info.

Lost and Found (people, pets and things)

Every year people, pets and various objects are lost at the gathering or people not at the gathering fear people have been lost.  This year with so many gatherings going on in so many states (South Dakota, California, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado), to help reconnect people, please let me know the state of the gathering in which the losing happened.

Lost People

Every year people go to the gathering and their loved ones worry.  Just a reminder, there is no cell phone or Internet reception at this year's gathering.


If you haven't heard from your friends and/or family since they went into the gathering, odds are they are still down in the meadow and can't call you.  Either way, it's generally safer for people to stay inside the gathering, then to run the cop gauntlet to make a phone call.  Even if your loved one promised to call every day, that's a promise they will be unable to keep as that would require them to spend their entire gathering going out to some place with reception and then coming back in again.


Even if there is a place on the top of a nearby mountain where you can get cell reception if you stand on your right foot only with your left arm outstretched and the cell phone positioned exactly on your naval - one 5 minute call will eat up all your charge.  Unless your loved one can hike from 5,000 feet to 8,000 feet and brought a solar panel to recharge their phone, the calls aren't going to happen for a bit. NOTE:  You may think this situation is made up, but folks how have been on the land in South Dakota have to drive 8 miles to get cell reception. I haven't heard about the other states.

Again, on the road where the cars and cops are is the area where problems occur. We strongly recommend that people stay inside the gathering. Going in and out increases a persons risk of a negative experience with law enforcement. Again, people on the land will strongly suggest to your loved one that they stay inside the gathering until it's over.


That being said, if you're going to the gathering, call your Mama or someone else, let them know you are going in and will be out of cell reception until after you leave the gathering.


If something serious happened to your loved one, then they are no longer at the gathering and would be found in a local hospital, jail, or mental health facility. If you check those places and your loved one is not there, then they are probably inside the gathering.


Most people usually surface by July 15th as the clean up crew starts shrinking by then, but some people will be on the land until at least the end of July (and on the land means no or haphazard access to telephones).  If after July 10, you still haven't heard, email me a recent photo and include this information:

    How old is he/she?
    Was this her/his first gathering? 
    Was he/she planning to camp with any camp in particular?
    Did she/he travel to the gathering with friends who have since left the gathering?
    Did she/he have any mental and/or physical health issues? 
    What kind of drugs (if any) does he/she typically use?
    Was there a specific previously agreed on plan for he/she to return home at a certain time or at least check in?

Lost Things

For those people who go to the gathering and lose something, found items are taken to Info or sometimes to the nearest kitchen so don't give up yet.  If you didn't check the lost and found items at INFO, your stuff may be there. Even if you did, many items are discovered during cleanup. At the end of cleanup, all the valuable lost and found items will be taken out of the gathering site. To try to get reconnected with your stuff, at the end of July call  the Northwest Tribes Lightline @ (503) 727-2498. Or if you weren't in South Dakota, call the lightline of the place you went. Leave your name, phone # and a brief description of what you lost. Someone will call you back if your or similar items are there. Keep in mind, lost and found at this level is for things like wallets, cameras, expensive gear.  We don't try to reunite people with lost t-shirts, bliss wear, etc.

Lost Animals

For those people who left without all the animals they brought, please go back to the site and retrieve your pets. I do not care if you have to be back to work or whatever. If you brought an animal, you need to go home with that animal. If you don't, folks on the land will find a home for your pet and it won't be your home. We never leave any pets behind.  Every pet will leave the gathering with a human companion ~ hopefully the one they came with. If you can't go back yourself, try to connect up with a friend in the area to retrieve your pet. Just a reminder, pets on leashes don't get lost as often as those not on a leash. The gathering is a scary experience for animals who aren't used to it. Read the Pup Rap for more info.  If you are a local who feel we drop off pets at the local shelter, we never do that. Other people may be stealing dogs from the gathering and dropping them off, but we don't. All dogs brought to the gathering, leave with people who were at the gathering.

July 4 - Praying/Meditating in Unity

Image by Angela Marie Hatch

If you're not sure how we do the 4th of July at the gathering, click here for info on how we do the 4th.

June 29 Q&A About Rainbow Gathering

Family on the land is focalizing this effort to address questions and concerns from everyone and anyone. 

Why I'm Sad

I understand that family are concerned about this year's gathering. More rumors than facts are swirling around and folks on the land (in what ever state that is) are doing good work to create a safe and peaceful gathering. The situation online is awful and disheartening. 

What is breaking my heart is the mean-spirited way in which family is addressing other people online.  I had to take most of yesterday off from dealing with this as I couldn't see clearly and with respect for all people. Why do we speak this way to each other online when we treat each other with so much more love and respect when we can touch each other?  I think everyone online needs to go take a walk in the woods, the canyons, or the beaches -- whatever is near you.

Is this what the way of peace looks like?  I am so disappointed in so many of you.  Why are we not practicing ways of Creating Peace online?

We are strong willed family, but perhaps now is the time to stop talking and go do what every it is you feel in your heart is the best thing to do, in what ever state is in your heart to go to, with what ever people you feel in your heart to gather with and create peace. 

Can we all just take a break, meditate, pray, practice yoga or what ever it is that helps you ground your energy?  We need you, but we need a calm, focused, and grounded you.

Om shanti shanti shanti

We, who are brothers & sisters, children of spirit, families of life on earth, friends of nature & of all people, children of humankind calling ourselves the rainbow gathering, humbly invite:
All races, peoples, tribes, communes, men, women, children, individuals -- out of love.
All nations & national leaders -- out of respect
All religions & religious leaders -- out of faith
All politicians -- out of charity
to join with us in gathering together for the purpose of expressing our sincere desire that there shall be peace on earth, harmony among all people. This gathering to take place July 1-7, 2015, in the sacred Black Hills of occupied Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho territory & to hold open worship, prayer, chanting or whatever is the want or desire of the people, but upon the fourth day of July until noon to ask that there be a meditative, contemplative silence wherein we, the invited people of the world may consider & give honour & respect to anyone or anything that has aided in the positive evolution of humankind & nature upon this, our most beloved & beautiful world -- asking blessing upon we people of this world & hope that we people can effectively proceed to evolve, expand, & live in harmony & peace.

Please be respectful of the First Nations' land, culture, and spirituality. Indigenous people have asked us not to imitate indigenous cultures.

We love you!

Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, June 23

On   Tuesday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. there will be a community meeting for local residents to learn more about the gathering, ask questions, bring up concerns and/or problems.  Gathering participants will be on hand to answer your questions. I'm guessing the United States Forest Service Incident Command Team will be there as well.

The meeting will take place at the Hill City Senior Center across the street from the 1880 train station at  227 Walnut Ave., Hill City, South Dakota 57745.

For family that are going into town, please be respectful to the local community, shop in the local stores, and meet someone new.

Spring council updates (guest post)

Today's guest post comes from "sibling."  Enjoy!

There is so much being said about the happenings at spring council from people who are not there, and this is usual. Please remember, if you are not there you, well, you are not there! It is difficult to watch it from afar; especially difficult is sifting out the truth out of what we hear.

I got involved on the phone with those that are opposed to the way that the spring council and the gathering have been evolving. These people are passionate about their cause for good, very good reasons. There is so much here that we do not understand because so many of us come from a place of whiteness and/or privilege. We come from – our values, our reactions, our expectations – the dominator culture. The concepts of domination and privilege are so deep in our psyche we have a difficult time seeing it. Know that it is there, be gentle on yourself and others as we explore and discover these deep issues. Every person can learn something new about this.

I bring this up because I have spoken to a few participants in the Strong Heart Solidarity Project and respect the work that they do. There are some very important messages that I have taken away from those conversations with these passionate and engaged activists.

One of them mentioned that they are interested in doing some skill-­‐shares on the land. One of the skill-­‐shares they do is called Decolonization & Unsettling White Privilege. They describe this event as one that “may be provocative to the euro-­‐ centric mind.” Imagine that! YES! These concepts are provocative – they will irritate your inner peace, they will create a strong reaction—they are designed to shake us up. Up and out of our shells of complacency. We need to move further, yes further so we can become better allies to all of those oppressed by the dominator culture. I do hope that the Strong Heart Lakota Solidarity Project can come and do some skill-­‐ shares on the land, wherever we gather. We need this – who is the “we”? The human species is the “we”! I do hope that this and other skill-­‐shares can happen.

The self-­‐governed volunteer body that we call and do each spring before the gathering, our council, is a rare thing in this country. This practice that the rainbow gathering experience has shaped is only one of the alternatives to the dominator culture. We have no rules; we have traditions and very few, at that. We pass an object most likely to the left, and we strive to listen to the one with the object that has been selected for the purpose of focusing and taking turns. This process, our process, is undisciplined, time consuming, and radical because it allows for freedom of expression. Know that it has always worked out for the purpose of the gatherings, and know that when one engages the heart and the mind, the best will come through.

Let the process work. Be patient. Let the all the voices be heard. We all want respect. But what does that look like? Here are some suggestions on how to be respectful: practice tolerance and patience; be concise; be on topic; speak from your heart and mind – do not speak for others or about others; wait your turn, if you need to bring a – do it; and something to write with so you will be prepared to present your ideas when it is your turn; be watchful for new people entering the circle – if there is no established method for new folks entering the circle, be mindful of other who may not know how it works; no name calling; and use “I” statements versus “we” or “you” – own your feelings, thoughts and ideas.

So please, it is often difficult, please remain calm, and know that within and throughout spirit(s) is walking with us and let us remain open to our highest purpose.

In solidarity and peace.

Just another sibling

An FYI to Folks New to Gathering Processes

I know there is a firestorm on the Internet over the proposal to hold the annual rainbow gathering in the Black Hills National Forest due to Lakota Treaty rights.  Click here for background information if you are not familiar with the issues.

There are a number of very challenging issues at play here, not least of which is the fact that the rainbow gathering is a leaderless society and there is no one person to address concerns to. Couple that with a more hierarchical nature of many native traditions and confusion is bound to reign.

While we don't have people in charge of decision making, we do have processes.  The current process is spring council/counsel/circle that happens on the land. All peaceful people are welcome to attend and participate in the council. All peaceful people are welcome to state their fears, hopes, concerns, problems, issues, and potential resolutions. Not only are all people welcome, but we always encourage people with home conflicts exist to participate.

Making pleas on the Internet for the gathering to move to a less controversial location is not always effective. Making pleas on the land by talking to individuals and participating in the council/counsel/circle process is much more effective and I strongly encourage people with concerns to participate. I especially invite all members of the Lakota nation to come share your perspectives on the land.  Please trust me that this is the best way to sort things out with the gathering.

To everyone, please understand that just because potential solutions are not posted on the Internet, does not indicate that people on the land are not working on solutions. In this Internet fueled, instant media world, the gathering happens in an embodied place.  For those who are addicted to information, this can be frustrating. I sincerely request that everyone not on the land or actively working on potential solutions spend some time praying, meditating, creating blessings, or other positive energy in an embodied form to help heal this situation.

Please as we work through these issues, let us all do so with peace in our hearts, gentle and well-thought out words, and love for everyone, especially those with whom we disagree.

As a blogger, I do not control what happens, I merely try to provide the best information I can on gathering related issues.  I appreciate very much all the heartfelt pleas for a peaceful resolution to some very real issues this quagmire will be solved by human being talking to each other in person.

How Gathering Councils/Counsels Work

It's been brought to my attention that some folks showed up at spring council today and didn't understand the process or how to participate.  Please distribute this widely as we want all peaceful people to participate in this council no matter if their perspective.

The process goes something like this (each time we circle up things are slightly different).

Around noonish, high noonish folks start to circle up in the previously agreed upon council location.  We often hold hands and Om before starting. Sometimes someone says a blessing.

Then usually people sit down either on the ground or in chairs if they brought a chair (no chairs are provided).  Usually then we pass a feather, stick, shell or rock around the circle. The person holding the object has the floor. When that person is done speaking, the object is passed to the left to the next person.

People come and go during councils all the time which can be frustrating when someone shows up who missed the last two hours of discussions gets the object and revisits a subject that was closed. That being said, if you arrive after the council has started, sit down at least 1/4 of the way around the circle to the left of the current speaker.  The circle will expand as more people arrive and shrink as people leave.

Every person in the circle represents her/his opinion only. This is direct democracy with each person present at the council having an equal say to share their perspective and try to get others on-board with their perspective. Our councils are long and often take a winding path from point A to point B. Patience is a virtue.

For some more thoughts on how council/counsel works, please read the Council Mini Manual.

Shanti Sena Basics

Some would say the phrase “Shanti Sena” means “peace army” from Sanskrit and has its roots in Gandhi’s concept of non-violent volunteer based peace keepers. While in gathering lore, some would translate the phrase as peace scene.  No matter the logical translation you wish to put on it, I translate it as being part of a family and looking out for my family in peaceful ways.

In the years of the strife between gatherers and the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers (USFS LEOs), the phrase came to spell trouble for the LEOs and by 2008/2009 many gatherers actually thought the cops were the Shanti Sena (so not true). Because of the many misconceptions floating around, I thought I would take the time to rap about my perspective on keeping the peace at a gathering.

As many of my friends point out, “Shanti Sena” is a verb not a noun. In other words, no one “is” Shanti Sena, but many people “do” Shanti Sena. Most functions at the gathering are verb rather than noun based.

In a culture where individual liberty and communal needs often clash, countless opportunities arise to “do” Shanti Sena and keep the peace.

Before we worry about keeping the peace, we need to define “peace.”  For different people, “peace” takes on different connotations. For some, acting peacefully precludes any acts of physical violence, but yelling is considered peaceful. For others, cussing is not peaceful. For every one hundred gatherers, there are probably ninety different perspectives on what “peace” means. When we gather, I believe that 99.999% of gatherers have every intention of creating peace. We’ll get back to the 0.001% later.  So how then do we create and increase the peace at the gathering and take those skills into the world at large?

In my perspective, the single most important aspect to “doing” Shanti Sena is to be observant. Sure there are big movies that happen and lots of gray haired folks get involved with radios, but most of the time when a big movie happens, the root cause was a failure of each and every one of us to pay attention to the hurt, suffering, pain and/or stress building up around us.  (As an aside, not everyone with a radio has a clue.)

Reality check!  Going to a gathering, especially for the first time, can be very stressful. It’s a crash course in a brand new culture. Access to food and filtered drinking water can be hazardous. Being unprepared for the conditions can leave people cold and wet or sitting up by a fire all night to stay warm instead of sleeping. Many people who take medications for chronic conditions often seem to space out on taking their meds, leaving their health further compromised. Dehydration, low blood sugar, and lack of sleep are just a few of the stressors gatherers experience -- add to that doing activities or substances that are new to you. When one small thing goes wrong, people who are stressed out can explode.

Being observant means noticing that some belly is having a hard time or a bad day. Allowing each of us to be our own unique self means not telling other people what to do. Telling people to eat or drink can backfire. So what’s a kind loving brother or sister to do?

Pay attention to the people around you. Notice if they seem to be struggling, are confused or look disoriented. Offer to share your water or an energy bar you might have on you (always good to bring lots of these). Introduce yourself and make a friend. Usually people are more willing to share their troubles with a friend, than someone just trying to fix a problem. Share a song or a joke if the vibe feels right. Sometimes people are in their own head space and don’t want to interact. That’s OK.  You can still stay near them (but not too near) just in case they need help. If it’s two am, please don’t walk away from someone. If someone wants to wander the woods all night, grab a couple of friends and trail after them just in case they need your assistance.

If someone doesn’t have a safe place to sleep, try to hook them up with a camp that can help. If they have small children, Kid Village is a great place. But there are lots of other kind loving camps at the gathering that have the space to squeeze another body into a crowded tent or provide emotional support. If you yourself are new to the gathering (blessings to you for helping others), you can stop by INFO and ask for some advise.

If you find a lost kid, you and a couple of friends should escort the child to Kid Village. Make sure to take the child up to the kitchen and announce very loudly that you have a lost child. DO NOT JUST DROP THE CHILD OFF AT KID VILLAGE. 

If someone is having a health crisis and is willing, take her/him to CALM. Most of the larger kitchens/camps like Fat Kids, Montana Mud, Loven Ovens, and Kid Village (to name just a few) have medical people as well. If the person isn’t willing to move, find someone with a radio and medical people will come to your location. If that doesn’t work, send a runner to INFO or CALM with as much information as you have about the situation. By taking care of people’s critical needs before people reach the point of explosion, we create the peace we want to see in the world.

Other times we have conflicts that arise from differing lifestyles. For example in 2002, the gathering site was small and we ended up with Tea Time and Yoga Space next to each other. Talk about a mismatch in energies. Tea Time likes to stay up all night, serve tea and make raucous noise at 3 AM. The Yoga folks are more into silent mediation and mellow energy. Two distinct energies colliding is a classic gathering issue. If we want each camp to be free to express their own vision of peace and love, what to do?  When space permits, it’s always best to camp in an area that meets your vision of what comprises peace and love. So don’t be expecting to sleep in silence until noon every day if you’re camped in Kid Village as kids wake up early.  But ….

As to the 0.001%, when the situation gets a bit crazy, yell “Shanti Sena” and other people will come and assist. With a circle of people, we can try to get a council going where the parties’ involved and random calm and centered gatherers can sit down and listen to each other.  Keep in mind that sometimes people’s emotions are volatile and getting a council going is difficult at best. Then what?

SITTING down on the sidelines and oming tends to help ground energies. If nothing else, it makes misbehaving people feel a bit silly and often times that breaks up the situation. This doesn’t mean the root cause of the problem is solved, but at least it buys some time and space to work on the issues. I’ve experienced a beautiful voice singing appropriate song calm everyone down as well. Peaceful, mellow music helps everyone feel better.

Sometimes problems don’t seem resolved at the time. That’s OK. Rainbow magic takes time to work. I’ve sat in circles with people who were full of anger. At some point the primary people stomped out of the circle and didn’t return.  Then a day or two or three later, I ran into those same people again, very happy and peaceful. Rainbow magic doesn’t always have a logical cause and effect.  Sometimes, just hanging out with someone for six hours prevents someone from getting lost in the woods (yes it really happens and if it’s cold out can be a cause of death), drowning in a lake (yes this has happened multiple times at gatherings) or wandering up to the road and getting arrested (you know this happens). Plus you’ve just made a new friend. The more we get to know each other, the more we create community. The more we actively work on creating community, the more we increase the peace.

If you are not able to help when the universe calls you, please, please, please, make sure someone else helps. Ask others for assistance, guide the person to one of the larger kitchens, go to INFO or CALM and let them know what’s going on. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Many years, we have Shanti Sena councils or workshops at the gathering where people who have “done” more Shanti Sena share the lessons they’ve learned with those who have “done” less or no Shanti Sena. As with everything gathering related, we are all of us teachers and all of us students. In the spirit of sharing other ideas on what Shanti Sena is and does, here are some other voices on the subject.


From Welcome Home with links to multiple Shanti Sena Raps by well respected family (must read).
From Niman - a scholarly look
From Medicine Socks
Rap 121
My Rap from 2008
From tribe

Ask not what the gathering can do for you; ask what you can do for the gathering.

We are our brothers and sisters keepers.

Councils and "blocking" (Guest Post)

Today's guest post is by Garrick Beck (cross-posted from another forum).

Three comments about councils and “blocking.”

First. The opportunity to have blocked South Dakota was at last year’s Vision Council where it was part of the family’s consensus of places we might gather. Yes indeed, that was a pretty dis-functional council…and so we ended up with three bioregions an amazing number of miles apart for scouts to have to look at.

Second. Yes, you can go to Spring Council and Block someone’s ability to go to a particular place. But that some one you can block is yourself. You nor anyone, has the right to tell someone else what they can or cannot do thru our council. Who gave you or anyone that right? Do you really want a council – like an open mic forum – to have the right to tell you where you can or cannot travel? No one gave you that right ever. No one gave our council that right ever, ever, never. Each of us is a free human being with all the rights that comes with.

Third. Vision Council at the Rainbow Gathering chooses by consensus the place(s) we will assemble next. True, the council has become a trail of compromise locations with many people ‘blocking’ unless their favorite area is included. But what exactly does the consensus mean??? It means THAT THE PEOPLE SITTING IN THAT CIRCLE AGREE THEY WILL GATHER IN ONE OF THOSE PLACES NEXT YEAR. And the rest of the gathering people, scouts included, honor that consensus by following it. But it does not mean that anywhere along the line – at thanksgiving council, or spring council, that someone can just raise their hand and block everyone, or anyone or someone – other than themselves – from doing anything.

Our council is NOT a legislative body. It does not have the power to tell anyone what they must or must not do. It is an Open Forum for ideas and inspiration. It does have the great power of persuasion, which frankly is a very great power. But it does not have the authority or the ability to order anyone to do anything, nor to order anyone not to do anything. Suggest? Yes. Encourage? Absolutely. Plead for or against a cause? Yes, be heard. Convince others? Try with all your best arguments. Persuade? Yes, please, the entire evolution of human culture is based on communication among people. Command? No. Order? No. Vote by majority? No. Legislate? No. Demand what someone other than yourself should or must do or not do??? No way. We are not that kind of council. We never were. And we should not become that.

So again, on the topic at hand: If someone wishes to go to Spring Council they can certainly express a “block” for themselves not to do something they don’t want to. They can urge other to follow their lead with all their heart. But they cannot “block” someone else from doing what that other person freely chooses. No one has ever given that power to our council, nor to an individual in our council. People often want our council to be a place of power, and in some ways it does have the power to convince, but it is not a ruling body and it does not have the authority to tell someone what they can or cannot do. Our council is a very rare thing in the modern world: It is an open public forum for voices to have a chance to be heard and to be listened to.

The Process Unfolding

This year the process is unfolding as it always does. We will meet at spring council on June 17 to discuss all the issues that those participating in council/counsel bring up. Your voice will be heard if you attend the council/counsel. As with all things rainbow, the process is open to all peaceful people.

My heart is breaking this year. There are tough and complex issues on the table with years of mistrust, oppression, and violence that brought us to this point. Wishing them away won't solve the problems, but then again neither will being mean to other human beings or this planet.  It's easy when attacked to want to attack back, but that just perpetuates the problems and does not work towards a solution. We all carry baggage with us. Can we try to acknowledge our baggage and set it aside as best we can when we try to communicate with each other?

If you are not familiar with the practice of active listening, please help us communicate more effectively by learning how to practice active listening.

If you are not familiar with our process, read the Council Mini Manual.

Please be patient as we work through the process. There are over five hundred years of problems on the table and some of the hurt and pain we are carrying may go back further than that. This is hard work folks.  Let us practice compassion with ourselves and each other as the process unfolds. Be the change you wish to see in this world.

What exactly is the gathering?

What exactly IS the Rainbow Gathering? A brief video made a few years ago to introduce people in the local community to the gathering.



The bottom video includes interviews with townsfolk and merchants of stores and lodges near past Rainbow Gatherings. They were asked for their honest opinion of how the event went, the effects it had on their business, and what advice they would give to people in towns near future Gatherings.

Welcome to thinking about coming Home! (guest post)

Today's blog post comes from guest blogger Ashley Perry.  Enjoy!

Welcome to thinking about coming Home! Whether this is your first rainbow gathering, or your 968th, remember you have the same right to exist in our national forest as any other camper. No one is in control, except for you, and that’s only control over your own decisions. This is your gathering, and its success depends on you.

In my mind, rainbow success means we all leave happier, healthier, and more grounded. This makes us more able to carry peace with us, out into our world.

To stay happy, protect yourself. Don’t bring anything you couldn’t bear to lose. Lock your phone in your car, and leave your diamond earrings at home. Rainbow is camping, and everything you bring may get soaking wet or carried away by wildlife. Also, each human being harbors different values and perspectives, and anti-capitalists generally disrespect shows of wealth. This doesn’t make them bad people, but it does make them more likely to rob your ass, especially if you’re bragging about what’s in your tent. Tempt not, lest ye be lifted from.

To stay happier, don’t use violence, even verbally. No matter who did what to whom, we are capable of solving our problems peacefully and rationally. Isn’t that in fact why we gather? To avoid conflict, remember you are only in charge of your own self, and your freedom ends where another human’s space begins. I know how it feels to be right, to see someone behaving badly, and to judge them. But at rainbow, if they are too loud, you are too close. Some one yelling in your face is probably too loud, but you always have the option of walking away. If the person becomes too destructive, a crowd will naturally gather and put a stop to it. It is never your job to ‘school’ another adult, especially when you are pissed off. Always bear in mind, our gatherings really are open to every single human being, from every sad, scared, angry, dejected sector of society. You never know which person is off of their medication, or how your words will impact a suicidal or homicidal human.

You can always ask the people around you to help mediate an issue, and if it is still intense, people will form a circle and council with all involved parties until you reach a satisfactory outcome. Together, we can find healthier ways to deal with conflict. I promise, if you got robbed, someone wants to help repay your money. If you got insulted, some rainbower wants to remind you why you are amazing. We love you. You have a right to exist. So does the other guy.

Remember you do not ever have to be touched without your consent. If anyone does put their hands on you, yell “shawn-tuh scene-uh” and people will come running to help. I’m sure screaming “help help holy god somebody help me” would also bring people running, but rainbow uses shanti-sena as our emergency alert. It is more identifiable over long distances, and less easily confused with someone calling Will, or Gale, for example. If there is a fire, or an assault, or some other true emergency, then that is the time to yell shanti-sena. It’s like 9-1-1, so never call shanti-sena unless your safety is currently being threatened, and just ask the people around you for help in less violent situations. Also, if you hear it called, quickly move towards it. It’s always a good idea to go assess an emergency, regardless of your sobriety levels, but if you’re schwasted, and other people show up to handle it, please just excuse yourself so you don’t end up creating even more drama and violence.

This is one of my favorite arguments against getting drunk at gatherings, by the way. You cannot apply your brainpower to a potentially ugly situation if you are wasted or otherwise inebriated. Also, aren’t we all more prone to becoming violent when we are hammered? Also, what if there is a forest fire one night after you’ve drank yourself unconscious? Also, many people consider our prayer for peace to be a spiritual event. Also, being super-inebriated means you are more likely to give up on finding a latrine and poop under a random bush. Also, many people come to rainbow to dry out or clean up, and tempting them seems cruel to me. Why not drink at the road? At least if you get drunk by the cars, someone can give you a ride out if you catch your feet on fire (this happens. A lot.) It’s a whole big wide free world, and you can get drunk anywhere else without bringing the repercussions back on your rainbow family. Thousands of people over the years have built up our reputation as a safe place, and losing control of your self jeopardizes that.

To stay healthy, don’t antagonize the people who have chosen to party in the woods. Focus on yourself, on finding your Zen and knowing when to bow out. Cranky people suck, so plan now how you will get enough sleep. Are you bringing a tent and also a tarp to hang over it, so it’s actually waterproof? Do you have a sleeping mat of some sort? Every clean-up we haul a million blankets and Therma-rests out of the woods, so don’t bring more than you’re willing to carry out; but do bring what keeps you sane and comfortable. If you want to bring extra mats or tents or blankets, people will be happy to use them, but again, if you carry it in with your car, please carry it all back out with your car.

To stay healthy, drink water. Boil it first, or use a real-life filter. If you have time and money, go spend the $20 on a little portable filter today, before you come to the gathering. Sure, there should be filtered water available in all the kitchens, but why rely on other people if you don’t need to?

To stay healthy, eat food. People burn extra calories hiking around the woods, then forget to replenish them, leading to weakened immune systems and emotional outbursts. Take care of yourself. If you’re anemic or diabetic it is especially important that you bring personal snacks; the high altitudes do weird things to your circulation. Be aware though that animals are drawn to the smell of food, so keep it well wrapped up or in a tree outside your camp. Also, single-serving sized anything creates way more garbage than buying bulk. Consider buying a big bag, portioning out enough for your stay, then donating most of it to your favorite kitchen. Don’t ever feel like you cannot eat at a gathering. Nothing is so important you can’t put it down for a few minutes. I know at least Fat Kids is an open kitchen, so you can always come make yourself food (but if you’re gonna cook for one anyway you may as well cook for fifty…) and of course we gather in main meadow every evening for supper. Again, though, why rely on other people to fulfill a need you anticipate? Start saving extra grocery money now. Bring enough food to share. Behind every grocery store in the country is a dumpster full of food; raid them all! Fill your car! I promise one of the kitchens will cook every single thing you bring, hygienically. Again, though, if you bring garbage in, take that garbage out with you.

To stay healthy, Wash Your Hands often. Soap and running water is best, of course, and all kitchens should have a hand wash station set up. Help us create more by bringing clean buckets, or consider spending $5 on a foot pump used for siphoning. Boat stores, RV stores, and hardware stores carry some version of this; it’s basically a long tube with a bulb in the middle to step on. Bring yourself a little bottle of pocket hand sanitizer. We can make our own hand-wash by adding one drop of bleach per gallon of water. Mixing a splash of vinegar plus a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide to a gallon jug works, too. Mark the bottle clearly; drinking bleach is lame. If you can smell the bleach, it is too strong, dilute it.

It is important that you Wash Your Hands before you cook, or serve food, or touch a community food container of any sort. It is important that you Wash Your Hands after touching blood or poop or other hazardous material, or experiencing the possibility of having touched hazardous materials. It is important that you realize that not every gatherer is going to wash their hands well. So wash your dish, and Wash Your Hands.

To stay healthy, Wash Your Hands, and only -ever -for any reason -for the love of Christ - only ever- shit in a community shitter. Yes, it seems weird to poop on top of other people’s poop. Sometimes it is awkward to wait in line- what if they know you’re pooping?? In fact they know you must be pooping, because we try not to pee in the shitter. Get over it. Shit. In. The. Shitter. If you poop in the woods, a dog will dig it up, and eat it, and lick you in the mouth. There are far too many dogs at rainbow to dig a personal hole. On a solitary camping trip, yes, you can bury your shit two feet down and that’s fine. At rainbow, there are too many dogs. Dogs eat shit. Shit in a shitter.

To stay healthy, shit in a shitter. If a shitter is too close to a kitchen, flies will go directly from human feces onto human food. Do not eat at a kitchen where the shitter is within eye-shot of the kitchen. The rule is at least 100 feet, but the further the better.

To stay healthy, shit in a well-stocked shitter. Each latrine should have hand wash. If there is no hand wash, go wash your hands, then make some new hand wash and bring it back. Each latrine should have ash or lime to sprinkle over your newest addition. You can’t add too much ash to a shitter, so feel free to dust the whole trench. If there is no ash, go get some from a COLD fire pit and bring it back. Be careful not to start a root fire by sprinkling hot ash, but please do sprinkle, every time. There is no need to kick dirt in to a pooper; no one will know which turd was yours and I promise they don’t care. Dirt fills the shitter more quickly, and flies will easily burrow down through 6 inches of dirt. Ash makes it unappealing to flies. When a shitter gets close enough to ground level (2 feet) for dogs to eat out of it, fill it up past full to mounded with dirt, then drag heavy rocks and logs on top of it. Dig a new shitter before you fill in the old one, and never walk away while it is half dug because you will get phantom poopers who don’t realize you could have dug it several feet deeper. Please try not to pee in a pooper because this deactivates the ash. Do not throw diapers or maxi-pads into a pooper, wrap those up in plastic and pack them out with you.

If for some reason you are incapable of hauling your own trash out of the woods (sigh) at least sort your own garbage. We dig compost holes for food. Never throw food into the garbage as this attracts dogs and flies, and it stinks. Bury food in a compost pit, available outside any of the kitchens. We burn paper and cotton because they get so heavy when they get rained on, and they mold and stink and leak. Metals are sorted from glass, heavier plastics are recycled; any thing left is landfill trash. If you can’t haul out your own hazardous material such as bandages, diapers, and maxi-pads please please please wrap them in plastic before placing them in the landfill trash.

If a camp does not have a recycling station set up, why not make one for them? Metal, glass, plastic, landfill; all of the trash will get sorted in this way, whether you take responsibility for your own garbage or not. If you do not haul out all of your own garbage, a fellow rainbower will sort it and haul it out for you. Sometimes this takes months to complete, at great personal effort and expense. Haul out your own garbage, and don’t bring superfluous trash into the woods. Any time you drive into town, please consider taking a few bags of trash out of the woods with you, so we have less left at the end. If you want to cash in the recyclables for money, please feel free to do so, as long as you are carrying trash out of the woods we thank you for it.

Remember that rainbowers are not the only people who use our national forests. The people coming after us have as much right to wilderness as we do. They deserve the same level of cleanliness we saw when we first arrived,

and a clean-up crew will stick around for as long as it takes to restore the woods. Mostly we haul out mountains of garbage and sort it. We hike in circles burying dog poops and wrong human feces. If you do not poop in a pooper, you are condemning a fellow rainbower to bury your shit and paper for you after the dogs dig it up. We also re-naturalize the forest by breaking up trampled soil with a rake and adding leaves and ‘duff’ to encourage regrowth. We throw logs and rocks around to discourage camping on trampled areas, and hide any sign of human intervention such as paths and compost holes, by covering them with duff and leaves.

Clean-up is done by volunteers, as is everything else in rainbow. Your help would be appreciated, but if we all took responsibility for our own camps and helped with one kitchen, a clean-up crew would become obsolete! Consider making signs to educate people about clean-up, and hand washing, and non-violence, or whatever you consider to be important. Or don’t. I love you anyway. Welcome Home.

Peace and the Planet (Part 5 of 5 of "Creating Peace")

In order to live in a peaceful world, we need to treat our planet, Gaia, with the respect, love, and attention to her sustenance with which we treat our children. Climate change is the result of mistreating our amazing planet. Climate change is about changing weather patterns that make it hard for people to find drinking water for their children, that create flooding of homes and agriculture land, and that wither our crops under relentless sun.

When people are hungry or thirsty, violence can easily erupt over food and water. Not just in Dafur but everywhere including the gathering.  How then do we show with our actions that we are actively working to protect Gaia from climatic changes that threaten world (and local) peace?

Reduce the number of campfires. Burning carbon increases global warming. Plus if you see the cloud of wood smoke in main meadow at a gathering, you'll realize that reducing the number of campfires will improve the health of every gathering participant. Click here to learn more about the negative impacts of campfires on human and planetary health.

Reduce/reuse/recycle - adopt a zero waste lifestyle. Only buy products that you will consume or that will last you for a long time. For example, buy rice in bulk with reusable containers instead of throw away plastic packaging. Buy reusable forks and knives for a gathering not single use plastics. Packaging and throw away junk contributes to climate change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by cutting the amount of waste we generate back to 1990 levels, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 11.6 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE), the basic unit of measure for greenhouse gases. To learn more about how what you buy creates climate change, click here.

Plus the less stuff you bring to a gathering, the less stuff YOU need to haul out when you leave. You would be amazed at the amount of camping gear that gets left behind at a gathering.  Re-use that tent or find a loving home for it if you do not want it anymore. Don't leave it behind for the cleanup crew.  YOU are the clean up crew. The less we buy and bring to the gathering, the less clean up we have to do. Buy food in bulk, bring gear to keep you warm and dry and forgot about the rest. Recycling of aluminum cans takes energy which contributes to climate change.  Use reusable stainless steel containers for your beverages and stop giving your money to the multi-national conglomerates like Pepsi and Coca Cola who don't care about the seventh generation and are wrecking your health and the health of the planet.

Put your money where your mouth is. Walk your talk.  We can change this world by spending our money in ways that create the change we want to see in this world. Shop at your local co-ops. Buy locally grown produce. We can make a difference, one person, one family, one clan at a time. Let us follow the wisdom of our Lakota siblings and heal this beautiful planet that gives us so much.

We are the people we have been waiting for to create a future for the next generation. How are you going to step up and create the change for which Gaia is praying?

Together we can change our future