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.

Black Hills Unity Concert Fundraiser June 24

For family who are in Southern California, a great way to participate in supporting the Sioux Nation's fight to reclaim the Black Hills would be to attend the Black Hills Unity Concert Fundraiser taking place on June 24 in West Hollywood.  Click here for more details.