THE RAINBOW GATHERING
MINI-MANUAL
How to put on a gathering and keep it healthy.
Suggested Wisdom culled from Years of Experience
also known as
Trial and Error
Trial and Error
Welcome Home!
If you are new to Rainbow Gatherings, this manual can help you understand the basics of how things are usually done.
We have a tribal anarchy here, where we take care of each other because we recognize that we are all One. The gathering works because each of us takes the responsibility for doing what needs to be done and for teaching new folks. We strive to share, love, and respect each other without anyone getting hurt, physically or emotionally. Many hands working together make a strong tribe.
This Mini-Manual continues to evolve, collecting our experience and wisdom into one place. Your contributions are welcome.
Our Name
Site Scouting
Experienced scouts teach new ones as they inspect many potential sites discovered from topographical maps, aerial photos, Google Earth, and following leads from local people in the chosen area. They coordinate thru the regional focalizers, and by attending Scouting Rendezvous in early spring.
Site Criteria
A Gathering site should have: Good water – deep springs or well protected surface water – enough to fill the drinking, cooking, and washing needs of hundreds or thousands of people. They should be at a distance from the main camp, to prevent contamination. Open meadows – for councils, workshops, pageants, and frisbees. Keep meadows clear of individual camps. Firewood – A good supply of dry dead wood lying on the ground for fires. Parking space – large enough for several hundred cars and vans, within reasonable walking and shuttle distance – but separate from the Gathering proper. For the young children, elderly, and handicapped, the walk in should not be too long and strenuous. Alternate parking should be arranged for the physically challenged. Only supply and emergency vehicles should be allowed into the main Gathering site. Only one road – or as few as possible. You will want one road for ambulances and heavy supplies, but you don’t want easy access for car stereos, beer coolers, and a rowdy party scene. Conversely, don’t set the site at the end of a dead end road, and set a trap for yourselves. Place it on a thru road so there is both a front and a back gate. No one site will have all these in equal abundance – for instance, good springs are often on a steep mountainside far from a broad flat place good for parking.
Look for a balance for all these needs.
Look for a balance for all these needs.
Howdy Folks
Seed Camp
At least a week before a Gathering is to start, a dedicated group of people arrives early to find and develop water sources, set up the first kitchen, dig the first latrines, and inform the local Forest Service of our impending arrival. They design the layout of the actual gathering by developing trails, selecting a Main Circle site, marking parking areas and setting up Welcome Home. A co-operations council and banking council are set up to address the needs of Seed Camp. This is a time when you can work intensely with a few other people and form some deep friendships.
Please do not show up for Seed Camp unless you are willing to join in the work.
From this seed grows the flower of our Gathering
The Silent Circle
for Prayer and Healing
On the 4th of July, from daybreak until high noon, the camp is hushed. There is no talking at all, and no playing of drums. It is a wonderful exercise in communication without words. Throughout the morning, people gather in Main Meadow to pray/meditate for world peace and the healing of our Earth. This is a time of profound energy. The Children's Parade enters the circle and then the silence is broken with a resonant OM, by all the people, shortly before noon. Please respect the morning silence. There is plenty of time in life for noise.
The Forest Service
We cooperate with the rangers of the USDA Forest Service in doing the job they were hired for: protecting this land. The local rangers (resource officers) are notified of a Gathering’s coming no later than the first few hours of seed camp. We honor their ecological concerns for a site, and we treat them with respect knowing they became rangers because they love the land as we do. In the past, rangers have given Family members valuable tips about sites and water, and provided us seeds for reseeding and trees for us to plant. Remember though that some forest rangers are Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) that have the power to arrest you if are breaking the law.
Wildlife
This is the Cathedral of Nature that we gather in, and we keep it that way. We disturb the environment as little as we can. Riverbanks and wetlands are vulnerable ecosystems. Plants of older phyla – like mosses and ferns – are especially fragile. Cactus is more vulnerable than you might think. We might be walking thru animal’s hunting grounds. Camp and walk on the forest floor and the dry meadow, not in wet areas. Remember that insects are also wildlife. Give an anthill its space, and before you throw wood into a fire, look to see if it’s home to some bugs. Never use insecticides. Thiamine, B-complex vitamins, citronella, and raw garlic can help keep biting critters away.
DON’T LITTER. Birds can pick up filter tips and choke. Broken glass is a danger to all creatures’ feet. Pick up trash left behind others. Use things where they lie. The more you move, the more you will have to put back. Hang tarps from trees, make structural members out of branches – rather than cutting and setting posts. Never cut a living tree, or break things off. Use only dead wood found lying on the ground. Stripping bark hurts birch and aspen trees. Pick one place for the swimming hole, and don’t go into a stream anywhere else. Leave beaver ponds alone. Don’t go near any place baby animals are kept. The way animals defend their young is beastly. Make a few trails and stay on them. Don’t crush underfoot a whole area. Place trails over ground that will stay high and dry after a rain. Form a trail just by trampling, and a circle area by tushwhacking (everybody sitting down), rather than by cutting plants down. The Earth is our mother We must take care of her.
Latrines
If you gotta go, go to a latrine. If you don’t know where one is, ask at the nearest kitchen. Don’t wait until the last minute to find one because there may be some walking involved. Know where the nearest one is before you go to sleep at night. Never leave waste unburied. Flies will find it, then they will land on kitchen food, then people will eat that food and get sick. Irresponsible disposal of human waste can easily create a very sick camp
How to dig, use, and maintain a shitter:
Find a place over 300 feet from streams or springs, and never uphill from a spring at any distance. Mark a trail to it with signs and ribbons. Dig a deep, narrow trench, one you can straddle with your feet. A foot wide and 4 feet deep is the best. Keep the soil in a neat pile for fill-in later. Cut out sod, and preserve it for replacement over the filled hole. If on a hill, dig the trench crossways to the slope and place the pile uphill from it to prevent a washout if it rains. Avoid having an open trench. Build a solid, fly-tight cover with lids. Wash these covers daily. Keep lime, or ashes from a nearby fire, in a can nearby. Sprinkle it over your “donation”, to make it unattractive to flies, then add some dirt to completely cover it. Large coffee cans with plastic lids can keep toilet paper dry and clean.
Wash your hands after using the latrine. Maintain a plastic jug nearby, with a lid, and water with 1 percent chlorine bleach inside. Check latrines daily. When they are full to within 18 inches of the top, fill the remainder with the saved dirt, mound the dirt over it to allow for settling, and dif another latrine. Inform the nearest kitchen where the new shitter is. Digging a latrine is a most holy task. You haven’t been to a gathering until you have dug a shitter.
Water
Our water sources are our lifeblood, and they must be protected from the very first day that people are on the site. The safest drinking water comes from springs. Streams or ponds with a good constant flow can also be used. Any water source for designated for drinking is marked off with strings or ribbons, and no campsites or latrines should be uphill from them or within 300 feet. People stay away from them unless involved in obtaining water.
Never pour liquid wastes into a water source, or on the ground nearby. Instead, dig a gray water pit at least 300 feet away.
Never use soap in a water source. Soaps will pollute the water. Take a bucket at least 300 feet away to wash. Even bio-degradable soap like Dr. Bonner’s can kill fish and microorganisms.
Never dip a canteen or a cup into a water source – use a faucet on a pipe or a common dipper instead.
Drink only water that you know is safe, that has been scientifically tested, adequately filtered, or boiled. Even the purest looking water can contain micro-organisms that can cause severe intestinal illness. To be absolutely safe, water should reach a rolling boil for at least a few minutes.
Fire
On any site fire is a danger. There may be fallen and dead timber, and dry grass in meadows. Don’t throw matches or cigarette butts on the ground. Have a shovel and a bucket of water near your fire at all times. No personal fires. Go to fires by kitchens or in boogie pits. Use only dead and dry wood found on the ground for fuel. Never throw plastics or synthetic materials into a fire. This creates toxic fumes. Select a safe location. Watch for overhanging snags of deadwood. Keep your fire low – sparks can fly far; even live trees can catch fire. Beware of root fires. Line the inside and bottom of your firepit with rocks. Scrape the ground free of loose duff, leaves, and grass for at least one foot around your pit. Watch your fire at all times. The wind can rise or shift directions quickly. Stray sparks can bring disaster. Embers can flame up again in a wind. Don’t leave your camp behind until your fire is completely out and cold. NO FIREWORKS! A Fire Watch crew walks the camp to make sure all fires are properly tended., and that buckets of water are nearby. We all help them out by being watchful ourselves. Smokey says, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires”
Rain
Expect it. And hey, it takes rain to make a rainbow. These can be times when people gather close together under tarps and have intimate conversations and good times.
Don’t build anything without thinking about how water will run off it.
Do not place your tent in a low spot or gully. Dry riverbeds may flash flood. Don’t blaze trails in ravines that will become muddy quagmires under thousands of feet when it rains – keep trails on rises. That little brook you’re stepping over now can become a turbulent river in a thunderstorm. Put fire pits on rises or sloping ground, and provide a drainage gap. Cover tents with tarps, and tie their ends close to the ground so wind doesn’t catch them like a sail. Keep kitchen supplies under cover. Cover bulletin boards with clear plastic. Remember: water runs downhill.
Recycling
We don’t mix all our garbage and trash together, and make the local landfill landfull. We separate our refuse, recycle whatever we can, and dispose of the rest in a nature-friendly way. People should take their own trash home with them as much as possible, thereby spreading out the task of refuse removal, and not overtaxing the cleanup crew. For trash that you see on the ground and pick up, there are recycling stations at every kitchen, and at places with many passers by around the gathering. Each has seven containers – for: metal that is bought as scrap, like aluminum, copper, iron and steel. glass of any kind. (These first two are taken to a local collection point.) paper that we burn ourselves. plastics and other materials that can’t be burned without making toxic odors. This goes into plastic bags, to be taken to a dumpster or landfill at least 100 miles from the Gathering. Organic matter, food waste that will eventually go into a compost pit. lost and found, to be left for its owner until the Gathering ends or brought to the Lost and Found at the Info Booth. free bin, stuff offered that someone could still take and use. Leftovers from this are taken to a dumpster or landfill. The Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
शन्ति सेना
Shanti Sena
the Peace Keepers
We call our security system Shanti Sena. This means “peace army” in Sanskrit, and this term was first used by Mahatma Gandhi’s followers. If a problem develops, calling “Shanti Sena” loudly will bring assistance. (You can yell "Help" as well. In truth, everyone is a peace keeper. We all watch out for each other. Often a group can prevail in a conflict where a single person can’t. Some of the Family are professionally trained in conflict resolution, and they can be summoned for help. We respond with non-violent methods only. Talking is tried before physical restraint. This talking is with compassion and respect. If physical intervention can’t be avoided, it is done gently without inflicting injury. We lighten the burden on Shanti Sena by: watching out for our own valuables, camping in groups with others, and watching the camps of our neighbors when they are away.
People who focalize Shanti-Sena and have lots of experience with conflict resolution can often be seen walking around camp with radios and earpieces. If you have an emergency, feel free to speak to them.
That said, We are ALL Shanti Sena.
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods make the Gathering more fun with the people they introduce you to, and impact the ecology less. All camp needs – such as latrines, water, child watching, or security – can be focalized around a neighborhood fire. When you arrive, look around and find a concentration of tents to set up your own near. Kitchens are some of the places neighborhoods form around, as well as special areas like C.A.L.M. or Kid Village. People from a certain state or city often camp together. Contact the people in them, get to know them. Lone campsites are easy targets for thieves, and are surprises for people 4 walking thru the woods in the dark. Neighborhoods provide the only security for when you are not in your camp. Love your neighbor.
Main Meadow
Main Meadow is the epicenter of the Gathering, located in an open field large enough to accommodate many people. It is where we have Dinner Circle every evening and various prayers, celebrations, and events, including our Silent Meditation for World Peace on the morning of July 4th. There should be no tents or fires here. The meadow is for all, and its energy should be kept clear and pure. Trading Circle should not be in sight. Main Meadow can get loud at times, as well as completely silent. Coordination with Kid Village and C.A.L.M. about the three places’ relative locations is a good idea.
Dinner Circle
Every evening kitchens from all over the Gathering bring food to Main Meadow for Dinner Circle. A circle is formed and then an OM is said, a few brief announcements are made, and everybody sits down and waits for servers going around the circle to bring food to them. Before the servers serve to those sitting in the circle, children and nursing mothers are invited (parents can help) to the center of the circle to get food first, so that the children eat well and plenty. All food served is vegetarian. Bring your own dish and eating utensils, and some water to drink. A person often precedes the servers with bleach water for washing hands. The Magic Hat also goes around the circle, offering you the opportunity to contribute money for food and supplies.
We are a circle, within a circle with no beginning, and never ending
Councils
We gather in council circles to voice and to creatively resolve the issues and concerns of our ever-evolving Gathering. Participation in a council requires a focused mind, patience, respect, a listening ear, and an open mind – as we make decisions on how to best serve the Gathering. There are councils on all workings of the Gathering, including Seed Camp, Co-operations, C.A.L.M., Shanti-Sena, Fire Watch, Vision Council, individual kitchens, and planning regional gatherings.
Vision Council
At Vision Council we share our dreams and visions of the future of the Rainbow Family. Much of the focus is on determining the location for next year's Gathering. The council starts at noon on July 7th, and continues until sunset. If no consensus is reached the first day, it convenes at noon every day thereafter until consensus on a region for the next Annual Gathering is achieved. This can sometime take a few days, so be prepared to be patient.
Council Process
Rainbow councils are an open process where everyone is invited to listen and speak. We sit in a circle and pass a feather (or other object) around from person to person. Each person speaks in turn while holding the feather without being interrupted. The holder has the right to admit or reject input from others. Other people in the circle talking across to each other do not aid the discussion. If there is too much noise, anyone can call, “Focus” to restore attention to the speaker. Sometimes council can be more open, with the feather placed at the center, trusting that everyone can recognize their perfect moment to speak. At other times it is helpful to have a facilitator to keep an impartial focus. Remarks should be stated as briefly as possible. Nothing destroys the process more than making long-winded orations without regard for others waiting for their turn to speak.
Consensus
Consensus is how we govern ourselves. This means coming to solutions acceptable to everyone, not just a majority. While discussing issues, if a resolution starts to seem clear, a speaker may call for consensus by silence. If no one objects to the proposal, then consensus has been reached. Those who have objections may block consensus, which causes council dialogue to resume. A block should only be made from a place of clarity and good conscience. Egos should definitely be checked at the door. Council can be both rewarding and exhausting.
Focalizers
Focalizers are any people willing to be conduits of energy and information. They focus people’s efforts on tasks that need to be done. They are not like leaders in Babylon. They are not placed over us; nor elected for terms. They are followed because the people trust them, feel they have wisdom, find their own feelings expressed thru them, and expect success from following them. Their election continues on thru every day. They are simply not followed anymore if the people lose their confidence. Anyone can be a focalizer to whatever degree one chooses. If you see something that isn’t being done, take the initiative and do it. But volunteering for too much can burn you out, so get help and lovingly delegate. Sometimes there are people waiting to be useful, with hidden talents.
A good focalizer respects consensus, avoids egotism, empowers people, and allows them to learn, even at the price of inefficiency.
+ C.A.L.M. +
Our Medical Center
The Center for Alternative Living Medicine C.A.L.M is our healing arts center.
If you are injured or ill, come here, especially if it’s something contagious. The people here can also provide health information and preventative aids such as condoms. Natural, alternative medicine is encouraged here. Treatment that gets to the root of dis-ease is sought, not just temporary remedies. C.A.L.M. always need donations of medical supplies, antibiotics, herbs, tinctures, and homeopathic remedies. It needs doctors, nurses, EMT’s, and therapists of all kinds – to volunteer on a continuous and on-call basis. Healers and workshop leaders can also plug in here.
Information Booth
The Information Booth is the communication center. All councils and focalizers report here daily with announcements and needs. Anyone with anything noteworthy to share should come here so they can pass the word. Lost and Found and Rumor Control are here. Printed handouts on a variety of subjects can be distributed here. Maps, ride boards, and bulletin boards are nearby, as well as a Calendar of Workshops and Events. There is a Volunteer Here board for people seeking places to plug in and help. People needing assistance can make their needs known here. It is also a place to report a large emergency concern.
Co-operations
Getting things done
Most day to day business is focalized thru Co-operations, which meets several times a day. Workers and people with special knowledge are found, tools and supplies are located, those who have are connected with those who have not. Every area of service checks in with Co-operations daily. Work crews can use this as a base for organization. Plans for new camps and construction should be communicated to here, so that conflicts over land use and campsites can be avoided. If you would like to plug in somewhere, come to a Co-operations council. You will find a place to volunteer.
The Magic Hat
and Banking Council
The Magic Hat is the fund-raising instrument for any Rainbow event.
The Gathering is available for free to everyone, but the supplies needed to keep everyone well-fed and healthy cost money. This includes food, bleach, toilet paper, medical supplies, batteries for Shanti Sena radios, and gasoline for shuttle and supply vehicles, among more. By giving generously to the Magic Hat, each of us helps to provide for all. The Magic Hat appears at Dinner Circle every evening (sometimes in the form of a real hat, sometimes as a 5- gallon bucket), and is sometimes carried thru the camp by a parade of minstrels. The rest of the time it sits on the counter at the Information Booth. Be wary of individuals with containers claiming to be the “magic hat”. Some individual kitchens (like Kid Village) have their own “magic hats”, which are legitimate, but these only support those single kitchens.
The money in the Magic Hat is stewarded by a Banking Council of at least three persons. No money is given out except by consensus of this council. The usual place this council meets is out in the middle of Main Meadow shortly after Dinner Circle has been served and the people present have finished eating. This is the time that requests for money can be presented.
Main Supply
How we get our food
Food and materials bought with the Magic Hat are pooled and distributed here. Individuals can bring donations here as well. This allows for money-saving bulk purchases and helps cut down waste. Every day a Kitchen Council is held with representatives from all kitchens. This council produces a shopping list for the supply runners. No one except this council decides what is bought. The runners buy the items on the list and nothing that is not on the list. After returning, they give receipts and change to the Banking Council, and then Main Supply has a meeting where the supplies are given out to runners from the individual kitchens. Only kitchens that bring food to the main Dinner Circle get food from Main Supply. To avoid suspicions of favoritism, people working Main Supply do not work in individual kitchens. Main Supply cannot be a kitchen itself, serving out food to individuals, and people working Main Supply do not eat from the supplies directly.
Kitchens
Food is obtained from Supply, paid for with contributions to the Magic Hat, and prepared by the helping hands of hundreds of volunteer choppers, slicers, peelers, fire tenders, stirrers, and chefs. Serving styles and times are up to the individual kitchen councils and focalizers – some serve all day, some have specified meal times, some send all their food to Main Circle. Some offer only specialized fare like popcorn or coffee. Food sent to Main Circle is completely vegetarian. Some kitchens may choose to serve meat at their own locations, but meat is hard to preserve in the woods, and may adversely affect those used to only vegetarian fare.
Kitchens are kept CLEAN. There is no faster way to spread disease than to serve contaminated food. Enclose kitchens with railings, and place hand washing stations at entrances.
Volunteers in kitchens wash their hands before working with food. They don’t work with a communicable disease. They use only clean knives and chopping boards. Work surfaces are washed with bleach water before and after use.
Everybody brings their own bowl, cup, and spoon to a Gathering, and washes them thoroughly after each use. Food is served by servers with designated tools.
People do not serve themselves with their own utensils. Supplies are not stored on the ground, but up on pallets, shelves, or logs. They are covered with a tent or tarp, for protection from the sun and rain. They aren’t placed near anthills.
Pets are kept out of kitchens, as they get into food and knock things over.
Every kitchen has a dishwashing station with four containers (usually standard 5 gallon buckets): one for scraping into; one with hot soapy water, for washing; one with clear water, for rinsing; and one with water containing one or two capfuls of chlorine bleach or vinegar for disinfecting. The water is watched and changed regularly. Pots and pans should not sit around dirty for hours, attracting the insect life.
Compost (garbage) pits are dug nearby for vegetable wastes. They are filled in gradually, like latrines. When the contents come up to within a foot of the surrounding ground level, they are filled in completely. A mound of dirt is left on top, to level out by itself as the garbage underneath decomposes and settles.
Waste water goes into grey water pits. It is not just poured out on top of the ground. If the flies start to have their own gathering around your compost pit, then it’s time to cover some of it up. Kitchens constantly need firewood and water. Many make a habit of bringing a piece of wood whenever they visit a kitchen. Others, upon seeing an empty water container, will fetch water without being asked.
Kid Village
Kid Village is a place for children to find other children, parents to meet other parents, and all to share and grow with the joys of educating our children. You can camp there, or just visit once in a while. It facilitates meeting the needs of pregnant and nursing moms. It has shade, playthings, a kitchen, and people who enjoy and are good at playing with children. Kitchen help, musicians, storytellers, and game leaders are always welcome. It should be located at a distance from Main Meadow and any boogie pits to minimize noise at night.
Front Gate
When you volunteer for Front Gate, you get to see it all come in. The parking lot crew greets the world with hugs and information. They maintain an organized and secure parking area, and make an around the clock commitment that involves: greeting new arrivals and giving out information, traffic control, security, auto repair, maintaining a kitchen and fire circle, and an active Shanti Sena. Front Gate and Welcome Home are frequently understaffed, so setting aside a morning or evening to volunteer is always appreciated. Alcohol abuse needs special attention in this area.
Bus Village
Bus Village is for those who come to the Gathering in campers or live-in busses or vans. It is a community of its own, with kitchens, councils, work crews, and Shanti Sena. It is a place where electric entertainment is allowed and appreciated. Bus Village people are well situated to help with Front Gate and Welcome Home.
Welcome Home Center
The Welcome Home center is set past the front trailhead , at the end of the shuttle ride (if there is one) and where most of the hike in has been completed. It provides a place for people to rest from their journey in. They may be offered tea, coffee, or water. They are given printed copies of Raps 107 and 701, guidance toward good places to camp, and informed of conditions peculiar to the current Gathering.
Shuttles
Shuttles are large rugged busses or flatbed trucks, vans or even Uhaul type trucks, that can provide almost continuous service that is safe and reliable, from parking areas to the trail head where vehicles are no longer allowed. Drivers need relief regularly. Riders should help with gas and repair expenses.
Trading Circle
Barter and the mutual exchange of crafts and like are encouraged. One thing exchanged for another thing, or for a service performed. Selling anything inside the Gathering is not acceptable. Using money means we could be defined as a commercial event by the Forest Service, which would complicate our relationship with them. Trading new, commercially produced goods is in bad taste. The gathering is for sharing hearts and the works of our hands, not for making profit and all the funky energy that comes with doing this.
There is a long-standing consensus that Trading Circle not be directly on the main trail, where the people it draws can block traffic on the trail, and not in sight of Main Meadow and its sacred ceremonies.
Workshops
Workshops for learning can be taught by anyone on any subject. Large meadows or comfortable shady spots can be designated for them. There is a workshop board at Information for posting times and places. Typical workshop subjects include yoga, massage, nutrition, plant walks, elders telling hip-story, and sister/brother/brother-sister circles.
Technology
We welcome non-polluting and low energy technology. Hand tools and alternative energy devices – such as solar or wind – are appropriate to a Gathering. Electric generators, chain saws, and gasoline powered tools are not. No boom boxes! Artificial sound carries far in the woods, and forcing your own musical tastes on others is not cool. The Gathering is a great opportunity to get away from your phone, and connect with people heart to heart, instead of virtually.
Photography
Always ask permission before taking a picture of any other person. This includes groups as well as individuals. Most people will say yes, but no means NO. Excessive picture taking can make people tense and kill spontaneous moments of bliss.
Music
We make our own music here, and everyone is welcome to join. Acoustic instruments only, please. Stereos, boom boxes, and radios can douse a creative spark in others. Share your song with us, even if you are not used to performing. In a group of musicians, listen and blend instead of dominating – especially in a drum circle. Harmony is the point. If you start music, respect the other musicians within earshot who have already started, especially if you are drumming. (Drums can carry like a rock ‘n’ roll amp.) Don’t try to compete with them, go over and join them instead. If it’s late at night or early after sunrise, be conscious of folks nearby who may be sleeping. Musical harmony plays with social harmony.
Nudity
Clothing is optional at the Gathering. We accept people and their bodies without judgment or shame. Many people like the feeling of freedom, or like to be cool on a hot day. Nudity is natural.
Nudity is NOT an invitation for sex or a “feel” or a comment. Be cautious of sunburn and poison ivy if you go naked. It’s a good idea to at least wear sandals. We go naked only inside the gathering, and not in any place visible from a public highway.
Love and Loneliness
Many in our Family have found deep and satisfying relationships with other Family members. Few of these sprang into being at their first Gatherings. The freely given affection, the easy conversation, and the sudden promise of openness here cause many to start searching for their one and only, to build up big expectations, and to be disappointed.
Meet people by volunteering and working with them, by making music and theater with them, by joining them in workshops and spiritual exercises. You will see them in all their moods, and really get to know them. Be patient and give time for friendships to unfold and grow by themselves. Don’t measure them against your expectations. The Spirit will show you your soul mates, if you let it. Many people will be put off by sudden propositioning, and not everyone is in the same state of wanting that you are. Remember, if the other person says no, but you do anyway, that is rape, which is a crime among us as well. We are all worthy of equal respect.
Intoxicants
What you use is your own business. What you abuse is often everyone’s business. It has long been a tradition in our Family to discourage alcohol at a Gathering. Alcohol energy can easily threaten. We respect a person’s right to drink, but we do not respect difficult drunks. The primary reason we gather is for peace. Some intoxicants can have mind-expanding and sacred uses. However we actively discourage giving powerful psychedelic drugs like LSD to people who don’t know what they’re taking or who don’t have the experience and mental stability to handle them. Remember also there’s no guarantee on what somebody you don’t know gives you on the trail. If in doubt, spit it out. If you observe an overdose, freakout, or other drug caused problem, contact Shanti Sena and C.A.L.M. immediately.
Pets
A Gathering is not a good place for a pet. Dogs fight other dogs, kill wildlife, get into food, and shit everywhere. Sudden changes in their environment spook and stress them to the point where they snap and bite. We know, of course, “not your dog”. So-o-o-o-o ... if you must bring your pet, be responsible. Keep them under constant watch 24 hours a day, on a leash, out of kitchens, meal circles, and councils, and away from wildlife. Clean up and bury their droppings. Bring a tag for your dog's collar that you can write with the name of your closest camp or kitchen on, and your cell phone number, just in case.
Hug Patrol
The Hug Patrol covers the Gathering to insure that nobody who needs a hug goes without one. You might be stopped and asked for a hug anytime, so you should be prepared to give them your cooperation... if you wish. (Nobody is obliged to receive one if they feel uncomfortable.)
Joke Toll Booth
The Joke Toll Booth sometimes appears on a main traffic artery in the Gathering. All who approach it are required to tell one joke before they may pass. The jokes collected go to help the merrimentally challenged find gainful enjoyment in our community.
Regional Gatherings
In addition to the North American Gathering from the 1st to the 7th of July, there are many regional gatherings throughout the year. Find out about these at the Information Booth, from your regional focalizers, and on the Internet at Facebook, and welcomehere.org.
The Rainbow Guide
The Rainbow Guide is a noncommercial directory of our Family, compiled and published every year by volunteers with your contributions. The Guide helps the family to connect with each other thruout the year. The printed version is distributed at Information every summer at the annual North American Gathering. There is also an online version. The Guide crew usually bases its operations at Information, where cards are available to be filled out by those who want to be included.
All Ways Free
Our free, non-commercial Family newspaper, All Ways Free is an open forum for the expressions and visions that make up the Rainbow Family that takes essays, stories, letters, poems, and art. It is produced entirely by volunteers and everybody is invited to contribute their heartsong, as well as funds for printing. It is available at Information every summer at the North American Gathering, and it can also be obtained by contacting the A.W.F. focalizers. A PDF file of it can be downloaded from www.bliss-fire.com
Clean Up & Rehabilitation
Clean Up begins before you leave your house. Think carefully about what you pack; do you really need it? Do you want to deal with packing it out?
Clean Up begins the moment you arrive. If you don’t disturb the environment to begin with, you don’t have to clean it up later. If you pick up trash all along, there isn’t a large amount at the end.
Keep a trash bag in your tent for your personal trash and hike it out at the end of your stay. Pick up at least one other trash bag on your way to your car, and deposit all trash in a dumpster at least 100 miles away.
After the last day of the Gathering, the camp is drawn inward from the perimeters to one central camp, thence to the front gate and the parking area, then out the gate and down the road. Campsites, bridges, and kitchens are dismantled and disappeared. Every last cigarette butt, pop tab, and bottle cap is picked up; every string is untied and removed. Compost pits and latrines are filled and covered with a dome of dirt, to allow for settling. Logs, rocks, and branches are scattered. Campsites are strewn with grass and leaves. Firepits are drowned with water and covered over with dirt. Paths are broken up, ground packed hard is broken up with pick and shovel, and bare spots are reseeded. Potential areas of erosion are shored up.
All traces of our presence are removed. The site is returned to its natural state. Vehicles leaving the Gathering help by taking at least one bag of trash with them, to a dumpster at least 100 miles away. Don’t impact the small towns near the Gathering. Recyclables are taken to appropriate collection points. In a year’s time, you won’t be able to tell that a small city of people lived here for weeks.
In all ways, we walk lightly on the land.
