The 2001 Idaho Rainbow Gathering 

By Michael Tivana  8.08.2001

 

"With knowledge comes a responsiblity and an obligation to act."

 

To the many souls that have been touched by the Rainbow Family of Living Light and know our common mission to bring the message of Peace and Love to the planet.

 

Many in the Rainbow Family of Living Light know about the importance of this family as a movement to maintain our humanity and know the importance of the Rainbow message of universal Peace and Love. The role we play in defending the values of life on Mother Earth, and the stands we take in defending the existence of liberty and the faith we hold in our pursuit of happiness will be marked in the annals of history as great deeds. Still many do not know about the key role that the Rainbow movement plays in the survival of life and liberty in our current civilization. The Rainbow Family plays an integral part in shaping and influencing today's world and it is the responsibility of those that know this to pass on to the next generation the values that we have inherited and developed over the 30+ years of the Rainbow Family's hipstory.

 

The Rainbow Family as in the eyes of the US government is a religious congregation; and as such we are able to have our gatherings. During our gatherings the Family exercises the core values that support life on the planet - Peace and Love. New ideas that bring new ways to express these core values into our society are propagated within the family at the getherings and burst forth into the world through the communities in which we live afterward. This is evident from everything from influencing people's diets to the type of medicine they prescribe and to their politics. My favorite story is when Swami Mommy Love Garbage stood up before thousands in Oregon in 1978 and demanded that we all separate our garbage. "Put the aluminum in this bag, put the glass in this bag and the paper in this bag", she said. Just another crazy idea? Is she nuts? We started doing it at the gathering and now enough of us are doing it that the crazy idea has spread and today we have recycling. The way this idea was spread at the gathering was at Tribal council meetings in the central circle. Ideas are also spread through messages before and during meals. It is crucial to the survival of the family to have this communication.

 

To aid the Rainbow Family in its destiny to change the world we need to strengthen the gatherings by having broader councils and allow more time for talking before meals.

 

Before Idaho 2001 I had been absent from the gatherings for 9 years, this was my 8th gathering and my brief  feedback is this: the infrastructure has never been more together. Congratulations on a well organized gathering. The health of the people, the water distribution, the structures, were A+. The meals came from clean, health minded kitchens and nobody was homeless and all were fed. The respect for the streams and the land was terrific. There was an allegience with the Dineh (Navajo) Nation and an invitation to partake in their Sun Dance. This is another sign that the prophecy of the Rainbow people being a bridge betweeen the one heart and two heart people. out to the world is coming true.

 

The people were eager to participate and many did in a variety of ways, however, there were not enough ways for people to plug in. There were thousands of newbies who missed the message of Peace, Love and selfless service. The core, the heart and soul of the gathering was weak. The hello brother, hello sister greetings were only half there. The hearts of the people were not strong and the need for greater human esteem was evident. The need for larger all encompassing events was felt. Thus, the importance of the 4th of July event. The morning silence on the 4th was an incredibly powerful expression of solidarity for peace on the planet. Then the brothers and sisters gathered for the noon-time silence. The circle was formed and 5 minutes later came the appearance of the children, an hour too soon. This timing I will address further on, but is the key to the spiritual success of the Family. The health of the communal spirit of the Family is what dictates the strength of the movement for peace and love on the planet today. It is that important!

 

With that said here are my strong recommendations for future gatherings. We that know the importance of these gatherings is needed to fight for the life of the planet. Therefore, it is crucial to insure that the following occur and NEVER go away -


  • Bring back breakfast  - "A family that eats together stays together." Where did breakfast go? I spoke with several kitchens and they had no problem making a morning meal. It was elimanated because it was thought that the kitchens had enough to do already making an extra meal for dinner. This extra meal gives the family two chances each day to meet and talk and spread their knowledge and awareness. Bring back breakfast, which feeds naturally into the Tribal Council and the best chance for the Family to communicate. In addition, people are here to plug in and this will give them another way to help out and exercise more of the core values of the movement such as selfless service and equality. Addressing the Family before meals is an essential part of Rainbow Family life. There needs to be more time before the 2 meals to talk to the people. The solution is to blow the conch an hour before the food arrives.

 

  • Encourage the importance of only working in teams of at least 2. This encourages bonding and discourages the lone ranger I can do it all myself attitude.

 

  • "We are the Family of Living Light." Where did the tribal councils go? We started them again on the 2nd and they grew to a few hundred. In the past councils involved thousands and have lasted for days (one council in Colorado '92 lasted for 3 days). Most people at this year's council did not know the difference between a council and a heart song. At a facilitated council the speakers get in line to speak to the masses. Sometimes a discussion will ensue and the facilitator will hold the feather and direct the speakers in a roundtable discussion on that issue, then pass the feather on to the next speaker when the discussion is over. The facilitator also has permission to help the speaker make his/her point while ensuring that long-winded voices are kept on track. In a Heart Song, which is much smaller (50 or less) a feather is passed around the circle to the next speaker. Each person speaking his or her passion in turn. There is not room for discussion in a heart song unless the holder of the feather grants permission to others to speak

 

  • "The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a religious experience".  This is what gives us permission from the US government to congregate and it is what sets us apart from all other gatherings. This is what gives us unity and strength and makes us difficult to conquer. We are the miracle makers. But only to the degree of our unity. Respect and make room for the great Aum to occur in the most righteous way.  The sacred Aum or Om unifies us and gives each individual strength as they go out into Babylon to carry on their struggle for a better world. The one thing that thousands have witnessed and come for each year is the central Om on the 4th of July. This incredible experience was almost canceled completely from this years gathering because of the ill timing of events on the 4th. I beseech the leaders of the Kid Village to be flexible in the timing of the appearance of the children in the central circle in coming years.Yes, the children are special, but they are also the spark of the Celebration and they must respect that the family needs to find and build its unity before that spark erupts the Family into celebration. With a properly gestated Aum the celebration is filled with more meaning. Without this time of hearts melding and spirits joining our family is without magic, without strength and our Family will become like the families of Babylon; disjointed and with little meaning.

 

What happens when a person's heart is touched by 10,000 other hearts in the central Om? Their spirit is uplifted and forever changed. That person rides that wave of human esteem and projects a joyous expression and a yearning to share their gift, their zeal for life with the world.  This common bond is a collective conscience that is so strong that no body, no authority, no evil can conquer it. The power of the people is in the strength of their unity and the unity of the Rainbow Family is in the great Aum.

 

The Rainbow Family and Hopi prophecy - There are many prophecies that talk about the historical times that we are currently living in. I have always been more interested in Native American prophecies than so-called western prophecies from Christianity or Nostradamus and Cayce. I am more interested in them because they are more direct and have the broadest view of these times. My favorite is the Hopi prophecy. It is direct, simple and quite profound in its accuracy. The Hopi prophecy was delivered to the Rainbow Family of Living Light by grandfather David at the New Mexico Rainbow Gathering of Healing Light in 1977. It was poignant to the times and has guided the lives of many since.

 

The Hopis believe that when human beings came into this the 4th dimension it was on the mesa now called Oraibai. As some of the human beings went off to the east, they vowed to come back with technology and inventions that would make life easier. The rest of the human beings were to stay in Oraibai and keep the ways of the heart and live as good human beings.

 

But while discovering these technologies the human beings of the east would be guided by their heads and loose their hearts and the ways of the human beings. They would be known as teh two-hearts and that is what the white man is called today. So an exchange would occur when they would meet again. The human beings of the east would bring the inventions that make life easier in the physical world while the human beings at Oraibai would teach them the ways of the heart. Then all human beings will transcend to the next dimension, the 5th dimension.

 

The times that they speak of are now. It is all depicted on a rock in Oraibai. It speaks of the gourd of ashes falling out of the sky which is the atom bomb and signals that soon after the Rainbow people will appear and they will be the bridge between the people of the mind and the people of the heart or one-hearts. There is the little thing about WWIII but that is for later. The point is that we as Rainbow Light workers have made many journeys to the Hopi to learn the ways of the heart so that we can pass them on to the rest of the family and then onto the world. But how are we to pass this on to the masses that attend the International gathering, hungry for this and other knowledge if we have not councils, are discouraged to speak before meals, and have no central sacred Om on Independence Day? Not going to happen is the answer. Workshops are not the answer because they do not happen on a large enough scale. To have this communication breakdown among the fulfillers of prophecy at this crucial time in the Earth's history is a greater disaster than Global warming and Bush's New World Order combined. Do not let this happen!

 

Our gatherings involve people from around the planet in a yearly convention of optimism and human esteem. What sets us apart from the rest of the world and other gatherings like the Burning Man or the Oregon Country Fair is our spiritual unity. The great Om is our spiritual core and solidifies our undying commitment to Peace and Love. We must have a common sense of bonding to be successful in delivering our message to the world and it starts and ends with the great Om.

 

I vow to keep the heart of the Rainbow burning in the souls of all who know the magic and the miracles of our great unity. To all who know what they are here for and to all that seek a higher purpose for themselves and for life on the planet, Om wa takwae ahse! To all my relations!

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