Where will the gathering be?

 

Statement from the 2025 Vision Council/Counsel/Circle of Rainbow Family of Living Light on the land in Missouri:

We, the Rainbow Family of Living Light, peacefully assembled as Vision Counsel, in the Mark Twain National Forest on the land, at the site of the 54th Annual Rainbow Gathering, in 2025, have lovingly reached consensus on the following: 
 
We invite all beings to cocreate the 55th Annual Rainbow Gathering from July 1-7, 2026, and to participate in a silent prayer and meditation for peace from dawn until noon on the fourth day of July, in a national forest in the lands currently known as Pennsylvania or New York. 
 
We lovingly invite all Indigenous and Native peoples of Turtle Island to join us in love and peace and solidarity. We recognize that all lands in this region are traditional Indigenous lands, and we invite your guidance to respect these sacred lands in a good way. 
 
We gratefully acknowledge the indispensable aid of veterans of foreign wars in visioning and creating the Rainbow Gathering we cherish today. We invite all veterans to join us in continuing to heal, and cocreate our peaceful village in the woods. 
 
Welcome Home! 
 
Fall Counsel will be October 16–20, 2025, with a potluck feast on October 16, a counsel circle October 17–19, and cleanup October 20. 
 
Vision Counsel finds value and lovingly encourages participation in regional gatherings on any public lands available as best suits regional family's success and safety. 
 
Rainbow Gatherings happen on the land. Know your sources!  
 
Weee Looove Youuu! 

This is a 100% free assembly of peaceful people. Food is free, medical care is free, parking is free. No admission fee ever! All supplies are paid for by donation of cash or items people bring.

Harvest and/or Fall (giving thanks) Counsel/Council/Circle

  

Information on Fall Counsel.

 

Scout Rendezvous

 

Scout councils/rendezvous is a time for people out scouting to connect up, share information, talk about scouting efforts. As with all things Rainbow, no experience is necessary, just a desire to walk, learn, teach and share. If you come, please be self sufficient - have green energy for gas, food, etc. You don't need your own vehicle if you can be a positive traveling companion, but $$$ are always in short supply for scouting, so please bring enough for yourself and some to share with the person whose vehicle breaks down.  If you have sites you think should be considered, please contact me.

 

In the mean time, go scouting!  If you are scouting, please make sure you are plugged into other people with boots on the ground so that your spot can get a second or third pair of eyes. 


Spring council/counsel/circle

Spring council takes as long as it takes. Spring council is when all potential sites for the gathering are brought to any people who want to be involved in selecting a site. The council usually takes one to seven days and normally ends with either a consensus by silence among people at the council or an exodus of the majority of people heading to the preferred site. Spring council goes until a decision is reached by consensus or by foot. The exact location for this council generally isn't determined until one to two weeks before spring council starts. Until the spring council process reaches a site, there is no home.  This being said, spring council is usually but not always in the general area of where the best potential site(s) for the gathering are located. 

Keep in mind that weather conditions (which are unpredictable) play a part in all of this. So let's say someone found a great site during the summer of 2024 (and I have no knowledge that anyone did or did not), for all we know come the first week of June, 2025b that site is out of water or under water, then what? Keep in mind that 4 feet of snow at a gathering is rough (anyone remember Washington 2011?).

Drought and high fire danger can have the same effect. A great site that was nice and wet in August 2024 can be dry as a tinder box in June 2025 . If the Forest Service has a no open fire ban on that site that looked so great last year, guess it's not looking that great this year. Available water can change year to year as well depending on snow melt.  Conditions change all the time.  The family needs to find the best possible site for the health and safety of gathering participants and the land on which we gather.

Fall Counsel will pick the dates for spring circle/council/counsel.   Stay tuned.

Seed Camp

Once Spring Council reaches a decision, people move onto the site and start Seed Camp. Seed Camp is about creating trails, building kitchens, digging shitters, taping springs and dealing with the United States Forest Service. Historically, law enforcement harassment is highest during Seed Camp so if you are planning on being there, take the necessary precautions to keep your self out of the system if you so choose or need to. Bring your own food and drinking water. Bring first aid kits.  Bring extra food for those who do not have enough to feed themselves.

The Gathering

The main day of the gathering is July 4 when we observe silence from dawn until high noon and put our energy into manifesting world peace, the positive evolution of the planet and other good things.  Many people observe this with a prayer or mediation for world peace. Others do Yoga for world peace, blow bubbles for world peace, etc. Basically, if it's a silent, gentle energy then it fits in very well.  As to when the gathering starts, that's dynamic.  It's usually one day during the last week of June when some friends and I look at each other and say "today it's a gathering."  (of course you may pick a different date than I do when it feels like a gathering and not like seed camp).

The earlier you come the more self sufficient you need to be and relationships with the Forest Service can be rougher. On the other hand, showing up for seed camp allows you to influence the way the gathering goes and really plug into the workings of the gathering. If you show up later, say after June 27, then most (but not all) of the drama has subsided.  Traditionally the dates are listed as July 1 to 7, but most years people start leaving in droves on July 5th. Most years the gathering starts the last few days of June. It's hard to say when as it's an organic process, but one day it will feel like seed camp and the next day it will feel like a gathering.

Ignore all rumors of cancellation or organization!

Live lightly with the Land and People!

Be the peaceful and loving person you want to see more of in this world.
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