Thanksgiving Council Directions

Updaed 11/11/12

Thanksgiving Circle, Hot Springs, Montana, Nov. 21-25, 2012

Directions:   The council will take place about 75 miles northwest of Missoula, Montana in a town called Hot Springs, Montana. Coming into Town... at the stop sign is Spring St. turn right (north)... go block and a half (or so) on *Left-hand side of road is Towanda Gardens*... On right-hand side of road is (Tribal) Senior Nutritional Center.

This Center has been rented, for the Circle/council for Wednesday Nov. 21 (greeting, check in for shelter, set-up, etc...)  until Sunday Nov. 25th... (clean-up, check-out)....

Folks needing Shelter, Information... please come to the Center....  ****Wednesday is better day to arrive... (than Tuesday)

Pot Luck Thanksgiving Dinner, on Thursday 22nd.... some local folks may want to attend... Invitation is for all...  This Center, while the Circle/council is Gathered.... is a truce ground, Open to all People... Consensus is...Respect is!

There are a couple of options for parking for buses, live-in rigs... etc....

Hot Springs (town)  is located on Flathead-Salish-Kootnei Reservation....  Ranchers, farmers, and a mix of "now-age" people...There is awesome hot springs.... and Symes Hotel is one spot... (inexpensive for soaking..)

Everything is relatively close.... Hot Springs ain't that big..

Town Police --
TIGHT ON SPEED ZONES... drive slow, careful, be aware...

If you don't like camping in that part of the country over Thanksgiving weekend, I recommend you get yourself at room @ the Symes Hotel & Mineral Baths before they are all booked up.  Or try the Alamedas Hot Springs Resort.

If you're not familiar with the purpose and process involving T-Council, click here.
 
Re member... All People have an Rainbow Family Tribe Invitation to  Earth Re-Birthing 2013 World Family Gathering, July 1-7... Montana...

Namaste!

On Consensus

Gatherings operate under a consensus model of decision making.  Som decisions are informal such as when people vote with their feet by going (or not going) somewhere.  Other types of conensus involve informal groups of people talking to each other about what they want, what works, and what hasn't worked in the past.  Then there are more formal conensus making circles, such as Vision Council, where the general area of next year's gathering is decided.

I'm not a frequent visitor to Vision Council, preferring our daily main councils, info councils, local family councils, etc where dealing with our day to day lives is discussed.  Plus, as long as I'm with family, I'm happy.  Don't matter much to me if we go to Tennessee or Montana  --- It's the people who show up who make the gathering.  Together we can create the world the way we want it to exist.

In general, consensus means we find a decision that works for everyone present.  Council involves self-control and respect as we listen (really listen) to each other speak.  Gatherers have working on council processes for years and I'm still not sure it's perfect.

There's a Rainbow Gathering focused Council Mini Manual that was developed some years ago and I find it very helpful. But so as not to get stuck in the past, I find it helpful to read how other communities (temporary or permanent) deal with egleterian decision making processes.

The summer 2012 issue of Communities magazine had a couple of very interesting articles on consensus and some of it's pitfalls. Now I'm not advocating abolishing consensus based decision making, but for those of you who have been chewing my ear off about the disfunctional vision council process, here's some great articles to get the juices flowing.

The first article, "BUSTING THE MYTH THAT CONSENSUS-WITH-UNANIMITY IS GOOD FOR COMMUNITIES: Part 1" is a study of broken consensus making processes within intentional communities.

The two following articles are responses to the first article from differing perspectives.

"Busting the Myth, or Changing the Terms?" and '“BUSTING THE MYTH”: Some Questions.'



I invite you to read these and other articles on consensus before bringing your ideas, thoughts and suggestions to councils on the land in Montana.  The gathering is evolving and as we grow and learn, we hopefully are sharing ideas with each other.

~~ Namaste

The Skinny on Thanksgiving Council

The gathering has a cyclical process.  In Tennessee this summer, vision council on the land reached consensus that the 2013 gathering will take place in the state of Montana.

But then what?

Because the Rainbow Gathering has no leaders, no board of directors, no staff and no one in charge of anything, we depend on people working together to do all the preparation for the gathering in Montana. So over the years a process has come together to make sure that planning is open to everyone who wants to be involved.

The year starts off with Thanksgiving Council or T-Council over the four day weekend of the same name. This is a time for people interested in plugging in, talking about visions for the gathering, discussing scouting, strategies about legal issues, etc. to get together.

T-Council generally takes place in the state or region where we will be gathering. It's usually a camp, cook, council, share heart songs kinda of thing. Often but not always, the people at T-Council pick the dates for the Scout Rendezvous and Spring Council. Often times a PO box is established for snail mail and a banking council is formed to deal with any donations.

As with all things Rainbow, no experience is necessary, just a willingness to participate. Keep in mind this is not a gathering, it's a working council and the way this council unfolds sets the tone for the gathering.


Generally folks in the area take the lead on finding a place to hold T-Council.  Planning is underway and directions usually come out the second week of November.

I'm hoping that there will be a real mix of generations at T-Council. We need older people, we need younger people, we need more experienced gatherers and we need less experienced gatherers to come together to create a vision for a peaceful, healing and fun gathering in Montana 2013. Be the change you want to see in this world.

Remembering Lessons Learned

As with most things, parts of the gathering are amazing and other parts leave a lot to be desired.  Back in the 90s when the folks in Southern California were focalizing regionals in the desert, one of the things we did was take notes on the good, the bad and the ugly.  Starting the first day of clean up, most evenings after dinner, we would sit around and share our thoughts, brain storm on new ideas while the gathering was still fresh in our minds, and most importantly, write down what we could do differently next time (because back then we always believed in a next time and we new that great ideas slip away easily).

Seems to me that following this year's gathering in Tennessee, there have been lots of discussions of the positives and the negatives.  Some of the things I've been hearing about is a lack of Shanti Sena focus.  To that end, some folks have started a Shanti Sena workshop they hope to take to a number of regionals between now and the annual  US gathering.

Other discussions focus on resurrecting a morning breakfast circle, scouting, access for differentially abled, alcohol abuse and probably a lot more topics about which I am in the dark.

While it's easy to remember what went wrong, it's a whole lot harder to come up with ideas on how to improve the situation.  My challenge to those of you who were in Tennessee this summer, what positive suggestions, actions, process ideas do you have that would contribute to a safe, positive and healing gathering?

Where Will the 2013 Gathering Be Held?

Usually when someone gets on my email list, this is the first information I send them. So to you out here in blogsphere, here's that same information.


From the invite to the very first Rainbow Gathering in 1972:

We, who are brothers & sisters, children of God, families of  life on earth, friends of nature & of all people, children of humankind calling ourselves Rainbow Family Tribe, 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 beginning July 1, 1972, near Aspen, Colorado - or between Aspen &; the Hopi &p; Navajo lands - on 3000 acres of land that we hope to purchase or acquire for this gathering -- & to hold open worship, prayer, chanting or whatever is the want or desire of the people, for three days, but upon the fourth day of July at noon to ask that there be a meditative, contemplative silence wherein we, the invited people of the world may consider & give honor & 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.





In July 2012, Vision Council on the land in Tennessee called for the 2013 gathering to take place in Montana. ""We all celebrate that we feel the unity of the spirit and we recognize the oneness of heart as we have the desire to follow spirit calling us to beautiful Montana for the Annual Gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light in the Summer of 2013."

Thanksgiving Council

The next step in the process of landing on a site is Thanksgiving Council (T-Council) which takes place over the four day Thanksgiving Holiday in or near the area for the following gathering. This is a time of people to council and share their hopes and dreams for the 2013 gathering.  If you have potential sites you think are worthy of scouting in the spring, bring topo maps and forest service maps.  Directions to T-Council usually come out in the first half of November. Check back then.



Scout Council(s) or Scout Rendezvous

T-Council usually picks dates for one or two Scout Councils. 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.

Spring Council

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.  T-Council picks a date for Spring Council but the exact location for this council generally isn't determined until one to two weeks before Spring Council starts.  Directions to Spring Council are available here.

For those of you who think the site is picked in advance and want to get the 411 now so you can book plane tickets.  I'm sorry, but there is no site picked at this time. That's being said, there aren't many commercial  airports in Montana.

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 in August 2012 (and I have no knowledge that anyone did), for all we know come the first week of June that site is still under snow, then what? Keep in mind that 4 feet of snow at a gathering is rough and 2011 in Washington had far heavier snow than normal and much later in the season than normal. Snow levels played a part in where we landed. 

Drought and high fire danger can have the same effect. A great site that was nice and wet in August 2012 can be dry as a tinder box in June 2013. 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.


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.

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 the rougher things with the Forest Service are. 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.

Directions to the 2013 gathering are available here.

Ignore all rumors of cancellation or organization!

Live lightly with the Land and People!
Please Copy and Distribute This Information Widely

Flashback to 2000

The last time the annual gathering of the tribes took place in Montana was in 2000. Just to get you in the mood, here's some of our family freely sharing their gifts.

Fantuzzi - I'm In You, And You're In Me
Camp Zipolite Humor - Rainbow in My Mind
Double Dose - Bringers of Dawn.


Thanks to Tenali for recording these songs and Rob for hosting them. For more songs from the 2000 gathering, click here. 

Vision Council Consensus for Montana in 2013

Consensus reached on July 8, 2012 @ 8:50 PM Eastern Time for Montana.

"We all celebrate that we feel the unity of the spirit and we recognize the oneness of heart as we have the desire to follow spirit calling us to beautiful Montana for the Annual Gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light in the Summer of 2013."

~~~ Please copy and share freely ~~~