Onward Ho!

Greetings friends, family, loved ones.... galactic emissaries!

I am ENthusiastic about bringing our road travels to the web so that our journeys will not be a mystery to y'all! After two years of planting, rooting, flowering, and fruiting in Mendo, I am happy to be entering a new phase of this special decade of my Training & Traveling Twenties. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah.............

Our trip began on June 24th, this 2009, setting out for the warm and beauteous terrain of New Mexico for this year's Rainbow Gathering. We packed our car with what was most important for this summer: clothing, food, art supplies, and instruments. We took our time driving through southern Cali and Arizona, stopping at random rest stops to shut our eyes, or at a park or national forest to camp.

wow. There's so much to catch up on since we first began...

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the National Rainbow Gathering, it is an event that happens every July 4th (with weeks of prep before and after) to celebrate our Interdependence. Rainbow attracts a very diverse group of people, all seeking a place to gather and celebrate our individuality, cOMmunity, and our connection to each other and Mother Earth. The air is filled with music and song, smiles and tears, hope, and a feeling of relief.  Of course, not everything about Rainbow is so wonderful. There is also a lot of tobacco and alcohol use, and anarchist debauchery ripples out from various spheres throughout the grounds. 

The Rainbow experience is what you make of it. You can surround yourself with amazing friends and teachers, and sing and dance and play without much negativity coming your way. Rainbow is DIVERSE, and everyone who goes is representing some form of the Human Experience in some way or another. What is most incredible about being at one of these Gatherings is the overall sense of freedom I feel every time. 

There are kitchens set up throughout the place, all with a specific theme....the one Nigel and I camped with this year was called HonuWay (Honu means Turtle in Hawaiian). HonuWay. A Whole New Way to live at Rainbow. This camp was a conglomeration of Jerusalem Camp (mostly Hebrew tradition, including Shabat dinner on the Sabbath) and a bunch of Kundalini Yoga Raw Foodists who created a kitchen that served YUMMY raw food throughout the day for a week. Anyone can jump in and help out by preparing the food, serving it, cleaning up. You choose!

Anyway, I have so much more to say, but I will sign off with this introduction for now.... and some pics!

I send you my love, and I pray that we are all living our lives in Joy.

Also, we stopped by the Grand Canyon on our way! One word: Majestic.

~*~

ishka

~*~