Greetings and salutations !
How can I begin to describe what I considered in my first Gathering, and consider in the current Gathering, to be an event which is beyond my individual ability to completely comprehend or encompass. Several brothers and sisters confirmed this by telling me they they had been at the Gathering two weeks and still hadn't seen everything yet. So I started out knowing that in the two and a half days I had to spend at the Gathering, there was no way I was going to see it all. (Nevertheless, I ended up writing tonight ten pages in my diary about the Gathering.)
If I had to choose an major theme for how the gathering went for myself it would probably be 'instant manifestation'. So often, while at the Gathering, it seemed that my friend, with whom I attended the Gathering, and myself had barely conceived an intention when it manifested right in front of us. When we first arrived at the Gathering we had to park several miles from the main site, we had barely talked about getting a lift to the main gate when an older brother stopped and gave us a lift in his convertible. He even had a parking space for himself materialize no more than 100 feet from the main entrance! Needless to say we were amazed.
The friend I was with expressed a desire to see some familiar person, and on the very first day ran into several. I had wanted my friend to experience some Native Americans at the Gathering, and on the second day we were invited to participate in a sweat lodge ceremony being performed by a genuine, traditional Lakota Sioux accompanied by a Dakota Sioux singer. This was an extremely rare opportunity for my friend to become exposed to Native American culture on a first hand basis.
For myself, I had been looking for some insight into how live action role playing games, such as _Mage, The Ascension_, might be used as a teaching tool. An insight on this manifested for me while I was in the sweat lodge. Image my surprise when, later that evening, I ran into several brothers and sisters at the Tea Time kitchen who are _Mage_ storytellers!
Perhaps the most intense moment of the Gathering for me was the live action rainbows followed by live action lightening and thunder Friday night. It seems like there is nothing like lightening and thunder to spin up the anticipation of several thousand people scattered about on a high, alpine meadow.
Another intense experience was the view at night from the upper end of the meadow. Looking out over the meadow and the nearby hills, there were countless campfires and lights everywhere. I felt that only this night time view could begin to convey the truly magical scope and vastness of that which is a Rainbow Gathering!
Best wishes to all my Rainbow brothers and sisters,
Peace and Love!