Kundalini and the Art of Being ... 14by stopping by home. From there I continued hitching east, eventu-
ally catching a ride to the gathering that evening, in the Mendocino
National Forest west of Interstate-.
The Rainbow Gathering turned out, to my continuing disappoint-
ment, to be another uninspiring experience. Despite the surrounding
beautiful forest, it was held in a large gravel parking lot accessible to
cars, instead of having a hike in to a separate site in the woods. Many
of the Rainbow elders had chosen not to attend, because whoever
had organized the gathering had apparently obtained a permit for the
site, which was against basic Rainbow policy.
The gathering felt more like a bunch of street kids hanging out
on the edge of the woods, killing time, rather than a unified group
of people focused on healing and conscious togetherness. Without
the focus of elders and others more spiritually aware, the gathering
lacked intention. They didn’t need much help in the small kitchen,
and a man with rather heavy, unbalanced energy led the one sweat
lodge. And Jeffrey never showed up in the several days that I spent
there. His plans, like mine, changed with the weather; he’d probably
been distracted by some other happening, or else just wasn’t in the
mood for an adventure. Though I did make a few friends there, I
didn’t come across any familiar faces, and didn’t feel that I was really
contributing to the gathering. I soon began to wonder if I should look
for an early ride out to the national gathering in Missouri, or perhaps
head straight for Sedona to check out the community there.
I was sitting in the grass one evening after dinner circle, discussing
this very question of where to go next with some new-found friends,
when I was greeted with some much-needed cosmic synchronicity. I
had mentioned my plans to head out to Sedona in passing to another
acquaintance. As I was sitting there in the dry grass with a small
circle of folks, this fellow came running up to me.
“Hey, Gabriel!” he panted. “Sorry to burst in on you guys, but I
just found a ride for you to Sedona, and they’re leaving in fifteen
minutes! I figured I should at least let you know about it...”