Semi-rumors about things you might have heard in the media. There were reports
of three births by the time I left (one in process and heading out then). STwo people died in a tent by the parking lot, supposedly asphixiation from campstove. The most problematical event was an attempted rape (widely reported
as a rape) in which a sister was seriously beaten in her tent and had to be
carried out. Direct later reports (not rumor) were that she had been healing
remarkably fast physically and was out of the hospital and heading home, and
that she wanted us to know that she felt she was healing very well otherwise
from all the love and support she had received, and did not have revenge in her
heart. The incident weirded out the energy for others, tho; violence begets
anger and rage. A number of both men and women felt vengefulness in their hhearts, of an unbalanced and conventional type, understandably. There was some
resentment of "vigilante energy", but as far as I saw that energy never got
out of hand. Many very moving heartsongs were shared, including both sisters
and brothers revealing their own rapes and how that shaped their responses to
the event. Healing circles. There was a "sisters speak, brothers listen"
gathering in response to some of the tensions in the dinner council.
The silence on the morning of the 4th was fantastic. By contrast to the
noise and talking and drumming and music of earlier days, just hearing the
wind and birds despite being surrounded by thousands of rainbows was amazing.
The outer circle was huge and powerful. I cried, quietly, from the joy and
strength of it.
The site was large; more experience folks tell me it isn't usually so spread
out. Lots of walking, some hill climbing. Love-n-ovens was way up a hill with
a fantastic view (even for someone who lives in Colorado). A sprinkle on the
1st, then just sun until it rained for half an hour on the 7th as we were
leaving. I saw one fragmentary rainbow.
I have no idea what happened in Lakota lands; I didn't see any sign of a Bridge
shuttle between the two site, but that would not be surprizing in any case.
Anything in particular you want to know about?
~z~ (Zhahai)