RAINBOW
A 36 year journey of love and learning with the Rainbow family from 1986 to the present day. Created by Joth Shakerley Rainbow is an essence, a way of life; this book is a glimpse into a magical utopia, an open healing space, where everyone is welcome, where there are no leaders or rules, where we all have a part to play, where we are all free and where we are all striving to be the most beautiful version of ourselves.
My hope is that these images will inspire a positive healthy way of being, a deeper connection to our hearts and a reminder of the huge importance of our relationship to nature and how it can heal us.
THE BOOK
"Rainbow” will be a large hard bound book, size 280mm x 290mm with 200 pages and 180 photographs. All the photographs will be black and white and will be exquisitely printed on 170gsm GallerieArt satin paper. There will be some text, Rainbow songs and poetry to complement some of the photographs.
Each photograph, selected from thousands has its own unique story, its own intimacy, its own beauty and its own connection to soul and nature.
I am running this campaign to produce a first print run of 1000 books. With deep gratitude to all you beautiful souls who will help to make this happen.
It will be printed and launched on July 4th to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Rainbow Gatherings, which were conceived in Colorado in 1972 when thousands of people climbed Table Mountain to pray and meditate for world peace.
WELCOME HOME Hopi Prophecy.
"When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colours, classes, creeds and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as Warriors of the Rainbow."
It started with an invitation to a Gathering in the foothills of Big Sur, California in 1986. An invitation that was to completely change my life.
“We the Rainbow Family humbly invite:
All races, peoples, tribes, men, women, children, - out of love.
All nations & national leaders - out of respect
All religions & religious leaders - out of faith
All the colours of the rainbow
To gather with us in nature, to join hands and hearts, to sing, to dance and to celebrate the oneness of all with our desire for greater peace and harmony on earth and amongst all people.”
What followed was an epic journey that was to take me and later my family all over the world, travelling to Hawaii, Thailand, Morocco, Russia, The Canary Islands, Guatemala, Australia, The Artic Circle, Israel, Mexico and almost every country in Europe. My daughters have grown up at Gatherings and still sing the Rainbow songs and I maintain close heart to heart connections to these friends, this beautiful family from all over the world.
Rainbow gatherings are free space. Everyone is welcome.
If everyone gives a little, everything works.
There is no trade, no money.
There is only one rule - respect, respect for each other and respect for mother earth.
There is no superior or inferior - We are all one.
What to bring - Tent, tipi, yurt, sleeping bag, tarps, cup, spoon, bowl, musical instruments, the will to share, creativity, good vibes and an abundance of love.
What not to bring - drugs, alcohol, electrical equipment, phones.
May all our dreams come true.
PHOTOGRAPHING THE GATHERINGS
No one can represent the Rainbow Family, because it doesn’t exist. These images only reflect my personal journey with family and friends. I feel that these images have not been taken by me. They have been given to me, given by the beautiful souls within them and to whom I am eternally grateful. Cameras are not part of the Rainbow ideal. Photography is not welcome. Gatherings are sacred places of healing and people need feel free to be vulnerable and to open their hearts. Cameras can be intrusive and can change the energy.
Respectful and entirely mindful of this, I have spent days, weeks, months asking people’s individual consent to take their photograph in a natural moment and can then wait sometimes years for this to happen. I have to be completely conscious and present in the moment to know thats it ok, that its allowed and that I will not disturb the energy in any way. I go to Gatherings to heal, to connect, to be free, not to work. These images are not documenting a Rainbow Gathering. They are shared moments given with love. Afterwards, I handprint for months in my dark room, only to return, carrying a large box of photographs from Gathering to Gathering, with the hope of finding the people in the images I have been given. When I find them, I give them their photograph, their image, and ask for their consent to use it.
Rainbow Gatherings are my life, my passion and my heart. It has always been my vision to bring these photographs, these incredible, shared, intimate moments into a book, to portray a different way of being, a positive view on how we can all change, how we can transform, heal and reconnect with ourselves and our hearts in the beauty of nature.
After 36 years of protecting these images, I feel that this is the right time, with all your help, to bring them into the world and share a little bit of Rainbow love, light and magic. For me this book feels like home, a place I want to be.
WHAT ARE RAINBOW GATHERINGS?
Rainbow Gatherings are unique and free healing events held in the middle of wild nature, miles from the nearest road where everyone is welcome and everyone who comes is family. The Rainbow Family is not an organisation. It is non commercial, non political and non religious. It is completely organic and self sufficient. It has no leaders and no one to represent it. It only exists when it gathers in nature. There are at least three Gatherings happening every month all over the world. Thousands of people go to Rainbow Gatherings and yet it has no members. Some say it is the largest non organisation of non members in the world.
The Gatherings last a month or more, following the lunar calendar, new moon to new moon - with a full moon celebration in the middle.
There are free spontaneous holistic workshops every day, with the emphasis on healing and mindfulness. The heartbeat of every Gathering is the music; the singing circles where heart-opening Rainbow songs, medicine songs, bhajans and mantras are sung communally in dance, in praise, in reverence – around campfires or in tipis.
In this wild environment, with no facilities, we are stripped bare from our modern city lives, our addictions and our attachments. We disconnect from social media and our phones and reconnect with ourselves and our hearts in the middle of nature.
I still find it extraordinary that a group of individuals from all over the world, many who have never met before, can organise a Gathering with no leaders and no rules, where the emphasis is on shared responsibility and healing in nature. Where we give and share everything we have, where everybody has a part to play and where we manage to feed hundreds, sometimes thousands of people two free hot meals every day. It’s incredible but it works - We always have an abundance of everything we need.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Now as we enter the Age of Aquarius - a period of great change, the call of these Gatherings is stronger than ever. As we endure pandemics, war, division and discrimination, inequality and injustice, we need beacons to illuminate the darkness and lead us into the light.
Rainbow Gatherings are such beacons of light. We are listening to nature and hearing its call. We are meditating, learning, growing, transforming and transcending. One by one and together, we are waking up to higher consciousness – to equality, universality and oneness.
Rainbow is an essence, a way of life, open to us all.
We are all this Family. We are all this Tribe, We are all Energy. We are all Conscious. We are all One. We are all Beautiful. We are all Love.
We are all Coming Home.
Imagine thousands of people holding hands in one unbroken circle, silent in prayer. Hear their voices come together in a single OM reverberating through the valley and on to the hills beyond. Hold the Om in your mind. Let it spread, through , around and in you. Feel it pass from hand to hand, heart to heart. This is the pure essence, the heartbeat of Rainbow. You can order up to 4 additional books from any of the pledges using the "add on" button. Thank you so much for your support to help make this happen. I love you Joth x
