| Author |
Message |
    
susanmiller
| | Posted on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 2:00 am: | 
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Hi. There is a NEW Yahoogroup (Yahoogroups.com) for EX-mambers and others (except current RF members) who are interested in criticism of this New Age Counterculture chaotic group. Feel free to share good/bad/in-between experiences of the RF and their "gatherings".
To Join (it is a moderated group with a closed membership):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exrainbowfamily
regards, Susan |
Mike
| | Posted on Saturday, March 16, 2002 - 2:28 am: |
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I just went to a Rainbow Family on-line message board (they have many) and saw posts by distraught parents despaately looking for their missing (probably young adult) children. They are posting there because a lot of the RF members are transients (like The Garbage Eaters, who also frequent RF gatherings). Some of the parents write that their missing kids have been gone for a very long time (years in some cases). Do you think the cult education movement can post this fact. The RF may not be classified as a "cult", but families across the US lose contact with their RF member loved ones. |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2002 - 10:58 pm: |
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Susan had to remove her Yahoo group due to threats from Rainbow Family members. The users group spoke about sexual abuse and violence in the Gatherings. There were also descriptions of incidents involving mentally ill, disturbed people behaving in threatening manners.
That should tell you something that this woman felt so scared that she closed the User's Group.
The Rainbow Family is bunch of drug using, child neglecting, irresponsible people. Not to mention they usually smell bad. |
TRUTHBEAR
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 9:58 pm: |
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NOT THAT ANYONE WOULD BE READING THIS BUT I AM 26 YRS YRS. OLD AND HAVE BEEN GOING TO GATHERINGS SINCE 1993 (AGAINST THE WILL OF MY MOM, AT FIRST) AND LET ME TELL YOU THAT AT THE 2002 "RAINBOW GATHERING" I HELD HANDS WITH THE FAMILY AND PRAYED WITH THE FAMILY FOR THERE TO BE PEACE IN THE WORLD AND BEAUTY, IN PARTICULARLY, RAINBOW BEAUTY IN THE WORLD AND TEN-TWENTY MINUTES AFTER THE RAINBOW PRAYER CIRCLE THERE APPEARED IN THE SKY ABOVE US A LARGE CIRCLULAR RAINBOW ALL THE WAY AROUND THE SUN! IT WAS NOT RAINING BEFORE HAND AND IT WAS AT NOON! SO, SURE THERE ARE LOTS OF DRUGGED OUT KIDS RUNNING ALL OVER THE GATHERING BECAUSE THEY HAVE JUST COME FROM MOMMY AND DADDY'S "BABYLON" , SO TO SPEAK, WHERE NO BODY IS TRULY CONNECTED WITH MOTHER NATURE AND FATHER SKY LIKE THE RAINBOW FAMILY (WHICH MEANS ANYONE WITH A BELLY BUTTON IS WELCOME AND LOVED IN A BROTHERLY OR SISTERLY WAY).
IN PEACE, LOVE, AND THE LIGHT OF TRUTH-YOUR BRO' |
Ria
| | Posted on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 3:32 pm: |
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I hated the two national Rainbow Gatherings I have attended. utter misery.
also have personally experienced in the aftermath of another national I never attended* where Rainbow Family people swarmed over a woman's living space and caused her to lose her lease. and nobody seemed particularly grateful. (any more than I do to the people on the bus who gave me a lift I suppose.)
I also believe that someone from the Family must have helped her out later or so I hope.
the Rainbow Family has a good core. a person like me could not live among them for whatever reason.
it has dogmas, I found the unspoken sexual politics archaic. overall the balance came down to good and I do not know if I can say that about the world outside.
they know they have problems. and so the terms "bliss ninny" and "drainbow" and others.
FYI I think that the vile behavior may have happened in A Camp, the section surrounding the festival as a whole where alcoholics and those who do drink camp out. no alcohol at the rest of the festival. psychotropic substances of all sorts but no alcohol. and no money. (does money count as a psychotropic substance too?)
* -- hitchiking I got a lift there with a bus full of hippies where again I had a nightmare experience. talk about cults. another story for another time. |
Ria
| | Posted on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 3:36 pm: |
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BTW sorry about experiences Susan. want me to say some triteness about bad apples in every bunch? in my experience Rainbow folk seemed very extreme, little mediocrity there. people who emanated light like the sun, others like walking black holes. |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 9:58 pm: |
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Never underestimate the power of idiots in large groups. I don't like large groups.The most disturbed ones of the groups become the mental magnet for everyone else to follow. Look long and hard at the group mentality it always deteriorates to the lowest mental , emotional spiritual patterns of those unfourtunate disturbed group members. Yes the Rainbow family has good intentions but they are covered over by the group mind. |
Ria
| | Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 11:38 pm: |
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IMHO you over-generalized with your"*always* deteriorate to the *lowest*", "for *everyone* else to follow".
blanket statements like that remind of hippies at their worst.
take a walk down a city street and I tend to think like you think and it sucks for me to think that way. and most days I do. |
Roch
| | Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 10:51 pm: |
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was anyone here in the rainbow gathering in Europe that just ended? is it classified as a cult?is it dangerous in any way?does it encompass ones whole life or is it just the gathering festivals and then most go back to their regular life? does anyone have anymore links about it please/ thank you loads |
X-CFCMI
| | Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2003 - 8:39 am: |
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There were some reported incidents of Rainbow people passing through towns in Wyoming earlier this year, and their behavior was more criminal than civilized...robbing stuff from stores, looting, etc...the police had their hands full. |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2003 - 11:44 pm: |
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Hi. Sorry, but the RF uses weird "therapies" such as "urine therapy" (has people drink their own urine sometimes) as part of their "alternative healing" and some of their "healers" discourage very sick people (with severe chronic illnesses) from going to Mainstream Medicine for treatment.
I was at many of their gatherings in the 1980's through 1990's and I saw SUICIDAL people at RF events who were told to NOT go to outside psychiatrists or mental health clinics for help. They gave one severely depressed woman some herbs and homeopathic remedies and had her stay in her tent until she "calmed down" but she was attempting suicide at their gatherings soon after that (yes, they stopped her from physically hurting herself--I imagine that an actual suicide at a RF gathering would embarrass them), yet NOBODY took her outside of their gatherings to get professional mental health help for her. In fact, they seemed to not want outsiders to know about her and other severely mentally ill people there. Many RF people deny mental illness exists at all or if they do admit to it being real, they hold contempt for the sufferers and call them "wingnuts" and "energy vampires"! How "Loving"! After the gatherings were over they let her go and not caring whether she got any professional help of not (this woman had attended many of their gatherings and she said she looked to them as her "real family" and she trusted them). She was too sick to work for them and they would sometimes treat her badly because of that. She was also frequently sick with dysentary, skin diseases, and other diseases she caught at Rainbow events.
Some of their "healers" told her to NOT take anti-depressant medications or to go to "Babylon psychiatrists" for help! So please don't tell me how "loving" the Rainbow Family is. Some of their "healers" had outright contempt for this poor woman and for others with psychiatriic illnesses who presented at their gatherings with full-blown psychiatric symptoms! At another RF gathering I attended, there was a developmentally disabled young man who was made to sleep in the MUD and pouring rain under his "caregiver's" (RF people) bus "with the dogs" (their words) to punish him for something. He had Staph sores all over his body. So there is serious medical neglect of very sick people at the RF gatherings. Of course the RF claims NO responsibility for those sick and disabled people who TRUST them and attend their gatheirngs year after year.
Many RF people hate all conventional medicine and pharmaceutical medications. They consider it to be "Babylon" which means part of Mainstream Society and therefore "evil". Even if the RF is not a "cult" they sure hate mainstream medicine and especialy psychiatry. I know there are other groups who have anti-psychiatry beliefs so perhaps those RF "healers" learned that elsewhere (in other groups)? |
My View (152.163.252.129)
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 8:01 pm: |
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I have been to a number of gatherings. Each had about 20,000 people in attendence spread out over several miles of terrain. I found these to be wonderful experiences though I also met some strange and dysfunctional people and groups of people. There is no "rainbow family" per se that one can generalize about. There are these large national gatherings and very loose networks of people. |
skeptic (216.46.66.114)
| | Posted on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 9:30 pm: |
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Is the Rainbow Famil of Light a dangerous cult and where do they recruit?
Any information out there is needed. |
Interested (205.188.117.20)
| | Posted on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 8:26 pm: |
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There is no Rainbow Family of Living Light per se. There is a national Rainbow Gathering every year and regional gathering in various places in the US and parts of the world. Anyone can go to them. Upwards to 25 thousand people have attented these gathering in national forests. They are free and free form. Anyone can call themselves a "member" of the Rainbow Family tribe. People who go to these gatherings range from high functioning, intelligent, creative, insightful folks to dysfunctional, deranged, and lost souls. Kind of like the mix in our broad culture. |
TPFKASOF (66.26.203.193)
| | Posted on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 11:54 pm: |
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The Rainbow Family of Living Light is not a "cult" but a state of consciousness. It commemorates and recalls the zeitgeist of the great "Hippy Happening" in San Francisco 1966-68.
The Rainbow Gathering is like the mythical Scottish village "Brigadoon", which appears once every hundred years. But the Rainbow appears much more often - the tribe gathers every Fourth of July in a US National Forest.
A Rainbow Gathering is also very much like the proverbial Spanish inn - you find there what you bring. |
celebrity Love (152.163.253.102)
| | Posted on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 11:22 pm: |
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Of all the strange things I've seen and done"being famous"and on television, I can hardly call the RF a dangeous cult. If some of you "haters" out there actually knew what your favorite celebs do in thier spare time I wonder if you would still support them? I have been to many gatherings, before and after my fame. The RF are the only people in my life that didn't change when I became succesful. They've been and still are loving, kind and helpful people. Sure there are crack pots, just like there are in your own neighborhoods. There are mentally ill people. Basically the mentaly ill folks that I have met and loved have been thrown away by the careless system from which they have tired of anyway.The RF is not to blame. What it is, is an alternative sollution for those of us who care about our planet and it's inhabitants,period! Nothing else nothing more. If you want to know about cults, try the entertainment industry! |
Oceanshaman (12.219.81.191)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 4:40 pm: |
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I'm not a celebrity . . . but I am a 38 year old criminal defense attorney who followed the Dead, Phish, and Rainbow Gatherings during my college years and for a while thereafter . . . my last gathering was in 1989 in South Carolina . . . since then I've been married for 14 years with two sons, ages 13 and almost 11 . . . living a pretty normal life out here in Babylon . . . but trying my best to express rainbow vibes wherever I may be and whoever I may be with . . .
Anyway, I loved Rainbow gatherings . . . everytime I went to one, it was like "my people!!!" . . . I felt totally at home and comfortable with my surroundings . . . sure, you had some characters who were a little on edge . . . but no more so than in real life . . . and I know where celebrity is coming from . . . if I went to a gathering now, my status as an attorney would not matter one bit . . . what matters is that I'm a brother and I'm there . . .
Rainbow gatherings are not a cult . . . no more than our extremely materialistic capitalist society is a cult dancing around the almight dollar . . . one man's cult is another man's fully functioning society, with all of its peaks and valleys . . .
Anyway, I just wanted to add my two cents . . . and who knows, maybe I'll be able to take my sons to a National some day . . . if only my wife (who's never been to a gathering and thinks they're wierd) would allow us to do so . . .
May peace, love, and balance be with you . . .
Oceanshaman |
spike (spike)
New member
Username: spike
Post Number: 20
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 216.20.87.110
| | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 11:03 am: |
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I too followed the dead, phish and rainbow gatherings while i was in college-am now a 10 year public school teacher, married, master's degree, mother of 2 young boys and hope to take them there as well.
It is what you make of it-and yes it is a microcosym(sp) of "babylon", wierdos and geniuses, rich and poor, white and black-living together without $ and leaving the place better than when they got there-look at the report by the State of Vermont after the national gathering in 1991...very supportive of the family.
There is no family, only love and peace-no dogma
That was my perception |
jimito (jimito)
Member
Username: jimito
Post Number: 74
Registered: 6-2005
Posted From: 69.214.6.201
| | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 6:47 pm: |
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love the dead and ratdog their is a true spirit of unity though i gave up the drugs the music is still good fun |
treecar (treecar)
New member
Username: treecar
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2006
Posted From: 24.32.113.93
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 2:12 pm: |
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It seems that the Rainbow Family are just lost souls, anarchists or political wackos. Some apparently hold jobs, have relatively normal lives and just attend gatherings occassionally, but what happens to the ones that have been completely sucked in and live with the group full time? I know what happened to one girl. She became a severe alcoholic who can scarcely string a simple sentence together. Some postings say that alcohol abuse is discouraged in the group, but in my discussions with her she has told me that alcohol abuse is almost a prerequisite.
In addition to alcoholism, in the last 2 years she has also been hospitalized with poison ivy so severe that she almost lost her eyesight, 2 miscarriages, injuries from a beating by her boyfriend,veneral diseases, and skin lesions and dysentery from the filthy conditions. Sounds like a beautiful life. Where do I sign up? |
spike
Member
Username: spike
Post Number: 68
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 216.20.87.110
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 12:20 pm: |
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at the enterance to a rainbow gathering there is a place called A-camp, where alcoholics or those who wish to drink must camp-away from the rest of the family. It is well known that alcohol is not allowed/accepted beyond that point. They feel alcohol is a symptom of babylon and that is where it should stay. |
research
New member
Username: research
Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2006
Posted From: 24.209.246.53
| | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 3:46 pm: |
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I know somebody who got into this cult and it ruined her life. I have the right to call it a cult in the most negative aspect of the word because it takes somebody from their family and brainwashes them into thinking rainbow's skewed by drugs view of God and their rainbow family should be their entire existence in the woods, and to neglect any care for their body or mind. It is s sespool(sp?) for abuse- she was drugged and physically and mentally abused. Loosers who cant get a life like it there so they can prey on girls and live "free" (free to not have to work, take advantage of people, and be a lazy •••). I know there is good and bad in everything but the entire rainbow is guilty for not being responsible enough to take ownership and control it's own environment and those influences around it that spread serious negativity into the lives of others. |
research
New member
Username: research
Post Number: 2
Registered: 3-2006
Posted From: 24.209.246.53
| | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 3:50 pm: |
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I know somebody who got into this cult and it ruined her life. I have the right to call it a cult in the most negative aspect of the word because it takes somebody from their family and brainwashes them into thinking rainbow's skewed by drugs view of God and their rainbow family should be their entire existence in the woods, and to neglect any care for their body or mind. It is s sespool(sp?) for abuse- she was drugged and physically and mentally abused. Loosers who cant get a life like it there so they can prey on girls and live "free" (free to not have to work, take advantage of people, and be a lazy •••). I know there is good and bad in everything but the entire rainbow is guilty for not being responsible enough to take ownership and control it's own environment and those influences around it that spread serious negativity into the lives of others. |
research
New member
Username: research
Post Number: 4
Registered: 3-2006
Posted From: 24.209.246.53
| | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 3:52 pm: |
|
I know somebody who got into this cult and it ruined her life. I have the right to call it a cult in the most negative aspect of the word because it takes somebody from their family and brainwashes them into thinking rainbow's skewed by drugs view of God and their rainbow family should be their entire existence in the woods, and to neglect any care for their body or mind. It is s sespool(sp?) for abuse- she was drugged and physically and mentally abused. Loosers who cant get a life like it there so they can prey on girls and live "free" (free to not have to work, take advantage of people, and be a lazy non REAL contribution to the world as a whole). I know there is good and bad in everything but the entire rainbow is guilty for not being responsible enough to take ownership and control it's own environment and those influences around it that spread serious negativity into the lives of others. |
crawly
Intermediate Member
Username: crawly
Post Number: 151
Registered: 8-2007
Posted From: 4.240.81.237
| | Posted on Friday, September 07, 2007 - 1:38 pm: |
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i know a rainbow person.
he has tried to get me involved in their gatherings and lifestyle and preaches to me about it........ they believe society in general is ''babylon'' and you should get out of it, and oppose it and not contribute to it in any way.
the one i know claims to be a ''prophet''........ he is always stoned, hardly ever takes a shower, and can't be trusted with money, and his word is worthless, but is very friendly most of the time, if you cooperate with giving him a hand-out and let him stay at your house for free.
they condemn the gov and churches, yet they are always in line at the food-bank, and always in line at any churches in the area for free food and clothing and try to get a monthly check from the gov that they call, ''funny money''........ mostly they refuse to work, and feel the world owes them a hand-out......... if you need any drugs, go to a rainbow gathering.
they are experts at taking advantage of you with a smile on their face, as they talk about love and make you promises.
if you make a deal with one of them, don't expect them to hold up their end of the deal, cause they would rather simply move on then do any work or pay bills or pay back anything they owe.
it takes years and years for the forest to recover from their gatherings after they leave it a total wreck........ but they love nature, and love to camp and talk about love, just like me, so at least we have that in common. |
crawly
Intermediate Member
Username: crawly
Post Number: 152
Registered: 8-2007
Posted From: 4.240.81.237
| | Posted on Friday, September 07, 2007 - 1:54 pm: |
|
i know a rainbow person.
he has tried to get me involved in their gatherings and lifestyle and preaches to me about it........ they believe society in general is ''babylon'' and you should get out of it, and oppose it and not contribute to it in any way.
the one i know claims to be a ''prophet''........ he is always stoned, hardly ever takes a shower, and can't be trusted with money, and his word is worthless, but is very friendly most of the time, if you cooperate with giving him a hand-out and let him stay at your house for free.
they condemn the gov and churches, yet they are always in line at the food-bank, and always in line at any churches in the area for free food and clothing and try to get a monthly check from the gov that they call, ''funny money''........ mostly they refuse to work, and feel the world owes them a hand-out......... if you need any drugs, go to a rainbow gathering.
they are experts at taking advantage of you with a smile on their face, as they talk about love and make you promises.
if you make a deal with one of them, don't expect them to hold up their end of the deal, cause they would rather simply move on then do any work or pay bills or pay back anything they owe.
it takes years and years for the forest to recover from their gatherings after they leave it a total wreck.
....... but they love nature, and love to camp and talk about love, just like me, so at least we have that in common.
you can have a nice party with some rainbow people if you are lonely, as long as you remember that they are just looking for another free party or free place to stay, and they will use you up, and then move on. |
crawly
Intermediate Member
Username: crawly
Post Number: 152
Registered: 8-2007
Posted From: 4.240.81.84
| | Posted on Saturday, September 22, 2007 - 2:53 pm: |
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hi all rainbow people, how are you?
so, part of your belief system is to head for a town that has huge secular food banks and lots of free stuff at churches?
and so you free-load off of them while you call them ''babylon'' till you deplete them?.......are you a bunch of lazy lying ''hypocrites'' who's word is worthless?......... are you sure it is the the correct religion and everyone else is ''babylon?
are you sure you aren't just lazy lying hypocrites who are free-loading off of everyone? |
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