Gathering of the Tribes

The intention of our in person gatherings is to deepen our relationships with one another as community and tribe… as well as deepening our connection with spirit and nature. Below is a general format and template for our gatherings. Each local community has the liberty to modify and adapt the format to meet the needs and requests of your local group… yet we kindly ask that you follow some of the format to ensure the gathering is similar in feel and intention to gatherings that are taking place in other locations… this way we can build coherence with all of our local communities.

For inspiration and reference you can see what we are doing with our San Diego Gatherings here. 

These gatherings are family friendly and substance free (no drugs or alcohol please). We will be getting naturally high on connection with nature, spirit and community.

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Schedule

Note: this is just a general framework, it can shift a bit per local gathering and location. It also might shift a bit with the time of year – summer and winter sunset times etc.

  • 3:30 – Arrival Welcome (get settled, potluck prep and connect)
  • 4:00 – Potluck begins ~ Food blessing ~ Soft Opening Circle
  • 5:00 – Main Opening / Welcome Circle
  • 5:15 – Land Connection/Tour (a facilitated experience to connect with the land or a site tour)
  • 5:45 – Community Connection Circles / Open Space / Collective Wisdom Harvest
  • 7:00 – Fire Circle / Music / Dance / Connection / Celebration
  • 9:00 to 10:30 – Closing Circle (you decide when you would like to end)
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Template Overview for Gathering

  • Cultivate an atmosphere of…
    • Inclusivity so everyone participating feels welcomed
    • Intentionality and sacredness
    • Joy and celebration to honor the beauty of life and community
      • (this could be done with incense, smudging, and intentional music – could be meditative or native/medicine music – possibly something similar to what would be played in a yoga studio or beginning of ceremonial gatherings)
  • Have one of the hosts or co-facilitators open sacred space and begin the opening circle
    • Acknowledge and honor the indigenous tribes of the local land. You can use this website to find what the local tribe is of your region (https://native-land.ca/)
      • It could be done by saying something similar to this, “We acknowledge and honor the “LOCAL TRIBE” that has lived upon and stewarded these lands for MANY years before colonizing entities came here to claim it and turn it into private property owned by the colonizing entities.”
    • (Not mandatory) If someone in the group feels inspired and knowledgeable to call in the Four Directions (or more) of the Medicine Wheel – this is a beautiful way to start the circle and open sacred space.
  • Read the “Gathering of the Tribes” Prayer & Manifesto (local-earth.org/manifesto)
  • See THIS DOCUMENT for detailed outline and schedule for hosting/facilitating a gathering
    • This short video provides some information about how to facilitate the “Open Space” process
  • Fire Circle / Music / Connection / Celebration… 
    • If there is a fire pit – gather around the fire
      • If having a fire, everyone either please bring a couple pieces of wood for the fire or $1-3 dollars to contribute to the group if someone else is buying wood for the gathering 
    • If there is no fire pit – consider making a small altar with natural materials (stones, crystals, shells, wood, flowers etc.)
    • Everyone is welcome and invited to bring instruments
    • If the group is musical, play music and sing songs together (try to do songs where everyone can participate and sing along as much as possible)
    • If the group is not musically inclined, maybe play music on a speaker and dance
    • No matter what you do – the intention is celebrate the beauty of life and community
  • Gratitude Closing
    • Hosts acknowledge the sacred space that has been created
    • Intentionally close the circle with a few moments of silence and gratitude for the experience
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Locations

When choosing a location for the gathering consider some of these things below…

  • It could be a public space or someones private land/home (backyard)
    • Public spaces (park, river, lake, forrest, cafe, community room, library) have the potential benefits of beautiful nature immersion and easy access by people without the need to reserve a specific spot. The potential cons of a public space is less privacy, more distractions – if you are opening sacred space, calling in the four directions and/or reading the manifesto – it is nice to have somewhat of a private/focused container.
    • Private spaces – potentially a more focused and intentional energy and container for more of a ceremonial experience. This can bring beautiful intentions and energy to someones land or home. It is AWESOME if the location is currently demonstrating some of the key interests of the gathering – IE. permaculture systems, gardens, food forrest, grey water, natural buildings, renewable energy etc.
  • It is great if the location can have a feeling of connection to nature (potentially outside if the weather is nice – maybe a park, beach, mountains etc.)
  • It is great if there is a place to have a fire!
  • Think about parking and accessibility of the location – we might want it to be somewhat secluded in nature – yet we also want it to be somewhere that people can fairly easily find – as well as a place that has a decent amount of parking for ease
  • Some of the main priorities for the location is a space that feels inspiring, safe and conducive to intentional connection and celebration
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