A Story Behind the Song Nature's Way by the band Spirit

Natures Way by Spirit was released in 1970

This song is a reflection on mortality and a lament for the fate of the Earth, as nature is telling us that something is wrong. The song was written long before climate change became a hot topic, but even in 1970, some ecologically minded songwriters were concerned about Mother Earth. -Songfacts

The song was also the anthem for the original Rainbow Tribe Gathering in July 1972.

The first gathering was organized by youth counterculture “tribes” based in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. The first Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes was a four-day event. It was held in Strawberry Lake, Granby, Colorado.

Twenty thousand people faced police roadblocks. Threatened civil disobedience, and pushed their way onto National Forest land.

The “revitalization movement” was intended to be a one-time event. Yet, the second gathering in Wyoming the following year materialized. At which point an annual event was declared. The length of the gatherings has since expanded beyond the original four-day span. As have the number and frequency of the gatherings.

The 50th Annual Rainbow Gathering took place in Taos County, New Mexico, in July 2021. Critics contend that today’s gatherings have lost the original vision, which was to further world peace. And serve as a model for reforms to mainstream society.

Escape from Babylon

I would not hang around for my Vietnam War draft number.

Rather, with my school of life education, there were more unknowns and adventures, I longed for.

The next calling came in July 1972. I arrived by bus at Strawberry Lake, Granby, Colorado.

The first Rainbow Tribe gathering

16-years old made me the youngest in a group of 11. When I heard about the festival and there was room for one more rider, I jumped at the opportunity. I had never seen the Rocky Mountains.

Thousands of people came — many on a spiritual quest, others, a curiosity camping trip. Many sought a deeper connection with the Earth. Native Americans attended. They waved a magic wand over my head. Believing the event to be a fulfillment of a prophecy called the “Ghost Dance” — a sign that the Spirit was returning to the land.

The “Rainbow Tribe” referred to people of all races coming together in peace and harmony.

The idea was to be the role model of a new society, utopian in its expanse. It was the beginning of a new era? I heard that at Woodstock too, but this tribe wasn’t about the music.

We arrived to find that access to the sacred mountain was blocked off. Some people were hiking in, while others set up a base camp at the foot of the mountains.

Even though it was July, the temperature in the mountains dropped at night. I hiked about 6 hours to the top and constructed a simple lean-to out of tree branches. A bed of leaves covered the stony ground. I shivered through the night. The area was primitive and the event was free for all. People brought in their food and shared it.

Open latrines contaminated the underground water and many fell ill from drinking it.

Strawberry Lake was too ice cold for bathing.

People replaced soiled clothing with garments fashioned from nature. While many went naked, the rough living conditions didn’t dampen the spirits of the awakened ones.

The Rainbow Gathering was about the spirit of the Earth called “Gaia.”

No bands and no electricity. Still, every day many people came together and made music.

Some brought instruments.

Others improvised by blowing on bottles, banging on pans, or knocking sticks together. Sometimes a group of as many as a thousand people would join in song or spiritual chanting.

At other times smaller groups would gather around one of the many campfires. That dotted the mountainside at night like floating lanterns in a sea of green trees.

An acoustic guitar was found everywhere and someone was playing the first eco-friendly song by Spirit, “Nature’s Way.”

I joined them, taking it all in and pondering what it all meant. There was talk of healing of both the Earth and her people, and much of the sacred chanting aimed.

After four days in the mountains, we were all starving, dirty, and exhausted. Some were ill, but we also had the satisfaction of knowing we had been part of something important.

We piled into the bus for the trip home back on Earth.

Except for the bus owner, who I ran into at a McDonald’s years later, divorced and jobless, I never saw the rainbow tribe again.

“Being there” in the moment, one never knows the historical reference of these “happenings.”

Hatched from the mad mind of a self-proclaimed prophet, the Rainbow Tribe outlasted anyone’s prophecy. The Rainbow Fest would survive decades.

In disharmony, the Rainbow Tribe and Native Americans went their separate ways.

I found a small stone in my drawer of forgotten reasons. When I rubbed the rock in my hand it spoke that it was from the rainbow gathering. I was to carry it “for the pyramid.”

It’s never too late for the Ghost Dance.