Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

The Spiritualization of the Rave

23:40 / 05.01.02

There's a lot of groundwork on this already, and I don't want to retread. I have a hunch a lot of 'lithers are intimately familiar with the rave scene. There are a lot of ideas out there for evolving the rave into a greater, more holistic recognition of music and community. Right now, you see, it's not uncommon to run into a bunch of kids rolling and .. well .. necking. And this is fine, and beautiful, but oftentimes lacks the spirit that elevates this sort of occurance to a level of trascendence.

And believe me, that level of transcendence exists. You just need to work for it.

So what are the general thoughts on the rave scene around here? What do folks think of the idea of using these massive gatherings of energy and humanity for the purposes of generating unity through music and recognition of community?

In my city, there are always dozens of folks waiting around afterwards to pick up the mess, bless the venue, and show appreciation to the organizers and musicians making it all happen. This is inspiring to me. How do we help it grow? Is it worthwhile? (Obviously, I already think so.)

This is halfway between the Headshop and the Switchboard. Please, please, please come share your ideas with me!

10:47 / 06.01.02

I'd also suggest that it could go in the Magick forum too - perhaps a Nomadic Thread?

So what are the general thoughts on the rave scene around here?

Generally a force for good, but becoming ultra-commercialised, at elast in the UK. I'm not 100 per cent up on the US rave scene, but over here in Britain a large part of the early rrave scene took place outside, in the open air.

As usual, those with purer motives lost out to those who wanted to make money pretty quickly - first the criminals moved in on the rave scene, then the law. And it was the law which did the most damage.

The Criminal Justice act forced the 'rave' scene indoors, and a large part of what was once an inspiring movement all round has been sold. There are some underground/ alternative rave cultures growing; but howhere near enough.

What do folks think of the idea of using these massive gatherings of energy and humanity for the purposes of generating unity through music and recognition of community?

Bloody good idea - but sadly, in practice, very difficult to do.

In my city, there are always dozens of folks waiting around afterwards to pick up the mess, bless the venue, and show appreciation to the organizers and musicians making it all happen. This is inspiring to me. How do we help it grow?

Organically?

[apologies: brain not working well today. Will post more as thoughts form.]

13:30 / 06.01.02

I think it is a noble idea, but I think that NMA has a valid point. Good idea, hard to do.

The primary problems I can see with it are:

1) Why people go to raves - to party and have fun. You will lose a large chunk of your participants if they see it being "used" for a purpose. You can argue that these events are always used for a purpose, whether it be commercial or whatever, but the moment you start giving the event a spiritual purpose you will lose participants (and gain others).

From what I remember as a teenager fun with a purpose was usually someone elses (an adult's) idea, and didn't turn out to be fun.

Kids go to raves to have fun: see their friends, neck, suck on pacifiers,dance etc - most of all be free of constraints. Many want no more than that and will be turned off if you try and make it a spiritual event.

2) The concept of the spiritual experience for many kids is a frightening vision of their parents at church. You would have to present the concept in a different way. That is very possible and plausible.

All that being said (and I am never right about everything so what is up there could be complete bollocks), if you can create a different experience to the rave - rave like, but with a focus, that would be something. What you are describing is a different sort of happening.

I really think the concept you described is a fabulous idea, just not using the current rave scene. Invent an alternative one - some of the current ravers will come, and maybe some people who would have never tried a rave.

12:24 / 07.01.02

Done it. Only, with house parties and a tightly controlled invite list. Had mixed success with it. Most folks involved in the project changed their lives in meaningful ways. Some even caught the spiritual message and took it to heart. Some were just there for the drugs. Lesson learned from that was the harder you try to drive it, the more it wants to self destruct. You've got to just put it out there, and let people take it if they want it, but in such a way that they can ignore it if they don't.

The best I've seen with this being done with public raves had the following ingredients:

* The spiritual message hyped up alot in the flier. This helps greately to draw the right crowd, and set the mood, as well as let people know what they are getting into.
* Decorating with spiritually and magickally suggestive banners and such. This makes a major impact. If you're tripping out, a tree of life all lit up in lasers will have an effect on you somehow, one way or another.
* Good psy-trance. Music is key. None of that happy hardcore kiddy shit. Intelligent psy-trance, goa, deep prog house, stuff to drop you into trance and then turn on your brain.
* Good psy-trance. Really. If you don't have the music down, you might as well just go home. A good DJ on the mark can work in tracks that whisper trancendental sound bytes, hypno suggestions to further the goal once the dancers have opened themselves up with drugs and dancing. Everything else is just setting the stage. This is where the programming happens.

17:52 / 07.01.02

I'm lucky in that I'm asking this question because I've been inspired by a group of friends who have had some success in this area. Here's some of what I've seen in an affective context thanks to these beautiful and inspiring people:

I. No warning. You don't declare it's going to spiritual. You just make it that way. And quietly.

II. Lead by example. Don't ask people to pick up trash -- run around picking up trash. Look behind you ten minutes later. See those people? They were inspired.

III. Symbolism and Trojan Horse's. Hide the spirituality in the drug-addled facade. Hide it (as suggested) in the music. Smile at people. Give your friends who understand appropriate greetings, visible to others. This encourages folks who may be actively participating but who are not sure how appropriate it is.

IV. Alters. Don't explain them. Don't go too far (don't place symbols alluding to particular religions, or thought to allude to particular religions). Just set up alters in reverence. At 'Rise Up', something that went down here in Portland on NYE, there was an alter set up in front of the DJ. Everybody thought it was simply awesome. At a local club on Saturday night, an alter was set up to honor a group of percussionists collaborating with flutists and DJ's. It was beautiful. There was a mirror in the centre, and at the bottom/centre of the mirror was a bumpersticker: "Anger Management." Fantastic for a group of ecstatic dancers, no?

I guess what I'm saying is, you don't go in there planning to use anybody towards any end -- you go in there planning to make good music and inspire people. The people, believe it or not, will tend to figure things out. Or, they'll leave. If 3/4's of the party begins helping to straighten the place up afterwards, the 1/4 that doesn't feel like being part of it is going to want to leave -- they'll feel uncomfortable watching everyone else help. This is alright. This has been a spiritual experience as much for those who leave in discomfort as it has been for those who stay and build community. Does that make sense?

The Planet of Sound

15:19 / 09.01.02

I see 'raves' as a secular replacement for organised religion. I think it's in our biological nature to desire a synaesthetic 'out of reality' type experience at least once weekly. Olden days, church, nowadays, a pub, party or club. Do we have to bring a metaphysical/spiritual aspect into it? Some people might imagine they're talking to God on the dancefloor, others just dig the choons, baby... Either way is nice.

Dimensional Fractal Nightmare

06:23 / 14.01.02

In Mexico there's a strong psycho-trance scene (rave scene was commercialized and presented only to cluber elitees), I see them and I recognize the force and the sincerity of the ones that go to these psychos (there's aprox two or three psychos per week only in Mexico City and the cities around), and yes, there's a strong energy in every of them; in fact my bro told me when Goagill came to Mexico, even a huichol shaman and his apprentices went to see and appreciate the wonderful energy.

Is there spirituality and trascendance? Sure there is, I know not everyone goes with that in mind, but I know a lot of people learning from the experience and returned from it richer in personal development.

16:31 / 16.01.02

SPIRAL TRIBE IN DA AREA

OLD RAVERS NEVER DIE

No star here laces

14:58 / 17.01.02

It is interesting this.

I'm not a magickal type at all - much more interested in kind of undefined spirituality.

Last time I went to a rave with any kind of spiritual element was about 7 years ago in San Francisco. There was a Dubtribe organised party which was kind of a psychic benefit for some friend of theirs who'd been paralysed in an accident. At one point they turned the music off and everybody held hands and chanted and thought about this guy, and Sunshine (god hippies are predictable, huh?) did a sort of prayer, half-sung into the mic before turning the music back on.

It was a very powerful moment and you could see everyone was affected by it for the rest of the night.

The other defining moment for me was that same year in Twilo, which is a fucking unlikely place for spirituality, as anyone who ever went there would testify. The thing about Twilo is that the clientele leaves in waves. At around 1am all the models, transvestite and platform-heeled club kids left to go off to private parties. At around 3-4am all the suburban baggy-trousered rave types fucked off home when the drugs wore off. And you were left with the hardcore dancers. The (mostly gay, mostly male) crowd who didn't take any drugs, and waited until there was space on the dancefloor before they really started to throw down. Then the dj would raise the stakes, start playing stuff like 'Love is the message' and chucking in all sorts of unlikely, but incredibly powerful tunes. And you could see the whole dancefloor experiencing this kind of collective epiphany, like they could just stay there as long as the music played. They'd conquered hunger, thirst, exhaustion and all without drugs. It was the most powerful thing I've ever seen in a club.

Now you would never, ever, ever fucking see that happen in britain, I think I can categorically state. You don't get it at squat parties, you don't get it at big raves, you certainly don't get it at fucking Fabric. the scene here is far too caught up in drugs and is far too fickle and trend-oriented, even the squat parties play exclusively new tracks.

Anyway, I guess my point is that the most powerful spirituality you can evoke with music is that of just dancing. Don't fuck with it - it's great on its own.

09:14 / 18.01.02

I don't know what 'spiritual' means. I've been to lots of raves where I've gone into a euphoric trance state while dancing (in the UK I may add). I find it quite easy & always have. A lot of people don't, however (or so it seems), & need something extra in the way of drugs to get them there. So be it. I've done enough drugs over the years to know what it's like

but I can do it without too.

Frankly 'spiritual' just seems to mean a state of mind that most people don't experience very often (certainly not weekly) and so apply that weird religion tag to it (or used too, less so now).

Infact I think alot of people find any 'altered' state of mind hard to cope with if not frightening. So I think you'd have a hard time turning it into a mass movement of any kind. I think I was born with an altered state of mind tho' :P but thats another story...

Sleeper

12:18 / 20.02.04

There's a volume (not out for a while, sadly) which you might want to look at the plans for, details here.

Goodness Gracious Meme

15:04 / 20.02.04

More later when i have more time. But it seems to me there's two different approaches/interpretations of 'the spritiualisation of the Rave'.

One has a pre-existing spiritual atmoshphere/process it aims to foster, the other views the space as one that has its own potential for transcendence/energy, and seeks to value/foster that.

It strikes me personally that to sneak a spiritual aspect in via stealth denies the choice of whether to participate in that experience to the attendees. And I'd be a bit dubious about that.

'Laces, I'd disagree on yr version being possible here, think that's you being something of a snob/exoticist (surely not?) as I've experienced something of what yr talking about once or twice.

Once at a free party in cambridgshire, in about 1996 where dancing all night, w/o drugs(I hadn't done pills at that point/didn't fancy anything else) I felt a kind of dissolving of boundaries, had something comparable to an out-of-body experience, a moment of connection. A couple of friends who were there still remember the moment as clearly as I do. One of them was later a partner, and that sensation was something that we were able to 'invoke' at times...

The other was in a commercial club, somewhere I'd - gosh - paid to get into, and I wrote about it here.

Was probably partly the context as before that trip out I'd been very ill and hadn't left the house for about two weeks (appalling outbreak of eczema - was painful to move, but actually forgot about it for the duration of the dancing...) but it was a changing experience.