Rites of Passage, “A ritual associated with a crisis or a change of status (as marriage, illness or death) for an individual.” Merriam-Webster definition.
Each year Burning Man has a theme in which thousands of Burners focus their intentions around. This year’s theme was, Rites of Passage. And for the first year in the 25 years in Burning Man history, the event sold out leaving thousands wondering how they would be able to mark their Rites of Passage.
The expression “sometimes opportunity is disguised as loss,” is how I found myself purchasing a ticket, and working extra hours in order to take time off of work so that I could attend this year’s Burning Man. I had forfeited the idea that I would be marking my third year at Burning Man until the day before they announced tickets were sold out. The effort needed to travel from New York to Black Rock City seemed unrealistic until I experienced such loss, such heart ache, such need for connection that I knew the only thing I could do in order to heal was put in that effort, and set off for a more than 3,000 mile trek for a one week journey into the mystic days and nights of the electric desert landscapes of Black Rock City.
It’s difficult to describe Burning Man to someone who has not been because so much of what you experience is created by the interwoven balance of human and nature and the feelings those imprint deep on your soul are impossible to accurately describe. Even to others on the playa: the journey, the feelings, the sensations are so limitless that words often do not do justice to the magic we experience out there. Sometimes it is just a shared glance, which says it all.
Imagine a city created for one week. Everything in that city intentionally designed to be: admired, appreciated and shared. Anything imaginable exists. Oversized moving vehicles shaped as pirate ships and scorpions that spit fire while women and men rhythmically move to the beat of the music being belted out and those beats fill the sandy streets. Jump on and join the others move, all are welcome!
Theme camps offering any service under the sun entice you to pamper and indulge yourself. Get your hair washed, feet massaged, aura read, meet your soul mate, feast and why? Because this city thrives on providing its magnificent citizens a world where you are free to feel good, free to explore and expand and free to simply be the way you were born to be, open and loving. We are brought back to our nature, we are united as one human family and it is here under the sweltering rays of the desert sun, covered in dust where we are able to be just let go.
There are so many reasons why people make the journey to Black Rock City annually. People come in hopes that they will find something to shift their perspectives. They come to experience something profoundly different than the 51 other weeks out of the year. People embark on spiritual quests and others come to simply let loose, dance and party for seven days straight. Whatever the reasons are for coming into the desert, you are welcome and you will find yourself, home.
The temple is one of the most sacred places on the playa and of primary relevance to me this year. It encompasses a quiet knowing, a mysterious and wise sense of knowing humanity. The temple is constructed each year so that on the Sunday following the burning of the Man it can be set on fire to symbolically release us from the past and bring us into the New Year. It’s as if magical dust has been sprinkled in and around the structure so that all who come into its presence feel the overpowering flood of emotions that unite us all as being human. Pain is pain, loss is loss and our feelings can not be quantified. They do not separate us from one another but rather unite us.
The temple has an incredible responsibility; it must be present for all those that seek a place to let go of what no longer serves them. The temple is humble and graciously offers itself so that you may express yourself however you need to in order to heal. Notes to loved ones and lost ones, of forgiveness and blame, expressions of the heart decorate the temple and time and time again we embrace to share tears and smiles and simply offer our companionship to those who are in need. I indeed found myself here for long periods of time among beautiful friends, and ceremonies.
This year a profound shift in my personal evolution took place and Burning Man marked that Rite of Passage. It allowed me to cross over from a place of questioning and into a place of knowing. The beautiful energy that charged up the days and nights out on the playa this year reminded me how profound simple and almost effortless actions can have on other people. In honor of all that Burning Man has provided me emotionally, spiritually and physically, with ease and fluidity I aspire to spread that same magic I have felt on the playa to all I encounter daily. May we all feel loved and supported as one human family working towards the upliftment of this universe.
Namaste.
