Disclaimer: It won't be as long or as grand as the Hobbit. It was just too great *not* to use for this post.
This was only my second trek into the desert for burning man, another year participating as a fire safety for an Oakland fire performance group. It acted like a wonderful anchor--my discounted performer's ticket sitting at Will Call made getting my ticket easy. All I had to do was get there. It was really about everything else.
Getting prepared for the burn is such a quest in itself. Getting together the gear, making plans that you know damn well will change as soon as you hit the dust, going over your list of essentials multiple times so you can feel that much more chagrin when you remember that you forgot to put toilet paper on the list.....
I camped with a first time sound camp. We found our rather late in the game that we were placed next to some fancy-pants camps, and my camp mates took it as a challenge....I don't even know all of the details, but we pulled tens of thousands of dollars of sound equipment, Funktion One speakers, lighting, giant crystal altars, staging and structures, a generator....all the things! It cost our camp less than 5k total to put all of this together, and normally just the speakers would have be 10k to anyone else. That's how I learned what an amazing network my friends have.
They say the playa provides, and that is certainly true. Remember that generator, the one supposed to run all this fancy equipment? Wasn't working at first. We had five or six guys in just four days look at it with no luck at all...Monday & Tuesday went without sound. Wednesday was supposed to be our big night, how could we be a sound camp with no sound? Out of the dust, an Alaskan helicopter pilot wearing nothing but a gold brocade pirate coat, comes up....fixes it within five minutes...calls the dudes idiots and walks back into the dust. For a lot of people, burning man is the opportunity to let their freak flag fly....their one wild vacation. I used it this year to rest...and recruit. Taking it easy, letting the magick of the place lead me from one adventure to another. I love meeting like-minded people, and no where else is it easier to start a random conversation that can actually develop into something depthful.
The playa is a landscape of dreams...its the closest we have to a blank canvas and each year we collaborate to collage the desert with lights, metal, painted plywood and performance. This year, it felt more receptive...almost pliable was the sense of manifestation. Our intentions were met with such welcome and force, as if I were directly whispering into the ear of the Goddess.... How about we try making this happen?
There is a magick within joy, within play and love. In these states of mind, we are in a state of flow...when we are happy and playing, our thoughts flow without effort...there is no doubt nor belief...it simply is. For the magician, this is a powerful state of mind...in play/love/joy, the magician can manifest easily--that state of thought/no thought is as Gnostic as any meditative trance--and all she creates holds the seed of that joyful love. I realize why the playa feels like "home" for me: the space is a collaboration of its participants....we each bring what we can and create a space for self-expression, sharing, connection and play. We create a safe space that is without judgement...it's the essence of what I try to bring to my sessions. A space where we can be ourselves and be received fully and all that kinda gooey connective shit while having fun and wearing something that makes me feel sexy.