Rave culture is collective trance ritual

Every ancient and earth-based culture has engaged in regular collective trance ritual since the beginning of time. Trance rites are celebratory mechanisms embedded within communities. They are created by the community for the community. They mark moments and transitions within the lives of individuals and to honour thresholds in the elemental and astrological calendars.

It is in these spaces that alchemical transformation can take place,

where the humming vibration generated through movement, breath and sound opens a collective field.

The collective field of trance that melts our illusions of separation and truly opens our hearts to see and feel beneath the masks.

A passage that transports us from me to we.

And when we visit the caves of our prehistoric ancestors, we find this collective trance ritual blueprint embedded and preserved within these rocky wombs of the earth. We find not only utensils for daily life, but pipes and vessels for consuming plants and fungi, and musical instruments, some of which are part of the very rock structure itself. The cave is not only a home, but a living and breathing elemental instrument and ceremonial space.

We also find paintings in ash and animal fats. These drawings contain symbols, symbols that transport us back to the ceremonial and ritualised ecstatic states in which they were drawn. Symbols left for us across space-time as keys. Keys that depict shamanic trance, erotic pulsating energy fields, and visions channeled from behind the veil.

We find remnants of psychedelic plants and fungi in multiple ritual chambers the world over, and all pointing to one thing. That collective trance ritual was normative.

And that celebration is our birth rite.

It is not an after thought to survival, or something we need to work to earn.

It is part of our survival, and was in fact a solid foundation to the expansion of culture and civilisation.

We have been partying for millennia, and the war torn world we see around us today, you could say, is part of a larger trauma response to a lack of ritual connection between us.

For the opposite to war is not peace, but celebration.

And rave and party culture, which has shaped and grown me into the Ecstatic person I am today, is alive and thriving all over the world. Yes it can hold and reflect shadow, heavy substance consumption and destructive behaviours sometimes, and yet these are only elements that are also alive and well within our current collective consciousness field. These movements are erupting often from within a backdrop of complex and layered social, cultural and political issues, and it is no wonder society’s ills and vices will also infiltrate these ritual spaces. The media often dismisses rave culture and the substance consumption that often accompanies it as frivolous, destructive and unproductive. And yet I experience it differently.

These gatherings are necessary for our individual bodies to process phenomena, stories, sensations and patterns, and to open us up to connection with something much greater than ourselves. The recipe for trance ritual is simple. Trance is an altered state of consciousness that can be induced and cultivated through repetitive movements with the body, accompanied by the cathartic hum of sound frequencies as they reverberate through our being, and experiencing collective witnessing by our Tribe. Trance rituals will sometimes also be accompanied by the ingestion of plants and fungi, although not always.

And this is also the recipe for the rave.

The Ecstatics is the name given to the individuals that span cultures, time and space who deliberately seek out and thrive in these altered states of consciousness and threshold spaces. The Ecstatics know how to cultivate and work with trance states for transcendence, individual and collective healing, and to cultivate and celebrate experiences of ecstasy. The word ‘ekstasis’, in Greek, means to stand outside of oneself, or to enter liminal space and commune directly with the divine or life force. And to rave for several days, softening the normal chattering thinking mind through sleep deprivation, free dance, connection with other like minded beings, conscious altering medicines and bass frequencies, transports us to this liminal and ecstatic state.

Time collapses.

Hearts open.

The usual boundaries and roles that separate us dissolve, and we become one humming organism that pulsates with creativity and potential.

A huge part of party culture is The Dance. For many of us born into western cultures, dance has become a commodity. A hierarchical skill that needs to be honed through practice and technique, with certain bodies deemed not accepted, not good enough, or not right to dance. Dance has become performance, more about the experience of the spectator rather than the movement of the spirit of the dance herself through the vessels of the individual and group bodies participating in ritual. Free movement is a universal language and a technology woven into all ancient and earth-based traditions. Dance is a sacred way to feel and heal, and to remember and reclaim that our bodies are not just meat suits. They are portals through which we can cultivate different frequencies and states of being.

A dance is an embodied prayer through which we can commune with the divine and alchemise what words cannot touch. Through free movement we allow the body to speak the truths our minds may not yet understand, and we open up a field of connection between ourselves in the Now and our ancestors drumming and dancing with their bare feet on the earth.

Science is now confirming what ancient traditions have long known, that certain musical frequencies and rhythms can bring the nervous system to a state of catharsis, shift emotional blocks, and induce states of trance and ecstasy. As we allow our bodies to attune to the universal language of the rhythm of repetitive bass music, we harmonise with truth. When w dance together in this way, something ancient awakens within us. The collective aspect of these gatherings is fundamental. We prepare together, we engage together, we transcend and traverse together, and we end and dismantle the ritual together. Becoming one humming hive of creation nurtures us, for most of us come from cultures of separation and competition.

So I say that rave culture is collective trance ritual, and has not only shaped me but definitely saved my life. As governments and policies about night, party and music culture become more oppressive, I ask you to question to what extent they are aware of what potent, celebratory and transformative powers they are attempting to diminish. And the next time you find yourself on a dancefloor, I invite you to connect to the universal ritual you are engaging in.

For rave culture is our birth rite.

Rave culture is an ancient technology.

Rave culture is communion with self and mystery.

Rave culture is prayer.

Rave culture is self expression.

Rave culture is emotional alchemy.

Rave culture is regulating.

Rave culture is communication.

Rave culture is communion.

Rave culture is sacred.

Rave culture is needed.

May this revolution back to ourselves be celebratory. May we dance ourselves back to harmony, to love, and to unification.

N I N A