Glowsticks & Incense
The phenomena of west coast spiritual dance events

By Ariel Meadow Stallings

Published in Lotus Magazine #11, 1997

As individuals within this subculture we each have different reasons for wanting to be involved in it. Each of us finds some piece of ourselves in the crazed din of music and dancing and so feels more whole for participating. Some kids go for the fun and glamour: the socializing, the wacky clothes, the bright lights and the big name DJs. Some kids go for the music: lurking in dark corners of warehouses nodding appreciately or trainspotting in front of the DJ, following the label around the turntable, trying to figure out what phatty-phat track they need to buy next. Some involve themselves for the money to be made. Others go for the dancing, gravitating towards circles or their own little bubble of groove. Then there are those who go for the spiritual experience of it--the transcending power of music and supportive environment of other people who are there not to dress funky, not to trainspot, not to show off that new move they picked up in Chicago; but to simply feel the music and elevate to different planes of existence.

This spiritual side of partying is a prevalent force in electronic Dance communities up and down the West Coast. You can find StarSeed members dancing in the mossy Cascade mountains of Washington. Travel south to Portland and you'll undoubtedly encounter a party by Manoj, and then onto Eugene for burning incense and dancing till dawn. San Francisco's psychedelic history is in full revival every time CCC/Hunab Ku or ProSoy throw a vibrant fluorescent Goa Trance party. you can find full moon gatherings in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara and by the time you reach LA? Kid, you better be ready for a dusty night in the desert with Moontribe. Virtually every city that now has an established rave community also has collectives of spiritual dancers.

In looking at the history of the movement, some see it as the hippy side of partying, that strange place where Adidas and dreadlocks go together like Phish laid over a dope breakbeat track. Yet, this is a very limiting view of dance. Hippies weren't the first ones to figure out that good music, room to dance, and a supportive environment could be something special. Meditation through music and dance has been used spiritually for thousands of years. This most recent evolution of it has at least as much to do with shamans, dervishes and hula dancers as it does with hippies. I will admit that, as a child raised by hippy parents, spiritual raving resonates with me in a certain familiar way while stretching forward the ideals of peace, love, unity, and respect (and don't forget a new pair of 1200's and internet access!). However, spiritual raving is not hippy techno any more than any other corner of the community is. A friend from Berkeley (an electronic dance community that can't deny its hippy history) summed it up nicely when she said, "We can never really go back to what we were before, we can only reintegrate old ideas with the new." Part of the joy of the underground Dance community is that everyone comes from different musical backgrounds. Some found their way in through the industrial side of things, some via hip-hop, others alternative Rock, and yes, some of us came from the legions of orphaned Deadheads.

Jocelyn, who works with the NextSchool Collective in the Bay Area, explained its history in this way: "I understood the rave scene to be a movement that was created to allow people the opportunity to celebrate life, to release oneself from the illusion of reality that has been placed upon ourselves by other energies that seek to dominate and control our consciousness. People came together, dissolving all boundaries created from fears, to experience this celebration and transcend their daily existence into one where they were raising their energy with all those present; thus allowing themselves to awaken within and experience a sort of religious experience. Raving has come to be just like any other religion or spiritual experience that taps into this generation of energy, becomes organized, and then loses its vitality and original message. The ego, drugs, money, fame, and glamour take over and soon it is just a concert, just an organized event where the DJsa nd promoters are Rock stars or preachers and the creativity that is awakened in a few is used to once again control the masses." Spiritual dancing is a way of reclaiming more of the pure meaning of raving.

There are strong and distinct differences between what spiritual Dance communities offer and what youmay find at more mainstream commercial "massives." When I talked to people up and down the coast, the most prevalent draw of spiritual events seemed to be personal enrichment. People within the movement use it to further their spiritual and emotional growth. Think about it: what do you take home with you after your average Massive? Some spent glowsticks, maybe a phone number or two, a lot less money in your wallet, and that afterglow of fun. These are all valuable things (well, maybe except those spent glowsticks...they're not much good for anything) but what if you could get much more out of the experience? Many people feel that they walk away from small, more spiritually focused parties a better person than they were when they arrived the night before. Some expressed to me that you can reach "places you can't get to through any other experience." Through hours of good music and hard dance, people are able ot touch something amazing that they can't find anywhere else. Simply stated, they take the whole experience more seriously than the average dancer. It's not just hugs and giggles. If you approach it "right," it can become meditation and personal growth.

One of the most appealing aspects of spiritual raving is that the "right approach" is different for everyone. As Americans we are brought up surrounded by organized religions that scream: THIS IS THE WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT! There are prescribed rules of conduct, condoned behaviors, and established means of reaching heaven, nirvana or happiness. The joy of open-minded spiritual raving is that everyone must figure out for themselves how to reach that state. Faith is essential to any spiritual path, and if you believe that you will be cleansed by hours of dance and connection with others who are doing the same, you will indeed walk away from the event a happier person! It can be harder this way. Having to figure out what makes you feel happy and more evolved is not as easy as someone handing you the rules and asking you if you want to play.

The actual systems of belief that are manifested at these parties are as varied as the people attending them. I've been to Full Moon parties in Seattle that had a distictly Pagan/nature-worshipping focus. Last summer as I left an ATOI (now StarSeed) party thrown in the Cascade Mountains outside of Seattle, I was reminded "Don't forget to thank the spirits!" It was fun to think of the little raving wood spirits as I walked between the mossy trees! Many Goa trance parties have a decidedly eastern focus, complete with dozens of dancers wearing neon-colored third eyes painted on their foreheads. I also went to an event thrown by Triplehorm in San Francisco which was an organized observance and celebration of Beltane: a Celtic religious holiday. The spiritual influences are wonderfully diverse and the focus is less on WHAT you're believing and more THAT you are believing in some higher force and the greater power of the music and its experience.

Another reason people like spiritual raving is that it tends to be more community focused than your average Massive. The organizers aren't looking to make money, after all, who wants to make a quick buck off their family? Many events are free or very inexpensive and the focus is more on the music and the space rather than effects or big name DJs. The parties are smaller and less visually exciting. The pay off is that the vibe, that un-definable, un-creatable, un-buyable driving force, is usually a million times better. Many spiritual parties are focused around a collective of people who have all invested time and attention into the evolution of the group. This creates an environment which cares more about its dancers. The goal isn't gluttonous excess, achieved through fuzzy clothes and argon lasers, but personal and community growth. It's this that creates a greater sense of peace and personal satisfaction. Even the terminology used to describe these events is a bit different, shying away from "rave" or even "party," using words like "gathering" or "celebration" instead. In some ways, it is a return to the underground birthplace of electronic dance culture. In the days before poster-sized flyers and corporate sponsors, raves were just a bunch of freaks in someone's basement enjoying this weird video game music while someone else played with a flashlight on the ceiling. Some people danced, some people did drugs, other people just sat and talked about things that were important to them. The focus was on the music and the people attending the party: the musical community. Spiritual raving tries to bring that concept back and achieves that goal far better than a party with a a flyer too big to fit in our backpack and reads, "One Night, One Vibe, Every Concession You Can Imagine." You have to ask yourslef: Is the person organizing this event really looking to imporve people's lives or just create a little more commerce?

Of the many differences between Massives and spiritual dance events, there is one undeniable similarity: Drugs are a presence in both communities, although the reasons for using them can be different. Drugs have been used spiritually for thousands of years to aid vision quests, shamanic journeys, and religious rigtes of passage. Many if used correctly. Personally, I feel that drugs are just a short-cut to states of mind that can be achieved organically. Sometimes I wonder if their use in spiritual dance communities robs from the validity of a truly sacred experience. I had a conversation with Roxanne Morgenstern of Electric Skychurch one morning in the desert as we watched the sun rise behind the DJ. Both of us were exhausted from a sober night of fun and we tossed around the idea that taking drugs to aid spiritual growth is akin to getting helicoptered to thte top of a mountain. You see, when you climb and sweat your way up to the top, you may find yourself looking over everything and feeling close to the clouds, filled with a great sense of satisfaction and personal accomplishment. By contrast, with a helicopter ride to the top, the peak loses its luster. You can stand on top of the mountain and look out over everything while still wearing those clean Italian sneakers you bought over on Melrose, but you've missed all the mountain streams, wildflowers, birdwatching, and rock-hopping along the way up the trail. When you've gone home all you have is your credit card receipt from the helicopter pilot an dthe Polaroid you took at the top. Meanwhile those who have grunted up the mountain have strong muscles and calluses on their feet, as well as hours of stories to tell and pressed flowers to show. Anyway, my point is not to tell a hypocritical idealistic parable about climbing a mountain (I know that I sure have a few credit card slips and Polaroids in my pocket!) It just remains clear that drug use is a connection most dance communities share, irrelevant of their philosophies. Some approach it with reverence, some through decadence, but it always has its downside, no matter how profound an experience it might bring to a person. However, spiritual raving is about more than drug use.

Obviously, there are a lot of reasons why people enjoy spiritual dance events and there are facets of this movement which aren't utopian. I will be honest and say that I love a good RAVE--the kind where you can find tribes of speakernauts vibing away against the stacks of pounding woofers. As many detractors of dance spirituality will attest, sometimes you just want to have fun dag-nabbit! There's nothing quite like 30-foot speaker stacks and a good DJ from out of town along with synthetic enhancements and plastic jewelry to go with it! It's almost worth the $20 to see Rabbit in the Moon or Josh Wink beside huge green lasers, smoke machines, and huge Styrofoam mushrooms. Hedonistic gatherings are a good time and certainly a part of what attracts many of us to raving It's fun and silly and sometimes it doesn't need to be anything more.

There are even those who question the basic validity of taking the Dance community seriously as any kind of cultural movement. I spoke with a DJ in Portland who told me, "Partying is not a religion and to call it one is scary to me. To say that I lead you on a spiritual journey while spinning is not what I do. It's really funny to me to see people put so much emphasis on something so temporary as a rave. I don't want to be a leader of some spiritual movement, I just want to spin records for people who appreciate what I'm doing." The seriousness with which some people take the dance community (such as citing "major global consciousness shifts happening this summer" as motivating factors for dancing and having fun) sometimes seem unnecessarily overboard. I'm guilty of it myself! I was probing a woman with questions while researching this article and she reminded me "not to think about it so hard." Oops! Time to shut up and go dance!

One peril of this "seriousness" is that many of these spiritual dance collectives suffer through terrible civil wars. Everyone involved cares a lot and has a lot of emotional investment in the evolution of the group as a whole. Many collectives are called "Families" and for a good reason! The stakes are higher and people get deeply upset by internal group strife. StarSeed is going through growing pains as it tries to live up to the true democratic nature of being a collective. Moontribe is having problems with conflicting views on merchandising: "Will I be able to buy a Moontribe T-shirt the next time I go to get a new pair of JNCOs? Another collective in Portland functioned quite well, until its "leader" got tired and left. The whole group then fell apart, leaving many of the previous members deeply hurt and confused. Whereas commercial promoters have a more business-oriented goals, spiritual dance communities have varied goals, most of which are charged with emotion and difficult to perfectly express.

These collectives also, by nature, tend to be a little bit more exclusive. Peace and love are free, but only if you can find them! This may be seen as a disadvantage, but it ensures that only the most devout of groovers find these dance sanctuaries. Unfortuantely, this means that many people who might otherwise get involved simply don't know where to go. If you're used to picking up flyers in your favorite rave store on Haight, how are you going to find out where that tiny full moon party is?

The answer is simple: attentive research. If you are going to commercial Massives and find yourself wanting that undefinable "more," start asking around. Ask people you know who have been in the community for a while. Ask on the internet. Ask someone you trust. If you can't find any organizations that have the focus that you want (spiritual or otherwise), then create one! Like-minded individuals are everywhere, waiting to crawl out of the woodwork if you give them the opportunity. Raves are a wonderful gift to our generation because they supply spaces of convergence, arenas (sometimes literally) where we can meet with like-minded--and differently-minded individuals to share our thoughts, ideas and dreams. Start talking to peopple at parties and see if anyone else wants what you want. Shout over the bass if you need to, but find other dancers who share your ideas and then build on them together. The key of the movement is to think for yourself and create your own utopia.

Run with it and I'll see you at sunrise, on top of the mountain!