Psyche

If you can’t destroy it in a heart beat, it is not worth creating in the first place.

Some brief notes on Psyche – Burning Man 2005



Mmmmmmmm...

If there is one thing that was present in my mind about going to the Burning Man festival was,that no matter how much research, mental and physical preparation I did it would all fall way short of the mark –- nothing can prepare you for stepping into the collective imagining of 30,000 fringe dwellers of reality who gather to make Burning Man what it is. But first a little about getting there. It tooks us (a crew of 6) about 10 hour drive in an old half-loaf school bus from Northern California (NoCal), across the Sierra ranges near lake Tahoe down into Reno, Nevada where we stopped to pickup supplies. At this stop you could already feel the a change in the atmosphere, which was not just the dry desert air, as you start to notice vechiles and people who are most undoubtedly on the same pilgrims journey to Black Rock City and the open playa.



Me cleaning the windscreen of our ride to the burn

In the organic store we are already running into people who are heading to the festival including some other aussies who are going to be camping with us. With supplies loaded it is back on the road for another 3 to 4 hour run across the grand, propotion distorting desert landscapes of Nevada. As we roll on into the site at just as the sun ducks behind the near by ranges we bid farewell to any last remenants of the calm and lush surrounds of our camping spot in amongst the redwoods and racoons back in NoCal and bid welcome to the harsh physical reality of life on the playa salt flat; what we are told several times through out the week, is the second largest area of completely flat area of ground on earth.



Our Guide and councilor for the Burn

Some playa facts

Playa is the name for the stuff that makes up the salt flat at Black Rock City. It is extremely alkaline which means that it is hard on the skin. As such it is a good idea to bring quite a few oranges along as they make a great refreshing snack out in the heat, and when you are finsihed you can rub the peel on any bits of exposed skin (it is really good for hands and feet which tend to take most of the beating.)

What is playa?

One theory which is espoused quite frequently which seems most likely is that what you are walking on out there on the flat is pre-historic fish poop that had constitued the lake bed back when gaints reptiles used party in these parts.

When you arrive on-site, unspoilt areas of playa look like this,...



... but as more and more people arrive, the crusted fish poop gets ground into an extremely fine powder which has the propensity to get into absoltuley everything!



Ground up fish poop

Dust masks and googles are absolutey essential, as extreme winds whip up the powder and can cause what is known as a white out. This is when you happen to get in a dust storm (and it will happen) and your vision is suddenly completely wiped out and you are not able to see a foot in any direction. You have to stop where you are and rely on your instincts to get you out of the way of any passing arts cars or other trepaditious cyclists.

The arrival

When you get to the site you are greated by friendly rangers dressed (and undressed) in all sorts of atire, and you truely feel that you are at the gates of another dimesion or about to walk onto the the battle field with Tank Grrl.

Modes of Transport



As the crowds file into the Burning Man site the population of the site swells to over 30,000 people to become the third biggest city in Nevada. The physical site is several miles all round, and arranged into a semi-circle network of streets -- with the theme for 2005 being Psyche the names of some of the cross streets include, Biopolar, Catharsis, Delerium, Ego, Fetish, while the streets which run directly to the Man are named from begining with the first as 2 o’clock to 10 o’clock being the last – there is a street at each half hour (a bit confusing to explain but makes complete sesne once you are on-site like some many other things that are ordinarily not meant to make any sense at all). It takes about 20 minutes to cycle direct from on side of the site to the other (2:00 o’clock to 10 o’clock), that is of course if you can avoid being side tracked in one direction or another by a beckoning art work, intriguing workshop or being kidnapped by some other playa dwellers. (There was one fellow out there that was catching passing cyclists with a massive butterfly net.) As such, due the largeness of the site it is essential that you have some mode of transport while you are on the playa. Bicycles are great as the site is completely flat, by as the days roll by the playa does become more erroded which makes it a bit harder to pedal through some areas. (Also expect saddle sores if you haven’t riden a bicycle for awhile.)

Art cars are your second option, so if you have the time and money you could convert an golf bug, car or tour bus into a fish, snail, post-apocalypitic battle-ship or anything else that tickles your spirit. If you don’t have the money, time or resources to create an art and your saddle sore become a really pain in the arse, don’t dispare as art cars love to pick up hitch –hikers and it is really cool way to allow yourself to be taken for a ride to some random spots around the site. Also, travel by foot is not out of the question, just make sure that you have enough water with you. I did venture out on foot on a few occassional, including for a visionary experience across the fench line at the very edge of the festival site and on the night of the Burn.



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Some of the Artworks



The scale of everything is thrown out of proportionn at Burning Man,indeed it makes you reflect what and where you get your sense of proportion from any way as you come across a ...











a ten story metal ladded suspended by hightension wires on both sides which extends out of the emptiness of the playa into the nothingness of space.

Commerece

Bring goodies, drinks, trinkets, junkets, blankets, anklets, anything that might be regarded as good to trade as money won’t buy you much out on the playa where pretty well everything is run on the barter system – havign said that money can buy you a couple of things but maybe just an iced chai or other caffienated beverage from Center Camp.

Synchronicty, Sponaneity, Serendipity and Chaos



At first 9 days on a hot dusted salt flat seems an to be excessive amount of time, but it acually turns out to be too short as there is some much going on all of the time. You have a full schedule of workshops you can attend during the day and it is easy on paper to fill up your day but in reality you will probably miss half of what you want to see due to clashes or just getting swept along in a different direction or getting the address confused with the time of the workshop but it all works out magically. You will meet people and instantly find yourself talking about the most intense stuff and then get caught in a butter fly net by a mad scientist, stop at a bar and have a vodka/koolaid, get lost in the boonies, cruise around the playa and check out the art installations; enter the big gaint head just as another burner decides to test out its acoustic qualities in side the dome by demonstrating his Central Asian overtone singing skills sending absolute shivers up your spine with his Sygyte technique. You will be caught in dust storms, mental stupification (lets say due to the heat); spiritual tracendance (lets say also due to the heat) the good , the bad and the vile of port-a-potties; the surreal, the insane, the stupifying and all completely logical.





The Night of The Burn

'Cause I'm T.N.T. I'm dynamite
(T.N.T.) and I'll win the fight
(T.N.T.) I'm a power load
(T.N.T.) watch me explode (AC/DC)

The night of the Burn the is elecitricity in the air and people seem to be running around more frantically like ants right before a thunder storm. The environment takes on a majestic nature and the air feels much more still than usual as if anticapting the moment for a mighty release as the calm gives way to the storm.

The fire is massive!

Dust storms and whirl winds rip through.

Crowd in a frenzy.

And then all the art works get torched.

Street signs ripped down.



Noise, Choas and complete disorientation – it’s like being in the sea of nothingness in the yellow submarine, oh wait I think that was the yellow submarine.

Walked out to the ten story high ladder. Batteries on head lamp die. It is not fashion to glow and blink out here on the playa it is essential for survival with bicycles art cars and wonders wandering around in the dark.

As dawn approaches a calm rises over the site as the day of the temple burn approaches. The most spiritual day of the festival.



The Temple of Dreams

The Temple to Honor those who have passed.

For those parts of yourself which you want to lay to rest .

A sacred fire of transition.

Got real close to the flames, only a few feet away.

A forge for the soul in the primal light of the spirit.









The Temple of Dreams rising in the distance

After Burn

Burning man is such an extreme expereince in which every possible boundary can and is pushed. Your concept of what can constitute reality is completely transformed as you come face to face with the wildest imagining brought to life and as a result a widening of you imaginings. The event is so full that it is impossible to engage in everything you might want to, might no want to, might not kow you want to that it is something that calls you back despite the physical ordeal, financial outlay and the daunting trek. ... All of these things engendering it with the aspects of a pilgrimage, of trail-by-fire from which you emerge transformed – your soul drawn and forged anew from within the sacred flames of Burning Man.



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Check out the Burning Man image archive for 2005 here for over 1100 more images.