This story came in response to somebody on a rave newsgroup who commented: "I have yet to really feel "connected" with the "group mind" that apparently manifests to other people at these things. I feel exalted in my own self, certainly; ecstatic dancing is a kind of celebratory ritual for me, something I find incredibly useful and incredibly spiritual, but it also has a solitary side, in that those people are in separate universes, save for the friends I came in with".
I'd like to suggest that it's important to find the psychedelic tekno parties. Tekno is not a homogenous culture. Find the gatherings held by and populated by your fellow freaks. Once you've found the psy parties, you then need to find the gatherings where most of the people there are using psychedelics (and I'm not including ecstasy here) with the intent to explore this very illuminating method of trance magick. It's this exchange of collective "high" energy which may prove to be outstandingly potent in the manifestation of the "group mind", and the higher people are prepared to go, the "madder" and more diverse, the resulting energies can be. The more magickal tekno activists understand the power of the gnosis of trance, and may use lots of tricks and techniques to "direct" the energy of the dance in a certain direction. Sound is the most obvious one but artists have buried crystals under dance areas, used static visual art or computer generated visuals, or the most recently, I've found myself dancing on a black floor covered in a 22 pointed star - the artist is perhaps a Qabbalist - and this is the first time I've found myself "dancing" in orgiastic communion with others. Meditative rituals often open and close gatherings. It's incredible to be in an environment with a couple of hundred other playful crazies, possessed by the sounds, as you writhe and shake wildly in unison with dozen or so other people who have suddenly found their minds in the same sonic whirlpool. I'm sure we're all "seeing" or "understanding" the experience in many and varied ways but there is a moment when powerful energies - lifeforces and spirits and understandings - are created and exchanged and shared with those around you. Hugging is great, and I try to do it all the time but these simple acts should not be mistaken for the ultimate manifestation of this collective mind. A vibe of openness and friendliness is the least that that these gatherings can achieve - that's the bottom line. Socialising in the conventional sense is not really necessary. One psychonaut's mind is good but a lot of them together can be a potent experience when exploring those indescribable states of being.
Psychedelics and sound are a powerful combination, and when you combine dance or movement, you are suddenly communicating with yourself and others in a very challenging way, and with an infinite myriad of other energies, entities, ideas and emotions. Trance may seem to be such a personal and "selfish" activity on the surface but in actuality there is a whole heap of communicating happening on all sorts of levels between all sorts of people and beyond.
Now, combine this with a sweaty crowd of very high and vibrating humans, and the resulting aspects of communication can be life changing. In fact, I consider this to be one of the most liberating methods of communication and self-exploration that I've discovered. Mindblowing interactions happen through movement and that intense white light of psychedelic madness that tips you over into a new realm of animal spirits and alien possession. The sounds that composers are coming up with seem to me to be more and more extreme in their ability to communicate the most extraordinary thoughts, feelings and deeply resonating understandings. It's the new "language" of transcendence. It's magickal to explore all the ways in which our consciousness can interact with ultimate reality. Psychedelics like darkness, intensity and movement to activate the supernatural transmissions, and these gatherings often seem to provide that.
Swings between 'light' and 'dark' in the music is what I've come to enjoy and perhaps even expect out of my psy-trance experiences. To me it's a sign that the sonic wizards are in tune with some kind of universal journey - the cycle of birth and death.
It's unbelievable to be in a very weird headspace within lots of other weird headspaces all possessed by very "out there" and challenging sounds. It transports you somewhere else! And that somewhere else can be all sorts of places within and outside oneself - some pleasant, some frightening - but always, enlightening. This supernatural aspect of the psy-trance is its lifeblood and its potency. In the thrall of dark possession, the sounds may take on "physical" forms as the possibilities of personal spectacle are revealed as boundless.
In forest settings this magickal transcendence is very potent, as the energies are charging and morphing and zinging around people and the environment. We may become little "animals" investigating the primal, orgiastic, instinctual aspects of our nature. We may find ourselves in swirling vortexes and see people moving as one with each other - completely tranced out and sharing some unknown luv. Then the mornings bring the glory of Mercury and the sun and the light which is always in stark contrast and, often, relief to the mystery of the preceding darkness.
bigk, an Australian woman
Council on Spiritual Practices Home Page