A week before Christmas I attended a desert rave that took place on the evening of the winter solstice full moon. As I have mentioned before, I live in Southern California which is pretty undeniably the heart of the rave scene in the United States. You get all of the benefits of the warm weather with the addition of lots of open space. In the New year I will be posting a series of more in-depth guides to desert raves highlighting what you need to pack, camping in the desert, transport, and travel, and what to expect, but the depth of emotion I felt looking up at the full moon and the constellations while listening to the music I love got me thinking about the spirituality of raves.

I don’t think we take enough time to talk about the rave experience and the spiritual quality that it has for many of us. Throughout human history, there has been a link between religious ceremony and ritual and drums. Drums have been a key part of ceremonies practically since we discovered what spirituality was. It is no coincidence that EDM, with its kick drums and bass so reminiscent of early tribal music, can take so many of us into an almost ‘spiritual trance’ or state of elation. For me, even the simple act of listening to EDM, specifically techno and trance, has always been an escape to another mental plane. The music would help me to break free and simply feel in a way that I don’t allow myself too in any other setting. It is cathartic in a way that very few experiences are, and many of my friends who rave have described it the same way. However, it is not just that the music can help to access a more primal state within us that makes raves a spiritual experience.

Raves are a place of freedom, acceptance, and more than anything else pure emotion. We go to them to be happy, sad, and full of any other emotion that we feel we cannot push to the surface in the everyday world. I felt this magnified by a thousand under the light of the moon and stars out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. Yes, I can find the same release and happiness at other events, but there was something different about the desert. It was cold and a little dusty but there was a magic to being out in the open with nature, dancing to wonderful music and genuinely feeling like there was nowhere else in the world that mattered but the place around me. I truly believe that there are very few if any other places that can have that effect on modern man, which is why I urge you to try and attend one if you are given a chance.

The point that I am trying to make is that raves are clearly a spiritual experience for myself and a great many other people, which is why I also wanted to take a second to talk about respecting the sanctity of the spiritual experience of others. You wouldn’t scream in a church or waltz into a prayer meeting and start chewing gum really loud, or tap someone who was praying on the shoulder. If you have friends who use their events as spiritual times, then please respect that and leave them alone. If you see someone who is swept up in the music and letting loose, please respect that. There is nothing more frustrating than having your vibes completely shattered by someone who is being rude and not paying attention.

It all boils down to one request: just be respectful. Maybe raves are just something fun you stumbled upon, or maybe it is just an excuse to wear crazy clothes and get fucked up, but it is important to remember that for some of us, it is a spiritual experience, so please just be respectful. I'm not saying you need to walk on eggshells, merely that it is important to pay attention to your surroundings and approach every interaction with respect. Trust me, those of us who rave because it allows us to have transcendent experiences will thank you for it, and maybe you’ll even have one of your own.