The ritual of celebration is part of the human experience, discovered and practiced by independent cultures in various forms.
But how close are psychedelic trance parties to European pagan traditions? Are these gatherings ceremonial cleansings or just our habitual escapism?
In days of old when magic ruled the air, rituals marked special occasions, like preordained seasonal dates or celestial and lunar events. Pagan folk gathered at sacred sites to drum, sing and dance, awakening the spirits of ancestors and the Earth’s natural energies. Priestesses sang harmonies to channel positive intentions through the leylines of the Earth into the conscious web and sustain the influence of pagan attitudes. Subconsciously warding off evil from invading tribes, or heretics without respect for the natural spaces around them, and the magic lore kept secret in the depths of druids’ minds. Repeated regularly, the ritual kept the Earth and its souls cleansed, in a ceremony conducted with intentions of divination and goodwill.

The Roman invasion later brought with it Christianity’s safer attitudes that replaced old Celtic customs. Sacrifice in honour to the gift of life and calling up the spirits were heathen acts – the spirit-world was not for consideration until death. This shift in belief has faded the presence of that other place and how we can benefit from knowing it, during our time here on Earth.

Amazonian tribes conduct drumming rituals where the shaman connects into the spiritual realm for acts of healing, in the belief that drawing the spirit out can purge the body of illness or mental tension, or to foretell the future to enable the tribe’s survival against natural forces.

Humans have a means to access the divine within them – a god-spot that enables astral travel, psychic awareness or out-of-body experiences. People still gather at sacred sites like Stonehenge for the solstices to witness the effect a crowd’s reaction to rhythm can create in such sacred spaces. It’s an ancient means of tapping into a spot deep inside, into an ancestral memory known by celebrating the cycles of life and the cosmos to which we belong.

Parties recreate the ceremonial space, in the urban jungle or the great outdoors, to give us that same primordial feeling when celebrating our lives with each other.
But where are the tribal elders, the initiates to guide us between realms, so experiences are not merely unsolicited penetrations into other frequencies of reality?

Suddenly you’re back to Babylon, getting the cash, staying ahead in the race and the whole aspect of tribal kinship or communal strength is lost. Sometimes we reach such highs of perceived understanding that they just don’t make sense in any place except the ceremonial space. Either way, the wheel turns harder and we may come back more often to escape, rather than extol the qualities of life.
Where the lines get blurred is when things get habitually hedonistic, and the meaningful intentions are abandoned. Therein lies the danger of this practice damaging the spirit as an addictive exercise in self-gratification or escapism.
Hedonists believe consensual sex, dancing, singing, drinking and being full of merriment are worldly pleasures to be enjoyed unless they cause harm, individually or to others. Indian Tantric traditions affirm that the pleasurable, especially sex, is a natural means to achieve the highest mystical experience. Though hedonistic tendencies are later set aside, for the Tantric spiritual journey to continue.
The trance-state provides a temporary detachment, but whether its escapism or communion is your own judgment to make. Quenching the urge to detach further from yourself can ultimately crush your spirit – you can’t truly escape from yourself.
When there’s nothing to celebrate, and everything to escape, honouring the very ritual itself can connect you with the vestiges of positive essence left in the conscious web by those before you. Just being in the ceremonial space and a well-intending crowd can open you to the exchange and their positive energy... turning a shit day into a blinding night.
However, the more good times are had, the more an event attracts those merely eager to grab a slice of the good vibe pie, without putting their own into the mix. Some come with darker motives, flush with the origins of human sin, to get painfully high, leer at the priestesses or cause confrontation through selfish greed.
Thankfully though, we still have nobles amongst us ready to take up the challenge of good against evil. It’s an issue of mindset: if people are brought up believing this is a materialistic world for self-advancement only, they’re not tuned to this communal conscious calibration designed to benefit us all. Some come just to get fucked and appease only themselves.
The underlying motives with which we enter the ceremony bear the closeness to its original altruistic purpose. Dancing communally, sending positive energy out into the web in a bid to cleanse the poisons from the world, is what equates these events to the pagan rituals of old.
Though continuous use turning to self-abuse can destroy its benefits. Hedonism followed through to its logical end is a self-destructive practice... a steady diet of junk food and drugs may be pleasurable, but it’s ultimately unhealthy.
Taking time to assimilate the experience between rituals is essential to learn where the line falls between hedonism and cataclysm.
You might blame imperialism that the druids are no longer around to guide us on such matters, although in fact, we’ve been empowered to use our own sense of judgment, and to learn for ourselves the knowledge they kept sacred in their minds.
Ultimately, it’s about being aware of yourself and what you want to breathe into your own life through the ritual’s experience.
So when the drumming teases your spirit to arise, and you find that moment of tuned synchronicity, just be ready to align yourself to the ancient powers and one simple fact... heaven is being alive in the vibe of an Earth-loving tribe.
samuelbuckle@gmx.net