11 Elsewhere (Tramacchi 2001) I have discussed discontinuities between the symbolic
expression of Western psychedelic dance parties and non-Western entheogenic dance
rituals. Essentially, the theme of ‘sacrifice’ is extremely significant in the mythology of
the majority of entheogenic sacraments, but greatly downplayed in the Western
psychedelic context.
12 St John (1997) notes that within the discourses of Australian ‘edge-culture’ nature as
Earth/Gaia assumes an increasingly sacred ambience, perhaps reflecting a postcolonial
quest for organic meaning and spiritual connectedness to place (Tacey 1995).
13 One is reminded of Zaehner’s (1972:95) bemusement at accounts of LSD-induced
‘psychedelic love’ experiences such as ‘Love. Love. Love. Love. Big yellow
chrysanthemums and the sun and pancakes and Disneyland and Vermont and
cinnamon and Alexander the Great’ etc., etc.
14 The donning of sunglasses in the morning following a rave or doof is quite
ubiquitous. Glasses protect both the dilated pupils and the sometimes fragile psyches of
‘returning’ trippers. La Barre mentions that young Plains Indian men also ‘affect
colored glasses’ to protect their eyes in the mornings following peyote meetings (1975:
20).
15 In 186 BC the Roman Senate moved decisively against the orgiastic, nocturnal rites of
Bacchanalia held ‘in the groves of Stimula’ and elsewhere. The Senate was
primarily alarmed at the large, ungoverned crowds associated with the worship of
Bacchus. Fire twirling was one of the elements in these excessive, ecstatic celebrations
of the god of inebriation and madness which led to its condemnation. The cult,
according to Livy (1976), seduced women into running about with blazing torches while
sporting untidy hair, a sight not unfamiliar to doof participants.BibliographyAckland-Snow, N., N.Brett and S.Williams (1996) Fly: The Art of the Club Flyer, London:
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