Rave Culture and Religion

the reawakening of traditional attitudes towards the natural world, re-establishing
‘channels of direct communication with the planetary Other’ (McKenna 1991: ch.
15). McKenna thus effectively promoted the role of the shaman in the
contemporary world. With the dissolution of boundaries triggered by psychedelics,

one cannot continue to close one’s eyes to the ruination of the earth, the

poisoning of the seas, and the consequences of two thousand years of

unchallenged dominator culture, based on monotheism, hatred of nature,

suppression of the female, and so forth.... So, what shamans have to do is act

as exemplars, by making this cosmic journey to the domain of the Gaian

ideas, and then bringing them back in the form of art in the struggle to save

the world.... The message that nature sends is, transform your language

through a synergy between electronic culture and the psychedelic

imagination, a synergy between dance and idea, a synergy between

understanding and intuition, and dissolve the boundaries that your culture

has sanctioned between you, to become part of this Gaian supermind.^7

From the early 1990s, McKenna had championed the underground dance
phenomenon as an integral component in the psychedelics-led revival. Enabling one
to see ‘the wiring under the board...to recover the jewel lost at the beginning of
time’, rave would assist in conditioning humanity for the upcoming transition to
‘hyperspace’ from three-dimensional time and space. Psychedelic youth culture was
a quantum leap in the novelty model. Again, speaking on ‘Re: Evolution’, he stated:

The emphasis in house music and rave culture on physiologically compatible

rhythms...is really the rediscovery of the art of natural magic with sound.

That sound, properly understood, especially percussive sound, can actually

change neurological states, and large groups of people getting together in the

presence of this kind of music are creating a telepathic community of bonding

that hopefully will be strong enough that it can carry the vision out into the

mainstream of society.

Raves, and psychedelics were going to bootstrap humanity for the impending shift.
This new youth culture, he stated,

is the real new world order and it’s going to carry all of us into a world of

completion and caring that we have not known since the pyramids were raised

The new rave culture is the cutting edge of the last best hope for suffering

humanity.... Take back the planet—it’s yours, it’s yours. These are the last

minutes of human history folks. The countdown is on. This is not a test.

We’re leaving this world behind, for a brighter, better world that has always

existed; in our imagination.^8

TECHNO MILLENNIUM 213