Rave Culture and Religion

[With] co-created magic...this land is returned to the ancient and magical

indigenous chain of wisdom. If we unite our purpose a massive healing can be

set in motion.... Help institute a sound system for all, join the Earthdream,

support Aboriginal sovereignty, and help dance up the country in rave-o-

lution.^44

A reconcilement with native land and people is a frequent pattern detected in the
discourse and practice of Australian techno-tribes like Ohms. Many outdoor events,
or ‘bush doofs’, recognize the authority of traditional custodians. For example,
following a ceremonial welcome from the Wardani elders, participants at Western
Australia’s Earth Stomp (facilitated by the Tribe of Gaia) are said to undergo
‘collective awakening and unification of human consciousness to the wider
interconnectedness of Gaia’ (Rowe and Groves 2000:159). According to Rowe and
Groves: ‘Technology can be used in the interests of the Earth. Sound is a potent
force when it comes to igniting human energy fields, it has the ability to make you
move. We utilized technology to synchronize Earth, Body, Mind and Spirit’ (ibid.:
160).

Conclusion

Re-enchantment and reconciliation are pervasive tropes motivating a network of
new tribes formed by Western (and Westernised) youth participating in spiritual
relationships with the natural world through dance. This chapter has demonstrated
how electronic dance culture became implicated in a principle of revitalization
associated with ecologism. Documenting the vast terrain of techno-millennialism—
an interacting compendium of influential salvific models, utopian dreams, poetic
tracts and visionary art emanating from the likes of McKenna, Clark, Bey Argüelles
and Cooke variously cannibalized by trance elements within the global electronic
music diaspora—it uncovered a characteristically ‘shamanic technology’ percolating
within trance culture. The techno-futurist/revivalist attributes evoked and exploited
by an emergent milieu have been mapped—from local DIY tribes and regional
scenes to a global movement of technomads celebrating significant celestial events.
From the Dreamspell to Earthdream, from the Isle of Albion to the Red Desert,
‘trance-formations’ respond to environmental crises by acting locally. Such ‘action’
includes open-air dance, an intimate participation in landscape occasioning a
somatic relationships with place, ostensibly enabling a meaningful connection or
synergy with the Earth. Sometimes silly and sometimes sound, in revolutionary
attitudes towards the self, time and one’s immediate environment, in heroic doses
and mega-raves, in intentional rituals and dance activism, this eco-rave
consciousness champions the interdependence of person and planet.

228 GRAHAM ST JOHN