About us
6/28/11
Burning Man. Late each summer, this festival and temporary city emerges from the hot desert dust of Nevada's alkali flats. And in those harsh conditions, more than 50,000 wildly costumed people dream their way through a week of extreme art, massive music, radical community and creative adventure.
Since 2009, the Red Lightning theme camp has provided a deep spiritual oasis for festival wanderers. Through our offerings of yoga, sacred fires, healing sessions and traditional ceremonies, our community has become a refuge for contemplation and transformation in the midst of Wonderland. Our mission? Nothing less than to raise the vibration of the planet and support the conscious evolution of all beings.
"What draws people to Red Lightning is the sense of spiritual fraternity," says Matheo, Red Lightning's coordinator for 2011. "We have people from many different spiritual traditions, yet there's an underlying sense that we're all connected, that the many different paths available amount to more or less the same thing: love, compassion, spiritual awareness. There's a wonderful sense of 'unity in diversity' among us."
This year's vision for the playa includes:
* Red Lightning's signature structures: a sacred circle of painted tipis providing peaceful refuge for women, men and those in ceremony; healing and workshop domes offering modern and traditional sacred teachings; and a 3,000-square-foot version of Entelechy, a massive gathering space built of bamboo.
* A powerful program lineup day and night throughout the Burning Man festival, covering topics such as ancient meditation techniques, healthy sexual communication, the modern healing art of EFT, and how to align with visitors from our galactic family. Men's and women's circles will gather, bodyworkers and energy healers will hold sessions, and teachers of ancient and modern wisdom will share their messages. The tipis will always be open for ceremony and deep meditation.
* Joyful community services including the delicious meals of Krishna Kitchen, a women's beauty-and-rest retreat area, showers, a community space, and strong "behind-the-scenes" teams that provide safety and laughter for all involved.
This year's camp organizers (see the community structure and leadership contacts here) include longtime Burning Man veterans and Red Lightning newbies. Most are based in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, although several leaders hail from Ohio. Red Lightning's general participants come from as far away as Australia, France and South America, calling in the dream frequencies of the planet as we seek a beautiful new reality. Many of us work in consciousness-raising fields, as artists, healers, permaculture designers, yoga instructors, filmmakers, event producers, performers and deejays – creative people from a variety of backgrounds working for positive change.
To set the stage for all these offerings, the camp's artwork draws on images from both indigenous and natural themes, from the ornate petals of a flower-shaped fire barrel to intricate altars built of branches and stones. The main camp sign features a bold red lightning bolt, of course.
Like that bolt, the camp strikes Burning Man with power and illumination, providing a balance to the hedonism and wild culture of the playa. Red Lightning's goal is to raise awareness of humanity's potential as doers, dreamers and shapers of a future that heals the Earth, rather than destroys.
"For us, Burning Man isn't just a party anymore," James says. "It's an opportunity to change the world."
To join us on the playa this year, please sign up for our e-mail list on the home page. If you have any questions not answered in the FAQ, please email ablaze (at) redlightning.org to check out our programming schedule, or visit http://redlightning.org/wiki to learn how to manifest the dream.
~ Ria Delight
