My thesis on psychedelic festivals: Festivals, flow machines and feathered dragons

My thesis is about rave culture as ritual:

I look upon psychedelic festivals as
– flow machines
– ilinx generators (what’s that, you say? Read all about it in the thesis!) – and
– transformation rituals for the 21st century.


Read the full thesis here (in English):

Rave culture likes to imagine itself as the direct continuation of prehistoric tribal rituals from thousands of years ago. And when attending psychedelic music festivals, ritualistic elements and tribal and religious imagery is everywhere: From temple-like dancefloors and totem poles to techno-shamanistic stagings of the dj’s.

This suggest that the festivals have strong ritualistic intentions. But can the festivals be considered actual contemporary rituals and rites of passage? – and not ‘just’ festivals with many ritual-like elements? This is what I explore in the thesis.

Read the full thesis here (in Danish):

The coveted state of flow and ilinx
One of the things I write about in the thesis are some of the very interesting similarities I have found between rave culture and computer games through my work as a cultural journalist for more than twenty years in both the electronic music scene and the world of digital games.

For instance:
– Both cultures are characterised by playfulness and constant experimentation.
– Both cultures constantly explore the boundaries of our current technologies.
– And both cultures have been regularly demonized by the mainstream media.

But what is more rarely talked about is that both cultures worship flow: The coveted state of being fully immersed, connected to your surroundings and where your abilities precisely match the ongoing challenges of the activity.

Through my research I have found that the flow state has many similarities with ilinx – a concept from game theory coined by the sociologist Roger Caillois, describing games of dizziness, speed and euphoria.

I have looked at the festivals through the lens of Caillois’ four game categories and found that these categories – especially ilinx – can give us a deeper understanding of the joys and attractions of festivals and rave culture. And I share how the festivals can be viewed as big flow mechanisms, providing lots of opportunities to reach the flow and ilinx states for the participants – and how and why these states optimises our well-being; not only during, but also after the festivals.

The text below is a slightly shortened version of the conclusion of my thesis (page 63):

Conclusion: Rites of passage into a new world
Can the festivals be considered actual contemporary rituals and rites of passage? – and not ‘just’ festivals with many ritual-like elements?

The answer is, I believe, a clear yes. All three festivals (Boom, Fusion and Ozora) offer not only numerous systems of various kinds that send participants through a transformative experience, but also (and this is especially true for Boom and Ozora) offer support systems that deal with crises along the way (like tribal elders). 

They have created week-long liminal spaces with room for archetypal experiences, where the festival attendees are surrounded by mythical creatures like dragons, snakes and aliens (instead of the ‘visual pollution’ of distracting commercials by Red Bull, Tuborg and the nearby supermarket) – and where all the participants can remain in the liminal state for days, free to do what they want, free to truly experiment and free from the distractions and demands from the outside world – and thus indulging freely in the transformational experience, where the mind is shaken free from familiar paths and forms new, inspired patterns.

But if the festivals are rites of passage – what ‘new status’ can the festival attendees claim after the ritual of the festival?

An important point when answering this is that for today’s inhabitants of modern society, unlike the ‘novices’ in Turner’s rites of passage, there is no fixed ‘next stage’ of increased status (on an already culturally well-defined and prefabricated path (see page 26-27)) that awaits the festival attendee on the other side of the festival ordeals. Instead, the transformative festival can become an ongoing and recurring rite of passage in a continuous work on one’s own development. 

Graham St John calls the festivals ‘hyperliminal’ (see page 63): They create a liminal culture that festival-goers can keep returning to indefinitely because the skills and knowledge gained through festival initiation can primarily be used within the festival culture itself. 

It’s definitely a valid point that the increased status gained after a psytrance festival can be seen as primarily legitimate inside the culture itself. But I think that St John overlooks the extent to which the festivals are turned actively towards the outside world, trying to give the festival participants skills that are useful and necessary in the current reality outside of the festivals, such as sustainability principles and the ability to consume less.

As emphasised in chapter 7, the worldview of the psychedelic festivals has long been that many of the current systems of power and behaviours on our planet are broken – and that a thorough global transformation towards a more sustainable model is necessary (also on a mental level). Therefore, we are actually in need of a global rite of passage, shedding the old ways and adapting new and better ones – in which the festivals see themselves as important role models and essential communities.

I think that the initiatives taken during the 2020 cancellations have certainly shown that this role is being taken seriously by the festivals, for example with the launch of Liminal Podquests, RadiOzora’s ‘Connecting Homes’ and the Boom Toolkit for the Covid-19 series.

And if you look at the Boom Festival 2012 as a notable example, the mainstage decorations themselves (with the feathered snake dragons of the Mayan mythology) invoke ideas of a planetary rite of passage, marking the beginning of a new era (where humanity’s focus turns from rationality and materialism towards the intuitive-feminine and the dream world (see page 34-35 in the thesis)).

One thing is certain: The psychedelic mind-set is really well suited to global crises like the current ones, where you have to ‘make friends with uncertainty’ (see page 49 in the thesis).

And the ilinx-inducing psychedelic dancefloors (see page 39-42) can be seen as sensory training grounds for this future of instability and sudden change.