Wednesday night was probably the one night that I actually got a full night’s sleep the whole time I was out there, and it was a good thing too because I had had such a mind-blowing, epiphany-full day the day before, I really needed to recharge. When we got up on Thursday morning it was lovely and cool and quiet (not what I had expected in the desert, but at such high elevation, the nights are actually quite cool and it takes awhile to warm up again). We eventually got ourselves together and decided that this was the perfect day to be sparkly purple fairies and go visit Center Camp, both to check it out as its own interesting environment and to get ourselves some coffee and some ice, which are the only things actually sold as opposed to gifted at Burning Man (and only there at Center Camp or at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock plazas). So we got all dressed up and wandered over to Center Camp.

On the way there we checked out the general neighborhood, and saw some more cool art—giant metal sculptures on the playa, all different kinds of theme camps (Space Cowboys! Circus people! Thunderdome!) and people doing a wide variety of whatever their own freaky self-expression was. There was also all kinds of interesting art on the outside walls of Center Camp as well as inside it—we could have looked around forever but in what I was coming to experience as the general serendipitous flow of the Burning Man experience, we didn’t push to go see everything, just appreciated what came our way as we moved about on our way hither and yon. We got ourselves some iced coffee (now *that* was a fabulous sensual treat in the middle of the desert, plus a general treat for me since I’d been mostly off caffeine pre-Burning Man) and sat around a bit. I really liked the art around the coffee bar, which was a variety of cut-paper shapes collaged with images, combined with thought-provoking past-tense questions written all over them (questions like “What did it feel like to break free?” or “What was your desire?” or “What was it like when you finally arrived?”). 

After looking at the big long line, we decided that we would skip the visit to Camp Arctica to get ice, and instead wandered around the Center Camp neighborhood for a bit looking for the Artery (the central place for information about Burning Man artists, art tours, etc) and the medical tent (Isis wanted to pick up some more bandages there). At the Artery, I met a gorgeously costumed pink bunny person—we were so delighted with and appreciative of each other’s outfits that we had to take a picture together.

While wandering we also saw lots of awesome art cars (since I actually had my camera out and it wasn’t too dusty, I was able to take a few pictures), some fun camp art, and some people parachuting into Black Rock City (apparently this is a popular way to arrive for those with money and arrangements for someone else to bring all their gear in). We did find the medical tent (air-conditioned!) and got Isis what she needed, used their port-o-potties (score!) and then tried to get an art car to give us a ride back to camp. We found one but they were only going a block, so it wasn’t much help—still, it’s always fun to ride on an art car. We were able to walk the rest of the way back to camp without trouble.

After leaving Isis back at our tent and swapping out some supplies, I went out again to check out something close to our camp that I’d noticed the day before: the “Playa Name Help” booth on the other side of the Esplanade. I was intrigued with the concept of a Playa Name—since identity work was such a big part of my Burning Man mission, I really liked the idea of finding a name that might be able to condense and succinctly express at least some of the gifts and attitudes I was trying to bring to the fore in my life. But I didn’t want to just name myself—I wanted there to be some sort of external input too, something that could perhaps serve as a reminder or as a marker of the transformational experiences I was having/would have there at Burning Man. I wanted something I could relate to now as an expression of the “true” me, but which might also serve as an inspiration and a signpost towards something I could grow into. And look, here were some people whose gift to the community was just that—help figuring out the right name which could hold all that identity work and yearning. Sign me up!

There was a line in front of the Playa Name Help booth. I found the end of it and tried to engage the people in front of me in a conversation, but though polite, they didn’t seem to be all that interested in talking to me. I almost despaired at the size of the line and the lack of entertaining interaction (not to mention the heat of being out in the open with only my little Chinese parasol for shade), but then I decided to just chill out and watch the ever-changing pageant of people walking and bicycling down the Esplanade towards me. (Burning Man provides a more-than-usually-interesting, constantly shifting people-watching experience.) I was still dressed in my sparkly purple fairy costume, so people started to smile and nod at me as they moved past. Then I started to purposely catch people’s eyes and smile or wave at them as they came by. It was fun, and it felt like a good gift to be beaming out enthusiasm and delight at people for no specific reason. And you know what? People just lit up at the offered connection, and gave it right back by smiling or waving or commenting on something as they passed by. The culture of appreciation and the general culture of Burning Man made that easy to do, but it’s something to think about trying in other places too...just as an experiment to see what would happen. (Can enthusiasm save the world? Tune in tomorrow to find out!)

Eventually a few other people wandered up behind me, and we got to talking, so I stopped beaming at random strangers and fell into some fun banter and conversation with those folks. There was a gorgeous Ph.D. from New Zealand (by way of Germany), a sassy redheaded guy from Denver, and a lovely young woman from Israel, all of us first time Burners, plus a zany veteran Burner guy named Banjo Billy from Boulder who stopped by to see what we were all standing in line for, and when he found out, offered to save us the trouble of the line and name us himself. (Which was a generous offer but the name he came up with for me—“I think you should be ‘Six Flags’!”—didn’t quite resonate on all the levels I wanted it to.) We all had a good time laughing and bantering and talking a little bit about ourselves to each other, and I was able to put my cute little parasol to good use to provide shade for at least 2 or 3 other people while we were talking.

Eventually, I made it to the front of the line, and found myself face to face with a tall, thin, kind-faced, 30-something man who welcomed me and then proceeded to ask me a few questions like “what do you do in the default world” and about what my Burn had been like so far, whether I’d had any rites of passage already, and if there was anything I’d learned or found or wanted. I can’t remember exactly what I told him, but I did tell him that in the default world I was an artist and a writer and that I was in transition from owning my own web solutions company. I said that in the past I’d also been a teacher and a marketer, and that I had lately been in a process of figuring out my own gifts and super-powers and was now trying to figure out how best to bring my gifts to the world. I told him something about feeling like my lesson right then was to stop being afraid and keeping myself small, and giving myself permission to be the big bright star I knew I really was—and that if I could do this, I would hopefully be an inspiration to others who would then see what being a big bright star was like and want to be big and bright in their own ways.

He stopped me then and said, “aha! I think I have it, just from what you’ve told me. How about ‘Supernova’?” And I looked at him, and let that word sink down in me for a few seconds, and it felt good. So I said, “ooh! I like it! That’s perfect!” and he smiled and I smiled and it was decided, just like that. He gave me a stamp on my arm that said “Hello, My Name Is ________” and wrote “SUPERNOVA” in the blank space, and then gave me a little metal bugle and told me to blow it and to announce my new name. I grabbed that bugle and pursed up my lips and blew a stunningly loud and long blast on it (it sounded like a shofar and for a moment I was tempted to blow TEKIAH or something, but didn’t) and then shouted “I AM SUPERNOVA!” and everyone around me laughed and clapped. I was giddy with excitement. I really liked the name—a supernova is something huge and hot and powerful, and it can be seen (and have an effect) from a distance, so it captured that ache I felt to bust out and be BIG and BRIGHT. The “super” part also connected with super-heroes and super-powers (both metaphors I’ve been drawn to lately) as well as the larger sense of community/the whole/the WE that I’ve been trying to actualize.

I stuck around for a little while to see what my new friends’ names turned out to be, but it was taking an excruciatingly long time and I was really excited to get back to Isis to tell her about my new name, plus I was due for a work shift back at camp helping to do snack prep, so after a little while longer of watching the process for a couple other people and congratulating them as they got their names, I finally bid everyone farewell and headed back to SSV.

I met up with Isis back at our tent, and showed her my new name. We didn’t get much farther because we were interrupted by a visit with our neighbor Amy, who needed help with some costuming. I went to go check in with my snack prep shift, but no one was around, even though I checked back several times over the next half hour or so. After some chilling out and journaling and snacking (as a good hobbit does), eventually I gave up on the shift and Isis and I made our way out to the main SSV space. We decided to look around in some of the other side temples. The Temple of New Beginnings (water/Spring) was mostly empty, so we sat ourselves down to talk and enjoy the misters that had been set up in there. I told her about the Playa Name Booth experience, and we wound up sliding into a conversation about Judaism and our individual relationships to it. I realized as we talked that I was pretty comfortable and happy with Jewish values, rituals and recommended ways of being a good person (or at least with my own selective interpretations and applications of same). I felt good about being a link in the chain of “chosen” people who had kept alive specific traditions and ways of being, although sorrowful about the ways in which persecution and victimhood had led to specific kinds of group neuroses and counter-persecutions. We talked about going to check out the various Jewish-themed events over the next few days (e.g. the “Burn Mitzvah” or different kinds of Shabbat services)—sadly, we never did get to these. (Next time!)

As we were sitting there talking, a woman came in, and appeared to be looking for something or someone. She said that she was a Yoga teacher and had signed up to offer a class at this time, but apparently no one was there to take her up on her offer. So she sat down to talk to us for a little bit. We introduced ourselves, and that was the first time I was able to use my new name. She said that someone had recently told her something interesting about supernovas that she liked—that before a star went into its supernova BOOM, it contracted first, hugged inward and gathered energy in order to then bust back out. So first there was silence, and inward focus and gathering of energy, and then there was an outward pulse, spreading everywhere. I thought that particularly applicable considering the amount of inner journeying I’d been through lately, and the increasing need I was feeling to go BOOM and be big and bright. I laughed and thanked her for bringing me just what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. (Serendipity strikes again!)

After dinner we switched to night-time costumes and went out to wander the open playa again for a bit. We’d heard that they were burning the regional art that night (the medium sized art pieces that formed an inner ring around the Man at each of the o’clock radials), but we didn’t get there in time to watch the fires start, only once they were half burned. Still, it was really interesting to be around these big fires and watch as they burned down. We then wandered back to our camp to see if we could catch the Electronic Awakening movie—it had already started but we sat down in the main SSV space to watch it anyway, and wow, was it fascinating! It was a really well told and well put together look at how a part of the electronic music movement had evolved into a kind of new tribalism/shamanism where both music and dance led to a feeling of greater one-ness and connection (to each other and to the divine) and therefore to a spiritual awakening not unlike what happened in the 60s. I’m probably not even describing it that well, but you can see a preview here and luckily it will be premiering here in SF in October. I regret not seeing the whole thing, but I will definitely go and see it in October.

After the movie screening, several of the DJs featured in the film were spinning there at SSV, so we went out to go dance and feel the connection ourselves. I got to see Jeronimo again and appreciate him to his face with great enthusiasm, which was fun. I had a great time dancing and playing with my blinky toys and just generally getting lost in the music and the movement along with a bunch of other people. It was energetic, peaceful, grounding and expanding all at the same time. There was a guy with a doumbek who was playing along with the music some, and I got kind of excited about that and asked him if I could play with him too. He said sure, and I ran back to get my doumbek out of the car, but by the time I got back he was gone. Oh well. (One of the things I never quite actualized during this Burn was participating in some drumming, but I suppose that’s as it was meant to be and I’ll try again next time.) I stayed to dance for an hour or two until things started to slow down and I was too tired to keep going, then I went to bed (luckily bed wasn’t far away!)

[To Be Continued in Part 5...]

[To see more or full sized pictures, click here for the whole set on Flickr]