The Assless Chapel Newsletter #64: Axis Mundi Edition

The Chaplain’s Screed

This year’s theme has been announced: Axis Mundi which, apparently, is meant to be a reference to The World Tree.  This tree takes many forms, in many different cultures, as illuminated in Burning Man’s theme announcement.  Most connected to Burning Man’s conception are those versions where the tree serves as the center of the world, like the Norse yggradasil.  A bit arrogant, I’d say, but appropriate for what Black Rock City is for us burners.

The tradition that is most familiar to those in the Western world and the Islamic world are the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.  This tradition likely derives from previous, less well fleshed out Mesopotamian traditions.  It also finds correlates in East Asian traditions.  For those of you who don’t remember your First Testament, our species, the story goes, started with Adam and Eve who God created and placed in the Garden of Eden.  There were these two trees there, in the Garden of Eden.  If you ate from the fruit of the one, you’d become immortal; if you ate from the fruit of the other, you’d become omniscient.

Some snake talked Eve into convincing Adam they should eat from the tree of knowledge.  Maybe it’s just where my mind is at, but I feel like this is a metaphor for sex.  Traditional interpretation is that Eve tempted Adam into sinning with her feminine guiles.  OK, but I think that snake just represents Eve wanting Adam’s dick.  In essence, they wanted to make love and needed to eat that fruit of knowledge to recognize it.  Anyways, let’s leave that tangent behind us…

I like the Axis Mundi tree allusion for Burning Man.  See, Adam and Eve were cast out for pursuing forbidden knowledge.  Sounds a bit like Burning Man.  I certainly came back with new knowledge of Burning Man after my first burn and was somewhat cast out for not shutting the fuck up about Burning Man.  Even now, being a burner is something that sets us apart and subjects us to certain stereotypes that label us as different from other folks, perhaps because we do end up with a feeling of secret knowledge. 

More importantly, for many of us, the knowledge we’ve gained at Burning Man has pushed us into some type of self-exile.  Curtis left his religion.  He and I both left bad marriages.  Red left his previously narrower worldview.  Katie left Satan Clayton.  I think all of these were influenced by our time at Burning Man.  This isn’t, of course, omniscience, but introspection and an opening of the mind.

But I prefer the Tree of Life as inspiration.  Because it’s not real.  Permanence doesn’t exist.  Burning Man, with its burning of the Man, the Temple and much of the art; with its building of a city that then disappears; with its facilitation of fulfilling relationships that may last only a couple hours; reminds us that we will not live forever, that even in that short time allotted us, much will change from day to day and year to year.  Our relationships will evolve and even end.  Our joys and sorrows will come and go.  The burn will end, and life itself is just as ephemeral, but on a different scale.

So carpe diem my friends.  Make use of what time you have here.  Do what you can now.  And enjoy the moment you’re in.  See something beautiful?  Remember that it’s better to enjoy it than to photograph it.  Had a great night with a friend or a lover?  Don’t try to replicate it, make the next time great, even if it’s different.  Lose the a love of your life?  Know that there’s a next one.  Is Burning Man changing?  That doesn’t make it better or worse, it just makes it part of life.  It’s called immediacy, friends and it’s a big part of why we do what we do.

“To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.”

-William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Group News

Meagan, her husband Curtis, their angel-son Cam and I all met up at Decompression in Oakland.  It was pretty spectacular and I feel like Cam is already being acculturated to become a burner! 

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Please send me any news you have to share with the camp!

Camp Planning

Wedding Planning

I spoke to Christian and Jared, who are our first couple to start planning an Assless Chapel wedding for 2026!  Great guys and really excited!  Still need to talk to Paulin about his and Aurelie’s wedding, but we set a time for it: Wednesday at 5p.

Other Camp Planning

Keep me updated about how you’re feeling about coming next year.  We’ll need to replace one camp tent, the bar and podium and two car ports.  Does anyone remember if there’s anything else we forgot, need to add or need to replace?

Black Rock City News and Acculturation

·         This is cool.

·         Article about what you can learn from Burning Man on CNN.  Requisite pictures of El Pulpo Magnifico, of course.

·         Burning Man Live episode about mutant vehicles.

Placement / Ticket News

Placement News

I filled out our post-Playa report.

December: MOOP Results sent to all placed camps

December: 2025 Camp Standings announced to placed theme camps

Mid-December: 2026 Theme Camp Statement of Intent Opens - for BRC 2026!

Ticketing News

Nothing to see here.

Adding New Camp Members

If you want to invite someone to join us, please send me an email about it.

Ticketing Calendar

Nothing out yet.

Current Pre-Build, Build Week, Burn Week and Exodus Schedule

I’m already itching for the next burn.  Here’s our current schedule with actual dates and moon phases during build and burn weeks indicated by brightness of yellow.  Build week is in grey and burn week is in red.

Upcoming Tasks

To Do in the Next 10 Days

TAC

   Begin planning weddings and events for coming year.

To Do in the Next 30 Days

Everybody

   Send me any news you have to share with the camp.

   Let me know if you want to remove, change or add an email to/from the newsletter list.

To Do in the Next 60 Days

TAC and Stupid Seamus

   Clean, repair, organize and store gear.

   Keep me updated on your plans to return or not and let me know if there’s anything we need to change or something we need to bring for next year.

Closing Thoughts

While I was thinking of biblical analogs for Burning Man, I thought a great deal about the Temple.  It reminds me of Jacob’s Ladder.  In one of the cooler parts of the Bible, Jacob dreams of a ladder connecting earth to heaven.  Angels are going up and down the ladder.  One of them, a representative of God, gets into a wrestling match with Jacob.  Though Jacob wins, he is hurt and, when he wakes up, he has a limp but is blessed with a new name and a brighter future.

While the Man is Black Rock City’s symbol of pleasure on Earth, it’s the Temple that is our Jacob’s ladder, connecting us to a spiritual realm where, in some way, we can commune with energies not present in the material world: those we’ve lost, our deeper selves, spiritual entities.  It takes us out of the mayhem of the Playa and into a more serene and meaning-filled place.  It is the place where we wrestle with God, feel deep pain and injury and, hopefully, come away a bit more healed, a bit more whole and a bit more blessed, with a new future ahead of us.

The Man Burns in 292 days!