The Man And The Temple

This year the Man was surrounded by a beehive design. And I went to a beekeeping seminar at Earth Guardians.

Due to the muddy conditions on the playa the Man burn got postponed until Monday night. The fireworks were AMAZING this year, more than usual I thought although the fireworks at Burning Man are always spectacular.....I get all the fireworks viewing I need here.

This year's Temple was Temple of the Heart. "Temple of the Heart is designed to look like an upside-down desert flower with a stem reaching up into the sky, serving as both a beacon as well as a sundial. It creates a feeling of being near a heart, wrapped in love for those who seek solace and respite. At night it will glow with soft, warm, welcoming light."
From journal.burningman.org
The temple burned Tuesday night.

There were several of these supercute sketches with nice messages hanging inside the Temple. Like this one. "What do you want to be when you grow up? Kind, said the boy." 

And this one.  "What do we do when our hearts hurt? asked the boy. We wrap them with friendship, tears and time till they wake hopeful and happy again.

During my first Burning Man in 2013 I told myself that I would try to go for ten years in a row. And I did. Well......in 2020 I went to Baker Beach in San Francisco and yes Burning Man was happening there for one night and then got shut down by the mayor of the city due to COVID regulations (whatever....). I have been to Black Rock City ten times now.
What is is about Burning Man that is so special? People from all over come together to build and create a city on a dry lake bed and fill it with amazing art, music, workshops, happiness and so much else. Everybody gets along. The Default World is happening somewhere on the outside but we have Black Rock City for those days.
As most of us know the world is NOT (always) a happy place, in fact reality is rather grim. There is a lot of suffering and sadness, we are surrounded by heniuos acts. Almost every time that I read the news I get sad and sometimes I just shut my laptop down because I can't take more in. I can't even imagine the reality for the people that are faced with war, destruction, hunger, terror......and all the animals that are mistreated and suffer everyday.
But at Burning Man we have that special place. I am very well aware of the critisism Burning Man has received, from the environmental footprint aspect to the people that have been going longer than me and don't like how things have developed. And yes.....I do see some of that and I agree with some of the issues as well. BUT Burning Man STILL truly is a MAGICAL place.
And this my friends is the last blog entry about Burning Man 2023 Animalia. I have all my Burning Man entries saved in the blog archives if you want to see what I have been up to at Black Rock City since 2013.