Black Rock City · August 30 – September 7, 2026
The Programming
Pachi swims between worlds. This year the city is built around the axis that connects them. Six offerings, Sunday through Saturday — all of them open, none of them requiring that you believe a word of it.
| Day | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Sun, Aug 30 | 11:00 PM | Immaculate Conception Big party. Gazpacho, then dancing. Start here |
| Mon – Fri | 12:00 PM | Daily Seas Every weekday. Drop in, no preparation needed |
| Mon, Aug 31 | 5:00 PM | Initiation Pilgrimage Ride to the deep playa. Departs at 6 |
| Tue, Sep 1 | 5:00 PM | Glass House: Recovery Dharma Open meeting. A quiet, sober space |
| Tue – Wed | — | The Death Nothing is scheduled. That is the observance |
| Thu, Sep 3 | 11:00 PM | The Resurrection Big party. Confession optional, mission is not |
| Sat, Sep 5 | 8:00 PM | The Dub By the fire. Come with someone to name |
Daily Devotion
Monday – Friday
The spine of the week. Every day at noon, regardless of what plane Pachi currently occupies.
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Mon – Fri 12:00 PM The House of Pachi
Daily Seas
Confess. Commune. Ride the current of Pachi’s infinite grace.
Confess. Commune. Ride the current of Pachi’s infinite grace. Join us daily for a sacred service in the House of Pachi.
Getting there Every day at noon, Monday through Friday. Drop in — no need to have attended anything else first.
I. The Birth
Sunday – Monday
Pachi returns to the earthly plane. Everything is beginning and no one has slept.
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Sunday, Aug 30 11:00 PM The sanctuary
Immaculate Conception
One of our two big parties of the week. A cup of magical gazpacho, then dancing.
Find us on the street and someone will hand you a small cup of gazpacho before anyone explains why. Then we bring you inside, where there is a bathtub, an elder in robes, a ladle, and the newly arrived Pachi. You will find out where the gazpacho came from. You may wish you hadn’t.
After that it is a full party — sound system, dancing, the whole camp, going late. This and Thursday are our two biggest nights. It is also the best place to start if you have never met us.
Start here First time at camp? This is the short version of who Pachi is and who we are. Everything else in the week makes more sense afterwards.
The sacramental brew. Served cold, in small cups, to anyone passing. -
Monday, Aug 31 5:00 PM Gather at camp
Initiation Pilgrimage
A group bike ride out to the deep playa. You get an otter tail. The route is decided as we go.
Before we leave, everyone gets two things: an otter tail to wear for the ride, and a drop of the sacred brew traced on the forehead by one of our elders. Then we ride out — past the last camp and into the open.
There is no fixed route. Our guide leads, but we stop five times along the way, and at each stop you are invited to notice something, offer something to a stranger, and listen. Where we end up depends on what looks interesting.
What to bring Gather at camp 5–6 PM; we leave at 6. It is a long way out, so bring a bike, water, and a light for the ride home. Walkers are welcome but it is a long way back on foot.
Out past the last camp, where the city thins to nothing.
II. The Death
Tuesday – Wednesday
To find your Rebirth, let your ego die on the Playa.
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Tuesday, Sep 1 5:00 PM Our sanctuary
Glass House: Recovery Dharma Open Meeting
An open Recovery Dharma meeting. A quiet, held space in the middle of the week.
Insomnophilia is honored to host an open Recovery Dharma meeting in our sanctuary. This meeting is facilitated by a congregation member with lived experience in recovery and is open to all burners — those in recovery, those curious about recovery, and those who simply need a quiet, held space in the middle of the week.
III. The Resurrection
Thursday
What rises from the ashes, wet-furred and unbothered.
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Thursday, Sep 3 11:00 PM The altar
The Resurrection
Our other big party. Pachi comes back, there is a drink and an optional confession, and then everyone dances.
Pachi went under mid-week. Thursday night we gather at the altar to watch them come back, and you get a cup of the sacred water on the way in.
If you want it, our presiding elder will hear your confession at the bar — five days on the playa, unburdened. In return you get a small rolled scroll with a mission on it. Find a stranger wearing red and tell them a secret. Collect ten pieces of MOOP. Sit at the Temple for five minutes. Make sure you see the next sunrise. The missions are not optional. Pachi is watching.
Then the music starts and stays on. Like Sunday, this one runs late.
IV. The Benediction
Saturday
The congregation turns to face itself. Older than Pachi, and outlasting him.
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Saturday, Sep 5 8:00 PM By the fire
The Dub
Names are called. Specific acts are named. The Dub is how we see each other.
Since 2016, the congregation of Insomnophilia has gathered at the close of each burn to give The Dub — our annual ceremony of recognition for the small and large acts of service, kindness, and devotion that made the week luminous. In 2023 we opened the circle to neighbors and strangers, and we have not closed it since.
We gather by the fire. Names are called. Specific acts are named. The congregation and our guests are invited to recognize one another — for the meal that appeared at the right moment, for the 3 AM conversation that shifted something, for the repair made without being asked. The Dub is how we see each other. It is also how we see ourselves in each other — and how we recognize the ways we each embody the principles that bring us to this place every year. All are welcome to witness. All are welcome to give a Dub. The fire will be going. The waters will flow.
Bring someone to name All are welcome to witness, and all are welcome to give a Dub — come with someone in mind and something specific they did. The fire will be going.
Put it in your calendar
All ten sessions, including every Daily Seas, as a single calendar file. Times are floating — they show as written no matter what timezone your phone thinks it’s in when you arrive.