People come to Burning Man seeking adventure, artistic expression, and entertainment, all of which we love.
People also come for an experience that will not only challenge them, but change their life path.
That's where we come in.
Hundreds of visitors may visit Shamandome on each of the five days of the burn during which we offer our services to the public. Thanks to our dedicated contribution to Black Rock City, Shamandome was once rated among the top 10 camps at Burning Man -- which, for such a small one, is a humbling and gratifying acknowledgement.


Shamandome is a service camp.
Our purpose for being in Black Rock City is to offer healing - to fellow burners, each other, and ourselves.
In a spirit of karma yoga, our campers contribute a minimum of a few hours of service each day during burn week (with one day off to play), and more during set-up and breakdown.
Shamandome's focus is on creating a safe space and setting for healing.
Our meals consist of simple, healthy food which benefits the body, mind and spirit.
While we're not a "sober camp", our campers are mindful about their enjoyment of intoxicants.
(While we revere their value, due to federal laws, and to promote a healthy circle, we cannot condone the use of plant medicines in camp.)

In addition to shamanic instruction and healing, we collectively contribute as greeters, maintaining our infrastructure, and preparing meals in the kitchen. There are many wonderful returns from serving with Shamandome. We truly believe we help make the world a better place.

OUR SHAMANISTAS

Founding Shamanista of Shamandome
Master Builder of domes
The energetic diesel engine of Shamandome
Leads Soul Retrieval Workshop
Changes people's lives on a daily basis

Founding Goddess of Shamandome
Conducts Andean Despacho Healings
Favorite group practice: Ho'oponopono, Hawaiian ritual of forgiveness and letting go.
Created a "Harem Management Clinic" for women with multiple partners

WINDSPIRIT

Sage, wise woman, steeped in the traditions of plant medicines,
she's adept in Neuroscience, Spirituality and Shamanism.
Spiritual leader and counselor of the camp, even in absentia.

CAMP POO-BAH
Camp Administrator
Infrastructure Guru
Head Fairy Greeter for 2024
Camp Lead
Co-Hosts our NYC Circle
Life-long metaphysician & healer -- he's here to help

EINSTEIN

CAMP LEADERSHIP

K1

HEAD HEALER
Professional Shamanic Practitioner
Tarot Master
Always smiling,
always keeping it real
He may not always burn with us, but he's always involved and on point

EARLY MAN

KHATZ

CAMP FOUNDERS

The campers of Shamandome are called to serve the public, each other, and themselves through healing practices and by providing a healthy, safe container to hold our journey in Black Rock City; living in the spirit of giving.
We're a very diverse group, with campers from all over the world. Last year campers from fifteen countries gathered to do this work.

After a simple breakfast in the Kitchen Tent - which serves as our camp's kitchen, dining room and community hall - we meet in one of the public domes or chill space for a Morning Circle, to open the camp's spiritual container and ask the spirits for their help. We prime ourselves - healing the healers, so they may help others heal - and cleanse the camp, in preparation for serving the citizens of Black Rock City.

At 10:30, the day's Power Animal Circle team - circle leaders and Fairy Greeters - prepare the public areas for the arrival of the first clients of the day.

We open to the public at 11am, for Power Animal Circles. Fairy Greeters welcome our guests, smudging them and guiding them to find what they came for.

If you're fairly new to shamanism, you might assist a seasoned leader in conducting a circle. If you're more experienced, you may schedule yourself to lead one.

Sometimes burners come into our chill space seeking quiet and solace. Our elder healing practitioners are always on hand, in case someone in need comes to us for help.

Or, you might spend your morning checking on our infrastructure, helping a camp mate fix their bike, or preparing a healthy midday meal.

if you have no scheduled morning tasks, you're free to head out to the playa and experience what Black Rock City has to offer.

Lunch is a great time for processing the morning's events together.

After lunch, you'll want to siesta for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. During this time our domes and chill spaces are open for workshops, mostly led by guest practitioners from other camps.

Later in the day, our most-practiced healers work with clients One-on-One. If you're on Greeter duty, you may offer clients advice on what healing modality might best suit their situations. (Experienced guest healers are welcome to offer their services, too.)

Of course, if you have no afternoon duties, go explore the wonders of Burning Man!

We'll gather for a delicious dinner just before sunset. Music or an activity can turn mealtime into a party!

If you're in camp at the end of our service day, you can join the short Closing Circle, to release the spirits who helped us in our work, and close the container.

Our evening schedule is changeable. There might be evening circles and workshops, as offerings present themselves. You may appropriate any of our public spaces which are open & available, to host an impromptu healing session or workshop.

The nightlife of the playa beckons! We love to party, and we pace ourselves, to self-lovingly maintain our energies for service the next day.

A DAY AT SHAMANDOME
Life in our Camp
SERVICE | FUN | HEALING

Task Descriptions
Everything we actually do at Shamandome Camp

Shamandome is a service camp of 25 to 50 souls. Many of our campers are professional healing practitioners, working in a great variety of modalities. Everyone helps with the important 'Tasks' which keep a camp going in the harsh environment of the Black Rock Desert.

We consider all our camp members participants in healing, whether they're welcoming visitors to our events; working one-on-one in a healing hut; leading a power animal circle or workshop; cooking up delicious, wholesome food; or looking after our precious infrastructure. All campers serve in more than one capacity over the course of set-up, the burn, and camp breakdown -- we all chop veggies in the kitchen at some point.
Stretch yourself!

To support our mission, each of our campers contributes a minimum number of hours of service per day (determined by the overall size of the camp - usually three or four hours per day), often serving in two or more of these capacities:

Core Shamanism Circle Leaders
Everyone Is Encouraged to Lead. We passionately encourage all shamanic practitioners who are capable of leading Power Animal circles to offer to lead them.

One-on-One Healers
Our public service focus is on shamanic healing in the Michael Harner tradition of Core Shamanism: Power Animal Journeys, Paired Journeys, Soul Retrieval and Extraction. While our primary service modalities are shamanic, many of our healers and workshop leaders incorporate other modalities such as Reiki, Massage, Yoga, Sound Healing, etc.
One-on-One Healing sessions tend to last half an hour to an hour.

Fairy Greeters
This highly public - and quite enjoyable - task is the key to a smooth offering of our healing service. Fairy Greeters welcome our visitors and guide them to the appropriate workshop or healer, based on what each client is ready for. This process involves a high level of intuition. Good people skills are important. A ready smile and “crowd juggling” skills are definitely a plus. Healing begins with a needful client experiencing the embracing energies of a compassionate greeter.

Kitchen Fairies
These blessed campers help our Kitchen Goddess run the kitchen and food services, creatively nourishing the body-temples of our healers, greeters and infrastructure team. Campers with experience in a professional kitchen will take on a meal to lead. They will be teamed with campers who can help chop and mix. Shamandome Camp's kitchen always creates flavorful food alchemy. Often, the kitchen staff becomes a heavenly choir and the meal is truly blessed by song.

Infrastructure Gurus
These masters-of-many-trades lead the setup of the camp and help to maintain all infrastructure during the week, including service domes, the kitchen, our water & power systems and shade structures. If you're handy with the mechanical and technical world, this is a great need and a noble calling. Managing playa conditions can be exhilarating and they can be treacherous. White-out dust storms & big winds spring up suddenly, and wrestling with parachutes, support poles & tie-downs is common - it's all an adventure!

Workshop Leaders
We offer our shamanistas and guest practitioners space and time to conduct workshops on topics they're passionate about. We can accommodate as many as sixty visitors for a workshop. Every year, we get feedback from burners who have experienced powerful transformations. (See Do you have a workshop you'd like to offer? below)

_____

Once the camp roster is close to being set, we'll create a master schedule of tasks and shifts. Everyone then creates their own schedules. Each camper gets one full day off to devote to exploring BRC ... of course, whenever you have unscheduled time during the day, feel free to leave camp and have fun ... and you can always ask to switch with a fellow camper if you see ahead of time that you have a conflict with a particular shift.

Our campers receive a Camp Guide, with information they need to feel comfortable and competent in their roles and tasks.

EVERYONE helps with final camp set-up at the beginning of the burn and with breakdown at the end.
The burn is a great challenge - spiritually, emotionally, and especially physically. When all campers help all the way through breakdown, we avoid exhausting anyone. (In 2022, we took multiple campers to the hospital - yes there's a hospital at BRC - for treatment due to exhaustion or heat stroke. We want to avoid repeating that scenario.)

PLEASE PLAN TO REMAIN IN BLACK ROCK CITY UNTIL AT LEAST 6PM ON MONDAY, LABOR DAY.

Are you already planning to camp elsewhere, but want to see what we're about?
Please come visit us, and bring camp mates. Lead a circle in your camp. Stop by and help out when you can.

GUEST HEALERS, HELPERS
and WORKSHOP LEADERS

Every year a number of Guest Healers and Helpers join Shamandome on their own time and provide invaluable service to our community. If you are so inclined, come by when you can.

Guest practitioners are invited to use our domes, huts and chill space from 2 pm to 4 pm for healing in any modality, and for workshop presentations. Shamanic healers may also offer their services during our One-on-One Healing sessions, from 4 pm to 6pm. Best to let us know in advance, so we know who is representing us to the public, but we would love to see you any time we're open to the public. So, stop by to say hello any time (except between 10:30am and 1pm, our crunch time). We are always grateful for your supportive energy!

Guest Healers and Workshop Leaders are invited to Shamandome's Opening Dinner on Monday of the burn -- time TBA -- and the occasional regular meal, as supplies allow.

Do you have a workshop you'd like to offer?
We offer space in our domes for campers and guests to conduct workshops on any matter of interest.
Send an email to Shamanistas@gmail.com (and please Cc barnaby.ruhe@gmail.com) with the following information:
Title (50 characters maximum, including spaces)
The number of people who may participate in your workshop (60 maximum, unless they need to lie down, in which case 45 maximum)
Duration (150-minute maximum)
Description - 120 character maximum, including spaces and punctuation - must use proper grammar, with periods
Also, please include a short bio of yourself and your modality, as well as a portrait photo.

Would you like to offer your services as a Guest Healer?
Please email us at shamanistas@gmail.com
Or stop by our camp on the playa.

Camp Dues and Duties

KARMA YOGA SERVICE

Camping at Shamandome is deeply rewarding and a lot of fun, even though we're not a "party camp". Our campers are committed to serving the public and each other through physical labor, emotional support and spiritual healing. This commitment and a personal familiarity with shamanic practice are the basics we seek in our campers. As members of a mindfully dedicated service camp, Shamandome campers serve each other or the public for a number hours each day, whatever their camp roles are.

You will be energized by giving back to the community. The healing we co-create is manifested by every camper's heart-centered participation in their role. When everyone freely gives of themselves, the collective whole blooms with love. This transformative group experience sends our campers back to the default world with a deep personal satisfaction.

CAMP DUES

$400 per camper
You will also need to purchase a ticket to Burning Man ($575 plus taxes and fees). If you plan to drive any vehicle into Black Rock City, you will also need to buy a Vehicle Pass ($150 plus taxes and fees).

Your Camp Dues pay for:

FOOD
Purchase and transport of food for the entire camp, which provides each day (including Build Week):
- a "Do it yourself" Breakfast
- a delicious midday meal prepared by our fabulous Kitchen Leads and Kitchen Fairies
- an evening meal featuring luscious leftovers from lunch with added fixings and trimmings.
Our custom is to provide a fully nourishing, protein-forward, pescatarian meal plan, similar to many spiritual service retreats. If you prefer not to go without red meat products for the week or two you are in the desert, you are free to bring your own.

WATER
Potable water for drinking, cooking & showers.

GREY WATER SERVICE
Every drop we discard is collected and removed -- Leave No Trace!

SHOWER
The camp creates a shower and provides grey water disposal. As you might guess, we ask that you please use as little water as possible, and shower only when you really need to (you'll be surprised at how having a fine layer of alkaline dust all over you keeps the need for showering low - and baby wipes make a quick job of getting you pretty clean!)

SHADE STRUCTURE
A shady spot to pitch your tent -- on a "First come first served" basis (we should have plenty).
Communal shade "chill" structures, dining, and lounge area. We build a complete tent campus.

CONTAINER/TRAILER
Fees for storing our trailer (with all that infrastructure in it) throughout the rest of the year and transporting it to & from the playa.

POWER
We get our electricity from solar cells and a gasoline-powered generator, to run refrigerators and appliances in our kitchen, a camp phone charging station, lighting & sound equipment, etc.

BIKE
Your use of a camp bike while on the playa -- also on a "First come, first served" basis. If you can bring your own bike for 2024, please do, as we may not have enough for everyone this year. (BTW, not all our bikes are perfect, we only promise that they will have at least one working gear and will brake - but we provide tools, basic supplies, and a Bike Fairy who can help you keep your ride rolling). You will need to bring your own bike lock.

INDIVIDUAL USE OF THE DOMES
Use of domes "after hours" for individual work or a spontaneous circle.

SUPPORTING OUR BUILD WEEK TEAM
Sunday night (Build Week Eve) dinner meeting, and hotel accommodations -- one night, in shared rooms -- in Reno, so we can head out to the playa together on Monday morning fresh and ready to go...as well as food & water for the team during the Build.

REFUNDABLE FEES:

BUILD WEEK FEE
Build Week (Aug 21-26) is a magical, transformative event unto itself, as any veteran burner from any camp will tell you, but it's not for everyone. As an extra incentive join the Build Team (and to ensure it is fully supported), Shamandome adds a refundable $100 Build Week Fee onto our Camp Dues.
If you join our Build Team and you arrive in Black Rock City by 12pm on Monday, 8/19 (first day of Build Week), your $100 Build Week Fee will be refunded after the Burn. We welcome campers to join the Build Team later during Build Week week - all build service is sorely needed and will be heartfully honored - but we must reserve this refund for those who can arrange to arrive on the first day of the Build.
(The number of Build Week passes the camp receives from Burning Man is limited. Please apply early.)

BREAKDOWN DEPOSIT
Shamandome also adds a fully refundable $250 Break Down Deposit onto our Camp Dues, which will be returned after the burn to all who vigorously and enthusiastically help break down the camp until 6PM on Monday - Labor Day, Sep 2nd.
We really don't want to keep this money.


TOTAL CAMP DUES
$400 + $350 refundable fees = $750

Note: if you are accepted into camp and pay your Total Camp Dues, then find you are unable to attend, you may request a refund (less a $25 processing fee) -- until July 15. Should you cancel after that, one-half of your Total Camp Dues is refundable -- until August 15, when no refunds will be granted, unless due to sudden and extremely dire circumstances.

​________________________________________

Your Camp Dues supports more than the Shamandome community.
They benefit every Burner who visits our camp.
________________________________________

As a SHAMANDOME CAMPER, you pledge to :

-- arrive at camp by SUNDAY of the burn 8/25/24 (if you're not on our Build Team), so you can help with last-minute tasks to prepare the camp for receiving the public.

-- work at least one kitchen shift during the burn, whatever other Tasks you perform.

-- commit to the Ten Principles of Burning Man - especially Leave No Trace. (Also, we're very conscious of CONSENT, an "unwritten principle".)

--- if you drive to the playa, take at least two bags of camp-generated trash or recycling with you at the end of the burn.
(Bring bungee cords and maybe a net or tarp, for lashing bags onto the top of your car.)

-- lovingly serve in your scheduled shifts supporting our public offerings, the kitchen crew, or infrastructure (you will have one full day off to play).

--- joyously help break down and pack up our beautiful camp until at least 6pm on Monday (Labor Day).

You deserve to know what you're signing up for.

Camping at Burning Man is challenging, dusty, hot, and exhausting.

For a week (or more), you will have served spirit, the public, and each other; partied most heartily; played on playa art til you dropped; and maybe danced til dawn (or at dawn).

Breakdown is big. It's even more challenging after too much partying. So be advised, the most grueling three days of the burn are at the end, so please keep some energy in reserve. Pace yourself... because ALL Shamandome Campers help with break-down, so as to lovingly and safely disassemble, store and preserve our beautiful infrastructure.
"Many hands make light(er) work."

Our typical Breakdown Schedule:
On Saturday afternoon of the burn, we will start breaking down the Public Area of the camp.
(PLEASE PARTY RESPONSIBLY SATURDAY NIGHT)
We will work on Sunday from 10 AM until dinner at 6 PM (with a short lunch and siesta).
We will begin working again at 10 AM on Monday, to finish loading the container by 6PM Monday evening (Labor Day).
On Tuesday morning, the blessed Container Closing Crew (those who who stay until the very end) will conduct a final MOOP, lock the trailer, and bless the camp one more time before heading back to the default world, hopefully by noon.

COMPLETE THE JOURNEY
Staying and vigorously helping with camp breakdown until at least 6pm Monday, you will be part of the last, precious, most deeply gratifying hours with your Shamandome family.

FAIR WARNING:
Weather can easily delay all departures by a full day. The later you plan to leave, the more flexibility you will have.
So, it's a good idea to book any flight out of Reno at the earliest very late on Tuesday night.
Wednesday is best.
Why?
Leaving on Labor Day - at any time - can put you into an 8-to-12-hour EXODUS traffic jam, just to get off the playa. Traffic on the two-lane roads to interstate 80 can easily get backed up for hours as well. It can even happen on the Burner Bus. (Maybe you have heard horrible stories about the Exodus. They are absolutely true.) Those who leave on Monday often get to Reno only a few hours before those who leave at noon on Tuesday.

"My experience this summer was so beautiful, transformative, and I felt deeply connected to everyone as the week evolved - it was a truly amazing and fortunate step in my inner journey, for which I'm very grateful."
- Rhys

"My loves, You have all made such an impact on me. Being involved in Shamandome gave me the confidence to believe that I am actually capable of creating the space for others to heal themselves. All that I learned at Burning Man truly stuck with me in the default world...Down to things as simple as trusting my own advice. I would love to camp with shamandome again this year and help either before and/or after. So much love to my playa family!!!"
- Bethany

"This past year's burn was the most memorable and important experience of my life, and I attribute it mostly to the environment that was built at Shamandome. The loving & welcoming energy that was put into it by each and every one of you was so warm and made us feel comfortable from the moment we stepped foot in. That comfort led us to open up and receive the countless gifts that the playa has to offer, which has had such a profound impact on me."
- Omar

At the 2013 Burning Man in Black Rock City, I experienced a deep shift of paradigm in your healing presence, I want to thank you. So far I have changed job, moved in with good friends, adopted a homeless cat, and taken up rock climbing and Taijiquan. I have thought hard about my life goals, and am in the process of applying to Masters programs in acupuncture schools.”
- YangYi Chen

TESTIMONIALS

Once you've absorbed all of the info on the
Our Camp page, send a "hello" email to
Shamanistas@gmail.com - or use the Contact Form here --> and ask for a Camper Questionnaire.
We're open to new campers.
Be prepared to serve.