Unlocking the Mysteries is a large-scale drone show created by House of Fabl for Burning Man 2023. Featuring a fleet of 1,000 choreographed drones across a 270-meter sky canvas, the show tells a mythic aerial story inspired by the Eleusinian Mysteries — a 2,000-year-old, women-led psychedelic ritual tradition that once formed the spiritual heart of the Greek and Roman empires.

The performance brings to life the sacred rites once held at the Temple of Eleusis — rituals that united thousands in a shared journey of death, rebirth, and transformation. After being buried for nearly two millennia, these mystery traditions are now re-emerging, inviting us to reimagine what collective ritual could look like in a modern world.

Developed in narrative collaboration with Christiana Musk and Brian Muraresku, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Immortality Key, the show draws from groundbreaking research uncovering the suppressed use of visionary sacraments in early Western spirituality. Unlocking the Mysteries transforms that ancient wisdom into a modern sky story — one that explores the balance between chaos and cosmos, myth and memory, technology and transcendence.

The drone show was designed as the aerial counterpart to Chalice to Eleusis, a monumental sculptural altar also created by House of Fabl. Together, these two works formed a multi-sensory ritual experience — one in the sky, the other on the ground — reconnecting audiences to the sacred through immersive scale, symbol, and sound.

The experience is underscored by an original soundtrack from musical artist Boreta, enveloping the audience in rhythm and resonance as sacred symbols unfold across the desert night.

Photos by Nathan McBride, Andrew Wyatt, John Mark Pero