Welcome to “Judaism is Psychedelic,” a four-part online salon series exploring the intersection of the Jewish religion with psychedelic consciousness! Hosted by Madison Margolin.
Through this series, attendees will walk away with a basic understanding of how Jewish practices and wisdom can be used to guide a psychedelic experience, how the teachings of different spiritual leaders can be interpreted through a psychedelic lens, and how Jewish psychedelic values can be applied toward real world issues.
About Madison: Madison Margolin is a journalist, author, educator, and guide to all things Jewish-psychedelic. Originally from Los Angeles, she splits her time between Israel and New York. Her first book, Exile & Ecstasy: Growing Up with Ram Dass and Coming of Age in the Jewish Psychedelic Underground, was published by Hay House in November 2024, and she has two more books forthcoming. She is the co-founder of psychedelic media startup and magazine DoubleBlind, as well as of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit. She is also the host of the Set & Setting Podcast on the Be Here Now Network, and a contributing editor to Jewish publishing studio Ayin Press, where she curates a psychedelic column called Speaking from Experience. Having covered cannabis, psychedelics, and Jewish culture for the past decade for outlets like Rolling Stone, VICE, and Playboy, you can check out more of her work on her website or follow along on Instagram.
Buy Madison’s book here.
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In addition to series tickets, you will get access to our community Discord (with a channel for this series to chat between events)—as well as free salon tickets each month, discounts, free members-only events, and more.
Date Episode November 3, 2024 Judaism is Psychedelic
In this introductory salon, we’ll define key terms like “psychedelic” and “set and setting” in order to show how Jewish wisdom, practices, and narrative can serve as both the container to have an altered experience and the framework through which to prepare for, navigate, and integrate it. Through the Jewish calendar, sacred containers of time, and rituals, it becomes clear that the practice of Judaism itself can herald alternate states of consciousness that reflect the expanded, heightened consciousness of the original members of the tribe, who developed a religion which expresses and holds space for these expanded states.November 17, 2024 Rebbe Nachman’s Philosophy on Breath, Song, Dance, and Talking to G-d as Tools for Psychedelic Journeying
A grandson of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Hasidic Judaism), Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810) originally from Bratslav, Ukraine, is growing in popularity to this day as thousands of pilgrims travel to his gravesite in Uman, Ukraine, every year, even during the war, to pray and connect spiritually. Rebbe Nachman is known for his mandate to be happy always, even if, and especially if, it means connecting to G-d specifically through a broken heart and transforming pain. He discussed at length the spiritual connection inherent in breath, dance, and having one-on-one chats with G-d—all which can be used as tools in a psychedelic journey, in addition to drawing from snippets of his wisdom as a whole. December 1, 2024 Ram Dass’ Be Here Now as a Framework to Understand the Psychedelic State
Famed author of Be Here Now, Ram Dass was originally known as Richard Alpert, a nice Jewish boy and psychedelic researcher at Harvard, who, having been expelled from the institution, traveled to India and became a disciple of the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. His writings reflect both his varied psychedelic experiences as well as the guru’s teachings, and can be used as a wisdom to ground into a psychedelic experience, and set intentions for personal growth, healing, and exploration. December 15, 2024 The Promise of Psychedelic Consciousness in Trauma Treatment and Conflict Resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
There’s more to psychedelic consciousness than simply having an experience; so the question becomes, what do you do with that? Given the state of affairs in the Middle East, it’s become somewhat of an obvious question whether psychedelics can serve a role in healing the trauma of war and resolving conflict. What role does psychedelic consciousness, messianism, trauma, and healing play in both fueling and solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict?
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