As more adults reach toward psychedelic medicine for healing and self-discovery, many often describe their deeply-felt experiences in mystical or "transpersonal" terms--concepts, imagery, and archetypes which lie beyond waking consciousness. With myriad examples of exploring altered states dating back before the Common Era, what can Jews learn from their own ancestral texts about the process of preparing for, navigating within, and making meaning out of these experiences, no matter how they are catalyzed. We will learn from the first Jewish psychonaut, Ezekiel, and the later magical and mystical traditions inspired by his visions as helpful guides for our own journeys within the psyche.

Zac Kamenetz is a rabbi and community leader based in Berkeley, CA. He holds an MA in Biblical literature and languages from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union and received rabbinic ordination from the head of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court in 2012. As the founder and CEO of Shefa, Zac is leading a movement to integrate safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition, advocating for the healing of individual and inherited traumas, and inspiring a Jewish religious and creative renaissance in the 21st century. He is a qualified instructor of MBSR and is certified in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy through Inbodied Life and the Hakomi Institute of Northern California.