💧 Inside Judaism’s underground psychedelic revival

Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s psychedelic newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about the underground straight to your inbox. 

It’s the holidays. You’re probably spending time with your loved ones, so we appreciate you engaging with us today! Our dispatch is stacked with brain-titillating content ranging from censorship to trippy films to the origins of the Lizard King mushroom. You’ll even find a how-to on how to make your own psilocybin tincture, a story about the Vikings and mushrooms, and where you can secure a drug-checking kit before NYE.

If you’re not doing anything at the top of the year, we have a workshop that should be incredible on how psychedelics can help us rewrite the narratives we have about ourselves on January 5. It’s with one of our absolute favorite people in psychedelics, Mareesa Stertz, and you can find all the details here 🌟

Muscaria blessings 🍄,

Mary Carreón
Senior Editor

A Message from DoubleBlind

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The psychedelic movement is one of the most important grassroots-led initiatives in the world today.

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Our Latest

Tarot can be an extraordinary tool for reflecting on the past year, activating internal guidance for life direction, and finding new perspectives on important decisions. But until you have your own relationship with the cards, it can be easy to misread them. Here are 6 of the most common mistakes people make reading tarot.

The true origins of psychedelic “Lizard King” mushrooms are shrouded in mystery. We’ve traced it back to a mysterious mycologist, who took the moniker from the lyrics of a Doors song. Here’s what we know about this rare strain with the coolest name.

& More Must-Reads

• Yesterday was both Christmas and the first day of Hannukah, a rare convergence of the Christian and Jewish holidays. To celebrate this calendrical unity, we’re taking a look at how the psychedelic Renaissance is influencing modern Judaism. Because beneath the surface, a new generation of holy rebels from the fringes of Jewish life are using psychedelics to revolutionize their religion. Read the full story here.
  

• This Kenyan artist’s work dances between palimpsest and prayer. He transcends boundaries, reconnecting with the natural world and reimagining a more humane co-existence. It’s a compelling, psychedelic vision of what the future may look like. Read the whole story.

Learn with Us

😴 Dreaming is our most common altered state of consciousness. And with a bit of practice, it can be a gateway to mind-boggling experiences and profound insights into the nature of reality. Here's how you can learn to lucid dream and which herbs can help.

⚔️ If you’re like us, you may have found yourself in the shower at some point, wondering just how many mushrooms Vikings berserkers ate before their bloodlust-filled battles. (No? Just us?) In this article, we dig into the evidence behind the myth of the Vikings’s mushroom use.

🍄 Mushroom tinctures are a perfect way to microdose. They’re discrete, easily dosed, portable, and don’t spoil. Here’s how to make your own.

DoubleBlind Digs

Here are today’s recommendations to help you live more psychedelically… 

1. This year, try a calmer, more relaxed start to your mornings. Spare your adrenals, hold off on the coffee, and drink MUD/WTR. It tastes like cacao and a chai latte has a deliciously healthy, calm baby. You’ll feel better all day and, surprisingly, may actually have more energy. 
   

2. Thinking of quitting tobacco this year? Microdosing psilocybin can be helpful for the chemical addiction, but the habitual act of smoking something can be a little harder to kick. Puff Herbals makes some great smoking blends. You can get them as cigarettes or just loose leaf for rolling your own. 
   

3. Xula wants to help you cultivate resilience in 2025. They have a whole suite of high-end, adaptogenic, stress-reducing tinctures and gummies with CBD, cannabinoids, and medicinal herbs. Support your nervous system here.
   

4. If you plan on partying this New Year’s Eve, please remember to test your drugs. Accidental overdoses from substances adulterated with fentanyl are a really terrible way to start a new year. You can check them in the privacy of your own home with a kit from the nonprofit DanceSafe. Grab your kit today! Use code DOUBLEBLIND for 10% off your next purchase.

*We may make a commission from purchases made through these links, but we only feature brands and organizations we trust. Proceeds help us keep our psychedelic journalism alive.

Together with Microdosing for Healing

EMPOWER: A 16-Week Microdosing Program to Taper Off Antidepressants

56% of people who try to get off antidepressants end up back on within a year. 

Microdosing is a powerful aid for the process, but it only goes so far. Guidance and community can make an enormous difference in how well it sticks. The EMPOWER program is exclusively for individuals weaning off antidepressants and pharmaceuticals. 

Get experienced microdosing guidance and a supportive community of peers who understand what you’re going through. It starts January 2025.

Register Here

Watch Now

You may have noticed we just launched a new subscription model to support DoubleBlind’s independent psychedelic journalism. We believe this is essential in the new algorithm-driven media ecosystem we find ourselves in. Can journalism like ours actually change drug policy and drive social change? Does it make a difference? We certainly think so. 

DoubleBlind Co-Founder Shelby sat down with our Senior Editor Mary to talk about the role of journalism in the psychedelic movement and how it ties into major global and political trends. Watch the full conversation here.