A Special Presentation in Cooperation with Nowdats

For this month’s edition of Cardea’s residency at Nowadays, Cardea Community Manager, Paige Rothaus, will lead a panel with the top psychedelic community leaders in NYC to discuss the importance of community to support psychedelic experiences, and how these once underground community spaces can be more accessible and “therapeutic” without the need of a licensed therapist.

PANELISTS:

Kat Lakey
Kat Lakey is the founder and director of The Psychedelic Assembly. In 2017, Kat began an Ayahuasca apprenticeship in Peru with Jessica Bertram, an Ayahuasquera who came by strong personal reference from Dr. Dennis McKenna. She spent 3 years in and out of the Jungle as a student of plant medicine, before moving back to NYC in 2021, to work as the in-house videographer and events coordinator at The Blue Building in Midtown Manhattan. There she birthed the idea of the Psychedelic Assembly, an intimate NYC Psychedelic Conference which debuted September of 2022. In February of 2023, Kat transformed the Blue Building space to its next venture, and launched the Athenaeum, a member-supported psychedelic social club, co-working space, library, museum, and performance venue – making the Athenæum a central gathering place for all psychedelic community-based events, educational programming, and networking.

Doc Kelley
hristopher “Doc” Kelley received a PhD in Religion from Columbia University where he studied Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with Robert A. F. Thurman. He is a scholar of Buddhism and a part-time professor in religious studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School University, and Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. He is also the co-founder of Psychedelic Sangha, which he considers a “spiritual community without a guru.” The Sangha offers community of like-minded individuals through integration circles, dose-friendly Bardo Bath gatherings, pop-up BYO ceremonies, and retreats. Doc is an early pioneer in the NYC Psychedelic Renaissance and community builder with a mission to liberate the psychedelic experience from the underground allowing accessibility in a safe container.

Pammy Jackson
Founded The Psychedelic Sisterhood in February 2020 to establish a sacred space for growth, healing, and womxn’s empowerment through altered states. She divides her time immersed in the new wave of psychedelic research by co-creating in community as co-president of New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives (NYMHA), a Marketing Director of the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society, and an event organizer for the Global Psychedelic Society — a worldwide community of organizers offering guidance and resources to those interested in learning more about psychedelics and building thriving communities. Prior to founding The Psychedelic Sisterhood, Pammy began her healing journey with psychedelics in 2015 after a heart-opening spiritual awakening with Ayahuasca. Since then, she has vowed to be of service to plant medicines and strives to build heart-centered programming that serves womxn’s and non-binary’s holistic health by cultivating a balance of the divine feminine with us all.

Undrea (Dre) Wright
Dre is the Founder of the Ancestor Project, whose mission is to integrate ancestral Sacred Earth Medicine wisdom into the modern journeyers’ experience, to reduce harm and expand consciousness. He believes that Sacred Earth Medicine is key in liberating all oppressed peoples. The Ancestor Project facilitates online and in-person opportunities for learning that support radical self-transformation in the name of collective liberation. Dre has been working to heal himself with sacred medicines for over 15 years. He is a cannabis entrepreneur that was instrumental in the decriminalization and medical bill passed in Maryland. He focuses on equity and inclusion in all healing work and communities. Dre practices in the Traditional Amazonian ways, informed by the South American Shipibo-Conibo and Quechua-Lamista lineages, having trained with various global indigenous masters. In June of 2022, he completed his MAPS MDMA psychedelic-assisted Therapy Program and is currently enrolled in his Ph.D. program for transpersonal psychology.

(Teachers are subject to change.)

Please note: The use of psychedelic substances is not part of this program.