About

She is the author of Exile & Ecstasy: Growing Up with Ram Dass and Coming of Age in the Jewish Psychedelic Underground (Hay House Publishing, November 2023), and two more psychedelic books forthcoming with Ayin Press and Artisan Books/Hachette Book Group. Drafted and re-drafted in Tzfat and in Brooklyn, her first book is a memoir of gonzo journalism about the intersection of Jewish and psychedelic consciousness, written from the perspective of growing up in both the cannabis legalization movement and in the Ram Dass community.

Currently a contributing editor to Ayin Press—an artist-run publishing platform and production studio rooted in and emanating outward from Jewish culture—she also hosts a podcast called Set & Setting on the Be Here Now Network, and has written for Rolling Stone, Playboy, VICE, High Times, and Tablet Magazine, among other outlets.

Her work is focused on cannabis, psychedelics, Judaism, and spirituality, but also extends to culture, policy, science, agriculture, technology, and religion-at-large. In jest, "Jews & Drugs" is an overarching theme in Madison's writing, but really her passion centers on transcendence and healing in order to access that which is within and beyond the self. Be it through getting high off acid or G-d, meditation or movement, creativity or somatics, her work explores the various ways in which people nourish their souls.

Co-founder of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit and DoubleBlind, a print magazine and digital media startup covering psychedelics and where they intersect with mental health, environmental justice, social equity, and more, Madison also teaches on Judaism and psychedelics, such as with Tzfat’s LiveKabbalah or Psychedelics Today, and offers consulting and guidance for those on the Jewish-psychedelic path.

Madison got her start with a column on cannabis at the Village Voice, just after receiving her Master's from Columbia Journalism School. Prior to that, she lived in Tel Aviv, working with Israel's African refugee population. In a past life, she also lived at a crazy co-op called Cloyne, while pursuing an interdisciplinary Bachelor’s in Rhetoric and Cognitive Linguistics at UC Berkeley. Fascinated by language, she has studied French, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. 

A lifelong student, she has completed coursework through Hila Dekel’s Medicine Carrier Training in Pardes Chana, the Jerusalem Narrative Therapy Institute, and and has studied kabbalah and applied chassidis through Simchat Shlomo/Shevach. Having practiced yoga since the age of 12, in her "free time," you can find Madison flowing through asanas, dancing, hiking, spinning her hula hoop, scheming for the next Rainbow Gathering, or studying the wisdom of Rebbe Nachman.

Originally from Los Angeles, she splits her time between New York and Israel. Catch her in the caves of the kivrei tzadikim of Tzfat, cafe hopping in Pardes Chana, or noshing on pickles at Canter’s Deli, with a hop into a Brooklyn jam or hike at Harriman in between.