PT 619 - Sphinx Gate with Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul
Release Date: 07/31/2025
PT 623 - Dee Dee Goldpaugh - Embracing Pleasure
Psychedelics Today
Joe Moore interviews Dee Dee Goldpaugh, LCSW about their new book Embrace Pleasure: How Psychedelics Can Heal Our Sexuality. The discussion covers the book’s reception, critiques of over-medicalization, personal healing experiences, definitions of erotic energy and pleasure, historical repression of substances, and contemporary ethical concerns. Key topics Conversion therapy: historical use of psychedelics in conversion practices, risks today, and need for professional consensus to ban psychedelic-assisted conversion therapy. Motivation: reaction to dominance of the clinical/medical model in...
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PT 622 - Matt Xavier - The Psychedelic DJ
Psychedelics Today
From the Rave Scene to Psychedelic Therapy In this episode, Kyle Buller speaks with Matt Xavier, DJ, therapist, and author. The conversation took place live at Psychedelic Science. Matt recalls his early years in the rave culture of 1990s New York. He ran record labels, hosted psychedelic trance events, and lived through the intensity of that scene. Why Music Is Medicine Matt believes music should be treated as medicine. He explains how playlists can align with the stages of a psychedelic journey—onset, climb, peak, and descent. He encourages people to listen with intention and to...
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PT 621 - Dr Case Newsom - Zendo Project
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore sits down with Dr. Case Newsom, an emergency room physician in Denver and Medical Director for both Zendo Project and Stadium Medical. They explore how psychedelic harm reduction is merging with event medicine at concerts, festivals, and large-scale gatherings. Dr. Newsom shares his path from osteopathic medical training to bridging emergency medicine with psychedelic peer support. He explains how the Zendo Project has expanded beyond Burning Man, and why collaboration with medical teams matters. The discussion highlights new triage protocols, cultural shifts in...
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PT 620 - Kat Murti – Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Meta Censorship, and the Fight for Science
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore is joined by Kat Murti, Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the largest youth-led network working to end the war on drugs. SSDP organizes at the campus, local, state, federal, and international levels, with more than 100 chapters across the U.S. and sister organizations worldwide. Kat shares her personal journey into drug policy reform, from witnessing DEA raids on AIDS patients in the 1990s to fighting for civil liberties as a student at UC Berkeley. She explains how SSDP empowers young people to challenge outdated laws and promote...
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PT 619 - Sphinx Gate with Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore is joined by Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul, the visionaries behind Sphinx Gate, one of Burning Man 2025’s most ambitious and mythic art installations. Inspired by The NeverEnding Story, Sphinx Gate features two towering 34-foot sphinxes and a fully immersive, transformative art experience designed to help participants gain a deeper understanding of themselves. The trio explores how art and play can catalyze personal and collective transformation—without the need for psychedelics—by helping people reframe inner challenges as quests for growth. They discuss the...
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PT 618 - Chad Charles - Integrating 5-MeO-DMT: Therapy, Harm Reduction, and Best Practices
Psychedelics Today
In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore sits down with Chad Charles — educator, mentor, and practitioner specializing in 5-MeO-DMT therapy. Chad shares his decade-long journey working with 5-MeO-DMT, emphasizing the importance of: Practitioner training and mentorship Personalized, therapeutic alliances The nuanced understanding of dissociative states Ethics in standardized clinical dosing A trauma-informed approach to psychedelic care He also introduces his upcoming research project, analyzing 500+ one-on-one sessions to illuminate best practices and ethical frameworks...
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PT 617 - Alan Davis - Psychedelic Research and Patient Safety at Ohio State & Exploring Ibogaine's Potential
Psychedelics Today
In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore sits down with Alan Davis, Associate Professor at Ohio State University, to explore the evolving landscape of Ibogaine research and its therapeutic potential. Alan offers a deep dive into the Iboga Patient Survey, a groundbreaking initiative collecting real-world data on the safety and efficacy of Ibogaine—particularly for those struggling with substance use disorders and mental health challenges. The conversation sheds light on the need for rigorous, community-informed research that could pave the way toward FDA approval and increased access...
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PT 616 - Karina Bashir on Psychedelics, Islam, and Human Rights
Psychedelics Today
In this engaging episode of the Psychedelics Today podcast, host Joe Moore sits down with Karina Bashir, an attorney working at the intersection of law, business ethics, and psychedelics. Karina, of counsel with Antithesis Law and an active member of the psychedelic community, shares her unique journey from human rights advocacy into the evolving field of psychedelic law. The conversation explores her presentation at Harvard on psychedelics and monotheistic religions, and her efforts to bridge the gap between Islamic communities and psychedelic-assisted healing. She discusses the legal...
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PT 615 - Kristen Nash and Erica Siegel on Risk Reduction and Psychedelic Safety
Psychedelics Today
In this deeply important episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore is joined by Kristen Nash, MPH, and returning guest Erica Siegel, LCSW, for a nuanced conversation about risk reduction, harm prevention, and ethical education in the psychedelic space. Kristen shares the powerful and heartbreaking story of losing her 21-year-old son after a tragic psychedelic-related incident. Motivated by this loss and her background in public health, she founded the Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education and launched the Before You Trip campaign—an educational initiative piloting in Colorado aimed...
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PT 614 - Erica Rex: Scientific Integrity, Psychedelic Research, and the Religious Leader Study
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore speaks with award-winning science journalist Erica Rex about her personal experience participating in psychedelic research, her upcoming book Seeing What Is There: My Search for Sanity in the Psychedelic Era, and the complex story behind the recently published Religious Leader Psilocybin Study from Johns Hopkins and NYU. They examine: Erica's firsthand experience as a participant in the original 2012 study that helped launch Roland Griffiths’ prominence in psychedelic science. The goals and outcomes of the Religious Leader Study, which sought to explore how...
info_outlineIn this episode, Joe Moore is joined by Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul, the visionaries behind Sphinx Gate, one of Burning Man 2025’s most ambitious and mythic art installations. Inspired by The NeverEnding Story, Sphinx Gate features two towering 34-foot sphinxes and a fully immersive, transformative art experience designed to help participants gain a deeper understanding of themselves.
The trio explores how art and play can catalyze personal and collective transformation—without the need for psychedelics—by helping people reframe inner challenges as quests for growth. They discuss the project's mythic inspiration, how it has evolved into a “transmersive” self-discovery journey, and how community co-creation has made this dream real. With rituals, interactive stations, laser-eyed sphinxes, and an oracle offering personalized missions, Sphinx Gate blends storytelling, inner work, and spectacle.
They also touch on the deeper intention: shifting culture by normalizing integration, peer support, and emotional exploration—through joy. From honoring Indigenous land stewards to designing future traveling versions and permanent “Museums of Self-Exploration,” this project is just the beginning.
Topics Covered:
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What Sphinx Gate is and how it works
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The archetypal and cultural roots of sphinxes
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How The NeverEnding Story inspired the vision
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Designing integration spaces without psychedelics
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Co-creation, community magic, and scaling big dreams
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The emotional and mystical potential of participatory art
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Fantasia Fridays, Black Rock Philharmonic, and more playa programming
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Vision for life beyond Burning Man
Support Sphinx Gate:
Help bring this mythic experience to life and fund its future by donating at TheSphinxGate.com
Follow:
IG: @thesphinxgate
www.thesphinxgate.com