Join mystic poet, artist, and teacher, Janaka Stucky, at the Alembic for a performance of Ascend Ascend—followed by a talk on how literature functions as a vessel for mystical experience.

Published in 2019, Ascend Ascend was written over the course of twenty days coming in and out of trance states brought on by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals while secluded in the tower of a 19th century church. The book-length poem is rooted in the Jewish mystical tradition of Hekhalot literature, which chronicles an ascent up the Kabbalistic Tree of Life to witness the “chariot of God.” Through this work and other related texts we will discuss how literature functions as a valid vessel for mystical experience, as well as how the mechanics of mystical literature can lead beyond semantic values to induce a suspension of consciousness—in turn offering an induction into the same transformational conditions that they document. A post-lecture Q&A with the audience will be moderated by the Alembic's own Erik Davis.