Natalie Sanandaji: Surviving the Nova Festival

Nov 9, 2023

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On October 7th, Natalie Sanandaji, a Persian Jew from New York, attended a psytrance festival, to dance and feel the acceptance she only finds among her fellow peace-loving trancers. The events of that day and what has followed are deeply etched in our global consciousness. Today on Life is a Festival, Natalie tells her story.

Our conversation today isn’t about sensational details or moral positions. Instead, Natalie and I have deliberately chosen to focus exclusively on the experience of a young person caught in an unbelievable situation. For those seeking an Israeli and Palestinian dialogue, I recommend my previous episode with Midburn co-founder Sharon Avraham and Palestinian peace activist Sami Awad who handle the topic with love and grace. The point of today’s talk is to illustrate how one young woman is transforming terror into service and to recognize the extraordinary courage and care of the good souls of the Tribe of Nova.

On the show, Natalie shares the unique magic of psytrance in fostering acceptance and peace and we pay tribute to the souls lost at the Nova festival. Natalie recounts the harrowing experience of making choiceless choices in the face of terror, how she's psychologically processing the attack, and her emergence as a leader and spokesperson, including her involvement in a New York fundraiser for victims where we first met.

Natalie, an Iranian Jew born and raised in New York, is a survivor of the Nova Festival Hamas terror attack. She hosts the Person Girl Podcast where she and her cohost Millie Efraim discuss topics deemed taboo in the Persian Community and interview a wide range of guests who offer a new perspective.

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Timestamps

(06:30): Natalie’s Persian Girl Podcast
(11:00): The special magic of a psytrance festival
(17:30): The good souls of the Tribe of Nova
(27:30): Natalie’s out of body experience and making choiceless choices
(37:00): What it’s like to run from terror
(44:30): Rescued by a hero in a white pickup truck
(51:00): The rise of anti-semitism after the attack
(57:30): How’s Natalie doing… really