A Psychedelic Bibliography
Literature on the Topic of Mind-Altering Substances
By Carl Teichrib
My past few essays have explored the subject of psychedelics, from the 1960s counter-culture to last month’s Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Colorado. As a Christian researcher on world trends, the psychedelic landscape is something I’ve monitored for some time, for it has profoundly shaped culture and is poised to reshape social norms, notions of spirituality, and legal frameworks. With that in mind and knowing there are some readers of Convergence who are specially interested in the topic, I’ve pulled together a bibliography from my own library.
The purpose in compiling this list is simple: for the mature Christian who desires to more fully understand this subject – its history, its language, its cultural impact, its spiritual message, and its potential trajectory – this bibliography may serve as a useful reference work.
Currently there are very few contemporary Christian books offering a critical analysis, and this needs to change; hence, any bibliography on the topic will be mainly comprised of non-Christian material. This list is no exception.
I’ve separated this bibliography into three parts:
1) Christian books offering a critical perspective.
2) Books that mainly advocate or promote the movement, or maily offer an historic angle within the dominant narrative.
3) Select texts on adjacent cultural/historical aspects.
Note that several works listed in catagories 2-and-3 are interchangeable. Further note that I am not including articles, scholarly papers or journals on the subject – just books. Also, every item listed is held within my research library, so if you need a quote checked or a source looked up, reach out to me. This is also a limited bibliography; I have some important gaps to fill within this collection.
Finally, and this should be said for clarity, I do not support or advocate the psychedelic movement or experience – especially its spiritual dimensions. However, when one is researching a subject, it is critical to understand the literature, arguments and positions, cultural points of impact, and histories. And so, when reading on a subject like this, use discernment and sound analysis and Biblical wisdom, regardless of the position being taken by the author of the book, whether Christian or otherwise.
And one more thing: If you have any suggestions regarding important books I need to consider, please respond in the comments section. Thank you!
“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.” — Ecclesiastes 12:12.
Part 1: Books offering a critical perspective within a Christian context.
Lande, Ashley. The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever: Transcendence, Psychedelics, and Jesus Christ (Lexham Press, 2024). This is Lande’s personal story of coming through a psychedelic addiction, her search for spirituality and meaning, and how God changed her life.
“I didn’t want to be human anymore. I was a cosmonaut, a cyborg, a being of pure light, effervescent froth on the crest of a cosmic wave, a character in a grand drama orchestrated by forces whose benevolence was always in question. But I was invincible, immortal – until I wasn’t.” – Lande, p.45.
Risse, Paul. The Psychedelic Christian (Rise Up Publishing, 2022). A short, artistically designed book that consolidates the author’s spiritual experiences. At the end of the text, Risse briefly wrestles with the medicinal use of psilocybin.
“What will happen when you die? It’s an important question to ask. The most important.” – Risse, p.31.
Ungit, Lewis. The Return of the Dragon: The Shocking Way Drugs and Religion Shape People and Societies (Glome Press, 2022). An overview of historical religious/cultural uses of psychedelics, and how this correlate to dangerous social/religious dynamics, including human sacrifice.
“What if what we experience while on hallucinogens are not in fact hallucinations? What if the spirits we experience and the entities we see are not imaginary, but in some way reflect actual things which are normally invisible to our own dimension?...
…The ancient Jews clearly concluded that people who take psychedelic drugs and report spiritual experiences really are experiencing spiritual things.” – Ungit, p.94.
2) Books mainly promoting the psychedelic experience, or mainly presenting a history within that dominant narrative.
Coleman, Cathy. Ralph Metzner: Explorer of Consciousness – The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer (Park Street Press, 2024).
Dobkin de Rios, Marlene and Oscar Janiger. LSD Spirituality and the Creative Process (Park Street Press, 2003).
Doblin, Rick and Brad Burge (editors). Manifesting Minds: A Review of Psychedelics in Science, Medicine, Sex, and Spirituality (Evolver Editions, 2014).
Dyck, Erika. Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD on the Canadian Prairies (University of Manitoba Press/Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).
Forte, Robert (editor). Entheogens and the Future of Religion (Park Street Press, 1997/2012).
Fritz, Jimi. Confessions of an Ethical Drug Dealer: A Psychedelic Travelogue and Memoir (SmallFry Press, 2021).
Gray, Christopher. The Acid Diaries: A Psychonaut’s Guide to the History and Use of LSD (Park Street Press, 2009).
Grof, Stanislav. LSD: Doorway to the Numinous (Park Street Press, 2009).
Hatsis, Thomas. LSD: The Wonder Child — The Golden Age of Psychedelic Research in the 1950s (Park Street Press, 2021).
__________. Psychedelic Mystery Traditions: Spirit Plants, Magical Practices, and Ecstatic States (Park Street Press, 2018).
Hofmann, Albert. LSD: My Problem Child – Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science (MAPS: 2009).
Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception (HarperPerennial, 1954/2009).
__________. The Perennial Philosophy (Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1945).
Jesso, James W. Soundscapes and Psychedelics: Exploring Electronic Mind Expansion (SoulsLantern Publishing, 2014).
Lattin, Don. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America (HarperOne, 2010).
Leary, Rosemary Woodruff. Psychedelic Refugee: The League for Spiritual Discovery, the 1960s Cultural Revolution, and 23 Years on the Run (Park Street Press, 2021).
Leary, Timothy. High Priest (Ronin Publishing, 1968/1995).
__________. Flash Backs: An Autobiography (J.P. Tarcher, 1983).
__________. Neuropolitique (Falcon Press, 1988).
__________. Start Your Own Religion (League for Spiritual Discovery, 1967).
__________. The Politics of Ecstasy (Ronin, Publishing, 1980/1998).
__________. Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (Ronin Publishing, 1965/1999).
Leary, Timothy and Ralph Metzner, Richard Alpert. The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Citadel Press, 1964/2007).
Lee, Martin A. and Bruce Shlain, Acid Dream: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond (Grove Press, 1992).
Luke, David and Rory Spowers. DMT Dialogues: Encounters with the Spirit Molecule (Park Street Press, 2018).
__________. DMT Entity Encounters: Dialogues on the Spirit Molecule (Park Street Press, 2021).
Marinacci, Mike. Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches: LSD, Cannabis, and Spiritual Sacraments in Underground America (Park Street Press, 2023).
McKenna, Dennis. The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna (North Star Press, 2012).
McKenna, Terence. Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge – A Radical History of Plants, Drugs and Human Evolution (Bantam Books, 1992).
__________. The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the God-dess, and the End of History (HarperOne, 1991/92).
__________. True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise (HarperOne, 1994).
McKenna, Terrence and Dennis McKenna. The Invisible Landscape: Mind Hallucinogens and the I Ching (HarperOne, 1993).
Naranjo, Claudio. The Healing Journey: Pioneering Approaches to Psychedelic Therapy (MAPS, 2013).
Nuwer, Rachel. I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023).
Partridge, Christopher. High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Pinchbeck, Daniel. Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism (Broadway Books, 2002).
Roberts, Andy. Divine Rascal: On the Trail of LSD’s Cosmic Couier, Michael Hollingshead (Strange Attractor Press, 2019).
Slack, Charles W. Timothy Leary, the Madness of the Sixties and Me (Peter H. Wyden, 1974).
Smith, Huston. Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2000).
St. John, Graham. Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (Evolver Editions, 2015).
Strassman, Rick. DMT: The Spirit Molecule (Park Street Press, 2001).
__________. DMT and the Soul of Prophecy (Park Street Press, 2014).
__________. My Altered States: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Trauma, Psychedelics, and Spiritual Growth (Park Street Press, 2024).
Symons, Allene. Aldous Huxley’s Hands: His Quest for Perception and the Origin and Return of Psychedelic Science (Prometheus Books, 2015).
Wolf, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Picador, 1968/2008).
3) Select books on adjacent cultural/historical aspects.
Cohen, Allen (editor). The San Francisco Oracle: The Psychedelic Newspaper of Haight Ashbury (Regent Press, digital scan of all 12 issues from 1966 to 1968).
Conners, Peter. White Hand Society: The Psychedelic Partnership of Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg (City Light Books, 2010).
Davis, Erik. High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies (MIT Press, 2019).
__________. Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (Yeti, 2010).
__________. Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Harmony Books, 1998).
Fritz, Jimi. Rave Culture: An Insider’s Overview – A Primer for the Global Rave Phenomenon (SmallFry Press, 1999).
Gillmor, Don. I Swear by Apollo: Dr. Ewen Cameron and the CIA-Brainwashing Experiments (Eden Press, 1987).
Goldberg, Danny. In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea (Akashic Books, 2017).
Hill, Christopher. Into the Mystic: The Visionary and Ecstatic Roots of 1960s Rock and Roll (Park Street Press, 2017).
Kaiser, David. How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival (W.W. Norton & Company, 2011).
Kinzer, Stephen. Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control (Henry Holt, 2019).
Kotler, Steven and Jamie Wheal. Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work (DEY/HarperCollins, 2017).
Kripal, Jeffrey J. Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion (The University of Chicago Press, 2007).
Lattin, Don. Distilled Spirits: Getting High, Then Sober, With a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk (University of California Press, 2012).
__________. Following Our Bliss: How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape our Lives Today (HarperSanFrancisco, 2003).
Leary, Timothy. Design for Dying (HarperEdge, 1997).
Lytle, Mark Hamilton. America’s Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Matthews, Mark. Droppers: America’s First Hippie Commune, Drop City (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010).
Miles, Barry. Hippie (Sterling Publishing, 2005).
Miller, Timothy. The Hippies and American Values (University of Tennessee Press, second edition, 2011).
Neville, Richard. Hippie Hippie Shake: The Dreams, the Trips, the Trials, the Love Ins, the Screw-ups… the Sixties (Bloomsbury, 1995).
Niman, Michael I. People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia (University of Tennessee Press, 1997).
Ohler, Norman. Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany (Penguin Press, 2017).
__________. Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age (Mariner, 2024).
O’Neill, Tom. Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties (Back Bay Books, 2020).
Partridge, Christopher. The Re-Enchantment of the West, 2 Volumes (T&T Clark International, 2004/2005).
Phillips, Jonathan Talat. The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic (Evolver Editions, 2011).
Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture (Routledge, 1999).
Schelly, Chelsea. Crafting Collectivity: American Rainbow Gatherings and Alternative Forms of Community (Routledge, 2014).
St. John, Graham. Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance (Equinox, 2012).
__________. Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Equinox, 2009).
Sylvan, Robin. Trance Formation: The Spiritual and Religious Dimensions of Global Rave Culture (Routledge, 2005).
__________. Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Equinox, 2009).
Toolan, David. Facing West From California’s Shores: A Jesuit’s Journey into New Age Consciousness (Crossroad, 1987).
Turner, Fred. From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (University of Chicago Press, 2006).
Weinstein, Harvey. A Father, a Son and the CIA (J. Lorimer & Comp., 1988).
Thanks so much for this great bibliography. I’m very grateful for your work exposing the invasion of psychedelics into our society. My husband Richard and I spent 14 years in the New Age Movement from 1962-1976, mostly in the Haight-Ashbury and the Bay Area, before being saved in 1976. Of course, we’d taken lots of LSD and been duped by the demonic forces they unleashed. Since then, RIchard has gone to seminary, and we’ve shared an apologetics ministry of speaking, teaching, and writing. We’ve written The Omega Point Series, a futuristic sci-fi adventure thriller aimed at drawing New Agers to Christ, as well as four booklets, one of which is called “Psychedelic Seduction: Drugging the World and the Church.” All are available through lighthousepublishing.com. Keep up the good work. www.richardandlindanathan.com