Allison Carignan

Annotated Bibliography
Fadiman, J., Grob, C., Bravo, G., Agar, A., & Walsh, R. (2003). Psychedelic research revisited.
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 35(2), 111-126.
This paper reflects on the two decades before the government banned human subjects studies in
the mid-1960s when research was done with psychedelics; the studies reviewed provide
understanding of diverse psychological, social, and religious phenomena through interviews with
the original researchers. Written by James Fadiman, a psychologist and writer known for
extensive work in the field of psychedelic research, Charles Grob, a professor of Psychiatry and
Pediatrics, Gary Bravo, a psychiatrist, and Roger Walsh, a professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy
and Anthropology, all distinguished men in their respective fields, the paper is reliable. However,
the interview with James Fadiman and his psychedelic work is biased, giving many personal
anecdotes, but his experiences provide insight and potential for the substances uses. He discusses
his research studies and personal experiences, the purpose of transpersonal psychology, social
effects of psychedelics, and religious freedom. Overall, the paper provides hope for the future of
psychedelic use coming into the medical field and being expanded freely to religious practices.

Jade, R. (2013). Current Research on the Human Experience of Spirituality Following the
Ingestion of Magic Psilocybin Mushrooms: An Annotated Bibliography for Social
Workers and Other Health Care Professionals. Current Research on the Human
Experience of Spirituality Following the Ingestion of Magic Psilocybin Mushrooms: An
Annotated Bibliography for Social Workers and Other Health Care Professionals.
This paper highlights recent scientific research on the therapeutic effects of psilocybin and
psilocin on humans, their reported rates of use in the U.S., and the types of social and legal

discrimination surrounding the illegal possession and use of the drug. It is useful in that it talks
in-depth about psilocybin, its chemical makeup, and the effects it produces in users; however
information regarding the stigma and societal opinions behind magic mushrooms do not relate
the essential question as well. There may be some bias in this essay, especially towards Magic
Mushroom Spiritual Practitioners, since it is a personal paper and not written by an expert, but
the author does provide an annotated bibliography of the research she addresses to provide
credibility. This paper is useful since it addresses the potential religious contexts for magic
mushroom use, relating to the guiding question of entheogen use in religions through history.

King, C. (2012). Entheogens, the Conscious Brain and Existential Reality: Part 1. Journal of
Consciousness Exploration & Research, 3(6).
This article provides a research overview of what is currently known about entheogens and their
ability to affect the brain and transform conscious experience through their altered serotonin
receptor dynamics. History and background is provided on many entheogens, however, some of
these entheogens are off-topic, such as, alcohol, opium, cocaine, ketamine, and MDMA. He
addresses entheogens in a cultural and historical context, the enigma of subjective consciousness,
and the mind-brain relationship. King also provides in-depth accounts of each entheogens roots
and discoveries. His explanation of the hard problem in conscious research relates to the
essential question guiding research and will be useful in explaining the subjectivity of
entheogens. Furthermore, this article does not seem biased and is reliable with its immense
research and citations.

Krippner, S. The Future of Religion Stanley Krippner, Ph. D. Alan Watts Professor of
Psychology, Saybrook Graduate School & Research Center.
This paper provides a new perspective to the use of religious entheogen use. Krippner separates
religion and spirituality with his own definitions, arguing that the future of religion depends on
people acknowledging the difference between the two. There is actually very little talk of
entheogens throughout the paper, with its main focus being the evolution of religions. He does
however address the cults and sects who participate in ayahuasca use, but later claims that it
is very possible to have spiritual experiences without drugs. This paper is reliable, although
probably a tad biased; it was written by a psychology professor at Saybrook Graduate School and
the author provides his opinions on religious transformations and groups. Since the whole paper
revolves around the future of religion, it does not address many of the historical aspects, other
than religious wars. Despite not being entirely related to the essential question, this paper looks
at entheogens as potential entheogens, providing a different view that their effects can be
reached through other means.

Krippner, S., & Sulla, J. (2000). Identifying spiritual content in reports from ayahuasca sessions.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 19, 59-76.
This paper by Stanley Krippner and Joseph Sulla investigates religious ayahuasca usage around
the globe and its actual spiritual content in sessions. The authors give history of when and where
ayahuasca use began and explain its function in three different Brazilian churches, even delving
briefly into the psychedelic effects of the drug that can provide religious insight. They use
information from three different religions to identify spiritual content in ayahuasca reports in
tangent with the Casto Spirituality Scoring System. This source is reliable; it is composed of

research on religions and multiple studies conducted over many decades that observe the effects
of the drug on those during ceremonies. Various habitual users of ayahuasca share the drugs
effect on them and how it seeped into their religious lives. Similarly, it is also useful due to its
immense information on ayahuasca, the huasca brew, and origins of the drink, but that also
makes its information very specific to this one drug, which could be a limiting factor.

Molnar, E. (2013). The responsible use of entheogens in the context of bioregionalism. European
Journal of Ecopsychology, 4(1), 78-89.
In this article, Molnar evaluates the typically ignored relationship between entheogens and,
places that are characterized by a strong ecological ethos, bioregionalism. Despite the little
evidence that entheogen users are actually influenced by bioregional thought, she claims there
are some ethical considerations regarding the use of plant-based entheogens outside of the
geographic areas they were grown in. This article explores various ways in which this disconnect
may be problematic, and discusses possible connections which could foster more responsible use
of entheogens from an ecological perspective. Issues and impacts raised by non-bioregional uses
of entheogens are also discussed, concluding with thoughts on reconciling these problems. This
article is objective and unbiased, but it may not be useful for the topic of entheogens in spiritual
and religious experiences; although the article is partially about entheogens, the majority of the
paper revolves around the concept of bioregionalism, which is not part of the guiding question
nor area of interest, such as animaphany and ecological footprints.

Richards, W. A. (2003-2004). Navigation within consciousness: Insights from four decades of

psychotherapy research with imagery, music, and entheogens. Journal of the Association
for Music and Imagery, 9, 28-39.
This is a personal paper, basically a reflection, of William Richards early research with music,
imagery, and entheogens that took place in 1963. Rather than focusing on the scientific function
of entheogens in the brain, Richards highlights the important of transcendence of the ego through
the use of music, religion, and responsible entheogen-use. He references Walter Pahnke's Good
Friday Experiment to update with Rick Doblins follow-up study with the first experiments
participants to show the value people can take from an entheogen experience that can last a
lifetime. Although this article is not totally useful because of the discussion of the ego and the
psyche, there are many famous entheogen-researchers mentioned and their famous experiments
to provide validity to entheogen use. The author takes a somewhat different stance, claiming that
only older, mature people should use entheogens and those younger with no sense of self need to
stray from the substances; however, since it is mainly Richardss opinion, it is interesting
information, but not entirely grounded in facts.

Shanon, B. (2002). Entheogens, Reflections on Psychoactive Sacramentals. Journal of

Consciousness Studies, 9(4), 85-94.
This paper is a reflection of Thomas Robertss essay, Psychoactive Sacramentals, in which the
author discusses the validity behind entheogen use in religions around the world throughout
history. He comes to the conclusion that, the importance of entheogens in religion is solely up to
the individual consuming the substance, with heavy influence from the set and setting.
Furthermore, he states that the use of psychotropic substance is at the roots of perhaps all

religions, and that it is deeply embedded in human culture, and that it is intrinsically intertwined
in a the basic human instinct of the search for transcendence. Psychotropic references from the
Old and New Testaments of the Bible are also evaluated for possible entheogen contexts.
Although this paper is biased because it is the authors reflection and he has had a positive
experience with ayahuasca, it sums up the main important pieces of Robertss paper.

Walsh, R. (2003). Entheogens: True or false. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 22,
1-6.
This paper by Robert Walsh reviews the arguments against the possibility of psychedelics being
able to induce genuine mystical experiences and their shortcomings. He discusses the differences
between psychotomimetics, hallucinogens, psychedelics, and entheogens, building the argument
that psychedelics can sometimes be entheogens. He also compares drug-induced experiences to
natural mystic experiences, concluding that the two are relatively similar while providing a
theory for understanding the varieties of mystical experience. This is a reliable source
considering that Walsh is a professor of psychiatry and religious studies at the University of
California in Irvine. It is useful due to its applicability to the history of entheogens and if they
can produce true religious experience. It may be biased since it is only the opinion of one doctor
and it is his own paper, however he does have two pages of references. This source is relatively
useful, although it does not actually address the neuroscience behind entheogens, it does provide
the point of view that hallucinogens can produce legitimate religious experiences in certain
individuals with the right mind-set. His historical references to entheogens used in ancient
religions and contemporary examples is solid background for the topic.

Walsh, R., & Grob, C. S. (2005). Psychedelics and the Western World: A fateful marriage.
This paper addresses the role of psychedelics in the Western world, specifically focusing on,
lysergic acid diethylamide, mescaline, and psilocybin, after their introduction in the 1960s. It
explains the differences between how many of the worlds societies view drugs versus western
societies, highlighting the contrasting polyphasic and monophasic values. Walsh goes beyond
entheogens connection to religion to entheogens as therapeutically beneficial, stating that
psychedelics show therapeutic promise for multiple problems, such as chronic alcoholism and
PTSD, concluding that psychedelics are the safest drugs when used medically and carefully. This
paper seems relatively reliable; it has cited notes and well-known psychologists and theories
mentioned throughout. The discussion on Tibetan Buddhist students using entheogens could be
used to support the role of entheogens in religion; this may be too focused on LSD to be used
multiple times, but does provide a good background into drug experimentation.