Independent publisher since 1984
A dream that became a press. A press that became a movement.
For over forty years, Synergetic Press has published the idea to regenerate people and planet
Where it began
Early beginnings ...
Outside the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, lies a patch of high desert: 120 acres of red earth, flat land, and pink-skied sunsets. It was here in 1969 that a collective of artists, ecologists, and dreamers decided to lay their roots. Learning from the land, they grew their own food, raised farm animals, built their furniture by hand, fired pottery, adobe bricks .... individuals that came together from various part of the world looking to find sustainable way of living and being.
Synergia Ranch is where the early activities of Synergetic Press took place, with a hand printing press, theater director Kathelin Gray started to print the early plays inder the Synergetic press imprint (see photo above).
Synergia Ranch, Santa Fe, New Mexico — Kathelin Gray a Synergetic Press hand printing press, circa 1972.
Deborah Parrish Snyder
Publisher, 1984–present
The Publisher since 1984
Deborah Parrish Snyder and the courage to publish.
In 1984, Deborah Parrish Snyder became the publisher of Synergetic Press decided that the stories swirling around her were too important to go untold. In 1986, she published the first English translation of the pioneering Ukraninan-Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky in the field of biospherics. She began to publish books on ethnobotany and psychedlics over the course of the following decades.
Deborah was driven by the surroundings of her experience and didn't acquire books from a distance. She was present at the conferences and in the rooms where cutting edge ideas were being presented. The authors she published were often her colleagues, her community, her co-conspirators. Having this unique perspective has lead to the special catalogue of titles the press publishes today.
That closeness to the world of visionaries is what makes this publishing house special.
Deborah opened the door for the creators of their time. She created a visionary space for the visionaries to be seen, heard, and shared with the world.
Deborah was more than just a publisher. She became a builder of dreams, a broadcaster of ideas, and creator of community.
First English-language treatise on Feng Shui, written by English missionary to China in 1879 — Fifth edition published by Synergetic Press, 1984. Cover design by Bertold Wolpe, inventor of the Albertus typeface and designer of the distinctive Faber & Faber covers of the 50s and 60s.
The first book
The book that started it all.
The first book Deborah published is written by the English missionary to China in 1979. John Mitchell, an English author, esotericist and prominent figure in the development of the Earth mysteries movement, was a speaker at the Institute of Ecotechnics conference in 1983 and he told Deborah about the book, would she be interested in publishing it? Recognizing the rare find that it was, Deborah, had no doubt that she would start her endeavor by taking a risk on publishing this strange gem.
"A rare gem ..."
The book arrived in the world with a hand-drawn cover by legendary cover designer, Bertold Wolpe, set in Albertus typeface, setting a standard of excellence in our book cover desings.
By the mid-1980s, Deborah found herself crossing an incredible adventure working with the team of scientists, designers, and thinkers were now conceiving Biosphere 2, the most challenging endeavor the visionaries of the Institute of Ecotechnics had yet faced. Visionary behind the project, John Allen, envisioned a world where humanity's capacity was in touch with its own survival.
The Biosphere 2 project played a significant role influencing the direction of publishing the press would go into. The largest laboratory for global ecology every built, Synergetic Press wanted to help build a library of knowledge about how the world works.
In 1985 Michael Rubenstein overhead a conversation about the Biosphere project and mentioned, almost in passing, that he had a manuscript written by Vladimir Vernadsky — the Russian scientist who wrote the first theory of the Biosphere in 1929. To the group's surprise, it had never been published in English. Synergetic Press published it.
She went on to publish Vernadsky's student Andrea Lapo, with a book Traces of Bygone Biospheres, printed in Russia in collaboration with Mir Publishers. It was the first time Mir had worked with a Westen publisher.
In 2000, Deborah published Vernadsky unabridged Essays on Geochemistry and The Biosphere. Synergetic Press was there, ready to bring this threshold to light, connecting Russian theory with American entrepreneurship at a new ecological level.
The Press has also been a hub for the Biospherians, supporting their creations throughout the years and learning from the expansion of visionary projects together. Life Under Glass was one of these creations, written by Mark Nelson, founding director of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and one of the eight original crew members of Biosphere 2 in 1991. Their experience within that pioneering structure was a story that needed to be told. It was the Synergetic Press that refused to let these stories be erased.
Synergetic Press signs the contract to publish the Biosphere Catalogue. Mark Nelson makes the first trip to Russia.
Vladimir Vernadsky's foundational Biosphere manuscript is published — the first Russian-American co-publication of its kind, printed in Russia with Mir Publishers.
Life Under Glass — the personal account of the Biosphere 2 crew — is ordered removed from bookstores. Synergetic buys out the stock to keep the story alive.
The psychedelic reemergence
When Psychedelics entered the Scene
Ralph Metzner, Dennis McKenna, Rick Doblin and collaborators at Synergia Ranch.
Synergetic Press’ collaboration with Ralph Metzner marked the beginning of a long and meaningful journey into the exploration of consciousness, human potential, and expanded ways of understanding the world.
The beginning of a wonderful relationship between psychedelics and the expansion of consciousness.
Although psychedelics were always part of the conversation, it was not until 2009 — through the collaboration with German-born American psychologist, writer, and researcher Ralph Metzner — that Synergetic Press began to incorporate deeper texts exploring the depths of consciousness and human potential. His collaboration with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert during the psychedelic research at Harvard University in the 1960s had made him an emblematic figure in the world of psychedelia.
This path soon led to the publication of the life of Albert Hofmann, chronicled in Mystic Chemist by Dieter Hagenbach and Lucius Werthmüller, a storyline following one of the greatest scientists in the discovery of LSD. Its inclusion in the Synergetic Press catalogue created space for cornerstone texts that would come to define the catalog. It opened the door for deeper relationships with Transform Press, working to expand the Shulgin Foundation's manuscripts of Sasha and Ann Shulgin; MAPS as publishing partners; The McKenna Academy as collaborators in the interdisciplinary conjunction of conference voices; and the Chacruna Institute as a leading pillar in our rooted connection with psychedelia and spirituality. All these new horizons helped shape the growing conversation around consciousness, culture, and the ever-changing future of humanity.
More than a publisher
A living thing, rooted in ideas.
As you can tell, Synergetic Press is much more than just a publisher. Through its humble beginnings as the far-away dream of a group of contemporary artists, visionaries, and creators, a world was born. A world that not only signifies the collective mind of a navigating system, but proof that vision and a dedicated team can shift paradigms.
Synergetic Press is a living organism. Rooted in the same soil as the Institute of Ecotechnics, it has been the place that nourishes a community of poets, scientists, farmers, philosophers, and activists who have gathered at Synergia Ranch for more than fifty years.
What does the world need to hear? And who has the courage to say it?
Its ecosystem has expanded, hosting symposiums and events, building bridges between disciplines and an ever-evolving network all around the world. As we continue to grow, Synergetic Press continues to search for emblematic voices, ones that could dream a better dream for us all.
Independent publishers since 1984
Forty years of books that changed minds.
From that first feng shui treatise to the psychedelic renaissance — every book an act of belief in the power of ideas.
Synergetic Press. Independent publishers since 1984.
