The Secret Chief Revealed: Conversations with Leo Zeff, Pioneer in the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement by Myron J. Stolaroff. The 2022 revised 2nd edition is a co-publication of MAPS and Synergetic Press.
Leo Zeff (1912–1988) was a pioneering psychedelic therapist and researcher focused on LSD, MDMA and other psychoactive drugs. He conducted much of his work underground after psychedelics were declared illegal in the 1960s. By the time he turned 70, Zeff was single-handedly responsible for the introduction of psychedelic compounds in use globally among nearly 4,000 individual therapists and practitioners.
Written as a transcription of an interview conducted in the 1980s, the book includes contributions from Albert Hofmann, Stanislav Grof, Ann and Alexander Shulgin, Zeff’s children, apprentice therapists, and anonymous patients — together painting an intimate portrait of a man who quietly changed the course of psychedelic therapy.
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Why this book matters
- The only book devoted to Leo Zeff, the underground therapist who personally trained nearly 4,000 practitioners and shaped the entire field of psychedelic-assisted therapy
- A rare firsthand account of clandestine psychedelic therapy during the decades of prohibition a history that is only now coming fully into the light
- Contributions from Albert Hofmann, Stanislav Grof, and Ann & Alexander Shulgin — the most important figures in 20th-century psychedelic research
- Intimate tributes from Zeff’s children, apprentices, and patients a portrait of a healer as father, friend, and quiet revolutionary
- A co-publication of MAPS and Synergetic Press, two of the most important institutions in the psychedelic renaissance
