Secret Chief Revealed : Conversations With Leo Zeff, Pioneer in the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement

The Secret Chief Revealed: Conversations with Leo Zeff, Pioneer in the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement by Myron J. Stolaroff is back in stock! The 2022 revised 2nd edition is a co-publication of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (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 and practice underground after psychedelics were declared illegal in the 1960s. By the time he turned 70, Zeff wass single-handedly responsible for the introduction of psychedelic compounds in use globally among nearly 4,000 individual therapists/practitioners.

The Secret Chief is written as a transcription of an interview conducted in the 1980s with Zeff about his research, studies and practice with psychedelic-assisted therapy. The revised 2nd edition maintains much of the 2nd edition release, including thoughtful contributions on Zeff’s lifework/research from other leaders in the psychedelic movement including Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD, psychedelic researcher and author, and Stanislav Grov, a founder of transpersonal psychology. 

The Secret Chief, revised 2nd edition also preserves 2nd edition content including contributions in the form of sentimental, narrative-style tributes to Zeff, with notable words from Ann & Alexander (Sasha) Shulgin, renown psychedelic researchers and authors, who also mention Zeff in their how-to chemistry book, Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story.

Other anecdotes and commentary in The Secret Chief come from Zeff’s children, apprentice therapists, and anonymous patients with whom Zeff worked. These comments provide insights into how Zeff navigated in the underground psychedelic research space, his contributions to the field, and personal understandings of who he was as a man, father, friend, researcher, and healer. 

This revised edition contains corrected errata, updated links to sources cited in the 2004 edition, and an updated design. 

Myron J. Stolaroff (1920 - 2013) was a researcher and author best known for his work in psychedelic psychotherapy. Stolaroff held a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and in the 1940s and 1950s worked for the recording equipment manufacturer, Ampex. Along with fellow engineer Harold Lindsey, Stolaroff co-designed a reel-to-reel tape recorder, which eventually won the company its first Grammy Award for Technical Achievement. 

Stolaroff eventually left the engineering field to conduct psychedelic research and in 1960, he founded the International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park, Calif. There, he studied the effects of mescaline, LSD, and other drugs on human creativity. Those studies ended in 1965 when the Food and Drug Administration revoked research permits, but Stolaroff went on to privately continue his psychedelic-assisted therapy research using unscheduled compounds until  the Controlled Substances Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 went into effect. 

In an essay published in the book Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (New edition by Synergetic Press, 2014), Stolaroff wrote of the importance of honoring the psychedelic experience. “A very important aspect of employing psychedelics is to acknowledge fully the graces that have been received,” he wrote. “This is done through appreciation and gratitude, which are best expressed by determinedly putting into effect in one’s life the changes that have been indicated.”

Stolaroff served on the board of the Albert Hofmann Foundation, as a consultant to the Heffter Research Institute and as an advisory board member for the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics.