25 July 2025
Let’s Get That
On Paper
Psychedelic Publishing with MAPS and Synergetic Press
By: Deborah Parrish Snyder and Betty Aldworth
MAPS Bulletin: Volume XXXIV
In an age marked by ecological uncertainty, mental health crises, and a deepening hunger for meaning, the re-emergence of psychedelics as legitimate tools for healing and transformation stands as one of the most compelling cultural developments of our time. With the advent of the War on Drugs, though, both research and publishing of critical developments in psychedelics and psychedelic therapies declined, pushed to the fringes of academia and society. MAPS’ founder Rick Doblin saw the opportunity to protect that knowledge — and create opportunities for new learnings to be published — through MAPS.
In 1997, Rick established the MAPS publishing arm with our first book, The Secret Chief: Conversations with a Pioneer of the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement by Myron J. Stolaroff. Through our imprint, MAPS has amplified the voices of luminaries at the intersection of scientific rigor, cultural advocacy, and spiritual insight, such as Stanislav Grof, Albert Hofmann, Claudio Naranjo, and Beatriz Caiuby Labate.
Twenty years after The Secret Chief went to print, the worlds of publishing and psychedelics had changed dramatically. Under the leadership of Betty Aldworth, MAPS sought a knowledgeable partner to guide us through “the trade.” Since incorporating in 1984, Synergetic Press has served as a vessel for revolutionary ideas that challenge societal norms and offer radical alternatives. Headed by Deborah Parrish Snyder for forty years, Synergetic has published works in consciousness studies, psychedelics, biospherics, and social justice — subjects that were far from the catalogs of mainstream publishing.
Our 2021 co-publishing partnership symbolizes the merging of two powerhouse institutions and the birth of a synergistic force accelerating access to psychedelic knowledge across the globe. This strategic partnership between Synergetic Press and MAPS has significantly expanded the availability and accessibility of vital literature in the psychedelic field and into bookstores, with a 600% increase in annual readership of MAPS-published books in the first year alone.
Our first co-publication was a landmark collection on the life and work of Dr. Stanislav Grof, Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof, Edited by Richard Tarnas and Sean Kelly. This volume is a monumental tribute to Grof’s legacy as a co-founder of transpersonal psychology and a pioneer in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Contributors include a constellation of renowned thinkers — Joseph Campbell, Fritjof Capra, Huston Smith, Frances Vaughan, and Ervin Laszlo — whose reflections underscore the profound impact Grof has had on the understanding of consciousness and inner transformation.
MAPS and Synergetic publish and distribute books about the knowledge and research on psychedelic medicines that span centuries and disciplines. Together, our organizations have invested in building knowledge banks of key resources in interdisciplinary fields, advancing cutting-edge knowledge that is foundational to public health and wellness as interest in — and use of — psychedelics grows. By making these works available to therapists, scholars, seekers alike, we are shaping a cultural literacy around psychedelics that goes beyond the hype and into depth, promoting greater understanding of diverse perspectives on psychedelics.
In many ways, the MAPS–Synergetic alliance is more than a publishing partnership. It is a meeting of minds and missions—an act of stewardship for emerging wisdom. This collaboration helps ensure that the literature informing broadening acceptance of psychedelics is equitable, accessible, responsible, and deeply rooted in our shared values and MAPS’ Seven Principles.
Over 25 years, many of titles have focused on securing the legacies of early pioneers in psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapies. As we look to the future, our ongoing partnership promises more cutting-edge publications to help steer us to new paradigms — nurtured by the wisdom of the past and informed by present knowledge.
Deborah Parrish Snyder
Deborah has published over 40 books through her publishing house Synergetic Press, Ltd. in global ecology, regenerative agriculture, ethnobotany, psychedelics, and social justice, since establishing it in 1984. In 1986, she was on the team that designed and built a large-scale closed ecological system, Biosphere 2, developing the publications and educational programs for the complex. In 1990, she started The Biosphere Press, an imprint of the Biosphere 2 project, producing a dozen books and a classroom curriculum for children on biospheres and biomes. While at Biosphere 2, Deborah met Richard Evans Schultes, the grandfather of contemporary ethnobotany. She went on to publish his two books of photographs he made documenting people’s use of plant medicine in the NW Colombian Amazonia. Deborah is a director and VP of the U.S. non-profit, the Institute of Ecotechnics, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Synergia Ranch. The Institute owns the RV Heraclitus, an 84-foot ferrocement Chinese Junk design that sailed 270,000 miles around Planet Ocean, with two years up the Amazon on an ethnobotanical expedition inspired by Schultes (1980-1982). Deborah currently lives at Synergia Ranch organic farm and retreat center where she lives, contributes to the farm operations when she can, and continues publishing books.
Betty Aldworth
Betty Aldworth serves as the Director of Communications & Education at MAPS. With the Communications team, Betty works to share MAPS’ story with our audiences and generate support for psychedelic research and reform through the media. Betty also works with colleagues and allies across the drug policy reform movement to Illustrate the promise of a post-prohibition world through inspiring public education opportunities.
Prior to joining MAPS in 2020, Betty was the Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy where she led and supported tens of thousands of students and young people united to build a more sensible future through reforming drug policies to be rooted in safety, justice, and education. Beginning in 2014, Betty led the organization through its most substantial growth period and in 2020 left the organization in its most stable and sustainable position in its 22-year history. Since 1999, Betty has specialized in community engagement, public relations, advocacy, and policy reform for nonprofit organizations including as spokesperson and advocacy director for the successful 2012 Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the collaborative committee responsible for legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults in Colorado. An activist and advocate since attending her first peace demonstration as a child, Betty organized her first action at 13 and learned her first hard lessons in coalition building when it was attended only by her mom. Betty fights to end the drug war to interrupt mass incarceration, reengage citizens in the political process, and build racial and economic justice. She serves as an advisor to DanceSafe and StoptheDrugWar.org and as the Treasurer of the Boards of Directors for the Marijuana Policy Project & MPP Foundation.
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