Our Mission
The Hellenic Center for Entheogenic Research | EPOPTEIA, is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to advancing scientific, cultural, and ethical inquiry into entheogenic compounds and altered states of consciousness. We conduct and support cutting-edge research in ethnopharmacology, ritual pharmacognosy, and clinical science, rooted in Greece’s historical relationship with sacred pharmaka. Our mission is to restore Greece as a global contributor to psychedelic science—through rigorous research, cultural preservation, and policy leadership that honor both ancestral knowledge and modern innovation.
Our goals
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Archaeopharmacology & Natural Product Research
We curate and fund rigorous scientific investigations into the historical and traditional use of psychoactive plants and fungi, focusing primarily on the pharmaco-cultural legacy of the Aegean, Mediterranean, and wider Hellenic world. Drawing from the fields of archaeochemistry, ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, and ancient history, we aim to reconstruct the entheogenic pharmacopeia that underpinned initiatory and healing rituals in antiquity. Our flagship project is the pharmacological reconstruction of the Eleusinian kykeon. Through this work, we aspire to establish a new research paradigm that reintroduces ancestral formulations into contemporary scientific frameworks, while honoring their spiritual, symbolic, and somatic dimensions.
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Psychedelic Research & Clinical Infrastructure Development
EPOPTEIA builds the regulatory and scientific ecosystem necessary to conduct psychedelic research in Greece. We support preclinical and clinical studies in partnership with Greek universities and international collaborators, while advancing therapeutic protocols, regulatory preparedness, and access to European research funding frameworks. Our current portfolio includes toxicological and neurophysiological studies in animal models, along with preparations for culturally adapted clinical trials in areas such as palliative care, addiction, and trauma. Through this work, we aim to foster cross-border consortiums, train local talent, and embed Greece within the global research ecosystem — ensuring that emerging therapies are both scientifically validated and culturally meaningful.
Cultural Heritage Stewardship
At the core of our vision lies the reclaiming and protection of Greece’s entheogenic and ceremonial legacy. Beyond molecules and mechanisms, we recognize that the transformative power of entheogens has historically been embedded within complex ritual systems that carried cosmologies, ethics, healing frameworks, and epistemologies long before the advent of modern science. We collaborate with historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and classicists to reconstruct the ceremonial frameworks and symbolic vocabularies of Greece’s mystery traditions. As part of this commitment, we are advancing a cultural heritage campaign to inscribe the Eleusinian Mysteries and the kykeon ritual system as Intangible Cultural Heritage under the UNESCO 2003 Convention. Through this work, we aim to ensure that sacred knowledge is not only remembered but honored—guiding psychedelic science toward ethical, relational, and culturally rooted futures.
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How it all started
EPOPTEIA began the way many meaningful Greek initiatives do: through conversation, shared memory, and a sense of shared responsibility. A group of us came together with a common question: What role should Greece play in the global psychedelic renaissance?
What united us was a shared recognition that Greece’s contributions to medicine, ritual, and philosophy are not just historical artifacts but rather, they are part of an interrupted continuum. When the Eleusinian Mysteries were abolished in late antiquity, something profound was severed. We believe now is the time to begin reconnecting that thread.
EPOPTEIA was founded as a serious, long-term effort to restore Greece’s rightful place in psychedelic research, not only as a site of ancient heritage but as a contributor to contemporary science. We’re working to build the infrastructure—clinical, academic, and cultural—that will allow this field to grow responsibly in Greece. And we’re doing it with humility, collaboration, and a clear understanding that the past holds essential keys to the future.