Albert Hofmann - Reopening the Eleusinian Gate

In this autobiographical reflection, Albert Hofmann recounts the accidental discovery of LSD-25, the famous “Bicycle Day” experience, and his lifelong conviction that this molecule could reawaken humanity’s spiritual connection to nature. Hofmann explores LSD not as a drug, but as a doorway to the same sacred experience once cultivated in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

This groundbreaking work bridges modern chemistry and ancient spirituality. The authors, an ethnomycologist, a chemist, and a classicist, propose that the sacred drink used for over two millennia in the Eleusinian Mysteries, the “Kykeon,” contained a psychoactive compound derived from ergot, the same fungus from which Albert Hofmann later synthesized LSD-25. By aligning historical research, chemical analysis, and mythological interpretation, they suggest that the Mysteries of Eleusis were not symbolic rituals, but direct initiations into divine consciousness.