If you’re planning a “trip” using DMT pens, you probably think of quick, intense trips and bursts of colour. But it can be more than that. You can possibly meet beings that feel almost alive, aware, and oddly familiar. That’s what psychedelic researchers saw during their trip, which they catalogued in a field guide.
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The same figures keep showing up. That’s the part researchers can’t ignore.
Seeing unusual visuals during a psychedelic experience surprises no one. The pattern behind them does. Across decades of reports, people with no connection to each other keep describing similar entities, behaviour, and emotional tones. That repetition pushed researchers to start collecting and comparing accounts instead of brushing them off as random hallucinations.
David Jay Brown, a longtime psychedelic researcher associated with Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), noticed this trend. As interest in DMT grew and vape pens became common, so did stories about encounters. Brown teamed up with artist Sara Phinn to document these figures in a visual way, using user reports, academic studies, and AI-assisted illustrations.
In an interview with Vice, Brown explained that “Since DMT has become so popular and entity encounters have become rather common, we thought that it’d be helpful and fun to create an illustrated, naturalistic field guide.”
Their project pulls from surveys at Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, the University of New Mexico, and long-running archives like Erowid and DMT Nexus. The result looks less like fiction and more like pattern recognition.
Why do entity encounters stand out during DMT experiences?
Short duration plays a role. A typical breakthrough lasts five to ten minutes, yet many users report direct interactions rather than abstract imagery.
- In extended-state DMT trip studies at Imperial College London, where participants received longer DMT infusions, entity contact became common around the ten‑minute mark.
- Researchers noted that many interactions felt positive. The study “Phenomenology and content of the inhaled N, N-dimethyltryptamine (N, N-DMT) experience, described them as “benevolent, comforting, protecting, or outwardly caring interactions.”
- At Johns Hopkins, even participants who identified as atheists reported meeting a “conscious, intelligent, benevolent, and sacred entity” that expressed joy, trust, love, and kindness.
So, what are the strange beings DMT users may encounter?
DMT binds to serotonin 2A receptors and disrupts the brain’s default mode network. So, the brain regions that rarely communicate start sharing signals. While neuroscience explains the state, yet not the recurring characters. Based on what David Jay Brown and Sara Phinn catalogued, you can also meet:
Machine Elves
Machine elves get mentioned often, partly due to the early talks of Terence McKenna, an American philosopher and ethnobotanist. DMT users describe them as small, fast-moving figures made of shifting geometric patterns, while others report playful behaviour. Some say these beings communicate through gestures or emotional impressions rather than speech.
Brown acknowledged how common these reports are, even across cultures. He pointed out that “Cultural expectations play a big role: people’s religious upbringing could be an important factor, because there are a lot of reports of Hindu or Biblical deities, as well as angels and demons, that seem to correspond to different cultural expectations people have. I think Terence McKenna’s popular talks probably influenced a lot of people’s expectations as well.”
Self‑Aware Metallic Orbs
Several accounts describe floating spheres that appear metallic and conscious. These orbs usually move with intent rather than drifting randomly. Some users report feeling observed rather than threatened. Others describe a sense of inspection, as if the orb is scanning them.
One report shared with Brown described the orb responding to attention. When the user focused on it, the object reacted. When attention shifted away, it faded.
Beings With Interchangeable Limbs
These figures sound almost mechanical. DMT pen users describe entities with parts that detach, swap, or reassemble mid‑experience. Brown compared them to toys with modular pieces, based on how often that description appears in reports.
Brown said, “There were beings with interchangeable body parts that switch with one another like Legos; octopus-like entities with multiple limbs. One person sent us a report about an entity composed entirely of sunflower seeds. They don’t all fit into neat categories, but it’s uncanny how many do.”
Insectoid and Mantis‑Like Figures
Insect‑shaped beings may also appear, especially mantis‑like figures. Brown shared his own early experience from 1983, “I encountered a huge Mantis-type being that pinned me down helplessly, and began experimenting and adjusting things in my brain.”
He connected this to overlap with alien abduction narratives. “This is also unusually common among people who have had the alien abduction experience. I think this gives greater credence to the possibility there might be some kind of independent reality to these beings.”
Looking forward to these encounters? Have your DMT first
No single explanation covers everything. Cultural background, brain chemistry, expectations, and memory all contribute to the experience. Like what Brown said, “We don’t hold on to any fixed belief system about what it could be.”
If you’ve decided to buy psychedelics online and meet these entities, start with the right product on hand. Explore DMT pens, tinctures, pre-rolls, and free-base at Zoomies Canada. Choose what suits your style and enjoy the experience!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do psychedelic researchers visualize the entities?
Sara Phinn uses generative AI tools like Midjourney to visualize reported entities. Users describe what they saw, and Phinn translates those details into images. Phinn explained the cultural moment in an interview that it “feels like first contact for our species.”
How did the researchers decide which DMT entities to include?
The researchers focused on 27 entities based on repeated reports rather than one-off stories. These came from their own experiences, accounts from friends, messages sent in by users, online trip reports, and published studies. They even compared these descriptions with alien abduction stories, UFO contact reports, and fairy sightings to spot clear overlaps across different sources.
What is communication with DMT entities like, and can longer trips help?
Communication is brief and fragmented. Many users report only a few sentences, gestures, or emotional impressions, since the peak experience often lasts just five to ten minutes. David Jay Brown suggests extended-state DMT studies could allow longer interactions, as vaping makes sustained exchanges difficult. For now, most encounters feel meaningful but short, rather than detailed conversations.
References:
- https://futurism.com/the-byte/psychedelics-researcher-ai-artist-dmt
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/dmt-users-are-using-ai-to-draw-the-strange-beings-they-meet-while-tripping/
- https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/dmt-familiarity-study/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/psychology/comments/ts4o6b/94_of_dmt_users_experience_similar_otherworldly/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/18phvgu/what_it_feels_like_to_go_through_a_dmt_trip/
