DMT (dimethyltryptamine) is the most powerful and fast-
acting of the tryptamine class of hallucinogens. After
smoking DMT users regularly report fantastic trips to
other dimensions and conversations with intelligent alien
life forms. Meyer outlines DMT usage, pharmacology,
mythology and occult application, including shamanic
uses. He also presents fascinating anecdotal material re-
garding DMT "alien contact." Materials from DMT
researchers Terence McKenna, Gracie and Zarkov, and
dozens of other correspondences are included, providing
clues to deciphering the DMT "hyperspace" state.
...and in search for answers people have feared to place
themselves on the line and to actually wrestle with life and
death out there in those strange, bardo-like dimensions, not
realizing that there is no other way to win true
knowledge...
-Terence McKenna
Psilocybin and the Sands of Time
1. Tryptamine psychedelics
In this article I wish to draw attention to a strange prop-
erty of the tryptamine psychedelics, especially N,N-
dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which sets them apart from other
psychedelics, namely, their ability to place users in touch with
a realm that is apparently inhabited by discarnate entities of
an intelligent nature. The investigation of such a possibility
clearly takes us to (and perhaps beyond) the fringes of what is
considered scientifically acceptable. Nevertheless, the phe-
nomenon of apparent alien contact is so impressive to those
who have experienced it, and the implications of such contact
are so radical, that the evidence deserves serious
investigation.
The term "psychedelic" may be understood to denote a
class of substances whose primary effect is to alter conscious-
ness in an ego-transcending manner so that the experience of
a person whose neurochemistry is altered by such a substance
is enhanced and expanded in comparison with ordinary expe-
rience. This enhancement and expansion may be emotional,
intellectual, intuitive, sensory, spiritual or somatic. The quali-
fication that the experience involve a tendency to ego-
transcendence is added partly to distinguish substances such
as LSD and MDMA from stimulants such as amphetamine
and cocaine and partly because it is one of the more remarka-
ble properties of psychedelics that, by their means, we may
enter mythological and spiritual dimensions not normally the
concern of our everyday selves.
Psychedelics may be classified most easily in two ways:
according to their effect on consciousness or according to
their chemical structure. The former is difficult to quantify,
and the data here tends to be of a literary nature (e.g.,
Horowitz [56]). Due to the regrettable proscription of the use
of psychedelics in many countries, and to the suppression of
research in this field, not much has been published during the
last 20 years regarding the effects of psychedelics on con-
sciousness. With the increasing recognition in more enlight-
ened societies of the potential value of psychedelics we may
hope to see a renewal of publication in this area.
The structural classification lends itself to quantitative sci-
entific investigation. From such work as has been permitted
in this field it seems that, for the most part, "hallucinogens are
divided into two separate categories. The first...covers the
substituted phenylalkylamines, with the prototype for these
structures being mescaline. The second category includes in-
dole-based compounds, including various substituted trypta-
mines, beta-carbolines, and LSD." (Nichols [81], p. 97) Not all
psychedelics fall into these two categories. Ketamine is
clearly a psychedelic but is structurally unrelated to the phen-
ethylamines or to the tryptamines.
The most well-known psychedelic tryptamines consist of
DMT and three variations on it:
5-MeO-DMT=5-methoxy-DMT
psilocin=4-hydroxy-DMT
psilocybin=4-phosphoryloxy-DMT
Psilocybin is converted to psilocin in the body. The corre-
sponding diethyltryptamine analogs are similarly psychoac-
tive (and reportedly longer lasting). Psychoactivity has been
reported in a-methyltryptamine (Murphree [791), 4-methoxy-
DMT and 5-methoxy-a-methyltryptamine (Nichols [811) and
bufotenine, which is 5hydroxy-DMT (Fabing [23]and Turner
[1261). 6-hydroxy-DMT has been reported as one of the excre-
tory metabolites of DMT (Szara [118]). A review of the litera-
ture will reveal a considerable number of other tryptamine
derivatives which either are known to be or may be
psychoactive.
Although LSD is not a tryptamine, its molecular structure
includes that of the tryptamine molecule. We cannot thereby
simply classify it as a tryptamine psychedelic because its
molecular structure also includes that of some psychedelic
phenethylamines such as ?,5-dimethoxy-4-methyl-
amphetamine (DOM) (Nichols [81], p. 114). Nevertheless,
LSD is usually classified with the tryptamine psychedelics
and seems more closely related to them because it is more
readily displaced from receptor sites by the tryptamines than
by the phenethylamines.
DMT has been found to occur naturally in mammalian
brains (Barker [4] and Christian [171). "Indolealkylamines...
are the only known hallucinogenic agents whose endogenous
occurrence in mammals, including man, has been confirmed"
(McKenna [67]). Szara [114]says that it "seems that the whole
enzymatic apparatus exists in mammals which can produce
tryptamine from tryptophane, DMT from tryptamine and 6-
HDMT [the probably hallucinogenic 6-hydroxy-DMT] from
DMT."
The question as to what function DMT and related sub-
stances have in the mammalian body has not yet received a
definite answer. DMT is structurally similar to serotonin (5-
hydroxytryptamine) which is well-known as a neurotransmit-
ter in the mammalian brain. It has been suggested that DMT
is also a neurotransmitter, but this has not been established.
Strassman [110] has presented evidence that psychoactive
tryptamines are produced indigenously by the pineal gland
and are related to the metabolism of the pineal hormone
melatonin. Clearly much research in this area remains to be
done,
2. DMT usage
(a)Shamanic usage
The history of human involvement with DMT probably
goes back many thousands of years since DMT usage is asso-
ciated with South American shamanism. Stafford [108] men-
tions that the "Spanish friar Ram6n Paul, who accompanied
Columbus on his second voyage to the New World, was the
first to record native use of ... 'kohhobba' to communicate
with the spirit world" (p. 310). A series of distinguished eth-
nobotanists eventually established that the psychoactive
ingredients of these native snuffs (known under various
names, including cohoba, yopo, and epana) were obtained from
plants such as Anadenanthera macrocarpa, formerly peregrina
(Schultes [95] and Harner [481). Chemists then showed that
the active ingredients consisted of various tryptamine deriva-
tives, especially DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenine
(Holmstedt [:55]and Fish 1251). "These and related in-
dolealkylamines have been have been detected in members of
at least five different plant families" (Nichols [81], p. 120).
Plant tryptamines are also used by Amazonian shamans in
the form of ayahuasca, a dark Liquid formed by boiling sec-
tions of a vine from the Banisteriopsis genus, usually B. caapi
(Rivier [881). This vine contains harmala alkaloids, in particu-
lar, harmine and harmaline, which are sufficient in them-
selves to induce visions. Usually another plant is added to
the brew "to make the visions more intense" (according to the
native shamans). This additional plant is often Psychotria viri-
dis, a plant which contains DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. Although
the DMT content of ayahuasca is sometimes thought to derive
solely from the additives, Stafford [108] reports that the leaves
and stems of one species of Banisteriopsis, B. rusbyana, "have a
large amount of N,N-DMT, 5-methoxy-N,N-DMT, 5-hydroxy-
N,N-DMT [bufotenine] N-P-methyltetrahydro-P-carboline."
DMT is not by itself orally active (in doses of up to one gram),
since it is broken down in the gut by the enzyme monoamine
oxidase (MAO). This breakdown may be prevented by the
presence of an MAO inhibitor, allowing the DMT to enter the
blood and reach the brain. Ayahuasca contains an MAO-
inhibitor, namely, the P-carbolines derived from the B. caapi
vine.
Ayahuasca is frequently consumed at night by a group of
people (Kensinger [60]and McKenna [691), although there are
large variations in its mode of usage among the Indian tribes
of the Amazon. Currently the use of ayahuasca among
Indians in the Amazon is declining due to the destruction of
traditional tribal cultures. This lends an urgency to the pres-
ervation of the knowledge associated with its use, a knowl-
edge which concerns not only the preparation and use of
ayahuasca but also the manner in which the experiences of
the practitioner are to be interpreted.
In Brazil there is an interesting religious organization
known as Santo daime, whose members use ayahuasca within
a Catholic/Christian context [87].
(b) Professional and academic research
Stafford [108] mentions that DMT was first synthesized in
1931 by the British chemist Richard Manske (who was also
the first to synthesize harmaline, in 1927), and that "Albert
Hofmann synthesized a series of DMT analogs, but little
attention was paid to this work until the mid-1960s."
In the 1950s and 60s some researchers experimented with
tryptamine hallucinogens injected intramuscularly. The first
to publish in English on this subject seems to have been the
Hungarian investigator Stephen Szara, while working for the
U.S. National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, DC.
(For some reason most of the earliest researchers appear to
have been Hungarians.) Szara published on DMT as early as
1956, and produced a series of at least 11 papers on the phar-
macology of the Alkylated tryptamines during the next 11
years. Writing in 1961 he said:
I became interested in the possibility of
hallucinogenic action of alkylated tryptamine deriv-
atives in 1955, when I read about the chemical analy-
sis of a snuff powder prepared by Haitian natives
from Piptadenia Peregrina seeds which they used in
religious ceremonies to Produce mystical states of
mind which enabled them to communicate with
their gods... [C]hemical analysis... revealed the pres-
ence of bufotenin and a small amount of N,N-
dimethyltryptamine (DMT). (Szara [1141)
Szara administered 75 mg of DMT intramuscularly to him-
self and experienced intense visions. He established "that
intramuscular injection of 50 to 60 mg of DMT brought about
intense visual displays... within five minutes. These reached
peak effects within a quarter of an hour, diminishing and then
disappearing totally within half an hour... Subjects became
catatonic or lost consciousness when given doses larger than
125 mg." (Stafford [108], p. 314)
During the early 1960s the Southern California psychiatrist
Oscar Janiger administered DMT to many subjects. The data
and conclusions from these studies remain unpublished. One
time he administered to himself an excessive dose and
described the result as "terrible -- like being inside a gigantic
pinball machine with lights going on and off everywhere"
[58].
(c) Amateur and extra-mural research
In the 1950s William Burroughs and Alien Ginsberg jour-
neyed to South America in search of the ayahuasca experi-
ence. They wrote about this in The yage Letters [14]. Later
Burroughs, like Janiger, injected an overdose (100 mg) of syn-
thetic DMT and had a "horrible experience."
Timothy Leary heard of DMT from Alien Ginsberg and
contacted Burroughs, who warned him of the perils of this
substance. Undaunted, Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph
Metzner began to experiment, and discovered that the DMT
experience, although intense, was manageable and very inter-
esting. Leary published in 1966 an article discussing DMT
and giving, in his usual style, an extremely positive account
of what he experienced following an iv. injection of 60 mg
([63]).
Stafford writes:
This article by Leary and Metzner caused a wave
of interest in DMT among many in the countercul-
ture. About this time came the discovery that DMT
evaporated onto oregano, parsley leaves or mari-
juana and then smoked could produce effects similar
to those from injections, except that they occurred
almost immediately and disappeared more rapidly.
([108], p. 315)
There is a certain art to smoking DMT to produce a signifi-
cant effect which is only acquired with practice. Some who
have tried it have not experienced its full effect; others have
found it too much to handle. It is indeed not a drug for "party
trippers," but only for those who "take drugs seriously."
Smoking DMT has been compared by some novice tokers to
parachuting at night into the midst of a tribe of frenzied New
Guinea natives at the height of an elaborate war-dance.
Carlos Castaneda gives an account of his terrifying experi-
ence with something that (apparently in December 1963) Don
Juan gave him to smoke ([15], pp. 151-157). Although
Castaneda does not identify the substance, one cannot help
but wonder whether it contained a psychedelic tryptamine.
[Castaneda:] "But what does the smoke teach then?"
[Don Juan:] "It shows you how to handle its power,
and to learn that you must take it as many times as
you can."
[Castaneda:] "Your ally is very frightening, Don
Juan. It was unlike anything I ever experienced be-
fore. I thought I had lost my mind."
...Don Juan discarded my simile, saying that what I
felt was its unimaginable power. And to handle that
power, he said, one has to live a strong life.... He
said that smoke is so strong one can match it only
with strength; otherwise one's life would be shat-
tered to bits. ([15], pp. 160-161)
3. Dosage and duration of effects
In its Pure form DMT is a white powder. If it has not been
completely purified during the synthetic process it may be en-
countered as a pale orange waxy material. Dose levels men-
tioned in this article refer to Pure DMT unless otherwise
noted.
The amount of DMT needed to Produce significant Psy-
chic effects when smoked is 5 mg to 20 mg, there being con-
siderable variation in individual reaction. Some people have
had "profound" effects with as little as 10 mg. A moderate
dose is 20-25 mg, with 40-50 mg a large dose. A very large
dose (e.g., 75 mg) will normally lead to loss of consciousness.
Stafford writes of DMT, DET (diethyltryptamine) and DPT
(dipropyltryptamine) that "More often [compared to injec-
tion], these tryptamines are smoked because less is needed to
feel the effects... The DMT peak lasts for three to ten minutes,
and it's all over in twenty to thirty minutes. DET and DMT,
which have more subtle effects than DMT, may take a few
minutes to register... DET lasts about an hour when smoked;
the most intense part of a DPT experience is over in about
twenty minutes." ([108], p. 322)
Several different methods may be used to smoke DMT,
and there are differences of opinion as to their efficiency.
"Some users prefer to smoke a compound like DMT... in a
small glass pipe. A small amount of the crystals or oil is
placed in the bowl and then slowly heated until fumes begin
to fill the pipe.... A regular pipe covered with a fine screen
can be used." (Stafford [1081) In this method the DMT should
be spread over some plant material such as mint leaves, par-
sley, marijuana or mullein (which is smoked by asthmatics to
clear bronchial passages); a flame is held over the bowel and
the vaporized DMT is inhaled deeply. It is usually advisable
to do this under the guidance of a person who is experienced
in this practice.
When smoked, one or two deep inhalations may be suffi-
cient in the case of some people to cause Profound effects
very quickly, whereas others may require up to four or five
inhalations for full effect. One should be in a position to lie or
to lean back comfortably, since the effects of smoking a large
amount (e.g., 30-40 mg) are usually physically incapacitating.
Some favor a sitting position. As noted above, the effect is
most intense in the first few minutes, and mostly wears off
after about ten minutes. Since DMT occurs naturally in the
human brain there are probably homeostatic mechanisms for
regulating the concentration of DMT, which would explain
the rapidity with which the effects wear off.
DMT has been extensively tested both in the U.S. and in
Europe and is apparently quite safe in normal subjects. The
only case of a severely adverse reaction which has been
reported in the literature is that of a woman who received 40
mg intramuscularly and who "suddenly developed an
extremely rapid heart rate 12 minutes after the injection; no
pulse could be obtained; no blood pressure could be meas-
ured. There seemed to have been an onset of auricular fibril-
lation." (Turner [126], p. 127) However, this woman was
schizophrenic and at the time of the injection had been
extremely tense and apprehensive.
I am informed that to Pursue DMT experimentation safely
one should have good cardiovascular health and avoid drugs
and foods which increase heart rate and blood pressure by
direct stimulation of the heart or by vasoconstriction. DMT
should not be used by anyone who is taking MAO inhibiting
drugs.
4. Subjective effects of smoking DMT
The subjective effects of a good lungful of DMT are usu-
ally very intense, with consciousness usually overwhelmed
by visual imagery. With eyes closed this may take the form of
extremely complex, dynamic, geometric patterns, changing
rapidly. Such a dose of DMT may produce a visual pattern
consisting of overlapping annular patterns of small rhomboid
elements all in saturated hues of red, yellow, green and blue.
Gracie & Zarkov [44] refer to this, or something similar, as
"the chrysanthemum pattern." The pattern itself seems to be
charged with a Portentous energy.
The state of consciousness characterized by amazing vis-
ual patterns seems to be a prelude to a more Profound state,
which subjects report as contact with entities described as dis-
carnate, nonhuman or alien. A very articulate account of the
subjective effects of smoking DMT is given by Terence
McKenna in his talk Tryptamine Hallucinogens and
Consciousness [72], in which he recounts his contact with what
he calls "elves."
As usual with tryptamine psychedelics there is normally
no loss of ego, although large doses will produce uncon-
sciousness. There is often loss of body awareness. It is usu-
ally possible to think under the influence of DMT, but with
larger doses it may become difficult to hold a thought, and
sometimes confusion will occur.
With a fully effective dose (e.g., 25 mg), the experience is
usually so bizarre that an inexperienced person may believe
that he or she has died, or is dying, especially if body aware-
ness is lost. If this belief arises then it is important to remem-
ber that one will survive and return to ordinary
consciousness. In general, yielding to the temptation to
believe that one has died is not helpful when navigating psy-
chedelic states since the resultant anxiety will usually distract
one from a scientific observation of what is going on. More
experienced users, knowing that hitherto they have always
survived, however weird the experience, can learn not to suc-
cumb to this anxiety.
5. Personal reports
As regards the nature of the DMT experience, we are still
at the Baconian, data-gathering, stage. Before going on to
offer some generalizations and speculation I shall here
present some descriptions of DMT experiences, especially
insofar as they relate to the question of contact with discar-
nate entities. Because the use of DMT is still illegal in certain
countries whose governments do not yet recognize a person's
natural right to modify his or her consciousness in whatever
way desired, the authors of these reports shall for now remain
anonymous.
Subject S (no previous experience with DMT; written
communication):
My first attempts with DMT have left me with some serious
thoughts... I did less than 10 mg on my second attempt and had a
very weird experience. Not only did I have what I can only call a
"close encounter," I was left with two thoughts. First, they were
waiting for me, and they were not "friendly."... ion the] third
attempt lit] seemed like they could not wait for me to experiment.
In this event, I did not have actual contact, but rather "felt" them
wanting to get into my consciousness. The actual experience was
far more frightening than any major "trip" previously experi-
enced.... I was profoundly affected.
Subject O (description of first DMT experience; written
communication):
Remember to breathe. Recline and get into position, subsumed by
the momentum; before me I see an irridescent membrane, taut and
gently pulsating, something stretching and pushing towards me, on
the other side, straining to emerge. fissure rends, tears and inside
I glimpse the existence of something/place consisting of a dense
whirling body of brilliantly multicolored primordial life/thought
stuff, seeping and beckoning... I breathe and return into the plexus,
center of my being, to witness myself as an outline-constructed 2-0
diagramatic shell of many coherent light-points, revolving quad--
rated vortices, large central to smaller and then tiny outer, phospho--
rescent green and I... enter into utter emptiness, space matrix....
[I]mpression of basic colors, unmuted blue, yellow and red, shim--
mering into being depth imperceptible yet defined within the space,
endlessly recurring back from/into the corner when, slowly, from
around the edges they peer towards me, watching eyes bright and
watching in small faces, then small hands to pull themselves,
slowly, from behind and into view; they are small white-blond imp--
kids, very old in bright, mostly red, fogs and caps; candy-store,
shiny, teasing and inquisitive, very solemn and somewhat pleased
(ah, here you are!) watching me as I meet only their eyes bright and
dark without any words (look!) or any idea remembered they only
want to convey (look!) through their eyes that I must know that
THIS is what they/we are doing...
Subject O (second DMT experience; written
communication):
...I found myself once again in the company of the "elves, " as the
focus of their attention and ministrations, but they appeared much
less colorful and altogether preoccupied with the task at hand, i.e.,
pouring a golden, viscous liquid through a network of long, inter-
twining, transparent conduits which led into the middle of my
abdomen...
Subject G (very experienced with DMT; Gracie [44], #5):
We each had taken 150 mg of pure MDA.... About hour 4, 1 decided
to try smoking some DMT.... This time I saw the "elves" as multi--
dimensional creatures formed by strands of visible language; they
were more creaturely than I had ever seen them before.... The elves
were dancing in and out of the multidimensional visible language
matrix, "waving" their "arms" and "limbs/hands/fingers?" and
"smiling" or "laughing, " although I saw no faces as such. The elves
were "telling" me (or I was understanding them to say) that I had
seen them before, in early childhood. Memories were flooding back
of seeing the elves: they looked just like they do now: evershifting,,
folding, multidimensional, multicolored (what colors!), always
laughing weaving/waving, showing me things, showing me the vis-
ible language they are created/creatures of, teaching me to speak and
read.
Subject T (several previous DMT experiences; verbal
communication):
I saw a tunnel, which I flew down at great speed. I approached the
end of the tunnel, which was closed by two doors on which was
written: THE END. I burst through these and was carried up
through seven heavens, breaking through each one in turn. When I
emerged at the top I was flying over a dark landscape (it seemed to
be Mexico). I felt that this was all so weird that I should be scared
(perhaps I had died), but I did not feel scared. I continued to fly on,
over a ravine, leading up to a mountainside, and eventually saw a
campfire. As I approached this, cautiously, I saw that on the other
side of the fire was a human figure wearing a sombrero, whom I
intuitively knew to be Don Juan. He invited me to come closer, and
spoke to me.
Subject V (very experienced with DMT; verbal
communication):
I was in a large space and saw what seemed to be thousands of the
entities. They were rapidly passing something to and fro among
themselves, and were looking intently at me, as if to say "See what
we are doing" ... I noticed what seemed to be an opening into a
large space, like looking through a cave opening to a starry sky. As
I approached this I saw that resting in the opening was a large crea-
ture, with many arms, somewhat like an octopus, and all over the
arms were eyes, mostly closed, as if the creature were asleep or slum--
bering. As I approached it the eyes opened, and it/they became
aware of me. It did not seem especially well-disposed towards me, as
if it did not wish to be bothered by a mere human, and I had the
impression ! wasn't going to get past it, so I did not try.
Subject M (several previous DMT experiences; written
report; each of the following paragraphs in this section is a
description of a separate experience):
(i) It was not until my fifth DMT trip that I became aware of alien
contact. I took two inhalations from a mixture of 75 mg of DMT
wax (less than 100"/0 pure) and mullein. The visual hallucination
was experienced as overwhelming, totally amazing, incredible and
unbelievable. I could only surrender to the experience, reminding
myself that I would survive and attempt to deal with the sense that
what I was seeing was completely impossible. I wondered whether
this was what dying was like and reassured myself, through noting
my breathing, that I wits still alive. What I was experiencing was
happening too quickly to comprehend. At one point I suddenly
became aware of beings,, who were rapdily flitting about me. They
appeared as dark, stick-like beings silhouetted against a rapidly-
changing kaleidoscopic background. Although I could not make out
much detail, I definitely feIt their presence.
(ii) On the sixth occasion I took two inhalations of about 35 ms of
pure DMT in a glass pipe. Immediately upon closing my eyes I was
overwhelmed by visual hallucination. This seemed to last but
briefly, whereupon I passed abruptly through to another realm, los-
ing all awareness Of my body. II was as if there were alien beings
there waiting for me, and I recall that they spoke to me as if they had
been awaiting my arrival, but I cannot remember exactly what was
said. This time, rather than (or as well as) flitting about me, the
entities approached me from the front, rapidly and repeatedly,
appearing to enter and pass through me. I could make no sense of
what was happening. I opened my eyes and made contact with my
companions, locating myself once move in the room from which r
had begun. Immediately I completely forgot what I had just experi-
enced. The contents of the room appeared stable but weirdly dis-
torted. I was able to recognize and to talk to my companions, but I
felt and appeared very disoriented. .... The memory of this experience
came back only when, Inter that evening, I smoked the remainder of
what was left in the pipe -- not enough to break through, but enough
for me to remember....
(iii) ...I got deeply into the visual hallucination. I was barely able to
remind and to reassure myself that "DMT is safe," though I had
some difficulty recalling tire name "DMT. With eyes closed, I
experienced intense, overwhelming visual imagery. I was seeing a
large, extremely colorful surface, like a membrane, pulsating toward
and away from me. ...I recalled that I had seen this before, on previ-
ous DMT trips, but had forgotten it. During this experience I was
aware of my breathing and heartbeat, and was careful to continue
breathing deeply. The pattern was in intense hues, and its parts
seemed to have meaning, as if they were letters of an alphabet, but I
could not make sense of it. I was quite amazed. I felt that I was
being shown something, and I tried to understand what I was see-
ing, but could not. I also heard elf-language, but it was not mean-
ingful to me. Eventually the visions subsided with no
breakthrough and no overt alien contact.
(iv) ! smoked at around 2 a.m. with little effect and some vaguely
unpleasant visual hallucination (harlequin-like gargoyles?). This
might have been due to being tired and to having eaten substantially
a few hours before. There was a sense of alien presence. Upon
awakening next morning I noticed that my electronic alarm clock,
while obviously still "ticking," had stopped at the time I had been
smoking the previous night. I have never known the clock to stop in
this way before or since.
(v) Smoked 40-50 mg of DMT wax. ...An overwhelming and con-
fusing experience. My heart rate seemed to go way up, which
caused me some concern. I had to remind myself that one does not
die from smoking DMT. The experience was disjointed and erratic.
There were white flashes, like subtitles in a film, except that they
were not verbal but rather like a white-energy-being rushing quickly
through the scene from left to right (what I now think of as "the
white lightning being"). There was a strange, incomprehensible
auditory hallucination. Confusing and unpleasant. I reflected that
this is what hell might be like (good practice for hell: stay calm and
try to observe what is happening).
(vi) Upon lying back I became aware of brightly colored, moving
patterns, which I remembered having seen before on DMT (but hav-
ing forgotten about -- indeed even now, a half-hour later, I cannot
recall them clearly). I was then immersed in a totally weird state,
like being in a large multicolored hall whose walls (if it had walls)
were moving incomprehensibly. ...Apart from occasional awareness
of my breathing I was hardly aware of my body at all. I seemed to be
in another world, disembodied, and feeling flabbergasted. I seemed
to be aware of the presence of other beings in the same space, but had
only fleeting glimpses of them, as if they were shy about appearing
to me. In this state I did not know what to do. It was as if I was
offered a wish by the dragon but dill not understand what was being
offered -- or even that there was a dragon at all. Throughout there
was elf-music, and elf-language in the background. I did not attend
much to this since the visual effects were so overwhelming. As the
influence of the DMT wore off I felt myself losing contact with this
state and I knew that I would forget what was happening. It felt as
if there were beings "waving goodbye. "
(vii) I smoked 40 mg of pure DMT mixed with some marijuana. ...I
quickly entered into the trance state without noticing any great
amount of the usual patterned visual hallucination. ...I seemed to be
falling away, spiraling into some large, black void, after which I
seemed to be in a bright, open space in the presence of two other
beings. Their forms were not very clear, but they seemed to be like
children, as if we were together in a playground. They appeared to
be moving very rapidly....The two beings seemed to be frying to
attract my attention, and to communicate something to me, but I
could not understand. It was as if they were trying to make me
understand where I was. One even seemed to be holding up a sign,
like a speech balloon, but, as I recall, the sign was blank. I attended
to my breathing, and with this came an increased sense of serf-
identity, and with this a lessening of contact with the two beings.
(viii) Smoked 40 mg spread over mint leaves, in three tokes, sifting
upright. 1Lly intention was to see what spirits, if any,, are currently
about me. As the experience came upon me I managed to keep that
intention, or at least, "What spirits...'" and also remembered to
breathe regularly. A strange state of mind ensued, one of dynamic,
patterned energy, in which I was not sure whether I was perceiving
a scene, with a moving being, or not. I finally realized that the
answer to my question regarding spirits was that there were indeed
many around me, and that they were merry, hiding and playing a
joke on me. However, I did not specifically see or hear any.
(ix) Smoked 40 mg of DMT wax spread over mint leaves as usual,
sifting up leaning against a pillow....As the trance came on I was
overwhelmed with visual imagery that I did not even attempt to
make sense of. I struggled to remember who I was.....[I]] turned my
attention to the visual component, and what I saw was an incredible
amount of stuff coming at me in waves, sort of rolling toward me.
There were two beings in the scene, and they were doing the roll-
ing, definitely throwing all this stuff at me -- I don't know why.
The scene changed, and there was more visual hallucination, but I
don 't remember the details -- all happening very quickly.
6. Levels of experience
Based upon these reports and others I tentatively put for-
ward the following classification of levels of experience asso-
ciated with the effects of smoking DMT. This classification
should be tested in the light of further reports, in particular
those resulting from an experiment currently being conducted
involving the administration of DMT via i.v. injection to
about a dozen subjects. (Strassman [111])
Level I: Pre-hallucinatory experience.
This stage is characterized by an interior flowing of en-
ergy/consciousness. It may be extremely intense. It may
have a positive feeling content.
Level II: Vivid, brilliantly colored, geometric visual hallucinations.
Here one is observing a patterned field, basically two-
dimensional, although it may have a pulsating quality. One
may remember having seen this before.
Transitional Phase (Level IIB?): tunnel or breakthrough experience.
One may see or fly through a tunnel (a Passage to the next
level). A veil may part, a membrane may be rent. There is a
breakthrough to another world (or perhaps even a series of
breakthroughs).
Alternatively, it may also happen that the transition from
Level II to Level III is abrupt, almost instantaneous, with no
experience of transition.
Level III: Three- or higher-dimensional space, possible contact with
en titles.
This stage is characterized by the experience of being in an
"objective" space, that is, a space of at least three dimensions
in which objects or entities may be encountered. Sometimes
the entities appear to be intelligent and communicating
beings. This stage may be extremely energetic with an experi-
ence of everything happening incomprehensibly fast.
Alternatively it may be relatively coherent.
Travel is possible at Level III. One may, for example,
assume the form and consciousness of a bird, and fly as a bird
does (cf. Castaneda [15], pp. 191-196). The limits of this stage,
if any, are unknown. There may be transitions to further
stages.
7. Interpretations of the experience
Although the amazing geometrical visual hallucinations
experienced under the influence of DMT are sufficient in
themselves to command attention among students of psyche-
delics, the really interesting part of the experience is be the
apparent contact with alien beings. Since some may feel
reluctant to admit the possible existence of alien beings get-
ting in contact with DMT-modified humans, we should con-
sider all hypotheses that might explain the observations, or at
least, be consistent with them.
Several questions can be distinguished. Firstly, there is
the question of the independent reality of the entities.
Subjects report experiences of contact with communicating
beings whose independent existence at the time seems self-
evident. These experiences are not described as dream-like.
If the entities have an existence independent of the DMT-
influenced subject, then a realm of existence has been discov-
ered which is quite other than the consensus reality which
most of us assume is the only real world.
Such a discovery of "a separate reality" would directly
challenge the foundations of the modern Western view of the
world. I was tempted to say that it would be the most revolu-
tionary change in our understanding of reality since the fish
crawled out on land, but this would be overlooking the fact
that the world view of the modern West is a comparatively
recent invention, stemming mainly from the rise of materialist
science in recent centuries. Earlier cultures had, and non-
Western cultures still have, more expansive views of the
extent of reality.
Secondly, regardless of whether the entities are indepen-
dently-existing or have no existence beyond the experience of
the subject, what are they seen as and seen to be doing? What
is happening, for example, when some subjects (e.g., Subject
V) report seeing thousands of these entities simultaneously?
Even more interesting is the phenomenon of communication,
or attempted communication, which many subjects report
(e.g., Subjects O, G, T and M). Some subjects also report see-
ing the entities communicating with each other, in some kind
of mutual exchange -- but of what?
Thirdly, the matter can be approached from the point of
view of neuropharmacology. What exactly is going on when
those DMT molecules get in there among the neurons of the
brain, causing it to function in what appears subjectively to be
a radically different manner?
Listed below are eight suggested interpretations of the
DMT experience which imply answers (true or false) to some
or all of the questions raised above. Some of these, like the
experience itself, are bizarre, but at this stage any idea should
be considered since in this matter the truth (to paraphrase
J.B.S. Haldane) probably is not only stranger than we suppose
but stranger than we can suppose.
(i) There are no alien entities at all; it's merely subjective
hallucination. The DMT state may be interesting, even
extremely interesting, but really there are no independently-
existing alien entities to be found.
(ii) DMT provides access to a Parallel or higher dimen-
sion, a truly alternate reality which is, in fact, inhabited by
independently-existing intelligent entities forming (in the
words of Terence McKenna) "an ecology of souls."
(iii) DMT allows awareness of processes at a cellular or
even atomic level. DMT smokers are tapping into the net-
work of cells in the brain or even into communication among
molecules themselves. It might even be an awareness of
quantum mechanical processes at the atomic or subatomic
level.
(iv) DMT is, perhaps, a neurotransmitter in reptilian
brains and in the older, reptilian parts of mammalian brains,
Flooding the human brain with DMT causes the older reptil-
lan parts of the brain to dominate consciousness, resulting in
a state of awareness which appears totally alien (and some-
times very frightening) to the everyday monkey mind.
(v) A non-human intelligent species created humans by
genetic modification of existing primate stock then retreated,
leaving behind biochemical methods for contacting them.
The psychedelic tryptamines are chemical keys that activate
certain programs in the human brain that were placed there
intentionally by this alien species.
(vi) The realm to which DMT provides access is the world
of the dead. The entities experienced are the souls, or person-
alities, of the departed, which retain some kind of life and
ability to communicate. The realm of dead souls, commonly
accepted by cultures and societies other than that of the mod-
ern West, is now accessible using DMT.
(vii) The entities experienced are beings from another
time who have succeeded in mastering the art of time travel,
not in a way which allows materialization but in a way which
allows them to communicate with conscious beings such as
ourselves.
(viii) The entities are probes from an extraterrestrial or an
extradimensional species, sent out to make contact with
organisms such as ourselves who are able to manipulate their
nervous systems in a way which allows communication to
take place.
These hypotheses can be expanded and are, of course, vul-
nerable to objections. No doubt other hypotheses are possi-
ble. These matters will not be resolved until we have more
data with which to test these and other hypotheses.
8. DMT and hyperspace
In this section and the following one I shall present a view
which elaborates upon interpretations (ii), (vi) and(vii). This
is speculation but nevertheless provides a preliminary frame-
work for steps toward an understanding of what the use of
DMT reveals to us.
The world of ordinary, common, experience has three spa-
tial dimensions and one temporal dimension, forming a place
and time for the apparent persistence of solid objects. Since
this is a world of experience it belongs more to experience
than to being. The being, or ontological nature, of this world
may be quite different from what we experience it as.
Psychedelic experience strongly suggests that (as William
James hypothesized) ordinary experience is an island in a sea
of possible modes of consciousness. Under the influence of
substances such as LSD and psilocybin we venture outside of
the world as commonly viewed and enter spaces which may
be very strange indeed. This happens as a result of changing
our brain chemistry. Why then should we not regard ordi-
nary experience too as a result of a particular mode of brain
chemistry? Perhaps the world of ordinary experience is not a
faithful representation of physical reality but rather is physi-
cal reality represented in the manner of ordinary brain func-
tioning. By taking this idea seriously we may free our
understanding of physical reality from the limitations
imposed by the unthinking assumption that ordinary experi-
ence represents physical reality as it is. In fact physical reality
may be totally bizarre and quite unlike anything we have
thought it to be.
In his special theory of relativity, Albert Einstein demon-
strated that the physical world (the world that can be meas-
ured by physical instruments, but is assumed to exist
independently) is best understood as a four-dimensional
space which may be separated into three spatial dimensions
and one temporal dimension in various ways, the particular
separation depending on the motion of a hypothetical
observer. It seems that DMT releases one's consciousness
from the ordinary experience of space and time and catapults
one into direct experience of a four-dimensional world. This
explains the feeling of incredulity which first-time users fre-
quently report.
The DMT realm is described by some as "incredible,"
"bizarre," "unbelievable" and even "impossible," and for many
who have experienced it these terms are not an exaggeration.
These terms make sense if the world experienced under DMT
is a four-dimensional world experienced by a mind which is
trying to make sense of it in terms of its usual categories of
three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time. In the
DMT state these categories no longer apply to whatever it is
that is being experienced.
Some Persons report that it seems that in the DMT experi-
ence there is information transfer of some sort. If so, and if
this information is quite unlike anything that we are used to
dealing with (at least at a conscious level), then it may be that
the bizarre quality of the experience results from attempting
to impose categories of thought which are quite inapplicable.
The space that one breaks through to under the influence
of a large dose of DMT has been called "hyperspace" by
Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham [74] and by Gracie &
Zarkov [44]. I suggest that hyperspace is an experience of
physical reality which is "closer" to it (or less mediated) than
is our ordinary experience. In hyperspace one has direct
experience of the four-dimensionality of physical reality.
Parenthetically we may note a mildly interesting case of
historical anticipation. In 1897 one H.C. Geppinger published
a book entitled DMT: Dimensional Motion Times [31], an
appropriate title for our current subject. However, he was, of
course, quite unaware of what the initials "DMT" would later
come to mean.
When reflecting upon his mescaline experiences Aldous
Huxley suggested that there was something, which he called
"Mind-at-Large," which was filtered by the ordinary function-
ing of the human brain to Produce ordinary experience. One
may view the human body and the human nervous system as
a cybernetic system for constructing a stable representation of
a world of enduring objects which are able to interact in ways
that we are familiar with from our ordinary experience. This
is analogous to a computer's production of a stable video dis-
play -- for even a simple blinking cursor requires complicated
coordination of underlying physical processes to make it hap-
pen. In a sense we are (or at least may be thought of as) bio-
logical computers whose typical output is the world of
everyday reality (as we experience it). When our biocompu-
tational processes are modified by strange chemicals we have
the opportunity to view the reality underlying ordinary expe-
rience in an entirely new way.
Einstein's four-dimensional space-time may thus turn out
to be not merely a flux of energetic point-events but to be (or
to be contained in a higher-dimensional space which is) at
least as organized as our ordinary world and which contains
intelligent, communicating beings capable of interacting with
us. As Hamlet remarked to his Aristotelian tutor, following
an encounter with a dead soul (his deceased father), "There
are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt
of in your philosophy." Should we be surprised to find that
there are more intelligent, communicating, beings in the
higher-dimensional reality underlying our ordinary experi-
ence than we find within that experience?
9. The "elves"
Hyperspace, as it is revealed by DMT (revealed to some,
anyway) appears to be full of personal entities. They are non-
physical in the sense that they are not objects in the three-
dimensional space to which we are accustomed. Some of the
beings encountered in the DMT state may once have been liv-
ing humans, but perhaps such "dead souls" are in the minor-
ity among the intelligent beings in that realm.
In his classic The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries [21], W.Y.
Evans-Wentz recorded many tales provided to him by local
people of encounters with beings, variously called fairies,
elves, the wee folk, the good people, the gentry, the Sidhe, the
Tuatha De Danann, etc., who inhabit a realm normally
beyond our ken. The belief in this order of beings was firm
among the Celtic peoples of Britain and France at the time
Evans-Wentz conducted his studies (c. 1900), but has since
been largely supplanted by the beliefs instilled in the public
by the rise of materialistic science and technology. Evans-
Wentz collected numerous reports of elf-sightings, such as the
following (which is part of an account given by a member of
the Lower House of the Manx Parliament):
...I looked across the river and saw a circle of su-
pernatural light, which I have now come to regard as
the "astral light" or the light of Nature, as it is called
by mystics, and in which spirits become visible...
[I]nto this space, and the circle of light, from the sur-
rounding sides apparently, I saw come in twos and
threes a great crowd of little beings smaller than
Tom Thumb and his wife. All of them, who ap-
peared like soldiers, were dressed in red. They
moved back and forth amid the circle of light, as
they formed into order like troops drilling. ([21], p.
113.)
Reviewing his data, Evans-Wentz writes:
We seem, in fact, to have arrived at a Point in our
long investigations where we can postulate scientifi-
cally, on the showing of the data of psychical re-
search, the existence of such invisible intelligences as
gods, genii, daemons, all kinds of true fairies, and
disembodied [i.e., deceased] men. ([21], p. 481)
He then goes on to quote an earlier researcher:
Either it is we who produce these phenomena
[which, says Evans-Wentz, is unreasonable] or it is
spirits. But mark this well: these spirits are not nec-
essarily the souls of the dead; for other kinds of spir-
itual beings may exist, and space may be full of them
without our ever knowing anything about it, except
under unusual circumstances [such as a sudden
change in brain chemistry]. Do we not find in the
different ancient literatures, demons, angels,
gnomes, goblins, sprites, spectres, elementals, etc.'
Perhaps these legends are not without some founda-
tion in fact. (Flammarion [28], quoted in [21], p.
481.)
Evans-Wentz concludes ([21], p. 490) that a realm of
discarnate, intelligent forces known as fairies, elves, etc.,
exists "as a supernormal state of consciousness into which
men and women may enter temporarily in dreams, trances, or
in various ecstatic conditions," such as, we may add, the con-
dition produced by smoking DMT.
I suggest that the faerie world studied by Evans-Wentz
and the objective space into which one may enter under the
influence of DMT are the same.
10. DMT and the death state
Who are we and how did we get here? Clearly we are
personalities who develop in connection with our bodies. But
are we personalities who have our origin in the development
of our bodies? Or do we originate as hyperspatial entities
who become associated with bodies for the purpose of acting
in what appears to us as the ordinary world? The answer
may be a combination of both. It may be that a personality
must first come into existence in connection with a body but
that, once developed, it may leave the body, and perhaps sub-
sequently become associated with a new body. Or it may be
that intelligent entities, most of whom were never human, can
come into existence as beings in hyperspace by virtue of a
creative power associated with the origin of hyperspace itself.
In the more poetic words of an Irish seer, they may "draw
their life out of the Soul of the World" ([21], p. 65).
DMT appears to allow us to leave our three-dimensional
bodily organisms and enter into hyperspace where we can
function (for a short period of earthly time while our brain
biochemistry is altered) as disembodied personalities, able to
communicate with other discarnate personalities. In fact it
may be that this is what happens to us when we die. In
death, however, unlike the DMT trance, you can't return to
your body. Once your body is destroyed, or is damaged so
that it cannot function as a channel for your will, then you
have entered hyperspace and you will remain there indefi-
nitely or until association with a new body becomes possible.
After telling of frequently seeing spiritual beings envel-
oped in shining light, one of Evan-Wentz's informants says:
In whatever country we may be, I believe that we are
for ever immersed in the spiritual world; but most of
us cannot perceive it on account of the unrefined na-
ture of our physical bodies. Through meditation
and psychical training one can come to see the spiri-
tual world and its beings. We pass into the spirit
realm at death and come back into the human world
at birth; and we continue to reincarnate until we
have overcome all earthly desires and mortal appe-
tites. Then the higher life is open to our conscious-
ness and we cease to be human; we become divine
beings. ([21], p. 84)
It now seems possible, by the use of the psychedelic tryp
tamines, to venture into the death state before we die and te
accustom ourselves to that state. This is the path of the sha
man and the spiritual warrior. At death, when the transition
is finally and irrevocably made, the psychedelic explorer will
enter a realm he or she knows from previous experience, and
will, hopefully, not be swept away by fear and ignorance.
11. Further research needed
The idea that there might be a realm inhabited by alien
beings able to communicate with humans in an intelligent
manner, and that these beings may be contacted through the
use of a psychedelic, is sufficiently bizarre that some may be
tempted to reject it unthinkingly. Modern-day common sense
certainly rejects the possibility entirely, but a scientific
approach to the subject requires suspension of common sense
in favor of an unbiased study of the available data. In this
case the rawest data available is the actual subjective experi-
ence of the DMT state.
Further research is needed to distinguish among the possi-
ble interpretations presented above, or to Provide a basis for
other interpretations. Basically this means further human
explorations of the DMT experience, with articulate reports
on the experience. This would allow us to begin to determine
what are the common characteristics, in humans, of the expe-
rienced induced by smoking DMT. Do all subjects eventually
experience (apparent) contact with alien beings? How is this
contact related to dose and method of administration? In
what form(s) do the entities (tend to) appear? How often are
cases of human-alien communication reported? What is the
content of this communication?
As an aid to further research in this field I have compiled
the bibliography of publications, mostly articles concerning
DMT, which is reproduced below.
Contact with alien entities in other worlds has long been
reported from non-Western and pre-modern societies. Such
reports are usually presented in the context of a particular
mythology or cosmology that makes it difficult to relate them
to a modern scientific view of the world. This may mean not
that these reports are false, but that our scientific view of the
world needs to be extended. A scientific attitude -- that is, an
open and questioning attitude to the advancement of knowl-
edge, one which does not shun any repeatable observation
regardless of how bizarre it may seem -- is not inconsistent
with the discovery of intelligent, non-human entities in a
higher-dimensional realm. If they are there, and can be con-
tacted reliably, let us see what they have to say.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank those people (you know who you
are) who read earlier drafts of this article (it was begun in
October, 1989 and completed in June, 1992) and who offered
helpful criticism and suggestions for improvement.
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