Article Overview 🔎
What is DMT? 🪬
Dimethyltryptamine is a natural chemical substance that is produced in many plants and animals, including humans in the liver, lungs, and pineal gland. Despite occurring naturally in us, it is famous for being the strongest psychedelic and has a reputation for inducing the biggest changes to our perception of reality. Also, it has been found that when someone dies, the brain releases DMT.
Common effects of DMT include leaving the body to another realm/dimension that seems more real, fractal, and complex, where people have interacted with other entities, feel more knowledgeable and think more clearly. Physicists have found that the human eye can only see 0.0035% of reality, and so many believe that DMT opens us up to some of this unseen reality.
Many people recall interacting with a female entity that they ask questions and she shares knowledge and that it takes them to a place where there is no time (as it is not bound by space and time like the reality we experience). It is also common for people to feel like they know the place, that they’ve been there before (“before this life”). It is said to feel homely and people have a strong sense and are told that they will return there (“after this life”). People often say that entities experienced are benevolent and are pleased to see them like family. They say things like they “have been waiting for them”, that the person “must go back”, and that “they will see them again”, communicating with thoughts; “It’s like they communicate a feeling to me and my mind puts it into words like an intuition”.
DMT experiences can also include going through a tunnel/wormhole and seeing a bright light (similar to near death experiences), then seeing geometric patterns. These are captured further down this post. Also, experiencing an even greater presence than the other entities that is all loving is often mentioned.
This presence has been described sometimes as masculine, but mainly as:
- God/ultimate consciousness.
- The source of all reality.
- A field of consciousness.
- A “being” felt everywhere at once.
- No physical form (pure presence).
- Communicating via feelings or telepathy.
- Giving a sense of infinite love and unity.
People who smoke DMT say it lasts around 15 minutes (but the experience tends to feel like longer) and those who drink ayahuasca, the natural DMT brew, say it can last hours.
Terence McKenna explains what to expect from a DMT experience in the video below. This includes that most people need three or four deep inhalations, with the third being crucial to fully “break through.” After closing the eyes, users first see intensified colors and geometric, mandala-like patterns (“the chrysanthemum”). If enough is taken, they feel propelled through this visual structure with a cracking or tearing sensation, as if passing through a membrane.
On the other side, the experience becomes highly vivid and immersive. Users report entering a strange “space” populated by energetic, playful entities that seem welcoming and interactive. These beings appear to communicate, demonstrate impossible, hyper-complex objects, and “sing” structures into existence. The scene feels overwhelmingly detailed and fast-paced. The entities urge the experiencer to pay attention and participate. Some users feel compelled to produce sounds or speech-like vocalizations (glossolalia), accompanied by internal visuals, as if creating forms through voice.
Unlike some other psychedelics, McKenna claims DMT doesn’t dull self-awareness or judgment; people remain mentally themselves, but shocked at what they’re perceiving. The peak lasts only a few minutes, after which the entities recede and the visions collapse. The comedown is rapid; within minutes, normal perception returns, and memory of the experience may quickly fade, leaving only a sense that something extremely strange occurred.
DMT experiences are captured in the artwork and DMT (as well as ayahuasca) simulation videos that follow. You can also check out our article for more on what DMT is and the lessons learnt from DMT here, as well as the natural DMT brew of South America ayahuasca here.
DMT Trip Simulations and DMT Art 🖼️
Shawn Thornton and Alex Grey are famous DMT and ayahuasca artists. Shawn Thornton has cancer of the pineal gland (a pineal gland tumor), the gland that secretes DMT. Interestingly, this condition gives him the ability to see visions without consuming any stimulants. This is how he creates impressive DMT trip images. Other ways documented that catalyze the secretion of DMT without consuming stimulants include Kundalini Yoga and certain lights such as Ajna Lights. Artist Alex Grey opted to take DMT and details his first experience of it here:
To get your own virtual taster of the ‘spirit molecule’, check out the DMT Trip videos and DMT Trip pictures below. Some of the comments on the first video say that they recognise some of the faces later in the video (underneath the mushroom/mushroom hat). Also, artist Alex Grey’s artwork was used to create the second simulation video.
DMT simulation videos:
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Alex Grey’s artwork (you can also buy pieces of his work here):
Note that the last image depicts Baphomet as a DMT Trip entity. Here are two contrasting views on Baphomet:
1. Baphomet as an evil entity
Baphomet is a goat-headed being who desires to be worshipped and revered to fuel their power. They found that within humanity’s soul, people could share some of his traits (e.g. power-seeking, greedy, hateful etc.). Preying on the free-will of humanity and humanity’s creative powers (both of which seem unique to humans in this world/our local level of reality, based on different other-worldly accounts such as Near Death Experiences, past life memories, past life regression, and alleged alien communication which can be viewed towards the bottom of this post), they try to manipulate and tempt people by providing powers from the other realm in exchange for the things they want (evil deeds) and their preferred reality (for them to be idolized and to have control over everything). They view people as eager to please a god, which matches their desire of devoted praise and does this often in the guise of a being of light.
There are even myths that say Baphomet used to be a being on Earth (in our 3D reality), but was banished to another realm. This links with the DMT experiences, as DMT is described as allowed your consciousness to access other realms.
2. Baphomet as a representation of duality
Baphomet is a complex and often misunderstood symbol, commonly depicted as a goat-headed figure with both male and female traits and surrounded by mystical imagery. Though frequently labeled as evil or satanic, this reputation largely comes from historical fear, religious prejudice, and cultural misunderstandings, especially from Christian opposition to pagan symbols, accusations against groups like the Knights Templar and Freemasons, and the 1980s “satanic panic.”
Rather than representing pure evil, Baphomet is a symbol of duality and balance (combining light and dark, male and female, human and animal) who stands for harmony, nonconformity, identity, and freedom of belief. Because it embodies both positive and negative aspects of existence, it is not purely good or bad:
- Duality & Balance: Baphomet embodies the union of opposing forces; male and female, light and dark, good and evil. The Latin phrase on its arms, Solve et Coagula (dissolve and coagulate), represents destruction and creation.
- Occult Knowledge: Often associated with hidden wisdom, Baphomet serves as a symbol of enlightenment and initiation into mystical traditions.
- Spiritual Transformation: Its torch-lit head signifies illumination and self-discovery.
- Hermetic and Alchemical Principles: The figure aligns with alchemical traditions, where combining opposing elements leads to spiritual evolution.
- Freedom and Rebellion: In modern culture, especially within Satanism and left-hand path traditions, Baphomet represents personal freedom, defiance against oppressive dogma, and self-deification.
While tied to accusations against the Knights Templar, Baphomet is powerful symbol in Western esotericism and modern occultism.
DMT ‘Trip Report’ 🧿
Linking to DMT simulation videos, here is also an interactive trip experience video explaining what DMT feels like visually, auditorily, and conceptually.
The video explains that smoking DMT produces a rapid shift in perception, often starting with buzzing sensations and a change in sound and awareness, followed by a strong sense of vibration and euphoria throughout the body. Soon after, vision transforms into moving geometric patterns, and ordinary reality begins to look altered; more symmetrical, stylized, and “digitized.” A key feature is that the usual internal mental chatter often stops or becomes silent, replaced by a feeling of calm or bliss.
As the experience deepens, surroundings can appear hyper-real rather than unreal, as if a hidden layer of reality has been revealed. People, objects, and even reflections may look more detailed, symbolic, or “perfected”. The overall interpretation is that DMT feels like a brief, but extremely intense shift in perception where reality appears fundamentally different, often described as “more real than real”.
As mentioned, DMT is said to be secreted from the pineal gland. Our article on the pineal gland can be viewed here, our DMT article here, and our ayahuasca (the natural DMT brew) article here.
