Machine Elves is a term coined by the writer and philosopher Terence McKenna to describe the entities that he claims one becomes aware of after having taken tryptamine based psychedelic drugs. According to McKenna, their constant dance creates the reality as we perceive it. By following their dance, one can stay in contact with the Logos, a subconscious world of spiritual and other information. A close similarity is the hindu Dance of Shiva.
Many people have claimed to have encountered such entities, and have described them as abstract beings existing in the universe created from human and animal mental space. The term "DMT Space" has also been used.
There are numerous references of such encounters that could be found in many cultures ranging from shamanic traditions of Native Americans to Australian aboriginals, to African tribes, to the modern day "urban shamanism" like Santeria and Vodoun and the "new breed". This is something that Timothy Leary used to describe the rising generation of urban shamans, who, he claims, will augment the modern world's spiritual awareness of the world.
The psychedelic trance musicians Space Tribe created a track (TIP Records, 1996) entitled Machine Elf containing a voice sample of Leonard Nimoy saying "Visual contact established. Requesting permission to land".
