Mantis Beings (also called "Mantids") are, in The Alien Archive, tall insectoid intelligences who resemble praying mantises. The Archive describes them as overseers of the evolution of consciousness who read reality as data fields, timelines and energetic structures, and who contact people through dreams and symbols rather than face to face. Mantis figures appear in 1990s abduction reports and, strikingly often, in reports of experiences with DMT and ayahuasca. In Gnostic terms they sit between two ancient images: the luminous revealers who "stand in the presence" of the highest God, and the "watchers" whose observation of humanity turns into control.
From the Alien Archive
Origin
- The Andromeda and Orion constellations, though many accounts also describe them as originating from non-localized or undiscovered galactic systems beyond conventional astronomical mapping.
- Mantis Beings are not tied to a single star system at all. They exist across interdimensional or hyperdimensional layers of reality where consciousness is not restricted by physical location. In many narratives, therefore, their origin is less about geography and more about evolutionary density or dimensional complexity.
Characteristics
- Large insectoid humanoid entities resembling praying mantises, with elongated limbs, angular joint structures, a distinctive triangular head shape, and an exoskeleton-like surface.
- An unsettling yet deeply intelligent presence, emphasizing stillness, precision, and heightened awareness rather than emotional expression.
- They perceive reality across multiple layers simultaneously, including temporal, emotional, and probabilistic dimensions of experience.
- Abilities: Telepathy · Multi-Dimensional Perception · Hyper-Intuitive Cognition · Energetic Architecture Perception · Consciousness Field Reading.
Functions and roles
- Associated with monitoring consciousness evolution and biological systems.
- Linked to higher-order planning, informational architecture, or cosmic record-keeping.
- They perceive and interact with reality as structured data fields, timelines, or energetic frameworks rather than isolated physical events.
- Cosmic record-keeping, observational analysis of civilizations, and monitoring of evolutionary trajectories across species and planetary systems.
- Associated with the maintenance or mapping of multidimensional timelines, probability fields, or energetic ecosystems that shape collective development patterns.
Relationship to Earth
- Highly observational, non-invasive, and detached from emotional or human-centric interpretation of events.
- Sometimes described as conducting non-invasive analysis of civilizations and timelines.
- Overseers or monitors of human consciousness development, particularly during periods of rapid societal or evolutionary change.
- They communicate through dream contact, symbolic communication, archetypal imagery, and subconscious impression states rather than direct physical encounters.
- Interactions are experienced as brief, vivid, and abstract rather than conversational or linear, often leaving strong symbolic residue rather than detailed memory.
In popular culture
- Referenced in UFO communities, New Age metaphysics, and modern "insectoid intelligence" contact narratives, often under the label "Mantids" or "Mantis Beings."
- Portrayed as highly intelligent, non-human overseer entities in speculative cosmology, channeling literature, and consciousness-expansion teachings.
- Appear in science fiction, video games, and speculative cosmology as hyper-intelligent alien entities.
Gnostic perspective
No Gnostic text describes an insect-like being. The Archive's Mantis Beings still touch three themes that run through the Gnostic writings: revelation that arrives as vision rather than conversation, higher beings who observe from above the planetary spheres, and watchers whose observation becomes a form of control.
Vision in many forms
The Archive says contact with Mantis Beings is "brief, vivid, and abstract rather than conversational or linear," and leaves "strong symbolic residue." Gnostic revelation is often described in a similar way. The Apocryphon of John opens with John grieving on a mountain when "the heavens opened and the whole creation which is below heaven shone." A figure appears who changes as he watches: "a youth … he became like an old man. And he changed his likeness (again), becoming like a servant. There was not a plurality before me, but there was a likeness with multiple forms in the light, and the likenesses appeared through each other."[1] Such layered, shifting perception is close to the Archive's description of beings who perceive "temporal, emotional, and probabilistic dimensions" at once.
Observers from beyond the spheres
In the Hypostasis of the Archons, the woman Norea, threatened by the rulers, cries out for help. The great angel Eleleth comes down to her and says: "I am one of the four light-givers, who stand in the presence of the great invisible spirit. Do you think these rulers have any power over you?" Norea can barely describe him: "my mouth cannot bear to speak of his power and the appearance of his face!"[2] Eleleth is one of the Four Luminaries. He does not fight the rulers. He explains, reveals and reassures, and in the Archive's language that is a "non-invasive" presence from a higher "density." The Gnostic map of the cosmos places such beings above the seven planetary spheres of the archons, in the Ogdoad and beyond (see Ogdoad and Hebdomad).[3]
The record of time, and the watchers
The Archive's "cosmic record-keeping" and "mapping of multidimensional timelines" also have a darker Gnostic counterpart. In the Apocryphon of John, the archons produce "bitter fate," by which all creatures "are bound with measures and times and moments, since it (fate) is lord over everything."[1] Fate here is a kind of cosmic scheduling: an administered timeline that keeps souls from looking up. The older Jewish Book of Enoch describes "Watchers," angels sent to watch over humanity, who instead mingle with human women and teach forbidden knowledge.[4] The Apocryphon retells this story when it says the chief ruler "sent his angels to the daughters of men."[1] The Gnostic sources therefore hold both possibilities that modern mantis reports hold: the observer as guide, and the observer as farmer. As noted below, one modern experiencer described being "farmed for their emotions" by mantis beings.[5] The Gnostic question to ask of any watcher is the one Eleleth asks Norea: does it have power over you, or does it help you remember you are free?
Background and history
In abduction literature. Insectoid and specifically mantis-like beings entered abduction lore in the late 1980s and 1990s. The parapsychologist David Luke credits the horror writer Whitley Strieber, author of Communion (1987), with helping spread "the increasing encounters with insectoid aliens, and praying mantises in particular," and notes that the researcher Martin Kottmeyer documented a rise in mantis figures in 1990s abduction cases.[5] Strieber's and Budd Hopkins's bestsellers of 1987 were themselves followed by a wave of abduction reports from their readers.[6]
In psychedelic experience. The psychiatrist Rick Strassman gave about four hundred doses of DMT to some sixty volunteers in the 1990s. Luke summarizes the entities they met as often appearing as "clowns, reptiles, mantises—for some reason praying mantises were quite common—bees, spiders, cacti or stick insects." He adds that some volunteers described being operated on "in a kind of classic alien abduction type scenario" in the presence of "insectoid" beings "such as mantises." Luke also reports that two colleagues met mantises on DMT without prior knowledge of the literature, and that one associate on ayahuasca "had an experience of being farmed for their emotions by praying mantis beings."[5] A 2020 Johns Hopkins survey of 2,561 people describing their most memorable DMT entity encounter found that the most common labels were "being, guide, spirit, alien, and helper." Although 41% reported fear, the emotions most often reported were love, kindness and joy. The authors concluded that these encounters "have many similarities to non-drug entity encounter experiences such as those described in religious, alien abduction, and near-death contexts."[7][8]
Why the mantis, specifically, keeps appearing is an open question. Luke himself leaves it unresolved.[5]
Reflection
- The Archive says Mantis contact leaves "symbolic residue" rather than detailed memory. Is there a dream or image that has stayed with you longer than its story?
- What is the difference between being watched over and being watched? How would you tell which one you were experiencing?
- If a being could see all your possible timelines at once, what would you hope it noticed?
See also
- Interdimensional Beings · Andromedans · Orionans · Greys · Energy Beings
- Four Luminaries · Aeons · Norea · Archons · Ogdoad and Hebdomad
- Common ET Archetypes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Apocryphon of John, trans. Frederik Wisse — The Gnostic Society Library, gnosis.org. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ The Hypostasis of the Archons, trans. Bentley Layton — The Gnostic Society Library, gnosis.org. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Archon (Gnosticism) — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Watcher (angel) — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 David Luke, "So Long As You've Got Your Elf: Death, DMT and Discarnate Entities" (book chapter, via the MAPS Psychedelic Bibliography). Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Budd Hopkins — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Alan K. Davis, John M. Clifton, Eric G. Weaver, Ethan S. Hurwitz, Matthew W. Johnson and Roland R. Griffiths, "Survey of entity encounter experiences occasioned by inhaled N,N-dimethyltryptamine: Phenomenology, interpretation, and enduring effects," Journal of Psychopharmacology 34(9), 2020, pp. 1008–1020. doi:10.1177/0269881120916143.
- ↑ Benjamin Taub, "People Seeing Strange Entities When Taking DMT Could Be The Source Of 'Alien Abductions'" — IFLScience, 12 May 2020. Accessed 2026-09-19.