Network of the Numinous

Network of the Numinous

            Much has been written about the folklore surrounding UFOs. Ever since the fiasco of 1947, flying saucers have been commonplace in popular media. Likewise, ceremonial magick has always had a definitive role in the study of witchcraft and demonology. Anthropologists study shamanism in all its forms to glean better insights into religious representations of the numinous. Rites of liminality are also carefully examined to show the effects of initiatory structure on social chartering. With that said, surprisingly little has been published concerning the connections and networking of Ufology and ceremonial magick. Usually left to the domain of New Age, academia has shied away from this genre largely out of fear of being considered pseudo-scientific or even psychologically disturbed.

            The attitude towards Ufology and ceremonial magick is the same derision that investigators of the paranormal suffer by mainstream science. Skeptics are quick to point out that “Aliens do not exist. And neither do ghosts or Harry Potter.” But who are we to deny ontological status to anything? I would assert that social scientists can benefit greatly from theories that are seemed absurd or impossible. As Feyerabend stated, “A scientist who is interested in maximal empirical content, and who wants to understand as many aspects of his theory as possible, will adopt a pluralistic methodology, he will compare theories with other theories rather than with ‘experience’, ‘data’, or ‘facts’, and he will try to improve rather than discard the views that appear to lose in the competition” (27). A pluralistic study of various occult processes can be very beneficial to the social scientist that wants to identify the agencies and mediators involved in anomalous behavior and phenomenon. Anarchism is an essential vehicle for determining the inertia that UFOs and the occult exhibit as they move through ontological and epistemic landscapes. Throughout this article, I will be discussing UFO folklore and how it is intimately connected to ideas of ceremonial magick. It is my contention that Ufology and ceremonial magicians both negotiate avenues of worldmaking to achieve a re-presentation of numinous properties.

            At no time during Men In Black did Will Smith perform an invocation or rite of Pan. There were no pentagrams, magic circles, or liturgical chanting. However, there were extraterrestrials and a lot of them. There were aliens of all shapes and sizes running around influencing the action and behavior of earthlings. Much like gods and demons of the past, there were a myriad of aliens representing their pantheons or planets. Were these creatures summoned? Did the lights of their saucer act as markers once reserved for angels, fairies, or spirits? It is clear that the folklore of Ufology shares many characteristics of traditional narratives of the supernatural. What isn’t as detailed are the mechanisms that connect UFO and occult narratives.

            Perhaps the area where UFO is closest to ceremonial magick is in archetype and symbol. Often times, traditional mythological and religious narratives lend themselves easily to UFO folklore. One such example is in the World Tree. The World Tree is found in countless sacred traditions. Kabbalists use the very important Tree of Life in their studies of the Sephiroth. Aztec and Mayan cosmologies make use of a sacred tree in their respective belief systems. Even esoteric Christianity uses the symbol of the tree in their understanding of the Crucifixion Cross. It is no surprise that ceremonial magicians make use of the sacred tree in their ritual practice. Corresponding kabbalistic sephiroth are always used as focal points and explanatory associatives of the ritual process. You could even say that the magic wand is a derivation of the World Tree and its importance in Druidic, Arthurian Legend, and Tarot stem from its role in initiatory pageantry. According to Valerii Samarov, “In the case of the World Tree, we are dealing with the fabula. Both the ritual and the fabula can be traced back a thousand years. They are very likely to have originated in initiation rites” (165). As the fabula or “raw material of a story” is showcased in UFO accounts, it’s not difficult to see the similarities between initiatory rites and UFO contact narratives. Many UFO narratives are awash with initiatory implications. Also, stories about the World Tree are sometimes analogous to the flying saucer mythos. For example, in many narratives of the World Tree, a hero is stuck in the underworld and comes upon a huge tree with the nest of a giant bird. There are young nestlings in the tree and a serpent(dragon) has wound itself around the tree intending to eat the young birds. Our hero cuts the serpent in half and saves the nestlings. The large bird then returns and carries the hero back to the Earth. (See Stith-Thompson folklore motif index) In this narrative, the eagle’s nest is analogous to a flying saucer and the young nestlings equivalent to ‘little green men’. Our human hero comes into contact with the saucer, performs some aid, and is transported back to Earth. This is certainly reminiscent of both contact and abduction narratives in UFO folklore. Perhaps an initiatory Ordeal, the connotations of the ‘Tree’ and ‘Serpent’ are appropriated nicely in the UFO schema.

            Another area in which Ufology and ceremonial magic find associative value is in areas of dreamwork and nightmare exploration. It is well known that much of the visualization that occurs during occult ritual is done while asleep. Dreams are both interpreted as an astral reality and tool for inter-dimensional travel. Utilized in a way similar to the imagination, dreams and nightmares are an essential aspect of occult ritual. Perhaps it’s the primal fear or mysteries that accompany the dark that makes the nightmare so identifiable for witchcraft. Davies has stated that, “the nightmare was not just a symptom, like other bodily conditions associated with witchcraft, but through its hallucinatory content was also a potent confirmation of a witch’s power” (182). Ceremonial magick, Old Hag experiences, and sleep paralysis, are all associated with dreams and nightmares. Moreover, the UFO abduction almost always takes place in the middle of the night. Most scenarios involve nightmares somewhere in the narrative. Whether the nightmares occur during the supernatural experience or after the event, dreaming is nearly always apparent somewhere in the experience.

            Perhaps the closest connection of UFO folklore with occult magick is in the entities known as ‘Men In Black’. These figures show up after UFO contact and demand that witnesses remain silent about the event. They are described as strange in appearance and behavior. In fact, some MIB are described as being ‘alien-like’ or, at the very least, reminiscent of extraordinary humans. The Buddhist bodhisattva comes to mind. The idea of “tulpas” from Tibetan Buddhist traditions has also been linked to the MIB phenomenon. Rojcewicz remarks that “there has been some serious discussion that MIB and perhaps UFOs in general are related to the Tibetan mystical tradition of the “tulpas”. A tulpa is a materialized thought-form and thus may be related in part to holographic images” (154).  This is very important because MIB would be identical to entities conjured during ceremonial magick. The UFO experience would be a form of occult ritual. Whether conscious of it or not, contactees and abductees would be either performing or subject to an occult rite.

            Men in Black have also been correlated with very obscure and sometimes very hidden, occult groups. These theories postulate that there is nothing essentially extraterrestrial about MIB. Instead, they are a very secretive group of occultists who have mastered very arcane forms of magick and who now act as ‘secret chiefs’ or ‘hidden masters’. One of these groups is called the ‘Brothers of the Shadow’ and according to Steiger, “Brothers of the Shadow are cunning and evil; intent upon keeping any student of the occult from finding out the proverbial answer. In mystical jargon this answer is the “veil of Isis”, and is synonymous with the “Great Secret” of Maeterlink…the Brothers of Shadow, like the MIB, are known for threatening students whenever they get too close to lifting the veil of Isis” (Steiger 1978). Are MIB highly educated occultists who seek to regulate dissemination of occult secrets? Are UFO manifestations a correlate of occult ritual or entities? There are many who seem to think so. Even among more popularized groups such as Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, the UFO phenomenon is a product of occult techniques. Kenneth Grant has remarked that, “Not until his death (Aleister Crowley in 1947) did any massive contact occur between Earth and extraterrestrial intelligences, a contact which his intercourse with Aiwass had helped make possible” (18) Curiously, 1947 marked not only the year of Crowley’s demise but also the legendary Roswell event in New Mexico.

            Perhaps the most compelling evidence to suggest that UFO phenomenon is a product of occult ritual is in the fact that there are rituals designed to invoke extraterrestrials. Probably the best well known comes from H.P. Lovecraft in the Necronomicon treatise. In his Cthulhu cult, E.T.’s are summoned for both their powers and secrets. Another very pertinent example comes in the form of LAM. (see pic) This being came into contact with Crowley during the transmission of The Book Of The Law in 1904. Grant remarks that “the cult of LAM is undoubtedly growing and the reader who feels a strong inner urge to invoke this entity may proceed as follows. Gaze at a portrait until drowsiness supervenes. This gaze will naturally rest upon the eyes; these will appear to enlarge and will suck in the consciousness until there arises a sensation of being within the entity’s head. Two ways are now open: either upward or downward” (153). This rite is designed specifically to achieve contact with an extraterrestrial being. The E.T. daimon is then used to glean esoteric truths and insights.

            Since folklore of Ufology is intimately connected with occult ritual, we must explore the implications of these groups in popular culture. There are dozens of UFO groups that get together, conduct activities, and record their findings on videotape or log. These groups meet at a predestined place and perform some form of occult theatre. Whether it is aiming binoculars at the sky in an attempt to capture odd lights and anomalies, a UFO conference, or a post-hypnotic regression of an alien abductee, all these activities could be considered occult ritual. The distinction between what is occult and what is UFO research has become blurred as UFO folklore becomes a common staple in parlance of the paranormal. Nowadays, UFO sightings, occult research, and paranormal phenomenon are all intertwined in what I call a network of the numinous. The separate branches of the unexplained and mysterious are becoming re-presented and referenced in ways that compliment one another. Interestingly, each of the branches provide better insights and understanding to the entire phenomenon by being greater than the sum of its parts. It is true that in the network of the numinous, the parts are more important than the sum. The reason is because a social scientist would have to be fluent in the language of each branch and sub-branch before attempting to discern the mediators involved in the sum. Of course, there are scholars that have mastered the nuances of occult, UFO, and the paranormal but they are few and far between and may be what are considered ‘secret chiefs’ or MIB. The answer is as always anomalous and I guess only time will tell.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davies, Owen. “The Nightmare Experience, Sleep Paralysis, and Witchcraft Accusations.” Folklore. Vol. 114(2003): 181-203.

Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. New York: Verso Publishing, 2010.

Grant, Kenneth. Outside the Circles of Time. London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1980.

Samarov, Valerii I., “On the Nature and Origin of Flying Saucers and Little Green Men.” Current Anthropology. Vol. 22 No. 2. (April 1981): 163-167.

Rojcewicz, Peter. “The “Men In Black” Experience and Tradition-Analogues with the Traditional Devil Hypothesis.” Journal of American Folklore. Vol. 100 (1987): 148-160

Steiger, Brad. Alien Meetings. New York: Ace Books, 1978.