UFO folklore and religious imagery

 Here's another excerpt from my MS thesis and future Magus Magazine article. I've put everything on hold till after the thesis defense but we're looking towards a publish date of early January. I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, here's something worth spouting crazily about. Give it a read and feel free to to comment or send me an email.

Extraterrestrials also relay overtly religious messages in many UFO contact

narratives. This idea of aliens delivering religious argot can be seen in a Weekly World

News article authored by Ragan Dunn. According to Dunn, a French Journalist named

Vincent Black conducted a 25 minute interview with an extraterrestrial named Barten.

The manuscript states that, “the creature had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked like a

three-year-old child. He spoke in a high pitched monotone and answered a series of

questions before he glowed bright blue and disappeared” (Weekly World News, July

19, 2004).

The interviewer asks:

                        Q- Have you come to steal from us, to plunder the earth?

A-    We have come to share with you, to cure your illnesses, to relieve your strife, to bring you heaven on earth. We also bring you the wrath of hell. The choice is yours to make.

Q- Why haven’t you contacted us before?

A-    Your leaders are aware of our presence and we have engaged them in negotiations. I emphasize that we come in peace. We ask you to prepare for us.

The concept of heavenly figures coming to alleviate illnesses or share knowledge is very

prevalent in UFO literature. Like the curing power of saints and prophets, these

otherworldly beings are infused with powers of healing. Moreover, the alien visitors

reiterate time after time that their presence is one of beneficence. Again we see this idea

of supernatural healing in a Weekly World News article. According to Ann Victoria,

Andorra Spain- Space Aliens are appearing in the hospital rooms of dying children, gently touching their foreheads- and curing them of terminal cancer!

That’s the incredible conclusion of 14 highly respected doctors and staff members at Pyrenees Hospital de Los Ninos who have seen the 4-foot-tall extraterrestrials work their magic on four terminally ill youngsters in the course of a month.

When the creatures entered the room of 7-year-old, terminally ill cancer patient Juan Guijarro, nurse Montoya alerted security guards and Dr. Thomas Ruiz. “Little Juan’s room was bathed in a bright golden light when I got there,” Dr. Ruiz recalled. “The aliens were standing by his bedside. There seemed to be a mystical bond between them and the boy. (Weekly World News, July, 29 2004)

The article goes on to state that the young patient went into spontaneous remission and all

traces of cancer disappeared. Much like the behavior of heavenly persona, the

extraterrestrial becomes a conduit for healing human illnesses.

Another characteristic that UFO contactees display after meeting with

extraterrestrial beings are psychic or otherwise supernormal powers. Much like prophets

and saints in Biblical times, these stories speak of extra-human abilities. According to

Fuller, “the fact is that many people who have been abducted do subsequently have

psychic and sometimes psychokinetic ability. In many instances, it seems to have

preceded the UFO sightings but also seems to have been enhanced afterward” (Fuller

1983: 354). In these cases, the extraterrestrial imparts mystical talents or insight. This

supposedly occurred in 1908 when writer and mountain climber Aleister Crowley came

into contact with a being that dictated a book to him. Called The Book Of The Law,

this tome is used by various religious groups that assert it to be of divine origin. Allen

Greenfield remarks that, “when Crowley engaged in magical working, these

praeterhuman intelligences would consistently arrive on the scene. One of them, calling

itself Lam, was sketched by Crowley and is the prototype of the current alien types seen

in present-day abduction cases” (Greenfield 1994: 24). Much like the knowledge related

to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and Ron Hubbard, the inventor of Dianetics,

a “spiritual being” provided the inspiration for a new religious movement. This new

religion was called Thelema and included aspects of occultism, kaballah, yoga, and

Western mysticism. Thelema emphasizes the ethical code of ‘Do what thou wilt shall be

the whole of the law’ and relies on identifying with one’s Holy Guardian Angel to

achieve the True Will.

Although many reports of contact with extraterrestrial accentuate the loving

actions of angelic beings, there is also a darker side to UFO folklore. Adopting religious

axioms, for there to be angels full of god’s light, there must also be devils that represent

the wrath of hell. These more sinister motifs find their way into legends about Men In

Black and UFO abductions. Greenfield states that, “Men In Black terrify people, and the

Heaven’s Gate cult lured its followers to commit suicide. Such efforts betray the classic

tactics of demons as they confuse and mislead their victims to win their souls for hell”

(Greenfield 1994: 216). Most accounts of Men In Black occur after a UFO sighting or

contact. Men In Black are a prevalent part of UFO conspiracy theory. Most often, they

appear as clandestine government agents who appear to contactees and demand absolute

silence about what they experienced. Sometimes they appear alien themselves and move

in awkward or discomfited ways. Rojcewicz states that, “MIB have on occasion

displayed a very unusual walking motion, moving about as if their hips were swivel joints,

producing a gliding or rocking affect, often with the torso and legs seemingly moving

into opposite directions” (Rojcewicz 1987: 151). Reminiscent of traditional demon-lore,

the MIB are a class of supernatural entity apart from the usual extraterrestrial narrative.

            Aside from the MIB phenomenon, the UFO abduction experience also conjures

images of hellish beings. In many cases, the abductee awakens in the middle of the night,

paralyzed and stricken with fear. Sometimes they are transported to a saucer where

torturous medical experiments are conducted on them. These accounts are suggestive of

Old Hag narratives that have been studied by folklorist David Hufford. In the classic Old-

Hag experience, the victim wakes up paralyzed and deeply afraid. Many times there is

pressure on his/her chest and a feeling of helplessness. According to an informant

interviewed by Hufford, “You are dreaming and you feel as if someone is holding you

down. You can do nothing only cry out. People believe that you will die if you are not

awakened” (Hufford 1982: 2). Hufford found Old Hag experiences bled into UFO

abductions. Hufford remarks that “the Old Hag, can be as easily assimilated to UFO

belief as it can to Vampirism, witchcraft, or anxiety neurosis” (Hufford 1982: 234).

            UFO abduction examinations are also similar to the descriptions of hell that are

illustrated by Renaissance artists. For example, Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych of ‘The

Last Judgment’(1482- See Appendix) shows the demons of hell torturing sinners in Hell.

Much like people in UFO abduction narratives, the victims are forced to undergo

tormenting procedures. Thompson remarks that, “the piercing instruments used by aliens

in their examination bear a similarity, albeit genteel, to the piercing tortures which devils

inflict on sinners in Christian art and fundamentalist belief” (Thompson 1991: 147).

Borrowed from religious imagery of hell, the UFO abduction illustrates the suffering that

occurs as part of the supernatural assault. Weekly World News correspondent Michael

Forsyth reported a supposed abduction caught on film. According to the article:

Convincing new proof of UFOs has finally surfaced: The first verified photo of an alien abduction in progress.

The bone chilling image, captured by a home security camera in the bedroom of victim Catherine Nuburn, clearly shows the New Mexico woman being hauled screaming from her bed by a bald, bulbous-headed “gray-type” alien. The 31 year old divorcee hasn’t been seen since August 7-the date recorded in the videotape-and relatives fear the worst. The tape has since vanished, and the missing woman’s loved ones say it was taken by operatives from an unnamed agency, the notorious Men In Black. The attractive Canadian-born Nuburn first reported she was abducted by aliens in November 2002.

“She said it was simply terrifying,” recalls sister Dana, who still lives in Toronto. “Cathy told me she was stripped nude and suspended in midair by powerful rays. These robotic sensors that look like vacuum hoses probed every orifice of her body while small electrodes attached to her head seemed to be monitoring her brain” (Weekly World News, August 26 2003).

Verifying all our terrors of the supernatural, this account is very similar to attacks by 

demons or the devil. Within the UFO abduction is a pattern of motifs and themes that

have long been associated with religious ideas of hell.

            Finally, many accounts in UFO folklore have apocalyptic themes. Just like the

horror and devastation of the Bible’s book of Revelation, UFO-lore carries fears of the

‘end of the world’. This has been very popular in recent years with films such as

‘Skyline’ and ‘Battle LA’. Both of these films imagine what it would be like if aliens

came to take over the planet. As a way to address the fears about the apocalypse, the

UFO attack is similar to the idea of angels coming to earth in order to exact retribution

and divine punishment. Tabloids also make use such ideas. On February 18,

2011, Frank Lake reported that:

                                    Alien spaceships to attack earth in 2011!

                                    Three giant alien spaceships are heading for earth. Scientists

                                    predict they will arrive in early 2011. UFO encounters continue to

                                    increase as documented in WWN. And today scientists at SETI

                                    (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), an independent non-

                                    commercial organization made a major announcement:

“Three giant spaceships are heading toward Earth. The largest one of them is 200 miles wide. Two others are slightly smaller. At present, the objects are just moving past Jupiter. Judging by their speed, they should be on earth by early 2011,” said John Malley, the lead extraterrestrial expert at Seti. (Weekly World News, February 18, 2011)

Religions all around the globe have described ‘The End’ coming in some catastrophic

occurrence from the heavens. The mystery of what exists outside of our little terrestrial

planet has always fascinated theologians and philosophers. In the past, the apocalypse

was describes as coming in the form of fire and brimstone. Today, the UFO has taken the

place of angels as arbiter of Earth’s destruction......(To be continued)

UFOs and religious imagery.

Dear, readers

As editor of this filthy monstrosity, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at a piece discussing UFO narratives and religious imagery. Gonna be included in Issue 2- Give it a read. If you begin foaming at the mouth, gnashing teeth, and develop an ugly disposition, STOP immediately. Further thought could lead to serious medical complications. Contact your physician. 

PS-

And whatever you do, for god-sake don't follow the bright yellow light. Keep a safe distance and hide if you have to. There's no cowardice in fleeing. Remember the shovel, the unbearable cold, and Ms. cRaZy face.   You better hope the bright yellow light just passes by. Hide under a table or otherwise find solid shelter. Life preservers will not be sufficient when the wind comes. And the screams.        

On the evening of July 14, a Pan American airliner, flying at 8000 feet, was approaching Norfolk, Virginia, en route to Miami from New York. Except for a few thin cirrus clouds above 12,000 feet, the night was clear and visibility unlimited. Shortly after 8 pm, Captain William B. Nash caught sight of a red brilliance in the sky, apparently beyond and to the east of Newport News. “Almost immediately,” they later reported, “We perceived…six bright objects streaking toward us at tremendous speed…they had the fiery aspect of hot coals, but of much greater glow-perhaps twenty times more brilliant (than city lights below)…their shape was clearly outlined and evidently circular; the edges were well defined, not phosphorescent or fuzzy…the red orange was uniform over the upper surface of each craft. All together, they flipped on edge, the sides to the left of us going up and the glowing surfaces facing right…they were much like coins…then, without an arc or swerve at all, they flipped back together to the flat altitude and darted off in a direction that formed a sharp angle with their first course…the change…was acute…like a ball ricocheting off a wall.” Captain Nash estimated that the unlighted exposed edges of each craft were about fifteen feet thick and their top surfaces flat. As two additional craft suddenly joined the six, the lights of all eight blinked off, then back on. Remaining in a straight line, the UFOs zoomed westward, climbing in a grateful arc as their lights blinked out…one by one. The entire display lasted fifteen seconds.

            This account of a UFO sighting is a common staple in UFO legendry. As a form

 supernatural narrative, the UFO legend has become a popular piece of modern culture.

 Similar to stories about heavenly beings or demonic entities, the modern UFO legend is

 both shaped and interpreted by cultural context.

 UFO narratives are instilled with numinous qualities typically found in

 religious studies and the occult. The numinous is a way of describing the power or

 presence of a numen or supernatural. Usually the numinous is something that is beyond

 comprehension or is spiritually elevated. People have borrowed from religion to interpret

 UFOs. Keith Thompson remarks that, “classical theologians who adhered to the great

 chain/hierarchy of angels model of the universe, and modern-day Ufologists who catalog

 various types of aliens, can be viewed as detectives following the same scent”

 (Thompson 1991, 228). The modern UFO contactee encounters something much like

 visions of angels or the terrors of hell.

 Mythological themes are also prevalent in UFO sightings. Much like the use of

 angels in religion, ufology touches upon very important myth-motifs in its explanation.

 For example, the use of halos, demonology, and apocalypse are all common motifs in the

 narratives. Thomas Bullard states that, “UFO stories echo unmistakable leitmotifs of the

 great mythological themes: culture bearers and saucers from the sky, supernatural

 enemies and the end of the world, ritual as initiation and transformation, interbreeding

 with otherworld entities, magical events, and trickster figures like Men In Black”

 (Bullard 2010, 277). Using the occult and traditional religious visions, the UFO employs

 mythological paradigms as a template for understanding.

 It is my contention that images of the alien have taken the place of angels and

 demons in traditional folklore, fulfilling a need for the sacred in scientific or

 technological guise. Building upon the work of Linda Degh, I will examine the religious

 symbols and imagery of UFO legendry. Degh has remarked that, “when prestigious

 authorities such as Harvard psychiatry professor John E. Mack became serious about

 UFO aliens, they are actually joining theologians in the endorsement of the popular

 spiritualist belief in guardian angels among us, and are lending a hand to the evolution of

 a new complex of age-old traditional legendry” (Degh 2001, 262). By better

 understanding the imagery of UFO narratives as religious images, we are afforded a

 signpost for what the symbols mean and what kind of reality they conjure up. As part of

 my research for this paper, I will examine UFOlore, newspapers, and the internet, which

 are excellent platforms for legend dissemination.  

 The supernatural has become very powerful recently. Between television

 programs such as ‘Ghosthunters’ and Hollywood films like ‘The Blair Witch Project’, the

 occult and supernatural have saturated modern culture with a variety of ghosts, UFOs,

 and monsters. The news-media has also printed many articles about the supernatural.

 These stories frequently employ religious imagery or theological motifs. Bill Ellis

 remarks that, “Satan is alive and well, and the local newspaper regularly prints petitions

 to various saints and divine beings” (Ellis 2001:101). Made popular by the mass media,

 supernatural occurrences have become commodified and are easily assessable to the

 public.

Newspapers and tabloids are a valuable source for studying folkloric material. As

 a vehicle for consumption and distribution, the news-presses provide scholars with the

‘very latest’ in legend formation. Degh states that, “the repertoire of the tabloids is large

and comfortably familiar-variants of classic texts, revivals of old stories, or retellings of

those currently in distribution. In other words, the repertoire of tabloids is representative
of living legends” (Degh 2001:175). Through the popularity and dissemination of news-
stories and tabloids, we see the human need to find meaning in the unexplainable

Academia has studied the prevalence of the supernatural in modern culture. In

fact, many folklorists devote entire books to supernatural narratives and legend

formation. Jeannie Thomas states that, “Like any form of folklore, supernatural narratives

directly or indirectly tell us about culture. However, one of the characteristics that

distinguishes supernatural narratives is that they emphasize mystery and the

indeterminate, which overtly invites interpretation of various kinds” (Thomas 2007: 30).

This is what makes the supernatural so enjoyable as an area of study. One person’s ghost

or UFO sighting is a true event whereas to another person, the experience is a figment of

the imagination or daydream. The supernatural invites discussion and in so doing

becomes a popular part of  tradition.

One way that legends teach about culture is because they are related to belief.

According to Degh, all legends are based on belief. She asserts that, “belief makes its

presence felt in any kind of legend” (Degh 1976: 306). Suggesting that legends are stories

about belief, the degrees of belief do not alter this quality of the genre. Degh and her

proponents suggest that belief is not a narrative but the symbolic core of a legend and

because of this, all legends are necessarily “belief legends” (Ward 1991).

Largely differing only in semantics or subtle discrepancies on the importance of

the word ‘belief’ when discussing legendry, folklorists such as Gillian Bennett and Ott
Blehr prefer to use ‘story’ instead of ‘belief’ when discussing this subcategory of legend.

Their reasoning lays in the argument that “belief legends” represent “antiquated

traditions about beliefs that have been handed down in relatively fixed form. “Belief

stories”, by contrast, were narrative illustrations of still living belief traditions” (Ward

1991: 360). Bennett’s “belief story” addresses the current community beliefs whereas the

“belief legend” is a fixed narrative that belongs solely to the past. Gabbert on the other

hand, suggests that legend scholars focus “too much time on content and not

enough on contextual “everyday” or general belief” (Gabbert 2000).

UFO-lore offers numerous examples that show how ‘belief’ has changed due to a

changing cultural context. Traditional legendry of heavenly beings has shifted into our
perception of extraterrestrial visitors due to changes in context. What was once the

domain of angelic beings has now become the realm of otherworldly space-men.

Tumminia states that “flying saucers have postmodern myths. With the dawning of the

rational technological age, social settings expected secularization and science to wipe out

supernatural and magical religions. Instead, a magical enchanted worldview subverted the

scientific paradigm into an animistic account of space beings what was readily available
for our mass consumption” (Tumminia 1998: 115).

The ongoing need for the sacred promotes changes in legendry. Lindahl has

remarked about these changes in tradition when he states that, “modern society has shed a

good deal of its reliance on the divine, and replaced it with faith in technology. The sky,

once invoked as the home of the gods, was now filled with aircraft” (Lindahl 1986: 7). As

times change, legends adapt to fit the needs of society. Carl Jung studied religion and

legendry, and, with regards to UFOs, called the phenomenon a visionary rumor. He states

that, “it is closely akin to the collective visions of, say, the crusaders during the siege of

Jerusalem, the troops at Mons in the First World War, and the faithful followers of Pope

at Fatima” (Jung 1979: 8). In other words, UFO legendry fills the human need for the

sacred. Fulfilling a spiritual role in society, the otherworldly visitor provides an avenue

for the numinous in its various manifestations.

UFO narratives are full of religious imagery. Biblical allegories frequently

function as a template for modern UFO narratives. For example, the bible tells us that the

prophet Ezekiel saw a burning wheel in the sky. The narrator of the sacred story states,

“The appearance of the wheels and their work [was] like unto the color of a beryl: and

they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work [was] as it were a wheel

in the middle of a wheel” (Ezekiel 1:16). This wheel is very similar to the saucers made

famous by Kenneth Arnold in 1947. Arnold was a pilot who witnessed nine disk-like

objects flying near Mount Rainier. Based on his description of the UFOs seeming to skip

like saucers on water, the media coined the term ‘flying saucer’ and this term remains

popular today in describing UFO sightings. Whether perceived as a wheel or saucer, both

of these narratives describe a round object emitting a supernatural light and performing

unconventional maneuvers in the sky.

UFO folklore also makes use of the wheel or halo symbol in its literature. For

example, the UK tabloid ‘The Sun’ published an account of a circular formation in the

Moscow sky (October 11, 2009). The article describes:

                        This glowing halo in clouds over Moscow looks like an Independence

                        Day style of attack.

This astonishing ring was spotted over the city and captured on video by stunned locals. It has been described as a “true mystery” by a UFO expert. Scores of supernatural enthusiasts have been gripped by the astonishing footage and speculated it could be an ALIEN MOTHERSHIP. The sighting in the clouds is reminiscent of scenes from the 1996 Hollywood blockbuster Independence Day.

“Whatever it is, its one of the most beautiful and spectacular things I’ve ever seen.”

“Speculation is fever pitch on the internet.”

“This is being discussed in forums, blogs, and email lists all over the world. Some people say it’s a bizarre meteorological effect. Theories range from it being an alien mothership, proof of Russian weather modification technology or a weather weapon-even a sign of the end of the world” (Vince Soodin. The Sun. October 11, 2009).

This account of a round, seemingly supernatural formation is very similar to what we

read in Biblical scriptures. Both describe inexplicable objects that are spectacularly

beautiful. There is also a sense of mystery attached to both the Biblical wheel and the
halo-like cloud formation that resembled an “alien mothership.” Both narratives make use

of preexisting cultural information to assess what the object is and how it should be

interpreted.................To Be Continued.

           

Reptoid Conspiracy

We were driving south in the darkness toward Salt Lake City for a night of music and revelry when we heard the wail of sirens and witnessed terrified Utah residents fleeing from their homes in a bewildered panic. It was as if the bomb had dropped or the President was assassinated. Struck-dumb and wandering in a kind of confused haze, people all over the SLC landscape were converging in the street and jabbering incoherently. It was something about ‘illegal aliens and citizenship’. “It’s nothing.” I mumbled to my Pusciferian comrade. “They’re talking about rights for aliens.”

“Rights for aliens!” some middle aged ferret-looking woman screeched into my ear. “They’re here to take over!” She wailed. “Nonsense.” I said in an attempt to quell the berserker rage that was about to spill out into the street. She looked at me and I instinctively knew that she’d just lost all hope in a rational universe. Some terrible nightmare had just manifested and was stumbling around like a newly surfaced zombie or infant golem. I was heart-broken but not about to miss my date in the city so slowly I made to creep off while she was preoccupied being crazy. I remembered that Fenster once remarked that “the pathology of conspiracy theory is not imposed from without; it develops from within, when populist demagoguery makes the paranoid style relevant and attractive for an anxious group”.[1] And this lady certainly was anxious. I finally gave up and followed her into the living room of her dilapidated little apartment. A child in a diaper sat on the floor playing with an overflowing ash-tray and said she was “picking out the good ones for mommy”. A tiny balding dog was up on the kitchen sink and lapping droplets of water that seeped from the faucet. And on the couch were two jowl-faced spinsters that vaguely reminded me of the Old Hag or Crone of folklore. They slowly grinned their piecemeal jack O’ lantern smiles and turned back to watching their 1970s era tellie. Now as you know, I’m prone to paranoia. I certainly believe in the power of conspiracy to unravel even the most stoic of individuals. Political paranoia is even more likely to have me talking like a crazy person. Rogin once stated that in “political paranoia there are no accidents. Everything bad that happens is part of a plot of hidden orders and secret powers exercised on the innocent and unsuspecting.”[2] But nothing, I mean nothing was to prepare me for the inherent shock I was about to receive….

Conspiracy theory in modern times has enjoyed such a surge in popularity that it’s now an art-form. Since the assassination of JFK, the growing fears of a New World Order, and the serious distrust of World Governments, modern conspiracy has become an organic entity. Similar to the local squid monster, there are tentacles that pollute all areas of popular culture. Not even the local preachers are immune. People now distrust the clergy as much, maybe more so, than their political leaders. The question is why? What is it about conspiracy theory that attracts a multitude of followers. Studies have shown that the ‘condition’ of society is a likely candidate for an upswing in conspiratorial thinking. As society gets fed up with their leaders running the country like used car-salesmen, dissent becomes a common factor and leads to paranoia. As Veronique Campion-Vincent eloquently remarked, “Conspiracy theories can be considered a folk science or folk history, as a subculture of intellectual dissent, aiming, as do academic treatises, to provide meaningful and accurate explanations of the world’s condition.”[3] The conspiracy showcases what is wrong. Its itinerant agenda is to traverse political, social, and religious milieus and bring these various aspects of society under a common threat. In so doing, the conspiracy theory can effect all walks of life.

I was pondering the ridiculousness of supernatural flights of fancy when I glanced over to our hostess and watched her bullyingly backhand the dog off the kitchen counter. A loud yelp as a I cringed at the dingbat grinning that toothless smile. “Jesus God.” I muttered. “It’s like an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’.” “You bet it is!” The stalwart woman screamed. By this time, the entire block was full of people waving their hands excitedly and jabbering aloud about what was on the News. I stood dumb-struck and said something like, “It’s not rational. It’s absolutely absurd”, when old crony jumped up off the couch like she’d just received a sudden electric jolt and hissed, “You get, you filthy Communist! We don’t need any of your alien-loving in this house!” I backed away slowly as to not instigate some fit of elderly rage and turned back to the hostess who was now dipping into the ashtray with diaper-girl in search of an un-smoked butt. “You know, I get it.” I mused. “The logic of the conspiracy theory. Step four: Conspiracies sometimes do happen. Within the evil agent that has the means and motivation to form a conspiracy, sometimes there is the capacity for a big event. But I doubt Jim Marrs or Stanton Friedman saw this coming!” She stared up at me glossy-eyed and clearly confused. “Never mind that.” I said. “I’m late, I gotta go.” It was at this point that crony blocked the door and whispered. “It’s not safe…they’ll be everywhere now. They’ll want to stay and ask to be citizens.” She said weepily. I didn’t doubt that but I felt a pang of remorse for Obama. What a thing to experience while live on national television. I couldn’t blame him for his high-pitched terrified scream when it happened. The whole country is gonna back him on this one. And nobody will ever see the Bush dynasty as anything but foul and twisted. I mean, when George Bush Sr. and his awkward son stepped up to the Presidential podium and ripped off their human masks to an unprepared public, they’re lucky the Secret Service didn’t blaze away immediately. As it was, the punishing tackle that sent Bush Jr. flying like a Reptilian rag-doll into the press nearly escalated into a riot. The Bushs snarled and backed away into a corner as every reporter in the room fired off multiple shots of the Reptilian aliens that once were in command of the most powerful country in the Free World.

Looking back, I don’t think anybody is really surprised that the Humanoid Reptilian Alien Hypothesis turned out to be true. Icke had been spouting crazily for years that “to maintain their position of world domination down through the centuries, the Aryan lizards have created a secret society known as the Freemasons or Illuminati.”[4] And I was always a bit weary of the Bush administration. They seemed either diabolically clever or plum dumb. But now with the Reptilians securing their place into human culture, it makes me wonder just what Pike and Weishaupt were really up to. And just how many of our conspiracies and fairy-tales are actually true. Perhaps we should reevaluate all forms of folklore in order to ascertain the likelihood that all narratives of this form are based on reality. This country can’t afford many more shocks of this kind. We’ve got a real monster here and it’s gonna take time to see where all the cards now lay.    

---

E [1] Fenster, Mark. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Univ. of Minnesota Press. 2008. pp. 50

[2] Rogin, M.P. Body and Soul Murder: JFK. In Media Spectacles. Ed. M. Garber, J. Matlock, R. Walkowitz. 1993. Routledge. New York. Pp. 14

[3] Campion-Vincent, Veronique. From Evil Others to Evil Elites: A dominant Pattern in Conspiracy Theories Today. In Rumor Mills: The Social Impact of Rumor and Legend. Ed. G. Fine, V. Campion-Vincent, C. Heath. 2005 Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick.

[4] Lewis, Tyson and Kahn, Richard. The Reptoid Hypothesis: Utopian and Dystopian Representational Motifs in David Icke’s Alien Conspiracy Theory. Utopian Studies 16.1 2005. pp.45-74

Rational Liminality and the UFO abduction experience.

 Hello everybody! Been busy getting ready to defend MS Folklore thesis but wanted to post a taste of what I'll be discussing and including in issue 2 of MagusMagazine. Give it a read.......

            In 1973, nineteen year old Calvin Parker and forty two year old Charles

            Hickson, both of Gauter, Mississippi were fishing in the Pascagoula river

            when they heard a buzzing noise behind them. Both turned and were terrified to

            see a ten-foot wide, eight-foot- high, glowing egg-shaped object with blue lights

            at its front hovering just above the ground about forty feet from the riverbank. As

            the men, frozen with fright, watched, a door appeared in the object, and three

            strange Beings floated just above the river toward them.

            The beings had legs but did not use them. They were about five feet tall, had

            bullet-shaped heads without necks, slits for mouths; and where their noses or ears

            should be, they had thin, conical objects sticking out, like carrots from a

            snowman’s head. They had no eyes, gray, wrinkled skin, round feet, and clawlike

            hands. Two of the Beings seized Hickson; when the third grabbed Parker, the

            teenager fainted with fright. Hickson claimed that when the Beings placed their

            hands under his arms, his body became numb, and that then they floated him into

            a brightly lit room in the UFO’s interior, where he was subjected to a medical

            examination with an eyelike device which, like Hickson himself, was floating in

            midair. At the end of the examination, the Beings simply left Hickson floating,

            paralyzed but for his eyes, and went to examine Parker, who, Hickson believed,

            was in another room. Twenty minutes after Hickson had first observed the UFO,

            he was floated back outside and released. He found Parker weeping and praying

            on the ground near him. Moments later, the object rose straight up and shot out of

            sight.  (Bryan 1995: 115)

            This supernatural abduction narrative is called the Pascagoula incident and is one

 of the most famous accounts of supposed extraterrestrial interaction with human beings.

 Known as a close encounter of the fourth kind, the abduction narrative is ripe with

 terrifying accounts of regular people being accosted by otherworldly Beings that subject

 their captives to torturous ordeals. According to UFO mythos, a close encounter of the

 first kind involves a UFO sighting that is reported at close range. The second type of

 encounter is when there is physical evidence of the UFO. Some of this trace evidence

 might include burned vegetation, frightened animals, and loss of electricity. An encounter

 of the third kind is characterized by ‘contact’ with an extraterrestrial Being. But the

 fourth is clearly the most disturbing because it involves an actual abduction. These

 stories of supernatural abduction have a clear structure and  fit into consistent themes.

 Typically, the episode begins with an initial capture, which is followed by a sort of

 medical examination and otherworldy journey. In many cases, interaction with the Being

 produces a theophany in the abductee. The sequence usually culminates with the return of

 the victim, but the aftermath of the ordeal lingers sometimes for years after the event.

           My own interest in UFO narratives stems largely from my fascination with the

 esoteric and arcane.  From as far back as I can remember, I’ve had a profound interest in

 all things occult and/or mysterious. In terms of the UFO abduction, I’ve always found it

 fascinating how somebody could experience something largely indefinable and have their

 world-view changed forever. I often wonder what it is about anomalous experiences that

 have the potential to spark a life-changing shift in a person’s ethos or societal niche. Also,

 popular culture has had an influence on why UFO narratives hold my interest. Television

 programs such as the X-Files and Roswell were popular when I was in high school and I

 think that their story-lines, coupled with the fact that I was at an impressionable age,

 instilled a fascination with the UFO in me. To this day, I try to draw correlations

 between the occult and UFO narratives. So as something as mysterious to me now as it

 was when I was younger, these stories of the unknown spark my imagination and inspire

 me to delve deeper into their structural nuances.

         Of all the imaginings the human mind can produce, those of the supernatural may

 hold the most proclivity for individual expression. As part of our unusual psyche, ideas of

 the paranormal or supernatural manifest in a variety of ways. Throughout human history, 

 ideas of otherwordly or inherently inhuman beings have been used to explain pervasive

 or otherwise frightening occurrences. The supernatural abduction, whether by witches,

 ghosts, or goblins, is a common staple in all civilizations and is a structural part of a

 community’s social organization.  According to Jodi Dean, “abduction stories describe

 the interventions of non-human folk in human lives. They are stories of border crossings,

 of everyday transgressions of the boundaries demarcating the limits of that define reality”

 (Dean 1998:163). The idea of abductions by fairies, for example, is a type of assault

 narrative. As described in Western European folklore, a changeling was the offspring of a

 fairy or some other supernatural entity that was put in place of a normal human child.

 People believed that the abductee could only be returned if the changeling was made to

 laugh.

          Nowadays, UFO abductions are perhaps the most popular supernatural assault

 tradition to saturate popular media. Due to the plethora of science fiction movies and

television programs, the appropriateness of the UFO abduction as material for academic

study can easily be questioned. Many academic disciplines dismiss the UFO narrative as

 pure science fiction.  Nevertheless, Thomas Bullard is correct when he states that “the

 question before us is not whether UFOs are folklore. They certainly are, and just as

 certainly resemble other folklore in forms and function. The coherency of abduction

 reports stands out as the most unequivocal piece of evidence that folklore scholarship

 contributes to the UFO mystery” (Bullard 1981: 48). In fact, Bullard himself conducted a

 study of 270 abduction cases and concluded that the narratives hold structural similarities

 regardless of who the abductee was or who the researcher was (Jacobs 2000). Drawing on

 Bullard’s notion that UFO abductions are folklore, in this paper I suggest that UFO

 abduction narratives can be interpreted productively by using Arnold van Gennep’s rites

of passage. I will be utilizing what I have come to call ‘rational liminality’ to show that

after the abduction sequence, an ultimate reincorporation into society is achieved by the

 abductees’ rational acceptance of his/her liminal experiences that occurred during the

 initial event.

        Arnold van Gennep was instrumental in recognizing and discussing the rites of

passage that accompany specific life stages. A French anthropologist and folklorist, van
Gennep coined the idea of rites of passage and used this schema to address various

 transitory events in a person’s life. He identified three distinct steps that make up a

 typical rite of passage. The first involves a separation from society. This separation is

 followed by a complex set of events that are liminal in nature. The term liminal refers to

 an in-between state. Something on a threshold or ethereal, the liminal is an intermediate

 phase of the event. After the separation and liminal experiences, a period of

 consummation or reincorporation into society occurs. Van Gennep utilized these three

 gradated steps to explain everything from puberty rites to secret society membership.

 In order to thoroughly examine the rites of passage apparent in UFO

 abduction narratives, I draw on various abduction  accounts....

TYPES OF VAMPIRES

Generally speaking, I would say that “vampires” can be divided into two main categories:
a) Human
b) Non-human
In popular parlance, we would call the humans “real vampires”, and the non-human’s “true vampires”. These are not MY terms, BTW. In no way should my usage of such terms indicate that I believe in such things as “reality” or “truth”, but I digress…
The term “real vampires” GENERALLY refers to one of two groups (or to both following groups):
a) “sanguinarians”, and
b) “psychic vampires”.
“Psychic” vampires are those who claim to feed on other people’s ” psychic energy”. Whatever…
“Sanguinarian vampires” are people (humans) who drink blood (because they think it’s cool, or admire either “true” or fictional vampires, or suffer from severe mental illness). A TINY fraction of sanguinarian vampires are cannibals, serial killers, or both.
Personally, I would add a THIRD subsection to the category of “real” (human) “vampires”, and that would be the “psychological vampire”.
The “psychological vampire” wouldn’t necessarily pretend to LOOK like a vampire, try to steal other people’s “energy”, or drink blood indirectly (through something other than fangs). A “psychological vampire” would simply adopt the MINDSET of a vampire. For example: they wouldn’t particularly care about “human affairs”. In other words… they wouldn’t really be concerned with whether or not humans are protesting Wall Street (unless, maybe that represented some sort of self-serving opportunity).
FINALLY, this brings us to the category of “true” (non-human) Vampires. I think the capital ‘v’ is appropriate. These are what are also known as “Supernatural Vampires”. These are the folks who can sprout fangs (they don’t need to shave their teeth) and suck the blood from your jugular until your body is bloodless. These are the folks who are “fairly immortal/invincible” (and tend to heal at an amazing rate)… the folks who can snap your neck in a nanosecond with one hand, or slice your throat open with a page from the Bible, or punch a hole through your rib-cage and rip out your heart (literally)… who can fly, levitate, transform into wolves and bats, etc. THESE GUYS are known as “supernatural” or “true” Vampires. They are the beasts of legend, and the stuff of romance. We fear them, EVEN THOUGH, we don’t believe in them (unless of course… YOU happen to know better).

The pagan goddess and her full-moon gala

The  goddess and the “Full-moon” ceremony

They say that postmodern ideas of religion have no need for anachronistic or archaic pagan debris left by the wayside of complex religious institutions. These old rituals died long ago and good riddance. Nowadays, organized religion has tried to run over any alternative like a rotten piece of road kill. We’re talking about so-called legitimate organizations of the sacred that are overwrought with pedophile priests, crazed assertions of a one true faith, and greedy evangelicals that live the highlife of hookers, heroin, and hedonism. It’s a rockstar status and nobody seems to mind that these spiritual charlatans are conducting the heavenly orchestra. Have we learned nothing from Swaggart and Baker? Good god! These salesmen don’t even try to be pious. And most now equate the Ten Commandments with the ten venereal diseases that rack their holy-poisoned bodies. “Thou shalt not pick up hepatitis from the Whore of Babylon on Lexington and 2^nd street.” “Thou shalt not covet the church leader’s wife until that harlot gets treated for gonorrhea and my rash goes away.” And yet we fork over millions in a feeble attempt to make Jesus happy. And why? Why my brethren do we buy our way into paradise when it can be found in any number of ways?

I recently attended a pagan ‘full-moon ceremony’ held at a local university. Since I’d had no real experience with pagan ideology, there were no preconceived notions on my part. I didn’t fear being cannibalized or chased with pitch forks. Actually a little raw fear may have intensified the experience. After all, I was warned of the pure, unadulterated evil of the pagan persuasion. I came to expect wild, crazed dancing and Bacchic fits. I was fully prepared to be terrified by a torch-lit procession of anthropomorphic lunatics chanting in unison and dragging the carcass of some poor pet-owner's dog in their wake. I even brought my pepper-spray just in case I had to douse somebody and make a run for it. Oh, I was warned. “There gonna be taking over and burning some effigy of Jesus.” One correspondent remarked. Another witness just hid in the bushes adjacent to the ritual and mumbled Christian counter-curses to ward off the pagan idolatry. “They should burn!” He seethed. “They should all burn in hell!” We can expect this kind of reaction as the pagan movement gears up for an all-out assault on the local political scene. Rumor has it that a neo-shaman and traveling warlock plans to usurp power from the conservative Christian hegemony that characterizes North Utah. “We’re afraid to leave our homes at night.” One local remarked, “The goddamn pagans have set up shop in the canyon and [sic] doing who-knows-what in the hills up there. I heard they eat babies and worship a goat.” The police department has been inundated with calls about maniacal howling, a Witches Sabbath, and a secret meeting place deep in the National Forest where pagans perform filthy rites and speak in tongues. The zeal of the local community in castigating this pagan tribe has reached fever pitch with the coming of the full-moon. A demonstration in the middle of town was checkered with signs that read, ‘Save our babies, punish the pagans!’ and ‘The only good pagan is a dead pagan!’ As I approached the small clearing where the pagans had gathered, I must admit to a feeling of trepidation. I could still hear the hissing of that freak in the bushes and the night seemed electric and ready to deliver something awful and unexpected.

As we stood in a horse-shoe pattern and read aloud the introductory prayer, I didn’t notice anything overtly heretical. We weren’t forced to trample a cross, lick anybody’s ass, or worship of bodiless head. Seemed pretty tame. Even by my standards and I was fully prepared for some hideous blasphemy. Or at least some screeching of the faithful sort. What I found was basically coherent and actually quite beautiful. Amid the nervous mumbling of the uninitiated, the comfort of those used to buying this brand of holy-roller, and strange screaming coming from somewhere not far away, the experience felt legitimate. I could tell by the care taken with the altar and the honesty of those participating that the mechanisms used to negotiate belief was apparent in the pagan experience. And although in the back of my mind, I really wanted some terrible goddess to show up, I didn’t know if all the players present could handle such a vicious jolt of the sacred. An appearance of Persephone to somebody not really equipped to handle the shock could lead to a sleepless night of anxiety or such a severe case of righteous bewilderment that being afraid of the dark just wouldn’t seem to cover it. How do you tell your Sunday preacher that a great and powerful goddess likes to straddle your chest at night and whisper beautiful sweet-nothings in your ear? That it arouses you and her scent still lingers long after she rejoins the underworld. What do you say to that? Well, be that as it may, the pagan experience was a kind of soft beauty. There was a calming lucidity that led to gentle smiles and warm caresses. And towards the end, in that stillness and the slight rustle of trees, there was a breeze and within it, the breath of a smiling and satisfied goddess.    

Tarot, panic, and the coming apocalypse

 I’m not a superstitious person. Not really. I don’t carry a rabbit’s foot or have any absurd fear of ladders, black cats, or stepping on a crack in the sidewalk. These things seem meaningless to me. Anomalies that make no real difference in a sane, or at least, reasonable world. In fact, even the thought of seven years of bad luck for something as trivial as breaking a mirror seems a punishment so cruelly disproportionate that whoever made up that ridiculous law should be drawn and quartered. Or at least spat on repeatedly.

It’s a strange world. There are those who read the morning newspaper and erupt with a giddy child-like glee when they discover the weekly horoscope. To many, that modern oracle and distant relative of the priestesses of Delphi has the answers. And if the stars don’t know, then nobody knows. “What will my love life hold this week?” “Should I help that poor soul in Zimbabwe claim his million dollar inheritance through the Bank of Africa?” “How come people laugh and point when I enter the room?” These esoteric quandaries and life-changing affirmations are equally fascinating and all seem to be connected in some conspiratorial way to my own personal tarot card reader. A woman of the highest repute, this tigress has single-handedly influenced more of my personal decisions than anything or anyone else. I was once dumb-founded and stricken to a point of senseless awe at a gem of wisdom she dropped into my lap concerning highly complex symbolic correspondences, hieroglyphic language, and the role of the Department of Motor Vehicles in the coming apocalypse. It was medieval, senseless, and honestly demeaning. And I’m not the only one that has been profoundly affected by this tarot reader. It has been said that her fortune abilities directly foretold Obama’s political victory, every hurricane and earthquake this season, and something nefariously called ‘The coming of the Bees’. Although she has refused to elaborate on what ‘The Bees’ actually entail, just the thought of a swarm of bloodthirsty, crazed, and ravenously hungry bees has driven the entire town of Wellsville Utah in a panic induced frenzy. One resident locked himself into an airtight bomb shelter and refused even food or water. Another remarked that it’s “the Mormon Jesus come to whip us for our non-belief!” Whatever the reasoning behind this plague of revolting locusts, remember what is recorded in the Good Book:

 ¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the LORD made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; ¹⁴ they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵ They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Beware my brethren in agony! If it can happen once, what’s to say that a wild cloud of buzzing fury won’t drop out of the sky again? Could it be pre-ordained? A portent of our near future? It’s a strange strange world my brethren! We must rise up! I say rise up and see the face of darkness as it descends! We must prepare ourselves with weapons, food rations, and as much bug spray as can be carried in a small backpack. These are trying times and for this reason, I have hired my tarot reader to cast a three-card spread of what the near future holds. I’m not a superstitious person but I refuse to be the only sucker running blindly and screaming for help when that final earthquake rolls into town and signals the coming of a hive of irritated harpies. I’m gonna need company. When I’ve reached the safe house as instructed by my reader’s concise coordinates, I’ll have more information. Till then, I can only say that safety is found in numbers. Trudge on and be brave. ……..(to be continued)  

READING I.

The one thing I feel the need to point out before doing your reading is that I, as a tarot reader, do NOT in any way predict death, or the fate of anything to any degree. This is because humans have the ability to change their own destiny based on every day occurrences and their actions/reactions. So when you asked me to do a reading on ‘the fate of Magus Magazine’, I immediately reworded your question to something more tangible, and to what I really thought you were looking forward to knowing.

“How will Preston’s magazine, Magus, fare during these trying times?”

I say “trying times” because many people and businesses seem to be suffering many issues at this time, whether it be economically, spiritually, religiously or by other means.

After coming up with your question, I than concentrated on your concern while shuffling my deck, and placing your cards before me, from left to right. These are the results I came up with for you…

                                                                  

Card 01 – The Beginning - 7 of Disks (reversed)

The 7 of Disks reversed shows that you have put forth much planning and effort on your part, and that now perhaps things have come to a stall/standstill. You may be feeling as if they are not going at the exact pace you would like, and some insecurities are starting to set in, making you wonder if you have made the right decisions or if you should simply pack it in. This self-imposed worry and anxiety will not serve you, and will cause you to deviate from your path therefor disallowing you to work to your highest potential. Try to breath. Let your frustrations go. Know at this point that you have done all that you can to get the ball rolling, so to speak, and that now is the time to sit back and analyze. Look towards the reason behind your decision to start your project in the first place, reflect on the processes up to this point and what you have accomplished, or where you could have made some better choices, and make plans for your next steps ahead. This will help you to be grateful for all the benefits you have reaped so far, whether they be material or that the work itself has helped you to grow in other areas of self. Be patient. Once the ball gets rolling once more, and it inevitably will, you’ll find that things might pick up and move at the pace that you have been longing for all along.

Card 02 – The Middle – 2 of Disks

The twos in tarot often speak of partnerships of some kind. In the Disks, they often speak of financial partnerships. This is not always the case though, and not necessarily what I am seeing here, considering the card declared before it, and the one after. Rather, what I see is a need for focus on a dualities, or inconsistencies. (ex: money/health, love/work, spirituality/materialism, etc.) This card is all about change, and tells you that change is coming in some form or fashion whether you are ready for it or not, and that with change balance can be tipped. The question now is, can you maintain a balance? When upright, this card states that you need to balance your situation by bringing a little more spirituality, fun or enlightenment into the more material aspects of your endevours. Whereas reversed, it would be the opposite, and would state that you need to be more practical rather than frivolous. In order to bring more balance here, it seems that rather than focusing on the financial aspects, you need to relax, delve into your research, be open to some hands on experience (if that sort of thing works for you)… write out not only your findings that your research has brought forth, but your own personal experiences through the process as well. Mix it up, and you’ll maintain that much needed balance that will bring forth rewards more fulfilling that you could possibly imagine, within and without.

Card 03 – The End – 8 of Disks

This card shows that after putting forth extensive periods of hard work or labor, your diligence is finally starting to reap the rewards that you set after. Things will be going well. Your pride will show, and rightfully so. Just don’t let that pride take over to the point of arrogance. Be mindful of your rewards! Waste no, want not. Put some away for a rainy day, but certainly don’t hoard, or on the contrary, don’t be so generous that you put out more than you can maintain. If you choose to continue on with the project, there will always be the need to remain open, find more information and to keep the spark alive to continue to venture forth into new territories, to keep your constituents coming back for more. Keep an open and inquisitive mind, plant new seeds and the benefits will continue to grow. If, however, you choose to walk away, it will be of your own accord, and on a good note. Not because things went in disarray.

 Blessings,

 Onyx Tigress