Are Alien Abductions a kind of Spiritual Reverie?

Allogenes is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library…A small fragment also survives in the more recently discovered Codex Tchacos…[Wikipedia]

The passages presented here are two of many, in the Allogenes text, which mimic some alien abduction scenarios, if not in exact wording, at least in an imagined or real emotional sense:

My soul went slack and I fled and I was very disturbed. And [I] turned to myself and saw the light that [surrounded] me and the Good that was in me, and I became Divine. And the all-glorious one, Youel, contacted me again and empowered me…

When I was seized by the eternal light, by the garment that was upon me, and was taken up to a pure place whose likeness cannot be revealed in the world…Allogenes (XI, 3)

While the abduction phenomenon is controversial, I do know people, credible persons, who have experienced what they consider an abduction but, maybe, what they really experienced was a transcendental event, not unlike that enumerated in Richard Bucke’s work, Cosmic Consciousness.

Yes, there are multiple accounts which are hardly transcendental, horrifying actually.

But those accounts may be tempered by the physical and psychological vicissitudes that accompany transcendent events, which would be traumatic for some individuals, those with shaky morals, much like those who have Near-Death experiences that take them to Hell rather than a more pleasant place, which most NDExperiencers relate.

Abductions, per se, have little to do with the UFO phenomenon, to my way of thinking, but it has become a peripheral element in many ufological circles, and will always remain connected to UFOs and the discussion of UFOs.

That aside, it might be time for those who have experienced an “abduction” to weigh the possibility that they’ve had a spiritual crisis or moment of enlightenment, which have occurred to saints and sinners alike; e.g. Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul). Thomas Aquinas, and Malcolm X.

RR

James Clark on ghosts and ghost-hunting

Journalist James Clark provides an article on the papranormal activity of ghost hunting for The Morton Report.

Click here to access his article

Is Earth an alien zoo?

A new study says that Earth is home to (approximately) 8.7 million species.

Click her for news-story

There has, almost from the beginning of the modern UFO era (1947), been a few hypothetical thrusts saying that Earth might be a zoo where species have been brought or created and dispersed for extraterrestrial purposes which remain totally hidden.

The idea may seem fanciful at first glance, but isn’t outside the realm of possibility,

The idea, along with the penal colony thesis, can be elaborated upon and made sensible when one examines the idea that an alien species from other worlds, should there be any, could very well use the Earth as a laboratory or park containing animals, plants, humans, insects, reptiles, and other elements of life.

This would explain the vast array of UFO visitations over the years, and supports the hypothesis that alien beings have taken a particular interest in the Earth as regards atomic or ecological devastation, both of which having the potential to destroy eons of lab work or eliminating an extraterrestrial “vacation venue.”

Earth could be the lab-source for species meant to be seeded throughout the galaxies or, at least, one of the lab-sources.

Wikipedia has a succinct review of the Alien zoo hypothesis ,which may be read by clicking HERE.

For me, the zoo idea is not as zany as many other hypotheses which have pummeled UFO devotees of the years.

What do you think?

RR

Nick Redfern reviews Paul Screeton's book John Michell: From Atlantis to Avalon

Click here for Nick's review

Snake in Rome

Some time ago I found this passage in a book about the Shroud of Turin by Ian Wilson.



The passage fascinated me, but I couldn't find anything more about the snake incident, searching everywhere for something more definitive.

I even had several journalists look for something thta might elucidate the episode.

Recently I submitted a query and the book excerpt to Chris Aubeck's Magonia Exchange, and got (only) this reply:


The reference from Magonia might be the incident, but the time-frame is wrong, unless Wilson's date of 846 A.D. (or CE if you prefer) is wrong.

So, I'm asking if any one of our intrepid readers knows more about the alleged panic in Rome by a snake -- any date, any place in the city?

N.B. Chris Aubeck has provided what appears to be the answer to my query above. I thank him profusely for that and offer the link HERE that clarifies.

However, a member of Chris Aubeck's Magonia Exchange provides this:

I don't think the passage above (Regulus and the snake) has any relation to the episode mentioned by the original poster, the date is way too early (3rd century BC) and I doubt such a confusion is possible.

However a quick check in all the relevant medieval chronicles I could think of, didn't bring anything either. Even though the date of 846 AD is quite eventful for Rome which suffered that year an attack by the Saracens, no chronicle mentions an incident with a snake. Should it have happened that same year, I doubt the chroniclers would have missed mentioning it, if only to put in perspective with the invasion.
Thus, unless the incident is mentioned in a single obscure source, I would tend to believe that the date mentioned by Wilson is wrong.

It might be worth mentioning though that Gregory of Tours mentions in his Historia Francorum (book X) a somewhat similar incident which happened in 589 A.D. (Source: Guadet, J. (ed.) Histoire ecclesiastique des Francs..., vol. 4, Paris, 1838, p.4):

Anno igitur quinto decimo Childeberthi regis diaconus noster ab urbe Roma sanctorum cum pigneribus veniens, sic retulit, quod anno superiore, mense nono, tanta inundatio Tiberis fluvius Romam urbem obtexerit, ut aedes antiquae deruerent, horrea etiam eclesiae subversa sint, in quibus nonnulla milia modiorum tritici periere. Multitudo etiam serpentium cum magno dracone in modo trabis validae per huius fluvii alveum in mare discendit; sed suffocatae bestiae inter salsos maris turbidi fluctus et litori eiectae sunt. Subsecuta est de vestigio cladis, quam inguinariam vocant.

In the fifteenth year of [the reign] of king Childebert [note: 590 A.D.], our deacon returning from the city Rome with relics of the saints reported that in the ninth month of the previous year the river Tiber so flooded the city of Rome that ancient buildings were destroyed and the store­houses of the church were overturned ; several thousand measures of wheat in them were lost. A multitude of snakes, and among them a great serpent [draco] like a big log, passed down into the sea carried away by the waters of the river, but these creatures, smothered among the stormy and salty waves of the sea, were rejected on the shore. Immediately after came the plague named inguinaria.

I don't know whether the two incidents are related but Gregory of Tours' story is the closest I could get to Wilson's mention. I'll keep looking though.

Best,
Y.D.

-------

RR

Nick Redfern lightens the "darkness"

Nick Redfern's new blog has fun with things strange.

Click here to visit

The Master Game by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval

Noted authors Graham Hancock [Fingerprints of the Gods] and Robert Bauval [The Egypt Code] have written a new, 636 page book in which they “document” the influence of the Freemasons on human society, almost from time immemorial.

This reviewer is not inclined to put much stock into most theses that small groups of persons, banded together for purposes of controlling society or elements of society, are rife and accomplished.

The early Christians pulled off a kind of societal coup, with the help of a rabid psychotic, St. Paul and an emperor of Rome, Constantine. And Martin Luther, with the help of a king, Henry the Eighth created a blemish that removed the Catholic Church from its almost total domination of religious culture in Western Civilization.

But a small group of men, a sect or cult of secrecy, such as the Freemasons, ruling society, the World? The idea is fraught with incredulity.

But Hancock and Bauval make a more-than-circumstantial case for exactly that.

The Master Game is surfeited with little known facts and tidbits that enlighten, without forcing readers to adhere to the book’s primary raison d’être; that is, Masons and Freemasonry created cities and sites around the world as symbols of their purpose to control mankind.

The sub-title of the Hancock/Bauval book is “Unmasking the secret rulers of the world” – a sub-title that mimics previous hypotheses and theories, about such groups as the Illuminati, the Templars, the Rosicrucians, Opus Dei, and even the mafia.

Joel Levy’s “The Secret Societies Bible” [Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY, 2010] is a preamble to the Hancock/Bauval book, and covers most of the same material with as many or more illustrations as those found in The Master Game.

Yet, Hancock and Bauval provide details from ancient history and connect dots that others have missed or ignored, such as the Hermetics with the [Christian] Gnostics and later on, Giordano Bruno and Napoleon, on to the Founding Fathers of The United States of America.

The book culminates in a raft of accusations that Al Qaeda and the Arab World are primarily attacking the Freemasonry-oriented nation of Israel and Zionists, using the odious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as the mandate for terrorism, ostensibly against Masonic-Zionism and those who adhere to the hidden Masonic practices that underlie Western governments.

The thrust of the book is this, according to the marketing materials: Iconic cities, Paris, Rome, Washington D.C., New York, London, were designed and created as giant temples with the intent of immersing residents in Masonic ideals.

Is such a thing possible, credible? You can read the book to see if the case has cachet. I remain skeptical, but have to admit that the supporting material and information make a believable case, if you are a person inclined to think that machinations by minority groups can control the bizarre vicissitudes of humankind, in toto.

The book is published by The Disinformation Company, Ltd., NY, 2011, Softcover, $24.95, and can be found at most bookstores, or online at Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, et cetera.

RR

What on Earth? Inside the Crop Circle Mystery – A Suzanne Taylor film

I’m not an avid follower of the crop circle phenomenon, but I have to admit that the “constructions” have a kind of rarified, transcendental even, beauty.

The DVD we received...



is a splendid introduction to the crop circle phenomenon and some of the people who are enthralled by the constructs.

The film-maker, Suzanne Taylor, pictured here…



has created an artful, objective documentary, about her search for the truth about crop circles.

The DVD/film is replete with images of crop circles:







It’s also replete with people who are absolutely fascinated by the things.

And Ms. Taylor takes into account the blokes who tried to say they were responsible for crop circles – making them in the dead of night. (They are loony.)



The DVD has a tribute to the late John Mack (whom I had the pleasure of communicating with by phone and e-mail a few weeks before he was killed in an automobile accident in England).



The documentary may be accessed and/or bought by going to:

http://passionriver.com/titles.php?id=539

RR

Lamont Wood’s Out of Place in Time and Space

Lamont Wood, a journalist and freelance writer presents “inventions, beliefs, and artistic anomalies that were impossibly ahead of their time” as the cover of his new book indicates.

The litany of “anomalies” Mr. Wood provides intrigue and fascinate.

His premises for those “anomalies” are based in anachronisms, which he lists this way:

1. The first kind involves objects, beliefs or practices from our present that show up in the past.

2. The second kind involves objects, beliefs, or practices from our future that show up in our past.

(The explanation of what he means shows up in his Introduction, but was, in my estimation, a bit abstruse, and his encouragements “to read on” or “to read the book” were redundant, not annoying, but slightly excessive. After all, I had the book in hand and got it to read, didn’t I?)

As Mr. Wood presents many weird happenstances and bizarre items, such as a painting of the baby Jesus and his mother, with Jesus holding a toy helicopter – the painting done in 1460, well before Leonardo’s drawings of proto-helicopters and, obviously, much before helicopters became a part of modern aircraft [Page 17 ff.] -- one rushes to read his other finds.



He gives readers accounts of death rays, used by the Romans in 214 B.C., during the siege of Syracuse. [Chapter 4], the use of modern-like surgery practices on England’s Prince Hal (King Henry V) from a war wound in 1402 [Chapter 15], the Voynich Manuscript – that bizarre book of strange, unearthly drawings and an unknown language, from [circa] 1420 [Chapter 11], and UFOs in 1350 A.D. as depicted in a fresco from that date [Chapter 37].



He discusses Saturn’s mystery moon [Chapter 38], a paintings from the Middle Ages that have what-seem-to-be images resembling UFOs, as described by modern witnesses [Page 161 ff].

He shows a 1602 map from China that pre-figured map renderings not used until 1906 [Chapter 16].

I could go on, about The Internet in 1945 [Chapter 31] or a 19th Century French cartoonist, Albert Robida, whose 1882 book, Le Vingtième Siècle (The Twentieth Century) presented prescient images and mentions of flat-screen televisions, cell phones, and nations that declare bankruptcy(!), among other modern items and services:



But you might want to discover this wealth of intriguing anomalies yourself, by getting the 220 page book from bookstores or internet venues such as Amazon, Powells, and the book publisher itself, New Page Books, a division of The Career Press, Pompton Plains, NJ – www.newpagebooks.com or www.careerpress.com



Lamont Wood is a facile writer who wishes to enlighten and entertain. He has done so with this book.

RR