Gentle Past Life Help

Awakening Far Memories Authors Linda Leblanc and John Knowles and Artist Patty Ray Avalon

Since reading The Search for Bridey Murphy as a child I have been fascinated by people’s accounts of their past lives. I actually have had three experiences wherein I had memories of what might be past lives. One experience when I was 14 was so strong, that I was actually transported to a different reality for a long moment. I may write about that in a later post, but now I want to clarify what I mean by a long moment. For what was about a second in our collective reality, I went to a different reality as real as ours, for the space of what might have been five to ten minutes in the different reality time.

The theory that appeals to me most regarding reincarnation involves the concept of “no time”. That is that there are both past, future and current lives happening simultaneously. When one adds to it the concept “We are all One” and the concept of multiple Universes, I think we may be getting somewhat beyond what the Monkey Brain can accurately fathom (but my monkey brain is trying). From here we can go in two directions: a. that our consciousness forms a “string” of lives for the purposes of Soul growth and experiences a multiplicity of roles in order to learn, or b. because we are all One, it is very possible that another consciousness or being can pass through our consciousness allowing us to see or experience a part of that soul’s incarnation on Earth plane. Either way, this is very compelling territory to explore.

Up until several years ago I had been wary of exploring that territory, especially if it meant being hypnotized by someone who had a fixed idea about reincarnation, since my thoughts are still flexible on the matter, which you Dear Reader, may have gleaned from the paragraph above. At that point a lovely woman I know named Patty Ray Avalon became the artist on a deck of cards and book called Awakening Far Memory, the Reincarnation Deck(Authors Leblanc and Knowles). I purchased the set for my collection and after some study began to use the cards with select clients. I did not offer the service of exploring past lives to the general public but only to those established clients who expressed an strong interest in the subject.

There are sixty one cards in the deck divided into five categories: Occupation (14), Culture (17), Environment (9), [Life's] Theme (11) and Termination [cause of death] (10). When using the cards, I first give a general explanation to the querant about the method I am about to employ. We then move into a short purpose driven meditation together, after which I spread out each card category face down, one category at a time, and ask the client to pick a card from each. When five cards have been chosen the cards are turned over and we look over the selected cards to be sure that (s)he has the bare bones of the lifetime which (s)he is about to explore. It is a minimal discussion because I do not want to make extraneous comments which would affect the outcome of the next step. An example of card choice might be: Builder (occupation), Renaissance (culture), Town (environment), Freedom-Servitude (theme), and Accident (termination). As you can see, not too much discussion is necessary at this point of the reading.

Next I ask the person to lie down and relax to the sounds of a Hemi-Sync selection and gently guide them to a state of deep relaxation. I usually repeat the names of the cards selected and depending on the results of the purpose driven meditation I might ask a few neutral questions. I sit by, pen in hand, ready to record what is divulged about the newly discovered lifetime. When the meditation is over we discuss the experience the seeker has had while (s)he was deeply relaxed and focused. Often individuals who do this exercise report that their view of their present life has changed and sometimes their view of the nature of reality is altered as well. Amazingly more than one person has revealed to me that the lifetime they saw in meditation had also been the subject of recurrent dreams prior to the reading. This deck is a tool for serious research not play.

I have not yet discussed the excellent accompanying book here. One reason for that is because I have an unusual approach to utilizing new oracle and tarot decks. Because I want to get as much inspiration as possible from Source first, I study the cards by themselves. Later I read the book. In this case the book provided a wealth of knowledge from two very erudite esoteric scholars of recorded history as well as the arcane history of our planet.

Moving on to a Friday evening in the very recent past, I was sitting with several convivial colleagues around a warm candlelit dinner table, sipping some tasty Greek red wine at the Fallen Oak Bed and Breakfast, when two individuals I’d never met before (in this incarnation) entered the room and were introduced to the table as Leblanc and Knowles. Unable to control my excitement, I blurted out, “You created the Reincarnation Deck! I use it all the time. I’m so pleased to meet you both.” And thus began a friendship I hope will span lifetimes…

 

UFOs and the Evolution of Consciousness

Whitley Strieber waiting to begin his presentation.

You and I have spoken all these words,
But for the way we have to go words are no preparation.
I have one small drop of knowing in my soul.
Let it dissolve in your ocean!
~Rumi

On October 22, I attended a conference presented by FIONS and New Realities which took place at the Community Church of New York on East 35th Street. The featured speakers, in order of presentation, were Linda Moulton Howe, Whitley Strieber and Richard Dolan. The Master of Ceremonies was Alan Steinfeld of New Realities. FIONS stands for Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences which is a non-profit organization associated with IONS, founded by Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell and dedicated to the integration of science and consciousness.

As a multiple experiencer and consciousness researcher myself, I take every reasonable opportunity to interact with other serious persons of a similar description. I was happy to see a number of friends in attendance as well as several hundred other people (perhaps some future friends). The atmosphere was serious and urgent.

First to speak was Linda Moulton Howe of Earthfiles.com. She presented a fascinating lecture about her recent research which has led her to a concept which is at the same time logical and mind blowing: alien self-activating machines. In our own terrestrial scientific research, especially in the bio-medical field, there have been enormous strides made in the last 50 years in all kinds artificial body part replacements. On the other side of the equation, computers are getting smarter and smarter and more lifelike in their interactions with humans. Truly, many intelligent minds have pondered the implications of blurring the distinction between humans and artificial intelligences. Movies have been made for years about this phenomena and I remember “the Bionic Man” and “the Bionic Woman” TV shows from my youth.

Additionally, it has been posited for years that extraterrestrials wishing to traverse the vast expanses of space travelling many light years from star to star might send androids rather than biological beings to live aboard space ships. More recently I have heard the observation that some UFO craft appear to be behaving like actual living beings and morphing shapes.

So at this point I can segue into Linda Moulton Howe’s presentation. Several years ago several sets of related photographs were sent to her at Earthfiles. The subjects of these photos came to be known as dragonfly drone UFOs. She published the images and was criticized by some ufologists because they believed the photos to have been hoaxed by the senders (not Ms. Howe). Since then she has received information regarding the symbols on these craft, the similar symbols on a UFO in Rendlesham Forest by Jim Penniston, and how they relate to some crop circles. She has also received information from retired government insiders seeming to show that the symbols are a self activating software on the outside surface of a living metallic animal UFO. Merely by touching the symbols the machines can be activated, sometimes, it is reported, with disastrous results. She gave a compelling talk that was well received by the audience and I think she was sincere but because of government secrecy we have little direct access to what is known by deep secret sources. I saw some similar symbols during a forced out-of-body experience (possible abduction) two years ago.

Linda Moulton Howe

The beginning of Whitley Strieber‘s presentation touched upon how our human brains can be organically changed by simply thinking about the surreal and how aliens may be changing us. There are so many irreversible changes going on in our environment that we can never return to the world as it once was, so we must evolve to accommodate the changes or perish.

He talked about Dr. Paul Hill, a famous engineer with NACA (the predecessor of NASA) who had a groundbreaking UFO experience in July of 1952 in the company of other witnesses. His work in static field technology and his book Unconventional Flying Objects (Hampton Roads) were suppressed until after his death. Whitley went on to read some passages from his new non-fiction book Solving the Communion Enigma about the alien presence to be released in January which promises to be thought provoking.

The last speaker was Richard Dolan, an eminent historian and chronicler of UFO sightings with three excellent books to prove it. I have seen him do presentations at at least four other venues and he is always interesting and well thought out in his lectures. He looks at the UFO phenomena from the point of history. In 1947, President Harry Truman was aware that the nation was war weary and if the truth about UFO were revealed the world order would be challenged. Oil was also at the center of the issue because a UFO-type propulsion system would end the oil industry and allow for totally unrestricted travel. He has documents on his website that prove US jets chased UFOs.

Dolan says the secrecy and black budgets surrounding UFOs are unconstitutional and therefore illegal. The secret government agencies influenced the mainstream media, which in turn influenced the public to believe that the UFOs were the foolish inventions of overactive imaginations, which they are not. The Department of Defense controls much of the academic scientific community, making sure that government grants are not given for research to those who profess an interest in UFOs. Much of our history has been stolen from us in regards to this and other subjects. It becomes nearly impossible to know what is true and what is not because so much information is classified so deeply that even Congress can’t get at it.

Dolan also contends that there exists a “breakaway” civilization which operates on the trillion dollar black budget and that has (amongst other things like underground bunkers) much better technology than the civilian world, to wit in 1965 the NSA (then a totally secret agency) had computer speeds not seen in the public until after 2000.

He also feels disclosure is inevitable. It may be, but I think disclosure will be incremental as we are already witnessing. Certainly a mass sighting with multiple video capture, a Wikileaks type leak, a presidential deathbed confession or the like might force the hand of the secret keepers.

All in all I enjoyed the conference which may have better been titled UFOs and Government Secrecy!

Richard Dolan

 

Out of Body Exploration with William Buhlman

William Buhlman

During my life, I have had several spontaneous out of body experiences, many instances of sleep paralysis and vibratory sensations, and have often been “out of phase” with my body. Much of this has been very frightening to me, especially when I was a little child. As an adult I have worked to overcome this fear and this has resulted in a number of experiences in which I communicated with other non-physical beings. Please see: Bee Message for an example. But I could not initiate these experiences at will and I could not lose all fear, although going to the Monroe Institute has aided me greatly in my pursuit. I have been given access to others with similar experiences and techniques to lessen my apprehension.

So, of course, when I became aware that author William Buhlman was facilitating an Out of Body Intensive Workshop at TMI I knew I wanted to attend. I had read his two books Adventures Beyond the Body  and  The Secret of the Soul, both of which I recommend. So I attempted to reserve a space in the workshop, but alas, it was sold out with a waiting list. I was not to be deterred. I put myself on that list and took the ultimate leap of faith: I made non-refundable travel reservations. Then I visualized being a part of the group until <BINGO>a space opened up.

The other attendees were a very select group, but self selected. They were experiencers at various levels, some having had full-blown OBEs others having only been out of phase with their physical bodies and wondering what could possibly be going on. For forty years Bill Buhlman has been traveling out of body volitionally as opposed to spontaneously and practices everyday, but not every day yields an OBE. He gave us many techniques to generate OBEs that we practiced with great fervor in up to five sessions per day of approximately 45 minutes each. I experienced less fear during these sessions because I was intentionally moving my etheric or light body rather than having an experience by surprise.

Although Buhlman has constructed a sort of cosmology for himself based upon his many exploits out of body, he emphasized that we should not buy into the belief systems of others (even him) since with a bit of practice we could obtain direct experience. He believes that this direct experience will benefit us when our physical body dies and we are faced with choices.

For me the real sticking point is the point of individuation. Great sages have said we are all one. We are one with other humans, animals, plants, Earth and everything in the Universe. When we are out of body, travelling to other levels of being and consciousness how do we know if a being we meet is part of our higher self or in fact another entity still individuated on that level of consciousness? Buhlman says to create an intention in the form of a fairly strong demand and repeat it mentally if it does not become immediately clear. I used this strong repeated intention during one practice session to be able to see my etheric surroundings more clearly and to move up a level astrally. It worked!

More to come…

 

Ufology This Summer 2011: I’m Sad, Glad and Mad!

This summer has seen several big moments in the field of ufology. The first is a very sad occasion. On August 21st Budd Hopkins, 80, passed on after a long illness. He was a multi-talented artist who was known for his geometric paintings and sculpture. He was also an alien abduction researcher, giving compassionate attention to experiencers for many years though his Intruders Foundation. He wrote a number of excellent books including Missing Time and Intruders which substantiate the phenomenon of alien abduction through relating the experiences of ordinary individuals and finding patterns in them.  I was supposed to meet Mr. Hopkins several times at conferences and at his foundation meetings, but alas, to my great disappointment, this was not to be. Ufology has lost a valiant researcher. Rest in peace, Budd.

New York Times obituary.

On a different topic, (the glad part), ufology has made a wonderful advancement with the release of Break Thru Films documentary “Secret Access: UFOs on the Record” by filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sudberg seen on the History Channel in a 2 hour special on August 25th. It is based upon Leslie Kean’s book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and 344Government Officials Go On the Record and Ms. Kean is featured prominently in the presentation.  Leslie Kean has had a long history as a clear eyed researcher and investigative journalist who co-founded the Coalition for Freedom of Information (CFi) and was a producer with James Fox for the independent film I Know What I Saw. This documentary is a must see for anyone even vaguely interested in the subject of unexplained aerial phenomena. Its irrefutable evidence from sterling sources will turn anyone who is on the fence about the reality and importance of ufology into an advocate for more research into this paradigm shifting subject. In addition to the information also presented in the book, the film had some new data about the Phoenix Lights from NUFORC and a new research project, UFOtog, by special effects master Douglas Trumball.

Finally, I’m angry (mad) about the revelation that author and UFO researcher Philip Imbrogno has completely faked his credentials (bad). It was revealed by skeptic Lance Moody in his blog What the Hell Was That that Imbrogno’s degrees from MIT and elsewhere were entirely bogus. UFO researcher Don Ecker of Dark Matters Radio followed up by checking out his military bona fides. Imbrogno claimed he was a Green Beret in a select group executing missions in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Ecker discovered it was a total fabrication.  This is a real shame because ufology is a study not given credence in all quarters because it is seen as a fringe topic. Any tinge of  dishonesty casts major doubt on any research on which the liar has worked. Furthermore it damages the entire field.

I will end this post on a bittersweet note sending my deepest sympathies and profoundest thanks to Leslie Kean who was both the personal companion of Budd Hopkins and the inspiration for this astounding groundbreaking documentary.

Please follow the links in this post if you want more information on the topics discussed herein.

Leslie Kean and Budd Hopkins

Thanks to les-repas-ufologiques.com

POSTSCRIPT: He says it better than I can.

Thoughts about the Budd Hopkins Memorial

by David Biedny on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 at 16:01

I wanted to briefly comment on the memorial held Saturday, October 8, 2011 for Budd Hopkins, at the 15th Street Friends Meeting House. The weather could not have been better, it was a clear, perfect day for this lovely affair celebrating the life and work of this wonderful man – one I’m proud to be able to call a true friend – and it primarily focused on his work in the art field, clearly demonstrating that Budd was really one of the most respected Abstract Expressionists of the famed New York School.

Leslie Kean started the proceedings with her cool, professional demeanor, even though it was obvious that she misses her partner, friend and love. Any of us would be blessed to have that kind of tenderness in our lives, and something that was plain to see was the depth of respect and love that these two people had for each other, it was both reassuring and inspiring.

His daughter showed slides of many of Budd’s artworks, which were bold, colorful and as direct as the man himself. Another thing that many spoke of was Budd’s sense of humor, and I can personally attest that he loved laughing like few others, and there was some really nice footage of Budd being, well, Budd.

Peter Robbins delivered an eloquent eulogy, describing working with Budd, and how much influence Budd had on his own way of thinking and dealing with others. Randy Nicherson played a video tribute to Budd, full of poignant, heartfelt scenes – there was another video compilation presented towards the end, done by Seth Keal and Charles Miller, with some really heartwarming footage of Budd dancing with his granddaughter. Another picture of Budd, his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter clearly demonstrated the uncanny resemblance of Budd and his daughter’s daughter. He will live on in her.

David Jacobs spoke about Budd’s work in the field of abduction research, but what really came through was how much David loved Budd as a human being and close friend. That was also evident in the way that people spoke about Budd afterwards, small conversations overheard during the subsequent reception confirmed that there was not a bad thought about Budd anywhere near the event.

There are many more details – some interesting UFO folks were in attendance, but they were outnumbered by the artist friends, thankfully – but suffice it to say that any of us would be happy and fulfilled to have this much love manifest at our departures.

To those who would attack his research, and accuse him of being a flawed human, of not being 100% hardass about his dealings with alleged abduction victims and potential hoaxers – I personally witnessed the degree of comfort this brave man gave some very distraught people, folks who were scared, confused and who didn’t have anyone to turn to without being marginalized or ridiculed, and for that work alone, he should be celebrated and respected. If he was fooled by some unscrupulous folks, his decision to err on the side of kindness and compassion is perhaps a byproduct of his intensely powerful humanity and sincere desire to help others. Those who would vilify him would be well advised to check their own glass houses for hidden piles of large, rough stones.

Budd Hopkins was a great man, and I for one will miss him something urgent.

 

My favorite decks.

As a longtime reader of tarot cards I am the proud owner of many decks of cards: tarot cards, oracle decks (fortune telling cards that are not tarot), playing cards, and card games. This post is about my favorite tarot decks and is confined to the decks I actually own and use for readings. I am a collector, so I have many decks I enjoy looking at but don’t generally use for readings.

I am not a big fan of decks that are not fully illustrated; that is decks in which the numbered cards or pips do not have an actual depicted image of the author’s idea of the meaning of the card. Instead they have four pentacles or seven swords on them, much in the manner that the three of hearts is symbolized in the typical playing deck, though in the case of these tarot decks, usually more ornately. Some of the decks which are not fully illustrated have historical significance, such as the the Visconti-Sforza Tarot, Tarot of Marseilles, or the IJJ Swiss Deck. These are good additions to any collection, but they are not that evocative to me for readings. I have been extremely disappointed in the past when I’ve bought a deck based on attractive packaging or a whim only to find that the Minor Arcana were not fully illustrated.

The two decks that I use most often are the great standby, the Rider-Waite deck, and the Mary Hanson Roberts Deck. The Rider Waite deck originally published in December 1909, is the defining deck of the English language world. It is the deck to which all subsequent decks are compared. It is the brain child of Arthur Edward Waite and was beautifully illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith, both of whom were members of the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Several years ago in 1990, Mary Hanson Roberts was the artist that did a recoloring of the Rider-Waite deck which is sold under the name the Universal Waite Tarot. Her own deck, The  Hanson Roberts Tarot has imagery based on Rider-Waite and is not at all frightening to the person being read. Almost all the images are very friendly and will put the querant at ease.

I also really like a newer deck called the World Spirit Tarot by Lauren O’Leary and Jesica Godino . It was put out in 2001 but it is not currently in print. The illustrations are from linoleum block prints and very attractive and evocative.

The Motherpeace Round Tarot by Vicki Noble and Karen Vogel is excellent to have on hand, and now that it is available in a smaller size, it is easier to manipulate the cards. It is a woman’s deck celebrating different cultures and ideas of community.

A couple of months ago I chanced upon a deck called the Guardians of Wisdom by Emy Ledbetter and Todd Hershey which is amazing for the insights it provides. It is literally a tarot deck but I use it for short questions mostly for myself and it has not disappointed. I have not used it for a Celtic Cross reading for fear it would provide too much information to digest all at once. The minor arcana use the suits of regular playing cards but are fully illustrated. Sadly it is out of print at the current moment.

Worth noting is that Motherpeace, Guardians of Wisdom and World Spirit are multicultural, multiracial decks, while the others are primarily Eurocentric.

This is by no means a comprehensive review. There are lots of terrific decks out there. I have lots of other beautiful decks that I really love. A place where I often go to look at tarot decks on the web is the Tarot Garden. The site is filled with information on hundreds of decks including their availability and whether they are fully illustrated or not.

 

A Great New Book and a Rebuttal of Agenda Driven Journalism

The book in question is UFOs, Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean. It is a well researched and carefully written book by a serious and well respected investigative journalist with chapters written by first hand UFO observers in multiple witness cases who are also (as the title suggests) generals, pilots and government officials. Mostly the book does not champion a source of these craft which behave as though intelligently controlled and appear to be metallic, however several of the witnesses propose the ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) as the most likely scenario. Other ideas put forth (not in the book) are that the craft are crypto-terrestrial, demonic, inter-dimensional, or time traveling. I personally have no trouble thinking of them as possibly both inter-dimensional and extraterrestrial but that may be fodder for another article.

Leslie Kean’s book is now on the New York Times bestseller list as well it should be. I recommend purchasing the book as a holiday or birthday gift for your skeptical friends because it makes a rather air tight case that the phenomena is real. Ms. Kean is also a founder of the Coalition for Freedom of Information and has pressed forward for US government documents using the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) particularly around the 1965 Kecksburg incident in Pennsylvania.

The book goes on to explore the possible dangers to aviation that UFOs pose and makes a case for a serious UFO government agency to be established in the United States as such agencies have been established in other countries.

Ms. Kean has been interviewed on many mainstream news shows as well as UFO-interest radio shows and podcasts. I chanced to read James Oberg’s piece , an NBC reporter’s very biased critique of her book about a week ago and was stunned that he had the nerve to trot out the old debunker’s patently ridiculous statement that career pilots are no better observers of aerial phenomena than the average person. When anyone makes such an outrageous statement, for me, the argument is over. It defies imagination that he should expect anyone to believe him. I don’t think he believes that himself or he would be well advised not to travel by air. It can only be that he has another agenda, a reason that he wants the public to discount all reports of UFOs. It is the height of humano-centric hubris to steadfastly hold that there is no other intelligent life in our vast cosmos.  Is Mr. Oberg a disinformation agent? I don’t know, but he definitely has an agenda and that agenda is not to promote open minded inquiry. We must wonder why.

Today I came across a rebuttal of James Oberg by Leslie Kean herself and I reprint it here with the object that more readers will realize that Mr. Oberg is an agenda driven debunker:

SKEPTIC MISSES POINT BEHIND UFO BOOK
SOLID SIGHTINGS CITED IN UFOS¹; SERIOUS INVESTIGATION NEEDED
By Leslie Kean
MSNBC
September 7, 2010

http://nhne-pulse.org/ufo-leslie-kean-dismantles-ufo-critic-james-oberg/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38977500/

When I wrote my book about officially documented UFO reports, I fully
expected the skeptics to react. That¹s why I was careful to focus only on
the very best evidence from the most credible sources in “UFOs: Generals,
Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record.” <http://bit.ly/cH72wg>
Since 95 percent of all sightings are eventually identified, the book is
concerned only with the remaining 5 percent — those UFO events that have
been thoroughly investigated, involve multiple witnesses and ample data, but
still cannot be explained.

That didn¹t stop James Oberg, a space analyst for NBC News, from complaining
that the book was based on a ³questionable foundation.²

…

STORY: UFO BOOK BASED ON QUESTIONABLE FOUNDATION
By James Oberg
MSNBC
August 27, 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38852385/ns/technology_and_science-space

…

In the biographical note appended to his commentary, he notes that he spent
22 years at NASA¹s Mission Control and has written books about space policy
and exploration. But he neglects to inform readers of something UFO
researchers already know all too well: that he is a founding fellow of the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, formerly CSICOP), a group whose aim is
to debunk UFOs and any other unexplained phenomena that challenge our
familiar ways of thinking.

For many years, Oberg, while retaining his stance as an objective student of
the UFO phenomenon, has been a consistently vocal skeptic. His long list of
articles dealing with UFOs date from the 1970s and are posted on his website
under the heading “space folklore,” which accurately sums up his attitude
towards the subject. He may be qualified to serve as an unbiased, expert
consultant on Russian or Chinese missile systems, but not on UFOs.

His objection to my many varied cases has to do with his notion that pilots
are poor observers. To buttress this idea, he quotes J. Allen Hynek
referring to questionable statistics compiled in the 1960s by Project Blue
Book. He also cites Russian researchers describing two events in 1982 when
pilot sightings were accurately identified as “military balloons” after the
fact.

This is not surprising, since the vast majority of sightings can be
explained, and this kind of identification is made all the time. However,
such solved sightings — whether made by pilots or anyone else — have
absolutely nothing to do with the cases presented in my book.

I wonder if Oberg gave “UFOs” a careful read. He spent many paragraphs
quoting me concerning a report on aviation cases by French researcher
Dominique Weinstein. The problem is, those are not my quotes. The chapter
from which he extracted them was written by Jean-Jacques Velasco, head of
the French government’s UFO agency for over 20 years, as is obvious in his
byline and narrative about French research.

Oberg gleefully proclaims that I have ³faithfully vouched for² the cases in
Weinstein’s list, but actually, I have respectfully allowed Velasco to write
his own chapter. (About half the chapters in my book were written by highly
credentialed authorities and expert witnesses.) If Oberg wants to discuss
the Weinstein study, he’ll have to contact Velasco.

Oberg¹s fixation on the question of the reliability of pilots as witnesses
is not raised by the generals and aviation experts I have interviewed –
officials who have studied pilot cases and interviewed pilot witnesses for
decades. As described in “UFOs,” French Air Force Maj. Gen. Denis Letty
initiated an extensive study of UFO data because competent pilots he knew
personally were confronted by the phenomenon. Chilean Gen. Ricardo Bermudez
was instrumental in the founding of his country’s official UFO investigative
agency in 1997 because of inexplicable sightings involving pilots.

Richard Haines, who has written more than 70 papers in leading scientific
journals and published more than 25 U.S. government reports for NASA, was
formerly chief of the space agency’s Space Human Factors Office and served
for 21 years as a retired senior aerospace scientist at NASA’s Ames Research
Center. Having studied pilot sightings and related aviation safety issues
for more than 30 years, and having personally interviewed hundreds of pilots
during that time, Haines has concluded that pilots are indeed excellent
witnesses, given their thorough training, expertise and hours of flying
time.

Haines is now chief scientist for the National Aviation Reporting Center on
Anomalous Phenomena. Sadly, most pilots never report their sightings, as he
points out in “UFOs.”

Most importantly, the aerial cases documented in “UFOs” — and many more on
the record elsewhere — involve multiple factors such as:

- Sightings of long duration, allowing for accurate voice transmissions and
the refinement of the initial identification.

- Multiple witnesses — co-pilot, crew, passengers, other aircraft in
different locations, and occasionally observers from the ground.

- Onboard radar and ground radar recording the presence of a physical
object, often corresponding exactly to the visual sighting.

- Direct physical effects on the aircraft, such as equipment malfunction.

As an example, Brig. Gen. Jose Periera of Brazil, commander of air force
operations until 2005, reports on an “array of UFOs” observed over his
country in 1986. Two pilots chased one of the objects for 30 minutes.
Numerous other pilots saw the objects. Radar recorded them. Six jets were
scrambled from two Brazilian air force bases to pursue them. Some of the
pilots made visual contact corresponding to radar registrations. Both
military and commercial pilots were involved. Onboard as well as ground
radar systems confirmed the presence of the objects.

³We have the correlation of independent readings from different sources,²
Periera writes. ³These data have nothing to do with human eyes. When, along
with the radar, a pilot’s pair of eyes sees that same thing, and then
another pilot’s, and so on, the incident has real credibility and stands on
a solid foundation.²

In 2007, airline captain Ray Bowyer saw two gigantic, bright yellow objects
suspended over the English Channel, which he observed carefully for 15
minutes. His passengers saw them, another pilot on a second aircraft was
also a witness, and an object was registered on radar.

In 1986, three Japan Airlines pilots watched a series of UFOs for 30
minutes, communicating with air traffic control while radar operators picked
up the objects in corresponding locations.

I could go on with many more examples, presented in detail in the book.
Oberg says pilots may misinterpret visual phenomena when forced to make a
split-second diagnosis before taking immediate action — very rare cases, I
would assume — and no one would disagree with that. But, just as was the
case with the solved Russian sightings I discussed earlier, this is entirely
beside the point with respect to my book, because the cases presented do not
involve such a scenario.

In addition, “UFOs: General, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the
Record” presents many other cases that do not involve pilots at all — but
often military personnel and police officers — including:

- The famous 1980 incident near RAF Bentwaters in Britain, involving the
landing of a UFO and objects sending beams of light to the ground.

- The 1981 “Trans-en-Provence” landing case in France, investigated by the
official French agency GEPAN.

- Belgian Maj. Gen. Wilfried De Brouwer’s report on the wave of sightings in
Belgium in 1989-90, which includes a spectacular photograph.

- The 1993 “Cosford Incident” involving a UFO over two Air Force bases in
Britain, investigated by the Ministry of Defense.

- The 1997 Phoenix Lights incident that former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington
described.

These are just a few of a host of cases with abundant data that don’t rely
on pilot observations — and which are still unsolved. It’s the aggregate of
cases, the accumulation of evidence and the long-running but unsuccessful
attempts of qualified experts to resolve them that establishes the reality
of a yet-unexplained physical phenomenon with extraordinary capabilities.

Oberg says that “if investigators are unable to find the explanation for a
particular UFO case, that doesn’t constitute proof that the case is
unexplainable.² Fair enough. Perhaps there is some prosaic explanation still
to be discovered. ThereŒs always that possibility, no matter how small.

But we remain in a state of ignorance concerning UFOs, leaving us with the
conclusion presented in the book: We need a systematic, scientific
investigation of the skies that actively looks for these mysterious and
elusive objects. In the meantime, all I ask is that devout skeptics like
Oberg read the entire book before raising objections that actually have no
bearing on the matter at hand.

On October 10, 2010 I have discovered a very good article by another paranormal blogger about this subject and the airport shutdowns by UFOs in China.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/paranormal/2010/10/09/leslie-kean-ufos-and-the-need-for-timely-and-responsible-ufo-reporting/

 

 

 

Remembering John A. Keel

Lisa Hirshfield, Larry "Ratso" Sloman, Anthony Matt, Doug Skinner and the infamous worm painting

On Sunday July 11, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. at the Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia Street in Brooklyn, Doug Skinner and the Ullage Group organized an afternoon commemorating the life of John A. Keel. The afternoon included readings from some of Keel’s lesser known works read by Mr. Skinner, Lisa Hirshfield, Larry “Ratso” Sloman and Anthony Matt.

I had read with rapt interest Keel’s most famous work, The Mothman Prophesies, some years ago and I’d also seen the movie of the same name loosely based upon the book. When I read the book I remember thinking how some of the more random paranormal events (not related directly to the Mothman story itself and not depicted in the film) mirrored some odd events in my life. I knew that Keel lived in New York City and I was peripherally acquainted with a large number of people who knew or had met Keel. I’d expressed interest to some of them in meeting him, but alas, that was not to be.

The presentation began with Doug Skinner toasting the memory of John A. Keel by drinking a can of Glucerna (a nutritional drink for diabetics). I learned that Keel’s given name was Alva John Kiehle. Lisa Hirshfield then read his first published work from 1945 when he was 15 years old. His wry sense of humor was evident even then.

During his stint in the military in the early 1950s Keel worked for the armed forces network out of Cairo, Egypt. The audience was treated to an audio clip of his presentation from inside the Giza pyramid, followed shortly by a kitschy song named “Jadoo” promoting his book (of the same title) of adventures in the Middle East and Africa. I am a proud owner of the book Jadoo! We saw a remarkable movie he made in New York City in the 1960s called “On Exhibition”. In it Keel played a drunk at the Museum of Modern Art.

Keel wrote sleaze novels under the pseudonym Harry Gibbs. Some excerpts from these were read by Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Keel’s friend, sometimes employer, and editor of High Times Magazine. Soon after we saw the worm painting pictured above painted by 35 earthworms in October 1960 for Merv Griffin’s TV show “Play Your Hunch”, for which Keel was a writer.

Later in the 1960s Keel pitched a film treatment called ” Nudists From Outer Space” read  by Anthony Matt. Finally a video clip from John Keel’s appearance on the David Letterman Show in the 1980s was played. He discussed a variety of paranormal phenomena.

I really enjoyed this look into John A. Keel’s life, although I had expected more time to be devoted to the paranormal. I was pleased to meet some other anomalists after the performance including Geoff who is working on a fascinating movie about UFOs filmed over New York City  called “Believing Is Seeing“.

johnkeel.com = a blog about John A. Keel

 

Read the Story of Nujood

Are you a woman? Are you the parent of a daughter? Are you married to a woman? Do you have a mother? In any of these cases you should read the autobiography I Am Nujood, aged 10, Divorced

This is a difficult book to read, not due to the complexity of the verbiage, but because of the poverty and abuse this child had to endure at the hands of her family. It brings up the abhorrent practice of child marriage. Many little girls as young as eight years old are married without their consent to men often decades older than themselves. They are often imprisoned inside the men’s homes as little more than slaves both sexual and domestic. The reasons for this practice are complex and rooted in the culture in which they occur. Poverty can cause a father to give his child away, but that same father may have multiple wives and his children may number in double digits. He often cannot support them all but gives no thought to birth control. This puts into place a cycle of oppression against women and girls because they are not considered equal to men and in Islamic countries the females must uphold the concept of family honor. A rumor against the honor of a girl or woman may be the motive for an honor killing, even in the United States.

In this book the eponymous young writer exhibits a bravery which is remarkable and praiseworthy. Credit must also be given to the people who helped her because Yemen’s culture can punish the defenseless and those who seek to defend them. I sincerely hope that Nujood chooses to continue her education and become a lawyer like her champion, Shada Nasr, who represented her in her divorce hearing. But Nujood is not alone. Lots of other children are forced into marriage. One quarter of Yemeni brides are aged 15 or less. It seems to me that supporting the education of women and female children in places where they are abused because they are female, is one of the most important things that can be done to bring about world peace and and end over-population. 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/26/yemen.divorce/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/nujood-ali-12-year-old-di_n_485952.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126110751

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Polygamy%2Bharmful%2Bsociety%2Bscholar%2Bfinds/3290757/story.html

 

My Big T.O.E. New York Seminar 2010

Pamela and Thomas Campbell

As many of my readers already know, I am a big fan of Robert Monroe, author of Journeys Out Of Body and founder of the Monroe Institute. About a year ago, a book with the unlikely name of My Big T.O.E, came to my attention. It was written by Thomas Campbell who worked with Bob Monroe in the early years, when Monroe was beginning the Institute. Initially My Big T.O.E, was published as three separate volumes, but more recently it was republished as a giant paperback and I bought it. T.O.E., by the way, stands for theory of everything. This book is an engaging tome but don’t expect to buzz through it in a weekend. It requires careful thoughtful reading and I rarely was able to read more than 10-20 pages a sitting. Even then I was often forced to reread paragraphs to truly digest their meaning. It is one thing to understand the words and quite another to own the concepts set forth by those words.

Tom Campbell is a nuclear physicist who has spent much of his career working for NASA and the book is based in scientific inquiry. He is well versed in all manner of cosmology and physical theories of the Universe from Newton through Einstein and beyond into Quantum physics and string theory. He is convinced that the known Universe is both virtual and digital and he can prove it to anyone who will listen (or read). But Campbell is also a meta-physician.

Needless to say these ideas had me spellbound, so when I went to his website to glean more information, it was extremely synchronistic to discover that he had a seminar in NYC in a month’s time. I cleared my calendar for that weekend and registered.

The program was held at the MetaCenter on West 29th Street, a very convenient, clean, central NYC location. Friday night was the (free) introduction to the ideas embodied in the book; on Saturday Campbell worked through the theoretical implications of the “Theory of Everything”; and on Sunday those implications were tested on a practical level with exercises in healing and remote viewing.

The basic starting point of the program was to establish the nature of reality. Most models of reality fail to go beyond the physical 3 or 4D world and fail to consider what happened or what existed before or outside the “Big Bang”. Many scientists start with unsupportable assumptions. Reality is not synonymous with the models we make to explain it to ourselves and others. Physical reality as we experience it is an illusion of our senses. We get some data and extrapolate it into this reality model, when it actually exists only as a probability, until we make a measure of it. Consciousness is at the base of each of our realities and is therefore personal and not truly objective.

There is more, much more, that I cannot delve into in the space of this blog. It is all worthwhile considering.

I found myself largely agreeing with the conclusions of Tom Campbell with the exception of a certain (very esoteric) position on the nature of time outside our physical matter reality. That minor difference of opinion really makes no practical difference in the application of the principles set forth in Campbell’s “Big T.O.E.” (As an aside, he is actually a rocket scientist and I am not, so I’m guessing his opinion on this matter might have more sway than mine ) The manner in which he has explained some of those things that I had already discovered on my own to be true, was extraordinarily helpful in explaining those principles to others.

I highly recommend My Big T.O.E. to seekers and philosophers of all stripes. If you have a chance to go to one of his seminars, do it! In his workshops he is aided by his lovely wife, Pamela (pictured above) and Keith Warner and Donna Aveni (pictured below) who also book the seminars under the name MBT Events and do everything humanly possible to make you feel welcome.

 

Critical Mass, the new Whitley Streiber novel

Whitley Streiber has written an exciting new novel that I just finished reading. Mr. Streiber is famous for his personal alien and UFO contact and abduction memoirs and his current event driven work like The Coming Global Superstorm which was the basis of the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Once I started Critical Mass, I couldn’t stop reading, it really held my interest.

The current event topic of the novel is loose nuclear material, a subject which seems rather neglected in the media considering the lethal importance it could have on our lives. I am not a nuclear weapons expert, but the general thesis of the book seemed quite plausible. I did not mind that in the lead character, Jim Deutsch, is embodied a superman. He could not be stopped, he was never deterred from his task. In a real life situation the work he accomplished would likely have been completed by a task force, but turning him into a sort of super hero was a literary device that allowed the reader to become invested in the outcome for the protagonist.

The Arab-American brother and sister who were the most prominent auxiliary characters were well drawn. I was particularly impressed with the character of the brother, whose public persona was miles from his private inner reactionary self. Though an exaggeration in the novel, it is not uncommon in life.

The ending was OK but slightly anticlimactic, which is not surprising given the incredible amount of exciting and terrifying action in the story.

Although I can recommend Critical Mass as entertaining reading (which it definitely is), the underlying message of the danger of unaccounted for fissionable materials cannot be overstated.

 

 

 

 

In Memoriam: Hans Holzer – January 26, 1920 – April 26, 2009

 

Hans Holzer

 

 

When I was a kid between the ages of ten and fourteen there is nothing that I would have rather done than read a book by Hans Holzer. This man wrote scores of books on the paranormal particularly true ghost stories. I gobbled them all up as fast as they were put on the shelves. I wanted to be a Viennese parapsychologist too.

Imagine my surprise some years later when I was introduced to Hans Holzer by a Wiccan friend at the Limelight, a circa 1990 club in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. We became friendly and my friend and I visited Hans several times at his roomy Upper West Side apartment. Hans was a strict vegetarian which made it difficult to go out for a meal. He liked to cook his own food. He was always very kind to me. Once he wrote a letter in my defense to the alumni association of a prominent Catholic university. The association felt it was against doctrine to have me visit there as a psychic. Hans said that the psychic sense was a proven skill and a subject for parapsychological inquiry not medieval witch-hunting (or something of that order) and I got my booking back.

In 2002 he published an updated version of the Psychic Yellow Pages and included an article about me. So events had come full circle for me since reading his books as a kid.

Hans Holzer, you are truly missed.

New York Times obituary

 

2 Unrelated Items

News item: It is projected that the USA will have 700,000 to one million fewer home owners when George W. Bush leaves office in January of 2009 than when he took office in 2001. Short Book review: Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience by Stanton T. Friedman and Kathleen Marden This book, published this year (2007) is an extraordinarily in-depth look at the UFO experience of an American couple in 1961. Kathleen Marden is the niece of Betty Hill and trustee of her estate. Stanton Friedman is a well known and intrepid ufologist. I had been more or less aware of the Hill’s story previous to reading this book, but the book leaves no stone unturned and all details are explored. I feel that I really understand this historic milestone in UFO history since reading it. For some readers it will be too detailed. For those who have seen something truly unidentified in the sky, it is a must read. What I am impressed with is the sincerity of the authors and the painstaking documentation of the information relating to the case. Whether you are an experiencer or not, you will come away from this book with the impression that without a doubt the Hills, Friedman, and Marden believe this account of alien abduction and are authentic in this presentation of the information.