Extraterrestrial Guides

Contemporary interest in flying saucers or unidentified flying objects (UFOs) began when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a series of nine bright disks move across the sky near Mount Rainier, Washington State, on June 24, 1947. Reports of similar sightings followed, and it was widely assumed by the general public that the mysterious objects were vessels of extraterrestrial origin. Soon accounts of contacts with occupants of the vehicles appeared. In the 1950s, these visitors from other worlds were generally presented as wise, beautiful, almost godlike beings, come to warn humanity of its folly—especially in light of the recent development of atomic weapons—and help it in its much-needed spiritual evolution. They were, in the expression of C. G. Jung, "technological angels," space-age equivalents of the descending gods and saviors of old. The movements that grew up around "contactees," humans who claimed to have received messages from the visitors, were definitely religious in character, though these movements were, for the most part, small and ephemeral.

The first widely known contactee was George Adamski, who in his book Flying Saucers Have Landed (written with Desmond Leslie; 1953) reported meeting a man from Venus on November 20, 1952, on the Mojave Desert in California. Adamski was followed by others. Details varied considerably, but the overall messages were similar: The other worlds from which the visitors come are paradisal; to enter into fellowship with them, earthlings must acquire a cosmic perspective and develop a spirit of brotherhood and love. Information is often also given on the origin and occult history of humanity, frequently involving longstanding extraterrestrial relationships. Continuing messages are commonly given by the contactees through mediumship or channeling.

Groups based on extraterrestrial guides that seem to have acquired institutional stability include the Aetherius Society, founded by George King in London in 1954 on the basis of messages from the Master Aetherius of Venus; headquarters were later moved to Los Angeles. This movement has thrived on an almost apocalyptic stress on the repeated near-destruction of Earth by malign cosmic entities and its salvation by extraterrestrial masters, Aetherius and others, through the agency of King and the movement. The Raelian Movement, centered in France and Québec but with a U.S. center in Florida, was founded on contacts and messages received by Claude Vorilhon (Rael), then the publisher of a French racing-car magazine. Raelianism teaches the origins of life and humanity in the scientific experiments of aliens and inculcates the need to evolve beyond law and guilt; the movement has attracted some attention for its emphasis on the importance of sensual experience. Unarius was established in 1954 by Ernest and Ruth Norman; its central emphasis is on channeled information from extraterrestrial beings, especially about reincarnation, and the spiritual entry of Earth into the Galactic Federation, which occurred on September 14, 1973. The 1997 mass suicide of thirty-nine members of the Heaven's Gate group, apparently under extraterrestrial guidance and in conjunction with the arrival of the comet Hale-Bopp, showed the sinister potential of such direction.

See alsoChanneling; Heaven's Gate; Journeys and Journeying; New Religious Movements; Star Trek; Unidentified Flying Objects.

Bibliography

Jacobs, David Michael. TheUFOControversyinAmerica. 1975.

Lewis, James R., ed. TheGodsHaveLanded. 1995.

Robert Ellwood