ET:

Grand Magi Or Masters of Illusion?

By Caryn Anscomb

The Initiation:

Just after midnight, deep within the woods somewhere in the north of England, a young girl is tied to a tree. She feels a chill run up her spine, not fear but excitement in anticipation of the events about to unfold around her. She has been left alone, with only her trusty Athame with which to cut herself free of the tree if she feels the necessity. She can hear the slow rhythmic beat of drums in the distance, and then, from somewhere behind her, the sound of huge wings beating. Her senses become heightened, she hears the sharp snap of a dry twig someone or something has just stepped on, the sounds of whispering coming from some distant point to her right. She smiles, ‘the wings are a good effect’ she thinks to herself. She looks to her left; through the darkness she can just make out the silhouette of a tall figure. ‘His face is so unnaturally white; he must be wearing a mask’ she thinks to herself. He stands motionless throughout the 3+hour ordeal, but is a strange source of comfort to her. This is her initiation, and following in the age-old tradition of initiation, this was her rite of passage through the shamanic, symbolic, ordeal of death and rebirth, and the emergence of new identity through ecstatic experience.

In another part of the country a young man camping with friends wakes to find himself outside of his tent. He wasn’t sure how he got there; perhaps he had been sleepwalking, odd! it had never happened before.  He feels extremely uneasy, something is most definitely amiss but he can’t quite put his finger on it. He attempts to get up to go back to the tent, but discovers he’s unable to move; all but his eyes are paralysed. Suddenly sheer terror grips him. He sees movement to his left, and his eyes adjust “What is that squirrel doing? That’s not normal. Why is it hanging upside down from the tree watching me-and it’s so close, they don’t do that do they? No I don’t like this, or that squirrel, not one bit”. His senses are heightened, he hears whispering coming from somewhere to his right, and then the sharp snap of twigs as someone or something treads on them. He tries to move his head to see who it is, but has no control over his muscles “this would be almost comical if I wasn’t so bloody scared” he thinks. “Shit! What is that squirrel doing”?

The immediate days that followed the initiation bought no major changes to the girl, she wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting, but had hoped for some kind of cosmic revelation. The experience had been both a little frightening and exhilarating; the staged effects achieving their goal of a deep sense of surrealism, although she had been aware throughout that all the events were being controlled. She discussed the initiation with the group members and asked which one of them had played the role of the ghostly watcher. They assured her, that they had not in fact staged the ‘comforting’ figure, and had no idea what she was talking about. This played on her mind; it didn’t make a lot of sense, she needed to re-evaluate the experience. A process of mental deconstruction and reconstruction had begun. Had they been pulling her leg, or had some entity manifested itself, or had she unwittingly conjured the entity herself, for comfort. She never did discover the truth, but came to realise that perhaps it didn’t actually matter; the image of the silent figure had penetrated her psyche at a much deeper level than a string of dead words could ever have done.

The young man woke; it was morning. He couldn’t work out why he was lying on the ground at some distance from his tent. His friends were just making their way out of their tents, but didn’t stop to ask him what he was doing. He got up feeling a little confused, and then he remembered the events of the previous night. ‘Some dream’ he thought, ‘but hang on, if it was a dream what am I doing out here?’ He thought of the squirrel and a cold shiver ran up his spine. He didn’t discuss the weird events with his friends nor did they display any curiosity as to why he had been lying on the ground, but there was a deep sense of unease amongst the group. The events played on the young man’s mind, it couldn’t have really happened, surely, but that squirrel was so real. None of this made any sense; he needed to evaluate the event. The process of mental deconstruction and reconstruction had begun. He never did discover the truth, but nor did he come to think that it didn’t really matter. The image of the strange squirrel had penetrated his psyche to such an extent that it transformed him. He had developed a new identity through analytical process.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Image and metaphor are subliminal languages, on the surface we may not understand the deeper implications but it has a profound effect on our being, working behind the scenes in its perpetual quest to promote the cognizant ascension of man.

A symbol contains information of a dynamic nature not easily expressed in words. It bypasses the conscious mind and lodges itself deep within the subconscious, where it plays with creativity. It teases with the release of a bubble of perception and profound understanding once in a while, only to burst before one can catch it to analyse its contents.

The use of image and metaphor has been around for Aeons; we find it within the bardic traditions of various cultures, within all religious doctrines and of course, in advertising. The deeper implications of symbol are again a long understood means to trigger the imagination, and influence the populace of all creeds. With that said it would be apparent to the reader that it is also a clever and powerful tool for deception.

The Illusion

A significant proportion of personal accounts streaming from people laying claim to contact with extraterrestrial entities, appear to reflect a process of initiation for the individual. The experience is often surreal, with the application of seemingly meaningless or disjointed imagery, however the images have a profound effect on the individual. Because the experience, on the surface, often seems quite ludicrous and almost laughable, if it wasn’t for the fact it is usually quite terrifying, it forces the individual in to a state of self-analysis. He/she is forced to question his/her perception of events in order to find some logical conclusion. When this fails the individual goes through the process of questioning their personal judgement and- at some point-their own sanity. There comes a stage when having exhausted logical explanations, and the individual has established that they are of relatively sound mind and judgement, that they step out of their perceived view of reality. They view the experience from a new perspective, and at this point they may realise that their sense of reality was fundamentally flawed. A gateway has opened to the realms of expanded consciousness and alternative realities, this may come as a sharp shock to the system, and with that the individual buries the whole incident never to speak or think of it again, or it may come as a revelation on an almost biblical scale; yes, a religious experience no less, and sense of cosmic enlightenment! Therefore it is of no surprise that many of those claiming to have had contact with ET equate their experience to that of divine revelation. ET has initiated the novice into the realms of cosmic oneness, and a profound understanding that there is more to the human brain then just the biological make up of tissue and neurons, but therein lies a direct link, through consciousness, to alternative realities and countless possibilities.

But WAIT, before you dash off to find your own personal ET guru, all may not be as it would first appear.

Observations regarding EBE indicate that they are clever little critters with an unnerving comprehension of human psychological traits. It’s quite apparent that they are exhibiting interest in our capacity for reasoning, are capable of fabricating a diverse stream of information, and appear to be engaged in the psychological profiling of a range of human behavioural characteristics. The fact that experiences involving EBE are not usually quantifiable or observable in the normal way, leads us to attribute the experience to whatever our social/religious background will allow to enable us to form sane conclusions. But let’s apply a degree of logic here; if these entities were entirely benevolent and/or of the angelic realm as some postulate, why are we viewing such diverse opinion regarding their motives. Surely we would ALL experience a sense of enlightenment and deep understanding post encounter, but that is most certainly not the case! If these entities were indeed promoting a holistic conclusion, wouldn’t they choose a better method of approach?  Although the experience may be on a par to initiation within mystical and religious doctrines, the process is most probably self-imposed. The shock of encountering something so bizarre by normal standards usually leaves us one of two choices, ignore the whole episode and put it down to personal observational faults, or step outside of the comfy realms of normal thinking and view the event from an entirely new perspective. When you choose the latter, the floodgates open and the pouring forth of the sublime and the ridiculous ensues, but one emerges with a new sense of wonder. But one should not be too hasty in giving praise to our little pals for this precious gift.  It is more likely the product of self-reasoning and self-preservation!

As for ET, well we’re yet to discover their true motives. So the next time you meet one, smile broadly and extend your left hand in friendship, but keep the right hand firmly gripped around the hilt of a sword, behind your back, you may need to use it; metaphorically speaking of course!