Sara Jane Moore released from prison

Would-be-Ford-assassin, Sara Jane Moore was released from her life sentence in prison today. Her story is intriguing and mixed with mystery--has been fodder for conspiracy ideas; FBI informant, Symbionese Liberation Army, supposed obsession with the Hearsts, etc.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/ap_on_re_us/assailant_released

Paranormal Women League

Found this by way of Lesley on Debris Field (and, one of the blogers here at Women of Esoterica): Paranormal Women League. I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Me! On Culture of Contact

For some reason, Jeremy Vaeni thought it'd be a good idea to interview me for a Culture of Contact podcast. Well, I know the reason -- he wants to out me as an abductee. You can find out if I admit it or not by listening to the interview, which should be available Tuesday or Thursday. I'll give an update when I know more.

I will say it was great fun, Jeremy is a great host/interviewer and I felt very comfortable. No doubt I came off like a bozo, but that's okay. I had fun.

13 Wiccan Priciples

13 Wiccan Principles

May your spirits be lifted this holiday season!


[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Photos*]

Medjugorje Segment on Fox News

Fox News (yeah, I know) will air a segment on Medjugorje Christmas Eve, 1:00 pm Eastern Time. They plan to interview "the visionary Ivan" and consider parallels to Fatima.

The image shown here is from the Queen of Peace website. It's an authentic photograph, you can see more on the site, all of which are very interesting.

Image source:
http://www.medjugorje-online.com/apparitions/medjugorje.php

La Befana

A few years ago I happened to be in Italy right before Christmas. Everywhere I went the street vendors and shops were selling Christmas related ornaments. I saw lots of Santa Claus, known as Babo Natale in Italy and the expected Nativity Scenes. I also kept seeing something strange, witches on broomsticks. At first I thought they were leftover Halloween ornaments, but there were just too many and I finally had to ask why people were hanging up witches for Christmas.

The witch actually has a name, La Befana. She arrives after Christmas on January 6th for the Epiphany celebration. In the past she was thought to be evil and bells were rung to keep her away. Now she is considered mostly good. If you have been a good child she will leave candy or fruit. If you have been bad she will leave onions and garlic.

The story is that La Befana was asked by the three wise men to go with them in search of the baby Jesus, but she declined saying she had too much housework to do. Later she changed her mind but couldn’t find the 3 wise men. So now every year she rides her broom delivering goodies to children in hopes that she will find the Christ child and be able to give him gifts.

It became obvious to me that La Befana is mostly used for trying to scare bad children. While you will see a few representations of her as a kindly looking old woman the vast majority show a hideous “old hag.”

I never did get to buy one of the La Befanas while I was there. I seemed to always be rushing around and not have the time. Makes me sad, I would like to have a witch to hang up for Christmas.

My new article at UFO Digest

I'll plug my article here since I know it's generally slow and maybe not getting picked up elsewhere. Taking it Literally: Indulgent Musings on UFO Craft Shapes and Sexual Dynamics has just been published at UFO Digest. It's about the words we have collectively decided upon to describe and name UFOs, and some possible gender/sexual, cultural/social issues that may be behind those choices.

Stole the photo from Vintage UFO. I wish I would have remembered it for the article.

Of Sexy Witches and Fairy Soap

I was going to post this over on Mating Hedgehogs, but since it has to do with women, fairies,witches and cleaning, (of which I put a curse on thee!) I decided to post it here. . .

As readers (all three of you) of Mating Hedgehogs know, I love vintage ads. I stumbled upon an old fairy soap ad, and was hooked. I didn’t know that there’s a whole history of fairy soapiness.


According to the site Fairies World, “Fairy” is a popular brand in Europe, even though it was created here in the United States. It’s widely known in Europe, and gets very little attention here. (Well, hell, we’re such a pragmatic, no nonsense nation!)

Fairies World gives some background on the origins of the soap:

Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbanks who was born in Sodus, New York County in 1829 and who moved to Chicago after the civil war where he created a business importing cottonseed oil and processing the manufacturing of soaps, one being Fairy Soap which was named, of course, from the first four letters of Fairbanks last name.

The Fairy label now belongs to many cleaning products in Europe, not just soap.



Sexy Witches

I found this blog while looking for fairy soap images: Sexy Witches. This is an image of the Pear’s Soap Witch from 1899. There are some great photos of Ava Gardner in witch costume. Have fun!


Fairy Soap site:
http://www.fairiesworld.com/fairygifts/fairysoap.shtml

Sexy Witches blog:
http://sexy-witch.blogspot.com/

Woman, light, house: Mid-Century Depictions of the Gothic Genre

There's a great rumination of the mid-century pulp-gothic romance at the My Romance Story blog. It's no small wonder the genre came back into fashion in the 60s during the battleground of the modern feminist movement; the classic storyline of very flawed and/or 'evil' men victimizing or constraining a clearheaded heroine has obvious commentaries of the social climate of the time.

I've recently been interested in the depictions of the genre; I see many, many old paperbacks while bookscouting. In the Romance Story blog, the writer claims it is somewhat of a misnomer that most or all such novels sported a woman -in-nightgown fleeing from an old mansion with one window illuminated. She says very few did, but I have literally seen hundreds of such covers, both in person and on the web. Even with the ones that strayed from this exact cookie-cutter template, the covers still contained the elements of such.

With some covers, a woman may not be fleeing in a nightgown, but confidently poised in evening wear outside a large house. If there is no light in a window, there is a huge full moon as light source, or she may be carrying a candle. But, there are almost always the 3 elements of house, light, woman. Sometimes men are present, and sometimes the scene even takes place indoors, or immediately in front of the house. In these last 2 cases, the woman is usually in dire straights, either being attacked, or slumped over, post attack.

I suppose it's a rather straightforward and easy reading: women being oppressed somehow by a man. But maybe more thoughtfully, as we see with the art, by a huge, looming, antiquated house. This carries obvious ideas that were at the forefront in the 60s--women getting out of their houses and into the working world. There are also ideas of family life here, and probably can be seen to symbolize all the dynamics and changes that were going on regarding motherhood, birth control, divorce, etc. The ubiquitous single light source in the scene can be seen both emphasize that something drastic has taken place, and to light a path.

Kithra: New WOE Contributer!

Women Of Esoterica’s newest contributor, Kithra from the UK, has very generously allowed me to repost her article from her website Kithra’s Krystal Kave. It was difficult to choose; they’re all so interesting and well written! But since it’s the holiday season, I decided to repost this one by Kithra on Christmas UFO sightings. Enjoy, and welcome Kithra!

Christmas UFO Sightings in the UK
(January/February 2006)

Christmas and New Year is always a busy time for people, including those of us who write for, and read, UFO Review. So here’s a short article that takes a quick look at just a few of the UFO sightings that have been seen in the UK around this time of year. And, before you read on in the hopes of finding mention of Rendlesham …. I haven’t included it because it’s such a huge case that it deserves an article all of its own. But I’m not going to do one, and will have to leave you to Google for it if you don’t already have a folder full of Rendleham links!!!

One of the earliest documented sightings was way back in 1387 and, according to a link at the BUFORA website, it occurred during November and December. The description given is of a fire in the sky that was shaped like a blazing rotating wheel. The very short details can be found here:
http://www.bufora.org.uk/archive/UFOs_behind_veil.htm

But let’s really begin in the Modern Era with a report from 1952. Richard Hall copyrighted an article entitled Extraterrestrial Psychology, back in 1988, that has a list of tables detailing UFO sightings. In 1952 he catalogues a major wave, between June and December, over the North Sea; some of which were observed during NATO manoeuvres. You can find the table at this link:
http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/ncp-hall2.htm

North Sea
Picture Credit:
http://sailingbooks.co.uk/images/ImrayNSea.gif

A decade later, or at least sometime during the 1960s, there was what appeared to be a 'Mass Sighting' in Furness, Cumbria. Late one December night, from their bedroom window, a gentleman and his wife saw a UFO hovering over the rooftops. The sighting only lasted about one minute but they talked about it for the whole of the night, having previously been highly sceptical of the existence of UFOs. The gentleman tried to report it to the local press on the following day, only to be laughed at, after which he didn’t even mention it to his work colleagues. So imagine his surprise that evening to see the story, together with many other reports of people having seen it, on the front page of his local newspaper. A contact address was also printed and he wrote to it without expecting to receive any reply. Two weeks later a titled gentleman turned up on his doorstep, and the witness invited him in. After much discussion and investigation, including measurements being taken, it seems that the UFO may have been as large as a football pitch. He was also asked to make a drawing of what he’d seen and, having done so, it seemed to tally almost exactly with twelve other such sketches done by those who had witnessed the UFO. The titled investigator later returned to interview the witness’s wife, accompanied by his own wife, and another whole night was spent in conversation. Unfortunately the witness can only remember the last name of this person, the surname of whom was O’Brien. Was there, is there, a titled gentleman by this name? I don’t know, but the couple sent the witness a Christmas card for years afterwards. You can read the full story here:
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/unknown/

Probably one of the strangest events to come out of the 1960s was what happened at Warminster, Wiltshire, and I won’t rehash the whole of the story here. But Steve Dewey, in his online Chapter 2 of The Start of Things tells it as he remembers it from his childhood in Warminster, and from how it was told in the books of Arthur Shuttlewood.

In it he mentions Arthur Shuttlewood’s book The Warminster Mystery and notes that Shuttlewood believed Warminster to be important because it was:

the focal point or node of some Earth encompassing navigational grid.

And that was the reason that Shuttlewood couldn’t understand why the UFOs suddenly seemed to stop visiting the area. Of course Shuttlewood had started out as a sceptic, but he became convinced that UFOs were real. His books covered most of the different aspects of the phenomenon, as it appeared to be at that time, although it’s worth pointing out that most of his alien contact was by telephone! When the events were taking place it was a topic of national attention by the media, and yet today it’s little talked of, and perhaps even little known about. But many of today’s modern UFO investigation methods come from the lessons learned back then.

Steve Dewey gives some very good insights into what really happened in the case. And the reason I’ve included it is because the origin of the Warminster case came from Christmas Day 1964 when strange sounds were heard in the area. These weird noises were thought to be coming from something that became dubbed as 'The Thing'. According to Shuttlewood, it seems to have begun when a lady reported hearing a very odd commotion on her roof at 01:25 a.m. that day. A few hours later, and about four miles away, more than thirty soldiers were woken up by loud, and inexplicable, noises. Around 06:00 a.m. a lady on her way to the early church service heard what she described as a menacing sound, adding that the air seemed to be vibrating. She was made to feel numb from a force pummelling her head, neck, and shoulders. The postmaster, who lived near by, corroborated the noises, although their descriptions of what they had heard differ, and they did not physically affect the postmaster. By the following summer Shuttlewood had claimed that there had been almost fifty witnesses to the sound, and he also disparaged any idea that they may have been due to some type of poltergeist activity. But, eventually, the noises stopped and the UFO sightings began to appear. These included fireball reports of the sort that we know today as probably being due to meteorites.

Later in his article Steve Dewey relates some of the sightings that Shuttlewood wrote about. However, he warns us that:

I merely point out that Shuttlewood's reports could be vague, confusing, even misleading.” And he concludes by saying: “For those interested in ufology, the Warminster mystery is an essentially 1960s phenomenon. Apart from the unusual sounds, it provided nothing that had not been described for earlier UFO sightings, both in Britain and the US. What marked Warminster out in particular was the sheer number of sightings, as well as the fact that a whole town seemed to be enmeshed in the phenomenon. What was also unusual, perhaps, was that the phenomenon had one prime focus, through which all information flowed. Shuttlewood's position as a respected local journalist helped focus attention on the Thing. It was to Shuttlewood that many of the reports of UFO sightings were made, and it was through him that these sightings were articulated for the public ……

You can read his online version here:
http://www.stevedewey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ufo/



Christ Church
Picture Credit:
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/church/

In the May/June 1997 issue of the UK's UFO Magazine, under the heading of Confrontations in the North Atlantic, NATO 1993, Tony Dodd wrote an article entitled Engaging Unknown Underwater Craft. He reports that during the Autumn and Winter of 1970, and the Spring of 1971, the:

Western Alliance became increasingly concerned at a speight of incidents involving UFOs over the north Atlantic Ocean and the eastern coastline of Britain. As a result, a highly secret operation was instigated to try to get to the bottom of the mystery once and for all.

During this operation, codenamed Aeneid, some UFO sightings took place that included one, during daylight hours, off the coast of Lincolnshire. The case involved a UFO one hundred and eighty feet long, with a number of glass-like, ball shaped, objects in attendance. The event lasted for quite a few hours, during which time the objects hovered over an RAF bombing range at Donna Nook, and were seen by at least half a dozen airmen.

In his article Tony Dodd described many other UFO sightings that took place during the operation, including one very intriguing incident where the pilot lost his life, although his body was never found. He also relates a report of what happened on 20th/23rd and 24th December 1992 when, on the 20th, a UFO was tracked entering the sea off the east coast of Iceland. On the 22nd fishermen off the northeast coast observed a:

very large, very fast, "moving underwater craft" which displayed flashing coloured lights.

These objects had also been seen, being escorted by a glowing object, travelling south towards the coast of Scotland. The fishermen’s nets were damaged, and they maintained that the underwater objects were definitely not submarines. On the 23rd Dodd tells us that:

an Icelandic Coast Guard vessel and two gunboats were ordered to take up station off Langeness, an area where UFOs had been seen entering the water. The operation was conducted in great secrecy and I was told the crews felt very uneasy. Their role was to observe and report. A short time later, three American warships took up station in the area and were eventually joined by a fleet of NATO warships, including some from Britain. A simple check with newspapers in the week leading up to Christmas of that year will reveal the gathering was described as a military exercise. Few bothered to appreciate that it was extremely strange and unusual for a massive NATO naval exercise to take place so close to Christmas.

And the following day, the 24th Dodd continues by saying that:

the crews of two British 'Hunter Killer' submarines were recalled from Christmas leave. HMS Endurance and HMS Warrior put to sea to link up with the NATO surface fleet. At the same time, Icelandic Coast Guard vessels and gunboats were ordered to take up station at Alice Fjord off the east coast of Iceland. British newspapers then put out a story that surface ships had entered the area to track a very large underwater craft, believed to be one of a new generation of Russian submarines. I then received further information from contacts that a further four UFOs had been seen to descend and enter the same area of sea. Icelandic sources also confirmed that the entire operation was linked to tracking "unknown underwater alien craft.

At the same time a big search and rescue effort was taking place to find a ship that appeared to have gone missing, but even after several days, nothing was found.

This search was undertaken in immense secrecy. Two weeks later, on 12th January 1993, the weather seriously deteriorated badly, and remained so for the next three weeks. In fact it was so dreadful that only large ships could remain at sea, with all smaller vessels having to take shelter. When the weather improved, and all ships could put back to sea, the operation continued, but this wasn’t the end of the strange UFO events.

According to Tony Dodd’s article very strange things were happening right up until the time it was written in 1997. And, if you’re interested, you can read the rest of it here:
http://www.stop-chemtrails.com/atlantic.html

This next report you won’t find online because it’s my own sighting that took place in late November/early December 1973. My husband was driving us along the main road, the A4, from Hungerford to Newbury. The time was either late morning or early afternoon, and the weather was cold, dry, and overcast.

Living so near Greenham Common both of us were quite used to the the many different types of aircraft that often flew over the area. Suddenly my husband drew my attention to something in the sky, over the fields to our right. At first we thought it was a plane because it was shiny and metallic looking, but we couldn’t see a tail or wings of any sort. The nearest description I can give is of a cigar. It kept pace with us, or we kept pace with it, for about six miles, there being hardly any traffic on this long straight stretch of road. Eventually, we went up a hill and into a built up area where it was no longer in our line of sight. We didn’t hear any noise at all, but this may have been because our windows were closed, due to the cold. At the time we both thought it might be a UFO; this to the extent that it convinced my husband who, until that sighting, had been a confirmed sceptic.

I suppose it’s possible that the road we were on ran in line with the flightpath into GreenahamCommon Airbase, but we’d never seen planes come in on that trajectory before. And we’d never seen planes fly so low over a populated area, even when the cloudbase was so low. Years later we saw massive American C17s fly low into the airbase over a built-up area, but that was a case of the flightpath having been there long before the town had spread out underneath it.

As for our personal sighting, did we report it? No, we didn’t know who to report it to. And, did we ever find an explanation? Again, no, we never did. But the memory is as clear in mind now, over thirty years later, as on the day it happened.

Notes:
Article with images:
http://kithraskrystalkave.org.uk/xmasufos.htm

Kithra's website:
kithraskrystalkave.org.uk

Dana Howard, Contactee: Are There Parallels to Marian Apparitions?

My recent piece for UFO Digest just went up: The Mystical Contactee Encounters of Dana Howard:Parallels to Marian Apparitions?

As I was getting ready to post this, I saw that Richelle had posted something new (see her post below) and it references Mary. It's a moment of Marian Synchronicity!

http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1207/danahoward.html

Queen of the Universe, Mother of the World...

There's an interesting conversation brewing here, all over a book about why black men like white women. Very interesting and insightful commentaries, many poetic and full of wisdom. One of my favorite lines: "like when they took sweet Jesus, we were the Mary, weeping at the base of the cross." Although the topic of the original story itself may not be esoteric in nature, the developing conversations take it into that realm a bit, and it's interesting reading for anyone interested in black/white and/or gender topics and studies. It's obviously a very emotional and even spiritual topic for many, as it has to do with deep issues of identity.

So I'll plug my offer...

I am offering a free drawing interpretation. I'm no expert, I just think it's fun and would like to gain some experience. So far, I have had 2 people send drawings, and both were fairly accurate. See the details at my other blog: http://beamshipsequallove.blogspot.com/2007/12/offer-to-beamships-equal-lovers.html

photo "Laden Branches" courtesy Random Tree at Flickr.com

Boxes That Talk to the Dead

Richelle didn't plug her article here, so I'm doing it for her. It's very interesting; about the search for something that will communicate with the "dead."

It's on UFO Digest: The Box at the End of the World: Homespun Efforts to Contact the Spirit World


http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1207/thebox.html

Iona Miller

I first became really aware of Iona Miller and her great articles when I subscribed to Paranoia Magazine, which was probably about 2 years ago.

I had been thinking of her lately due to her latest mind blowing article in Paranoia, then a synchronicity of sorts happened. Adam Gorightly joined facebook. I was totally happy about that when I got his email because surely Adam can liven things up over there. In his friends list was Iona who I immediately begged to be my friend. Surprisingly she said yes! To my mind that meant since I had been thinking of her anyway I should make more people aware of her.

Iona lives in Eugene, Oregon - where apparently almost all cool people live, but I will let you find out more about her in the bio at her website instead of going into that here. I mostly wanted to mention her website because of all the great articles you will find there. Articles about Modern Alchemy, UFOs, Natural Psychedelia, Consciousness, Shamanism, Physics and much more.

Also, if you get a chance check out her latest article in Paranoia Magazine. It is called Tom Bearden: Wizard of Zero Point Scalar Energetics and Paranormal Energies. This is the line from that article that made me sit down, right then and there and read it:

Bearden’s bizarro world hatches materially unstable ghosts, ufos, ETs, ultraterrestrials, angels, demons and sasquatch, which can all bleed into and out of normal reality.

A fascinating article and I truly recommend checking it out if you have the chance, along with all the free articles on Iona’s website. Adam Gorightly also has several interviews with Iona at Untamed Dimensions.

Just in, Iona gave me this link which has more of her articles on Zero Point and are similar to her article in Paranoia Magazine.

Female Contactees: Helen and Betty Mitchell

I have an item up on Vintage UFO (see that piece for more info, and how you can get the book for free) about Helen and Betty Mitchell, who, in 1959. met humanoid type beings in Missouri. They wrote a book about their encounters: We Met The Space People.

I find this interesting because I'm always looking for more Contactee items; there were some that wrote books, etc. that didn't make the splash Adamski and Van Tassel made. And, it seems to be that there weren't that many female Contactees.

“What Did Hillary Just Say?”

A shallow puff of a piece on Hilary Clinton’s recent remarks, using the plot of the movie Independence Day to illustrate her point about working together to help this planet.

The writer seems more outraged at politicians using ET/outer space/alien/flying saucer metaphors than the reality of our current messes, like global warming. (Or whatever euphemism one chooses; it gets down to the same ugly scary thing.)

Sigh.

broken link? cut and paste:
http://tinyurl.com/23ttc2

Vivian Godfrey, aka Melita Denning

I am so excited to have finally found a photo of Vivian Godfrey. She may be more familiar as Melita Denning, her pen name. Along with her husband Leon Barcynski (aka Osborne Phillips) they authored several esoteric philosophy books, and a series of books for the popular publisher Llewellyn. The couple were also grandmasters of the mystery school Aurum Solis, as was their friend Carl Weschchke (Mr. Carl Llewellyn of publishing fame himself.)

I read the Denning and Phillips book The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Creative Visualization several years ago, and it fairly became a life altering experience. The entire time I was reading it, I felt this strange affinity with Melita Denning. I found out later that she died in 1997. In an 'in memorandum' posting at the Ogdoadic Notes website, a letter of the news of her death from her husband, he writes:

...In death she looked utterly peaceful; very beautiful, very dignified. It was remarked that every item of clothing and bedding that had been in contact with her body had a quality of sweetness and freshness. In the room in which she died, an elusive perfume, something like frankincense, lingered for almost twenty-four hours after her passing.

I completely believe that...there is just something about her. She seems to have had an amazing life, travelling extensively alone with the purpose of gaining occult knowledge, studying Jungian analysis, etc. I highly recommend the Creative Visualization book I mentioned, although the older version is better. The newer one seems to have been edited for a more contemporary tone, and it loses a necessary voice. A note about the title and subject--the book and information is occult in nature, and isn't generic and easy like books with similar title. It's not the Secret--it's specific techniques and psychological and cosmic insight that makes the Secret work.

Update: Lisa Shiel's Bigfoot blog (s)

Lisa Shiel, author of Backyard Bigfoot, and the Bigfoot Quest blog, has a note on her blog that she's started a new blog that will replace Bigfoot Quest. You can find Lisa and the new blog at Backyard Phenomena

Going all Oprah

Oprah Winfrey may at first seem an unlikely subject in an esoteric framework. But, her enormous popularity, which cannot be extracted from 'spiritual' subjects, warrants a second look at the dynamics at play in her fandom and power.

What gives Oprah her magic? Can she be reduced down to an unlikely Hero--an ultimate rags-to-riches icon encapsulating the 0pressed? Black, female, molested, poor? Oprah seems unlikely, tragic. It is said even her name is 'wrong'--that her parents meaning to spell the 'real' or 'valid' name Orpha, misspelled it. That very well may be a legend, but it's almost more interesting as such. Oprah is all about identity and transformation. Her body is practically a canvas for change, and there's the anagram and backward Oprah of Harpo Productions. While this all seems to fit, it's pretty superficial and doesn't really seem to explain her phenomena.

It's hard to dismiss her affiliations with Marianne Williamson, The Secret, Neale Donald Walsh, and the like. It's all so palatable. There's hints of Christianity, hints of the occult. It's obviously attractive to the masses, as are many New Age ideas, but it's still about Oprah, not necessarily the products, books, or authors.

It's fairly routine to say Oprah has aquired some sagelike, or even Godlike status. But why--why? And how?

There's a fabulous book that explores Oprah's phenomena, "Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery" by Eva Illouz. From a review:

[Illouz] examines the Winfrey talk show in terms of what the author calls "the culture of pain and suffering." The "glamour of misery" of which the Oprah Winfrey show is said to partake is part of a larger cultural phenomenon by which victimization and the power to transcend suffering provide the basis for Winfrey's enormous popularity. The tales of woe told by the guests confer upon them the right to be recognized as individuals and endow moral power on the beleaguered storytellers. Illouz's point is that we live in a culture fascinated with the pain of others; the victimization du jour of Winfrey's show is popular because it assumes that there is virtue in suffering that leads to holistic healing.

Suffering and the virtue of overcoming is a trope of western culture rooted in Christian iconography, but it is also, according to Illouz, a particularly American idiom. The individual triumph over adversity supports the American idea that suffering builds character.

I recommend the book for anyone bewildered by Oprah and her attending fame and power. A warning, the book is academic and not light reading.

New Bloggers Here at Women in Esoterica

Some readers may have noticed that this blog is now not just "mine," but Lesley's and Richelle's (Hawk) as well. I am very glad they thought that being a part of this blog was something they wanted to do. I'm very happy and excited to welcome them!

Both women have their own thing going aside from contributing here. Lesely runs her Debris Field blog, Beyond the Dial, Paranormal Meet and more. She also writes the Grey Matters column for Tim Binnall's website, BoA, and has a column each month in UFO Magazine, Beyond the Dial.

Richelle Hawks also writes for AC, UFO Digest, and there may be a surprise or two coming up in regards to her writing. She also has a blog with one of the oddest but charming and neatest names: Beamships Equal Love.

So thanks Lesely and Richelle!

Read me!

My first article came out on AC today. Take a look here.

Esoteric Radio Women

Here I am at what I will call the BFFF Blog. Sure those Hollywood types can have their BFF’s, but here we will have the best female fortean friends. In reality, I don’t really know Richelle, but I have read her writings and enjoyed them. On the other hand, Regan and I have been internet pals for a couple years now.

I thought I would use to opportunity of this blog to bring to mind the few women who do paranormal internet radio shows.

First there is The Paranormal Women League. They have some interesting and fun shows about ghosts, ESP, Wicca and other paranormal related topics. It is hosted by Amy and Kristy, two fun and intelligent ladies.

There is also Eye to the Sky with wonderful hostess Dee Andrews. This show is mostly about ufo related phenomena and Dee nabs some really great guests, including, Richard Dolan, Nick Redfern, Peter Robbins and Steven Bassett.

The last show is Karyn Dolan’s Through the Keyhole. As Regan already mentioned I did an interview with Karyn for UFO Magazine which will be in this month and the Jan issue, so I know her a bit better than the other ladies and honestly I found her remarkable. The fact that she manages to do so much, so well, while home schooling her and Richard’s two children amazes me. My hat is off to her, I seem to manage very little with no children in comparison to her.

In a few months you will also find an interview with Dee Andrews in UFO Magazine. I hope to eventually get around to the paranormal women too, but I figure I should at least write a couple articles in between interviews.

I find it pretty sad that out of about 45 shows I have listed at Beyond the Dial, only 3 of them are hosted by women. However, even though I think the numbers are higher than regular radio for the most part all radio is dominated by men. I am thinking of my local “big” talk station and I do not believe there is one local show hosted by a woman and since Dr. Laura was replaced by Sean Hannity I can’t even think of a national syndicated show they run that is hosted by a woman. Pretty sad, isn’t it?

BTW, if I have missed one of the great gals that hosts a internet paranormal show, please let me know. The slight certainly would not be intentional.

Women and Bigfoot

Cryptomundo blog has an item about
women in cryptozoology, namely Jan McGirk who investigated the stories of 10 ft. giant apes in Malaysia.

Also read Cryptomundo’s item that asks: Women Bigfooters Do Better Field Work? Interesting comments to this post as well.

I’m personally extremely interested in Bigfoot, but not as a field researcher. I’m interested in all Bigfoot stories, but especially the ones that contain the supernatural aspect. So it many ways it’s a moot point because Bigfoot will never be “found” -- as I say,
“Run, Bigfoot, Run!” But as far as male and female researchers go, there might be a difference in approach. Generally speaking, you have males with guns and making lots of noise and screaming into the forest, and you have women without guns who take a different, quieter approach, not so aggressive. This is all very gender specific and really, more than a gender thing, I think both women and men can go either way in approach, and it isn’t a case of who’s better at it. I’d say it’s more one’s personal philosophy in looking for Sasquatch.

Just two of the many women involved in Bigfoot research: Autumn Williams and Lisa Shiel.

Anniversary of Lourdes Visitation

Lourdes, France Visitation of a Marian apparition.

Catholics mark 150th anniversary of Lourdes, France apparition of the Blessed Mother.
Catholics mark 150th anniversary of Lourdes apparitions.

Our Magic Bodies

A while ago, I wrote an article about avatars, icons, etc., suggesting the mystical language and imagery that is appropriated may be more than novel or random. There is really a recent flooding of religio-occultism in technology and youth culture, and the rather mainstream lot of the 'alternative' culture.

There's also much linguistic oriented symbolism (think: cell phone. my cell. my prison.) It's all very curious, this idea of identity and visual representation, and it seems especially important to and is widely displayed among women and girls.

Just glancing through MySpace, or the lesser known paranormal networking site, I Am Haunted there seems to be a competition of sorts between: sexiest, flashiest, glitteriest, sparkliest, busiest, cutest, spiritualest...all alluding to 'best.'

There's oftentimes an occult edge to it too, sometimes angelic or white-mystical as shown here, or darker, with fangs, a tear of blood, or pseudo goth tattoos, etc. Usually, the imagery sports a rather obvious fetishist element. The appropriation of mystical elements and objects in presenting one's Self in uncharted territories seems to be desirable, acceptable, and maybe even necessary somehow. Perhaps there is a real semblance of power, energy, or protection. Or, perhaps occult and religious forms are the default visual language of sexuality and identity.

From The Towerlight: Get Turned On: I Dream of David Duchovny

Base sexual objectification? Sure! But you know, I’m not dead yet . . .

Krysten Appelbaum writes of her love for David Duchovny in the X-Files, (Get Turned On: I Dream of David Duchovny) and gives thanks he’s come back in Showtime’s Californication. About Californication; as Appelbaum comments, it’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a good show, more to the point, Duchovny does a great job in the role of moody Hank Moody.

I disagree with her that when Duchovny left X-Files, the show wasn’t as good. True, it took getting used to, not seeing Duchovny. The show still worked; it just wasn't Duchovny.

As to X-Files, the second movie is due to be released July 25, 2008, costarring one of my favorite comedians, Bill Connolly. (If you’re not familiar with Connolly don’t be distracted by the fact he’s a comedian, he’s also a good straight actor.)

After all these years, I still think The X-Files was the best show of its kind, although I really like Torchwood very much. I think it comes very close.

Beyond the Dial in UFO Magazine: Karyn Dolan

This issue of UFO Magazine includes an interview by Lesley, who writes the Beyond the Dial column each month. The article is Karyn Dolan: A Ufologist's Best Friend.

Like many of us, Karyn has had an interest in the paranormal since childhood. (And yes, she is married to UFO researcher Richard Dolan.)

Little Space Girl

Greg Bishop at UFO Mystic has a series of flying saucer music items he posts now and then. Here's one: Little Space Girl. Read about it here.

Hot Pink Flying Saucers!

Hot pink flying saucers!

Outer space vixens in pink saucers? No, but still cool: really amazing clouds.

Culture of Contact: Jeremy Vaeni

Visit writer, film maker and abductee Jeremy Vaeni's Culture of Contact, for all kinds of interesting podcasts, including one with experiencer and artist Melissa Reed.

The Subversive and UFOs

Some consider UFOs and aliens (or what we usually call aliens) as Satanic. Bound firmly within a fundamental Christian context, UFOs, aliens and all the phenomena surrounding the two are evil. UFO writer Stephen Yulish, who writes frequently for UFO Digest, believes this. Yulish writes extensively on UFOs and related matters, and he has a solid background involving UFO research. I’m not disputing Yulish’s knowledge of UFOlogy; it’s that our interpretations on things UFOlogical are so different. (See
Yulish on “Demonic Trickster”)

Lilith and UFOs. When I saw this title on UFO Review, I thought “Sounds interesting, wonder who wrote it? Maybe Richelle (Hawks) or Mary Alice Bennett. Hmm.. .” so I click and find it’s written by Stephen Yulish.

A few things in his article startled me, for example, this:

Years later, when I worked for the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Federation of Phoenix, I read the Zohar, the bible of Jewish mysticism, and discussed Kabbalah with several Rabbis in town. I even channeled drawings from the yenne velt (the other world in Yiddish) and showed them to my Rabbi friends who loved them. Several were later published in the journal DreamWorks.

Sigh. I know, to each their own and it’s a free country and all that, but I always get nervous when non-Jews say things like this. Or, worse, when Jews who’ve turned to Christianity say things like that. However, that's pretty much a different ball of wax.

It’s here, though, that’s an excellent example of the huge divide between people like Yulish and myself. Lilith, like the Trickster, as archetypes are wont to do, are manifested within human behavior:

I also encountered several women who were Lilith archetypes and seduced me with their wicked ways.

(I wonder if Yulish is a fan of Henry Makow’s) Oy. Like the story of Adam and Eve, I’ve always wondered why it’s the female that gets the blame; not the weak male who so quickly and easily falls apart and gives in to temptation.

Not everyone shares Yulish’s views of Lilith. The Jewish publication Lilith magazine, for example, explains why they’ve named their magazine after the goddess:

According to myth and legend, Lilith was the first woman, created before Eve. She was Adam’s absolute equal.

In the Garden of Eden, long before the eating of the apple, the Holy One created the first human beings — a man named Adam, and a woman named Lilith. Lilith said, "We are equal because we are created from the same earth.— from the medieval text Alphabet of Ben Sira, 23a-b

I think a key word here is “subversive.” UFOs are subversive in their way as well. Their behavior is subversive; operating in our faces, so to speak, yet eluding all attempts to truly catch them either literally or figuratively.(And if a few have been captured, the powers that be withholding this information is being subversive.) Being involved in UFO research is subversive; its outside mainstream society. And any academic or scientist who looks into UFOs is being subversive, unless they’re out to prove the nonexistence of UFOs.

Lilith (1892), by John Collier

Another subversive topic is sex. Even in current times, with sex being highly objectified, ironically we’re still uptight about it, still argue over it, still remain ignorant of it. We’re still arguing over gay rights and gay marriage and sexuality is still mired in the political process. To come full out and openly about sex is subversive. UFO history is rife with sex; sex with aliens, humans kidnapped by aliens, strapped to tables, probed and prodded in personal places, disappearing pregnancies, hybrid babies, sexy aliens like the Nordics, bedroom visitations.

Here’s what Rabbi Jill Hammer writes in
Lilith, Lady Flying in Darkness;
The most notorious demon of Jewish tradition becomes a feminist hero.
By Rabbi Jill Hammer

In the Talmud, Lilith becomes not only a spirit of darkness, but also a figure of uncontrolled sexuality. The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 151a) says: "It is forbidden for a man to sleep alone in a house, lest Lilith get hold of him." Lilith is said to fertilize herself with male sperm to give birth to other demons.
When the first man, Adam, saw that he was alone, God made for him a woman like himself, from the earth. God called her name Lilith, and brought her to Adam. They immediately began to quarrel. Adam said: "You lie beneath me." And Lilith said: "You lie beneath me! We are both equal, for both of us are from the earth." And they would not listen to one another. The Alphabet of Ben Sira

Lilith here is a metaphor for Jewish freedom as well as sexual freedom and independence for women, according to the Rabbi. In the 12th century, when the Zohar was written, Lilith was presented as a demon. Today, for many Jewish women, Lilith is not a demonic creature but a positive symbol. The archetype of Lilith isn’t bound in superstitious and fearful dogmatism, yet there are those who still cling to that model. The same can be said of some in their approach to UFOs; they stick to a firm nuts and bolts perspective, refusing to entertain anything outside of that idea. Still others choose either the negative (they’re all Satan) or the equally yet opposite end of the concept (they’re all Space Brothers.) We don’t know what they are or what they want, and very likely, like humans as well as archetypes, they vary in not only appearance but origin and motivation.

I think we need to recognize that we are active participants in the UFO phenomeana that help shape and define the process as we go along. We’re not just passive observers of weird things. We can choose to change in various ways aspects of the phenomena, if only in our personal perceptions of the thing. This isn’t to say “it” -- the Trickster, the manipulators, the UFOs, the aliens/entities, the players - aren’t in on it as well. History shows us they’re a lot better at it than we seem to be.

But we can be purposely subversive as well, just by deciding to look at the esoteric in different ways. Challenge it, question it, turn it around, turn it upside down. You can’t do that if you’re stuck in a rigid system.