Who is hiding behind the mask? Visits from Elsewhere and the paraphysical hypothesis

The examination of the theories of John Keel and Jacques Vallée based on the "paraphysical hypothesis", the "superspectrum" and the "thermostrate effect" allows us a reflection on the Other World and a parallelism with the cosmographic model and the "antichtōn »By Filolao 


di Marco Maculotti
image: Thomas Häfner


"And many have been away from the so-called spirits, for two weeks or a whole month, dragged away in winged carriages, flew over valleys and hills, cliffs and cliffs, until they were found, unconscious, on a meadow or in top of a mountain ... "

("Discourse upon Devils and Spirits", taken from "The Discovery of Witchcraft" by Reginald Scot (1665rd edition of XNUMX)


Among the myths of the modern world there is one that is particularly significant for its peculiarity of conveying ancient (or rather, eternal because archetypal) intuitions and transforming them into modern symbols. We are talking about the whole "mythological" corpus concerning the "Alien Intelligences" that would sporadically come into contact with humanity, including sightings of "flying saucers", the phenomenon of abduction, Missing Time, and so on.

In an article recently published on our website for the “Magonia” section [M. Martini: It is not terrestrial (and it does not claim to be)] the Author proceeded to a critical analysis of the hypotheses of the "Ancient Astronauts" and of the "Alien Genesis", the two topos main on which the UFO current of Zecharia Sitchin and his followers is built. Martini emphasized how the main doctrinal fallacy of this "school" was to be found in the excessive methodological materialism on which it is based, with the logical consequence of reaching the questionable conclusion of «to consider these alien forms as biological duplicates of terrestrial humanity, with physical-material needs "similar to ours.

For our part, here we intend to analyze another current that has tried to give a coherent meaning to this "myth of the twentieth century". We will go to the discovery of the vein of new ufology by Keel and Vallée focused on the cd. "Paraphysical hypothesis"; we will continue by citing the opinions of other illustrious voices, such as Charles Fort, Michel Carrouges, Bertrand Meheust, Michel Meuger, Pierre Lagrange (in this regard, some online articles by Giovanni Pellegrino and Nico Conti were very useful, available in the bibliography). Finally we will try to detect some "parallels" or "correspondences" between these apparently science fiction modern hypotheses and an ancient conception of "classical" civilization par excellence: that of"Anti-ground" of the Hellenes, which has come down to us thanks to Philolaus and Plato.


From Jung to Keel and Vallée: the myth of visitors from Elsewhere

CG Young [1] in 1958 he dealt with the increasingly frequent phenomenon of sightings of "flying saucers" and, from a review of the objective data and the analysis of its traces in the dreams and works of the artists, concluded that they were unifying images produced by the unconscious with a reassurance function, in front of a state of collective bewilderment characterizing the postwar years. However, he did not rule out the hypothesis, supported by the theory of synchronicity, of the perception of concrete physical realities not yet demonstrable with scientific instruments

But already ten years ago, Michael Carrouges he had emphasized how, with the advent of the age of machines, “a curious transposition of the images of the protective deities from those of mythology and religion to those of the new interstellar protectors had occurred. Carrouges even then indicated a myth of the savior that we can find, in his opinion, both in the story of the contactee Adamsky, and in a large number of science fiction novels " [2].

After twenty years of Carrouges' first works, John Keel and Jacques Vallée founded the current of new ufology, based on the so-called "Paraphysical hypothesis", mentioned for the first time with the publication in 1969 of the basic texts of this new branch of ufology: Passport to Magonia of the French-American Vallée and the two books by Keel Strange Creatures From Time and Space e UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse [3].

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John Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse

In short (Italian only) John Keel, as he summarizes very well Giovanni Pellegrino in an article [4]:

"[...] came to the conviction that ufology, tales about fairies, gnomes and elves, séances, paranormal phenomena, encounters with terrifying creatures [...] were all mysterious phenomena that recognized their origin in the same unknown reality that manifested itself to men using from time to time of extremely variable and chameleonic staging and disguises. Keel formulated his famous theory of "Trojan horses": according to this theory, UFOs and other phenomena belonging to the dimension of the mystery were nothing more than disguises, "Trojan horses" used by this unknown reality to condition and manipulate the human race since the beginning of the history of mankind. This unknown reality would change in the various historical epochs the way of dressing up to intentionally adapt to the historical, social and cultural context existing in the various historical periods in order to blend in more easily.

To put it another way, Keel argued that this unknown reality today disguised itself as extraterrestrials because we were in the space age while in the Middle Ages this unknown reality took the form of fairies, gnomes and elves because in that historical period this disguise was very credible. […] Keel adopted many of Charles Fort who was convinced that the human race was the property of mysterious entities who considered human beings their property, just as farmers considered cattle their property. In the wake of Charles Fort, Keel advanced the hypothesis that there was an invisible world around human beings that manipulated their beliefs."

According to Keel, the origin of all mysterious phenomena must be sought in the activity and power of the "Superspectrum" [5]: he places this unknown reality (called in the Middle Ages fairy land or, according to Vallée, Magonia) not in parallel dimensions or universes but rather in a region of our universe located in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum not perceptible to our senses. It is the same conclusion that is found, albeit with understandably different terminology, in the text by Reverend Kirk who names the particular ability of a small minority of humans to connect to this occult specter. "Second sight" [6].

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Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia

Dal canto suo, Jacques Vallee  as we noted in our previous essay The phenomenon of sleep paralysis: folkloric interpretations and recent hypotheses — "Taking into consideration phenomena that go beyond the ordinary sensible experience, he noticed a similarity between certain phenomena present in folklore (such as encounters with the people of fairies), modern alleged close encounters with extraterrestrials and other paranormal phenomena (Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers, 1969). They he glimpsed in the (apparently) recent phenomenon of abduction a control system of terrestrial evolution that would be active in human history and would operate on the collective unconscious of our species [7]. According to his hypothesis, these entities do not come from space, but rather from a dimension parallel to ours ("dimension of Magonia»); they would therefore be entities interdimensional, and the encounter with them would only take place in certain situations of altered conscience ».

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In medieval folklore Magonia it was the world inhabited by fairies, gnomes, elves and goblins, of whom it was believed that in certain favorable circumstances they could access our world and in some cases kidnap human beings to take them into their 'occult kingdom'. The working hypothesis of the Franco-American researcher is therefore not very different from that of his colleague Keel. We quote once again the precious contribution of Pellegrino, who notes:

«According to Vallée the inhabitants of the dimension of Magonia have made sure since the beginning of the history of mankind to maintain in the various historical periods a social, cultural, political and religious climate that is compatible with their purpose and their objective, which is substantially always the same in the various historical epochs, that is, to exercise their influence and their control on the beliefs and behavior of human beings.

To put it another way, the paraphysical entities of the Magonia dimension (universe parallel to ours or if you prefer a dimension parallel to our dimension) always and in any case want to maintain in all historical epochs a "stimmung" and a "weltenschuung" that allows them to manipulate human beings, which is why when they realize that the socio-cultural climate is undergoing changes that could create problems with their goal of controlling and manipulating human beings, immediately, as does the thermostat in a house, they work hard to re-establish a socio-cultural climate, a “stimmung” compatible with their objectives. "

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Remedios Varo, Strange woman dropping a boy (particular)

The "thermostat effect"

At this point in the discourse, we must mention a few other scholars of the phenomenon. Bertrand Meheust for example, he believed he recognized the lowest common denominator of all these situations bordering on reality in the "trance apatridia »,« experiences which, beyond human culture (but with human cultures as a background), would find their reason for existing in a human, transcultural and ahistorical nature ». Michel Meurger instead he wondered 'if the people who report being kidnapped have had any experience, like transe, for example, or have simply built, on the influence of the cultural context in which they are immersed, a story that serves to express the register of this experience " [8].

The topic is still under discussion today. In one of his writings from 2000, Pierre Lagrange, referring back to Meurger, he specified that in his opinion «the context and the history […] would be nothing more than an ornament that allows a“ primordial scene ”to repeat itself before us. According to this formula, technology would be nothing more than the ultimate masking of an ahistorical no-knows-what that produces these experiences ". Once this point is understood, Lagrange's questions are more than understandable and, we would dare to say, fully justifiable. [9]:

« Is science fiction nothing but the last of the disguises used by a "phenomenon" which, before, had manifested itself under the guise of witchcraft, folklore and shamanism? Do the reports of the testimonies relating to the UFO observations refer to a phenomenon (or to certain experiences), or are they simple stories? If the UFO witness is taken from the context of the technological imaginary, a context that exercises control over its perception of the facts, what should we think of Meheust's works that propose similarities with folklore and / or with witchcraft? Can we arrive at a greater understanding by connecting UFOs to contexts other than the technological one? »

Reconnecting again to Vallée, il Pellegrino, in another article on the issues examined here [10], speaks of what the Franco-American researcher defined "Thermostat effect", one of the key points of the "paraphysical hypothesis":

«The inhabitants of Magonia would create in all ages a socio-cultural climate favorable to the achievement of their goals and would do everything to keep this climate unchanged. Consequentially their behavior would be comparable to the action of a thermostat, which once the temperature desired by the owner is reached in a house ensures that it does not undergo any variation, not becoming too cold or too hot. According to Jacques Vallée, the inhabitants of Magonia would use three strategies to create and maintain a constant socio-cultural climate, thus giving rise to the "thermostat effect": frightening human beings by assuming the appearance of creatures and terrifying and creating frightening situations (for example cases of vampirism and werewolfism), give rise to attractive and pleasant situations and events by creating attractive and fascinating creatures (for example fairies) and to engage in behaviors that create confusion in humans (for example contradictory or meaningless behavior). "

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Ganesh Pyne, The masks

Magonia o fairy land?

It also comes to similar, although less pessimistic, conclusions Janet Bord in his study of the "little people", highlighting the fact that [11] «in the modern world, events sometimes occur which are an indicative sign of the closeness of our world to another, a world that we are not able to see normally, but which nevertheless interacts with our own» [12].

In this the British researcher is perfectly in line with the opinion of the Reverend Kirk [13], which at the end of the seventeenth century described i Fairies as "an invisible people which carefully guards men and which has different tasks and abilities" and which lived in a dimension superimposed on ours, although it was impossible for most to ascertain its existence. Bord also, like Keel and Vallée, expressed the opinion that fairy land and its entities are invisible to most because they exist on another vibratory frequency of the "spectrometer" [14]:

« If the"other world ”, or“ parallel world ”or fairy kingdom, or whatever you prefer to call it, is really so close, we cannot exclude that to separate it from us there is only a weak diaphragm. This, however, is impassable by mere mortals, unless you are able to achieve the ideal conditions for a moment or two and to grasp at a quick glance what exists on the opposite side. Normally our mind is too cluttered to be able to get on the right wavelength or in a receptive mental condition [...] All this makes sense only if the Little People actually live in another world, parallel to ours, where the rhythm of vibrations is different from ours. […] We never see them as they really are, due to the difference in the rhythms of the vibrations of our two worlds. "

Michael Mott, in his book Caverns, cauldrons and concealed creatures, attempted to merge "most of the myths of the planet from folklore into a one-sided and coherent vision, suggesting the hypothesis of an "underground place", "deep", an area of ​​the Elsewhere halfway between the theory of the hollow Earth and that of the fourth dimension, in which creatures that we believe extinct or never existed instead live, coming out from time to time " [15]. At this dimension other creatures of cryptozoology would also belong, such as the Yeti, the Sasquatch, the "Loch Ness monster" or the Mothman; Keel and Vallée also agree on this.

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It may be helpful to remember that both 'visit' reports a fairy land both those in the "Land of Shadows" of the shamanic tradition tell of encounters with the deceased, and add that there is not always a clear distinction between fairies and witches, between fairies and shamanic deities, including auxiliary spirits and souls of the dead: all these supernatural entities have the peculiarity of appearing from time to time in our world, crossing the 'barrier' of the superspectrum to influence, through the consciousness of the 'receiver', the reality in which we live.


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A representation of Philolaus' cosmographic model

The "anti-ground" of Philolaus and Plato

How to connect these apparently science fiction hypotheses to the traditional doctrines of the Ancients? Perhaps Greek wisdom can come to our aid, especially Pythagorean and Platonic, with the belief in a "Anti-ground" or "against the ground" (antichthon). This mysterious celestial body was believed to be "opposite" (anti-), or "superimposed", to our land. We find it here the idea, so common in antiquity, that the underworld is a place of paradoxes and reversals, as it appears to be fairy land and other 'occult worlds' of ancient and modern folklore, such as the "spirit world" in the Native American tradition, having all the characteristics of a world upside down.

According to the Philolaus' cosmographic model, later taken up by Plato in the myth of Phaedo, the so-called "counter-ground" is the celestial body closest of all to the "central fire" (which is located at the center of the cosmos and is called Hestia) and, just like the central focus, possesses the peculiar property of always remain invisible to the inhabitants of the land in which we liveWe will rely for this conclusive investigation of our essay on a highly recommended text by Peter Kingsley [16], which reads:

«[…] The most relevant specific property of Filolao's hinterland is invisibility - a fundamental property of Hades too […] like Hades, even the land has the characteristic of having inhabitants whom we from our observation point on the surface of the earth are unable to see […] On the other hand, however, in its literal meaning of “anti-earth”, the word also evokes the image of an upside-down land, a kind of shadow-land, a land reflected or looked at in the mirror that represents the Other World: the world of the dead [...] "

This "occult land" sometimes rises to a "world of the dead", in which time does not seem to flow (compare this with the phenomenon of Missing Time which occurs during 'visits' a fairy land and modern ones abduction), even ending up taking on the characteristics of a land of bliss, a "true land" compared to which the one we live in would be nothing but a "pale reproduction" characterized by the domination of materiality. Let us mention Kingsley again [17]:

"Then there is the idea of ​​a" real earth ": an idea according to which the world we live in is only a pale reproduction of another earth of cosmic dimensions [...] It is hardly possible to draw a clear separation between this Platonic theory of another celestial land - purer and more beautiful than ours, in which purified souls go to live after death (Phaedo: 109b-e, 114b-c) - and the different Pythagorean theses on an "other" "ethereal", "celestial" or "Olympic" world, in turn inhabited [...] in ancient times there were different ways to identify this other earth: like an invisible planet, or the moon, the stars or the sky itself [...] behind the different identifications emerges the basic idea of ​​a place where the souls of the dead go to dwell »

From Philolaus, a Pythagorean and contemporary of Socrates, Plato took up these esoteric doctrines, describing  in the already mentioned Phaedo - not one but  two lands [18]:

"Originally the land is our land [...] Later, in addition to this land taken in the literal sense, another land is also introduced, a "real" land, distinct from the poor copy that is reserved for us: an ethereal, celestial world inhabited by divine beings. They are the real living beings, while the so-called life on the surface of our corrupt and unhealthy earth is only a faint shadow or a dream when compared to theirs. »


Conclusion

When compared with the hypotheses of the twentieth century, the ancient conception of the "invisible land" appears much more optimistic, almost completely devoid of those sinister nuances that characterize the vision of Keel and Vallée. There is also to be observed as such "demonic" interpretations are not a novelty of our time: already in the Middle Ages the ancient beliefs about fairies and on the fairies they had undergone the interpolation of interpretation Christian, and consequently theirs status it passed from the "sacral" (in the "pagan" sense of the term) to the "demonic".

It should be noted, in conclusion of this short essay, that following the advent of the Enlightenment and the taking hold of the materialist and positivist conception liminal phenomena such as those we have treated here were, if possible, "demonized" even more than in previous centuries. By now considered totally unrelated to the unanimously accepted worldview (or that at least we Westerners consider as such), such "mythical elements" appear to us today like this totally others to be a real taboo on which it is inadvisable to put forward any type of hypothesis, if one wishes to be considered "serious" and "reputable" scholars.

Yet, even today that we live in the "world of machines", the inhabitants of Magonia still come back every now and then to visit us, sharing the enigma they represent.: they disguise themselves as "astronauts", run around on the hallucinating "elven machines" of which Terence McKenna speaks. More rarely, in districts that have only been touched by "progress" and the abnormal diffusion of technology (for example in Iceland [19]) the Magonians still appear in their old dress, that of the fairies and fairies: a consideration, the latter, which invites us to many ideas for meditation.

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An Icelandic glimpse; Author's photo

Note:

[1] Carl Gustav Jung A modern myth. The things you see in heaven. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2004.

[2] Cit. Nico Conti, The intriguing relationship between science fiction and flying saucers, on The Laboratory of Anomalies. In the same article, the author also mentions Bertrand meheust, which in the seventies took up the hypotheses of Carrouges, showing «the panoply of artifices employed by the" extraterrestrials "during the meetings with the witnesses is already present in the old science fiction. Macrocephalous dwarves, paralyzing rays, disc-shaped airships and alien abductions are elements that had already been invented by popular writers from the early 900s onwards ». Conti also refers to the influence of science fiction on Charles Fort's theories, referring back to some interesting observations already expressed by Michel Meurger: «The famous Fortian concepts“ We are the property of others ”and“ We fish ”were already present in the War of the Worlds by HG Wells, and Fort would have done nothing but rework, among other elements, a long passage from the novel, which hypothesizes a future world dominated by Martians, whose "masters" have created a class of "first-class slaves ", Prisoners and locked up in their cages, which evoke very well the beasts to which the author of The Book of the Damned: we are in 1919. Already in a book by TV series French of 1910 the idea was expressed of certain mysterious disappearances interpreted as kidnappings by celestial visitors. Indeed in the novel The peril blue, by Maurice Renard, we refer to an “atmospheric ocean” that overhangs us, where we humans would represent the creatures of the seabed kidnapped by winged beings, the Sarvants, after having been so to speak “fished” ».

[3] These works are indispensable for understanding the hypothesis on which the new ufology others followed, among which we remember Our haunted planet The Eight Tower by Keel e Disneyland of the GodsUFOs: the Psychic Solution e Length of Vallée.

[4] John Pellegrino, Some reflections on the theory of the superspectrum by John Keel, on NEXUS.

[5] Thus Keel in one of his books defines the superspectrum: «A hypothetical spectrum of energies of which we assume the existence, but which cannot be precisely measured with the tools we have at the present. It is an energetic world which, although shrouded in shadow, produces easily observable physical effects, especially on biological organisms, and on man in particular. The superspectrum is at the origin of all paranormal phenomena [...] It is difficult to define it in scientific terms because it is an extradimensional spectrum, that is, which exists outside our space-time continuum, while conditioning every aspect of our reality " (The eighth tower, Venexia, Rome, 2017, p. 63).

[6] See. Robert Kirk, The Secret Kingdom. Adelphi, Milan, 1993; cf. also M. Maculotti, Access to the Other World in the shamanic tradition, folklore and "abduction", on AXISmundi.

[7] See M. Maculotti, The kidnappings of the Fairies: the "changeling" and the "renewal of the lineage", on AXISmundi.

[8] Nico Conti, op. cit.

[9] Ibid.

[10] John Pellegrino, Vampirism in the light of Jacques Vallée's theories, on Centro Studi la Runa.

[11] Janet Bord, You do. Chronicle of the royal encounters with the small people. Mondadori, Milan, 1999, p. 175.

[12] On the faint boundaries that separate our world from the dimension of the superspectrum, we again quote Keel: "Where does our reality end and where does the reign of the superspectrum begin?" Its dimensions seem so tangled that it is impossible to discern a clear boundary line, and the further we enter the Age of Aquarius, the more difficult it is to identify points of distinction. In the past it has already happened that the two space-time continuums overlap, ushering in epochs governed by magic and religious miracles. Today, with monsters scurrying through our countryside and luminescent spheres plowing through the night skies, it seems that we are precipitating into a new era, probably dark and ruled by the madness of an immaterial force capable of reaching us and communicating with us through the our technological trinkets "(The eighth tower, Venexia, Rome, 2017, p. 178).

[13] Kirk, op. cit., p. 57.

[14] Bord, op. cit., pp. 180 ff.

[15] Cit. Massimo Conese, The disease of the fairies. Origin of the fairy beings. Studio Tesi Editions, Rome, 2012, p. 95. On this, cf. M. Maculotti, "Underground" civilizations in myth, occultism and "alternative reality" e Divinity of the Underworld, the Afterlife and the Mysteries, on AXISmundi.

[16] Peter Kinglsey, Mysteries and magic in philosophy ancient. Empedocles and the Pythagorean tradition. The Assayer, 2007, p. 187.

[17] Ivi, p. 102.

[18] Ivi, p. 116.

[19] On the belief still alive in Iceland regarding the "fairy entities" of traditional folklore, we recommend watching the documentary film by French director Jean-Michel Roux entitled Inquire about the invisible world, viewable on YouTube.


Bibliography:

  • Janet Bord, You do. Chronicle of the royal encounters with the small people. Mondadori, Milan, 1999.
  • Michael Carrouges, Les apparitions des Martiens. Paris, Fayard, 1963.
  • Massimo Conese, The disease of the fairies. Origin of the fairy beings. Studio Tesi Editions, Rome, 2012.
  • Nico Conti, The intriguing relationship between science fiction and flying saucers, on The Laboratory of Anomalies.
  • Carl Gustav Jung A modern myth. The things you see in heaven. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2004.
  • John Keel, The eighth tower. Venexia, Rome, 2017.
  • John Keel, Our haunted planet.
  • John Keel, Strange Creatures From Time and Space.
  • John Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse.
  • Peter Kinglsey, Mysteries and magic in philosophy ancient. Empedocles and the Pythagorean tradition. The Assayer, 2007.
  • Robert Kirk, The Secret Kingdom. Adelphi, Milan, 1993.
  • Pierre Lagrange, "Entre nature et culture, the part des soucoupes" Anomalies, L'Observateur des Parasciences, no. 2, January-February-March 1997.
  • Pierre Lagrange, "La vérité est ailleurs"Bifrost, no. 19, July-August 2000.
  • Bernard Meheust, "L'idée venue des bas fonds"Anomalies, L 'Observateur des Parasciences, no. 2, January-February-March 1997.
  • Bernard Meheust, Science-fiction et soucoupes volantes. Mercury of France, 1978.
  • Michel Meurger, Alien Abduction; L'enlevement extraterrestre de la fiction a la croyance, Scientifictions: La Revue de l'Imaginaire Scientifique, no. 1, Vol. 1, Encrage, 1995.
  • John Pellegrino, Some reflections on the theory of the superspectrum by John Keel, on NEXUS.
  • John Pellegrino, Vampirism in the light of Jacques Vallée's theories, on Centro Studi la Runa.
  • Jacques Vallee, Dimensions
  • Jacques Vallee, Disneyland of the Gods.
  • Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia. From folklore to flying saucers.
  • Jacques Vallee, UFOs: the Psychic Solution.

24 comments on “Who is hiding behind the mask? Visits from Elsewhere and the paraphysical hypothesis"

  1. We all continue to talk about nothing; rattling off theories and counter-theories, we ultimately remain in the domain of the Faith in something mechanistic, or supernatural, or religious, transcendental, positivist ... Everything may seem really demeaning, or exalting: but do we really have a role in all of this?

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