Psychedelics, Sorcery, and Space Aliens

UFOlogy has moved through several different iterations over the last seventy-plus years. Since the first well-known UFO sighting took place in 1947, the U.S. military has been investigating, mostly covertly, reports of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Though the infamous Project Blue Book was allegedly terminated in 1969, the U.S. Air Force has continued to catalog and track UFO sightings. However, in 2017 it was disclosed that a new secret UFO study named the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) had begun.

One commonality of earlier investigations is their adherence to a material, space-time paradigm. UFOs and their assumed occupants were traditionally conjectured as highly evolved, deep-space entities (often called the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis — ETH). Even when that script is veered from — like the “time-traveler hypotheses,” which suggests that ETs are simply advanced humans who’ve mastered time traveler and are visiting their earlier selves — the worldview from which such theories emerge is Materialist. In the mind of many a UFOlogist, the universe is made entirely of Matter. Thus, all theories about flying craft and alien abductions are sifted through the lens of strict materialism. ETs come from within our universe, they purport.

However, the development of quantum theory has led to conjecture about another possible nature to the UFO phenomenon. Quantum mechanics has led to speculation about multiverses and parallel worlds. As a result, some suggest that ETs may be interdimensional, visiting from some neighboring dimension. (In this scenario, they would likely travel via portal rather than craft.) Some have labeled this the Interdimensional UFO hypothesis. Additionally, growth in paganism and the use of psychedelics in religious rituals has also influenced the field of UFO research, leading some to interpret related phenomenon as religious and/or spiritual (causing space aliens to be viewed as angels, demons, ascended masters, or some variation). Some have labeled this the Extra-Dimensional View.

So there are three evolving interpretations of the UFO phenomenon:

• Deep space entities (Materialism)
• Inter-dimensional entities (Quantum)
• Spiritual entities (Religion)

Thus, our conception of space aliens has morphed from that of advanced astronauts, to inter-dimensional interlopers and spiritual guides. It is not uncommon now to see ETs — whether from within our dimension or outside our dimension — portrayed as enlightened beings carrying a “gospel” of peace, progress, and environmental sustainability.

This synthesis of quantum theory, metaphysics, and New Age paganism, has shifted the discussion about UFOs and alien abduction away from science and into the realm of parapsychology and occultism. Now it is not uncommon for contemporary UFOlogy to veer into speculation about crypto-terrestrials, ultra-terrestrials, and ascended masters. This is why the list of UFO religions is now quite extensive. Many of these groups have a kind of “creed,” detailed beliefs about the nature of the Cosmos, humanity, and the end-times. Perhaps the largest of these groups, the Raëlians, believe that human life on Earth was created by immortal beings called the Elohim using their knowledge of DNA. According to the Religion Media Center,

Raëlians believe that through the scientific technologies of the Elohim, humans will be able to achieve relative immortality by cloning and travelling through the universe, creating life from DNA. Individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to humanity — these do not have to be Raëlians — will be considered worthy to be recreated by the Elohim.

…the Elohim sent the commonly known prophets, such as Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and the Buddha, to Earth to help mankind survive and to guide them into the future. These prophets were conceived as the result of sexual intercourse between a human woman and one Eloha as a result of DNA synthesis and genetic engineering.

Blending historical religious figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad into a unified religious framework is not uncommon for many contemporary UFO groups. Not coincidentally, such synthesis is part and parcel of most New Age thought. Thus, Jesus is often viewed as just one of many “ascended masters” and grouped alongside the likes of Vishnu, St Germaine, Melchizedek and Metatron. For example, in her book The UFO That Took Jesus: The Truth About Who Christ Was, Adrienne Jaffery purports to reveal “the hidden secret about Jesus’ identity.” Predictably, the author uses Gnostic writings to assert that Jesus may have been an extraterrestrial.

This predisposition to New Age and occult thought among UFO adherents was noted by professor of psychology Richard McNally. He and his colleagues recruited 10 individuals who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Their research was summarized this way:

The typical abductee, notes McNally, “has a longstanding interest in ‘New Age’ practices and beliefs such as reincarnation, astral projection, mental telepathy, alternative healing practices, energy therapies, and astrology.”

He and his colleagues conclude, “a combination of pre-existing New Age beliefs, episodes of sleep paralysis, accompanied by hallucinations and hypnotic memory recovery may foster beliefs and memories that one has been abducted by space aliens.”

Dr. Steven Greer is a well-known UFOlogist who also employs occult and New Age thought in his approach to the ET phenomenon. Not only did Greer attend Maharishi International University to study transcendental meditation, in his popular film, Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind, he develops a set of protocols (CE5 Protocols) which he claims he co-created with an extraterrestrial entity during a contact experience as a young adult. Gaia magazine elaborates:

Part of these protocols involves going into deep states of meditation and opening up one’s consciousness to the possibility of contact with beings from elsewhere in the universe. Once this is done, the meditator then asks any extraterrestrial entities to make contact, while guiding them with a specific vector to their location; this involves universally, galactically, within our solar system, planet, country, and so on.

Famed UFO abductee, Whitley Strieber, is another example of this kind of predisposition to New Age thought and occultism.

Streiber exploded on the UFO scene after a series of alleged alien abduction experiences, which he chronicled in his hugely popular book, “Communion” (1987) The religious inference in the title is intentional as Strieber inevitably describes his contact with these “visitors” as a “journey toward higher consciousness.” He said this about that series of encounters:

The close encounters I had between 1985 and 1994 were scary, but only because they were so unusual. The people — or beings — I met were complex and, in the end, gentle. They had a wonderful, subtle sense of humor. There were many personalities involved, obviously many different individuals. My life with them was spiritually and intellectually rewarding. They responded with deep understanding to the path I was on, and worked with me as true masters work with a student on the journey toward higher consciousness…

This idea of a “journey toward higher consciousness” is consistent with much New Age thought. Indeed, Streiber was a student of the Gurdjieff Foundation for more than fifteen years. According to Wikipedia, “Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic ‘waking sleep’, but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings.” In his interview with Mitch Horowitz, Strieber admitted that his involvement with the Foundation was a gateway to his contact with these alien entities, saying “They knew that they could get into a very deep relationship with me because of that.”

Many have drawn a connection between Madame Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, and Gurdjieff. Blavatsky has been called The Mother of Modern Spirituality and the godmother of the New Age movement. She popularized the concept of “ascended masters” who guide the human race towards an appointed evolution. According to Encyclopedia.com,

Blavatsky taught that both individuals and the human race were engaged in an upward evolutionary process. At the same time, she pictured a hierarchy of Masters headed by a being known as the Solar Logos. …Together, the masters constituted the Great White Brotherhood. A number of the spiritual leaders from past history were pictured as members of the hierarchy. For example, the person known as Jesus, revered as the fountainhead of Christianity, is believed to hold the office of Maitreya in the hierarchy.

Gurdjieff has been described as the “spiritual descendant” of Madame Blavatsky. They are Western Esoteric Teachers in Parallel. Both have attributed their teachings to “secret knowledge transmitted through initiates” and have significantly influenced “the emergence of new religions and spiritualities, particularly the New Age movement.”

It is not unusual, then, to see similar esoteric themes in Whitley Strieber’s alien abduction accounts. For example, in his book, Jesus: A New Vision, Strieber uses Gnostic writings to deconstruct traditional conceptions of Christ. As one reviewer of the book put it, “Strieber’s foundational assumption is that Jesus was a man,” not God, and that “everything he did is therefore within the range of human capabilities and would in principle be possible for others to do as well.” The writer summarizes, “Jesus was a man who became divine, [so] that others may follow him and do what he did.”

Given Strieber’s religious claims, it is perhaps unsurprising then to see him described in terms of a “shaman.”

Provided Strieber is telling the truth about his experiences, it would not be a stretch to classify him as a kind of shaman, an intermediary between this world and the world of the gods – the gods being the visitors.

With the insertion of metaphysics and religion into the UFO discussion, the corollary between alien encounters and shamanism is to be expected. Just as the shaman stood between his tribe and the gods, so the alien abductee becomes a conduit between his people and the “advanced intelligences” who’ve engaged him.

Which is why UFO researcher Bill Chalker suggests an intrinsic connection between shamanism and alien abductions. He writes,

Aboriginal shamans have a powerful and consistent tradition of ritualistic initiation, the elements of which bear amazing similarities to many modern-day UFO abductions and contact accounts.

As such, the mode of “contact” with said entities has become less about spacecraft and more about beliefs or a state of mind. Which is why some researchers now suggest that psychedelics (like psilocybin, LSD, and DMT) may even facilitate contact with interdimensional intelligences.

In his recent podcast interview with professor of religion and UFO researcher Diana Walsh Pasulka, Joe Rogan connected the use of psychedelics with UFOs and alien encounters, claiming that the mind (specifically, the pineal gland) is a “gateway” to such experiences. Rogan mentions DMT, a drug derived from the Ayahuasca plant which produces hallucinogenic effects similar to psychedelics like LSD and magic mushrooms, and how many people have contacted “enlightened beings” during these psychedelic sessions (“these beings are… truth” Rogan says near the 1 hr. 10 min. mark). Interestingly, Rogan and Pasulka equated these encounters with “abduction experiences,” where contact with non-human agencies takes on a transformative, religious weight.

The link between shamanism and hallucinogenic drug use is quite well-known. In the paper Psychoactive Plants Used during Religious Rituals, H. Umit Sayin notes the proliferation of hallucinogenic substances in ancient religious rituals:

Psychoactive plants that induce a form of altered states of consciousness… have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries. …The main purposes of these plants were spiritual healing; to contact with spirits; to contact with the souls of ancestors; to reach enlightenment (Nirvana or Satori); to become a master shaman, pagan, or witch; and to reach so-called-other realities. In most of the ancient religious rituals such plants were consumed as a part of the traditional shamanic or pagan culture for many centuries and most of the religious figures and images in the ancient and modern religious systems are a result of these hallucinogenic substances and H-ASC (hallucinogen-induced ASC) mind states.

The shamanic use of psychoactive substances to make “contact” with spirits and ancestral personages bears an eerie resemblance to contemporary psychonauts and alien abductees.

David Jay Brown has studied parapsychology and the effects of psychoactive drugs. His research includes DMT. He notes,

It appears that DMT has the extraordinary power to open up an interdimensional portal into another universe — often referred to as ‘hyperspace’— and to reliably allow us to establish contact with the intelligent beings who reside there.

Opening up an “interdimensional portal” to make contact with “intelligent beings” is the essence of shamanism. But who are these interdimensional beings, and should we be seeking contact with them?

In his paper Shamanism and Alien Abductions, Simon Brian Harvey-Wilson notes that “Shamanism… is making a popular resurgence in Western societies, especially among New Age enthusiasts.” After interviewing eleven alleged alien abductees, the author was unable to conclude whether the nature of the beings contacted by the abductees were “genuine extraterrestrials” or “spirits.” However, the effects of those encounters often appear eerily analogous.

Some UFO researchers (ufologists) claim that being abducted by aliens can be compared with shamanic initiation experiences in traditional societies in that both types of experience may be similarly transformative, leading to a more spiritual or animistic world-view, a deep concern for the environment and the development of paranormal abilities such as healing.

Notice, the “transformative” characteristics of these alien abductees was three-fold — adopting an “animistic worldview,” “a deep concern for the environment,” and “the development of paranormal abilities.” Not coincidentally, all three of these beliefs align with New Age philosophical perspectives. In that framework, traditional belief in God is jettisoned, Nature is deified, and psychic abilities are developed. This understanding parallels that put forth by legendary UFOlogist Jacques Vallée who concluded that the entities behind the alien abduction phenomenon are not just benevolent cosmic visitants, but are actually attempting to shape a new belief system (which is the subject of Vallée’s book Messengers of Deception).

Vallée concludes that the experiences of alien abductees bears a striking similarity to “occult traditions.” He writes,

I do not believe anymore that UFOs are simply the spacecraft of some race of extraterrestrial visitors. This notion is too simplistic to explain their appearance, the frequency of their manifestations through recorded history, and the structure of the information exchanged with them during contact. Human beings are under the control of a strange force that bends them in absurd ways, forcing them to play a role in a bizarre game of deception. The symbolic display seen by the abductees is identical to the type of initiation ritual or astral voyage that is embedded in the occult traditions of every culture…

Though not a professing Christian, Vallée nevertheless interprets alien abduction as involving “a bizarre game of deception.” Likewise, many researchers see a parallel between the messaging of alien abductees and occultic, New Age beliefs. The Urantia Book is a good example of this.

The Urantia Book was allegedly dictated to a psychiatrist named W.S. Sadler between 1934 and 1935. The massive volume was communicated by a man who spoke in his sleep and claimed to be speaking on behalf of alien super-mortals called revelators. While the authorship and origins of the book remain a mystery, it is typically portrayed as a communique from extraterrestrials.

Though difficult to summarize everything taught in this 2,000+ page tome, one research site highlights several key teachings:

• The cosmos is divided into seven concentric rings, the center ring being the Isle of Paradise, where God resides.
• The Urantia Book supersedes the Bible as the ultimate source of truth.
• God exists in three separate trinities: the existential Paradise Trinity, the experiential Ultimate Trinity, and the experiential Absolute Trinity.
• God is known as the Universal Father and is the father of all humanity.
• Jesus Christ is one of many Creator Sons.
• Perfection is attained by continually seeking goodness over the course of many lifetimes, on many different planets.

The Urantia Book is reflective of a prevalent messaging within UFO circles. It is not uncommon for someone in alleged contact with alien entities to disavow or devalue key biblical doctrines concerning the nature of God, Christ, Man and Salvation, as the Urantia Book does. The fact that this “gospel” communicated by so many alien abductees and/or psychonauts is at such odds with a biblical worldview, should be deeply disturbing to the Christian.

For this reason, philosopher and apologist Brian Huffling, concludes:

UFO phenomena is directly and explicitly anti-Christian—not just anti-religious: anti-Christian. Much of the “teachings” of these beings are specifically against the deity of Jesus Christ and the teachings and truths of the Gospel. Some of their teachings claim that Jesus himself was an alien and was raised back to life by aliens.

Making the UFO field even more disturbing is the melding of hallucinogens into the “contact” experience. Indeed, the Bible condemns the use of drugs for occult purposes. When condemning witchcraft, sorcery, and divination, Scripture often uses the Greek word pharmakeia, from which we derive our words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceutical.” The Ezra Project explains:

It is no surprise that [pharmakeia, pharmakon, pharmakos], which form the base of our English “pharmacy,” originally described someone who mixed herbs and other substances to make potions for medical purposes…

Ancient medicine was often tangled with spirit practices, and practitioners of sorcery would also use potions to attract the gods with a pleasing smell, to satisfy the demands of the spirits, or to put a person in a stupor that would make them receptive to spiritual influences.

New Testament references to pharmakeia all refer to sorcery or witchcraft, not mere medicine. Every mention of the words condemns the practice.

The use of hallucinogens “to open up an interdimensional portal into another universe… and to reliably allow us to establish contact with the intelligent beings who reside there” finds a biblical parallel in sorcery and witchcraft. In this sense, contemporary psychonauts and shamans are akin to spiritists and their alien “contact” sessions are essentially seances.

For these reasons, the UFO phenomenon should be of great interest interest to Christians. Though the Bible has nothing explicit to say about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, it affirms a universe teeming with life, both visible and invisible. Scripture posits the reality of multiple dimensions and their inhabitation by exotic beings (like seraphim, cherubim, archangels and demons), but it also cautions us about “contact” with said beings. The Apostle Paul exhorted, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8 KJV). Likewise, the Apostle John warned, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I Jn. 4:1 NIV).

While it is unclear that all UFO phenomenon is inherently evil, the message of many alien encounters constitutes a false gospel. Seeing lights in the sky is one thing. Receiving communique from alien visitors which undermine Scripture and portray an unbiblical view of Jesus, is another. Furthermore, Christians are expressly forbidden from seeking information via spirit beings, whether deceased humans or non-humans, especially when that pursuit involves pagan, shamanistic practices. Likewise, actively pursuing contact with inter-dimensional or extra-terrestrial intelligences should be anathema to the child of God.

So while the current UFO phenomenon should be deeply interesting to Christian believers, its embrace of occultism and New Age paganism should raise great concerns. Because of this, we must approach the subject with caution and discernment.