a nice paragraph in my new book...

Chihuahuan Desert in southern Texas

I've written an handful of books, some about UFOs and some about outdoor skills. The last month of my life has involved working on an audio book for Stories from The Messengers. This project has been much harder than I could have ever expected. It means scrutinizing every single word of the book. I read this passage into the microphone—and it just sings to me. 

       Kristin was in Alpine Texas waiting for the midnight train to Austin. This was in the early 1990’s and she was in her mid 20’s, a time when she had given herself over to wilderness travel. She’d just finished ten days of solo hiking in the Chihuahuan Desert about one hundred miles south of the train station. She stood alone on the dark on the platform, and as usual she was sobbing. It tore her heart out to leave the wilderness and return to her life in the city. When the train approached she collected herself and wiped away her tears.

This story also includes owls, UFOs, healing skills, an NDE and a OBE. I reference the goddess Diana as well as St Francis of Assisi. Plus, there is an amazing story about glowing. This is the longest chapter in the book.

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The Owls Speak: Stories From the Messengers (Exclusive Excerpt)

Those penetrating eyes

My pal Red Pill Junkie just posted a full chapter from my new book on The Daily Grail. The exclusive excerpt is Chapter Four, titled Gypsy Woman and a White Owl. He wrote this in the article:

“If it’s not weird, I don’t trust it.” That was the motto of Anne Strieber, the late wife of author Whitley Strieber, and her way to deal with the hundreds of claims of non-human intervention she and her husband received from the readers of Communion.

Mike Clelland, author of The Messengers, totally agrees with this idea—though he probably would add “and if it doesn’t have owls, I trust it even less.”

...This new book, Stories from the Messengers, is intended as a companion volume that will add even more depth to this journey into the most mysterious aspects of the UFO phenomenon. Something I personally feel resonates with a great deal of people, despite what conference organizers or the TTSA consultants might think. Because if there’s something that’s sorely lacking in this ‘new’ interest in UFOs by mainstream media –oops! Sorry: I mean ‘UAPs’ (gotta get those acronym right, folks)– is an acknowledgement of how the phenomenon refuses to conform to simplistic explanations when viewed in its totality, instead of edited accounts cherry-picked by researchers or black-and-white videos from UFO encounters with military jets; another thing lacking from those smartly doctored gun camera videos, is the profound impact these type of events have on many who experience them; and when they find themselves with the rug of consensual reality swept from under their feet and in a state of total confusion and despair, the owls might show up with those big unblinking eyes of theirs –a casual reminder that they need to pay attention to the road ahead.

Mike Clelland wrote this book for those kind of people.

We at The Daily Grail are very thankful Mike accepted to share a chapter of Stories from the Messengers as an exclusive for our readers. We hope you enjoy it, and if you do, that you share it and also pick up a copy in either a paperback or e-book format:

  click HERE for a direct link to the full chapter  

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The Hidden Lives of Owls, and my little cameo

beautiful cover design

I recently purchased the Kindle version of a book about owls. I read a few reviews, but more than that—I loved the cover!

In the book The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds, author Leigh Calvez writes about owl habitat, owl calls and their social behavior. She also explores the human-connection—in particular, owl obsession and mythology.

As I read the introduction, the opening ideas seemed similar to my owl book. She addressed something I find fascinating—the relationship between the owl and the shaman. Then I saw this line:

In many Native American tribes, the powerful owl is for the tribe’s shaman only. Some people even believe there’s a connection between owls and extraterrestrials. Writer and artist Mike Clelland, who writes about owls and mythology, believes that there is a synchronistic link between owls and UFO sightings. What is it about owls that makes them so mysterious and fascinating to us?

I had a cameo in someone else’s owl book! It wasn’t much, but I was struck how straight she wrote about my somewhat peculiar owl obsession. I realize I'm an easy target for ridicule, but I sense no smirking on the part of the author (whew!).

My brief mention was sandwiched in between two ideas at the core of my own research. The line before was about the owl and shaman, and the line after my was essentially the same question I have asked over and over: Why owls?

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Billy Pilgram hears a flying saucer and thinks it’s an owl!

Click on the image above for a HI-Rez view

I have been searching. Part of my research has been to find the very first reference in popular culture to owls in relation to UFO abduction. Since the publication of The Messengers in 2015, I’ve been saying that this was in Whitley Strieber’s Communion. But a reader of this blog (Mr. Smith) just pointed out an earlier reference, from another one of my heroes, Kurt Vonnegut!

I will now have to revise what I say.

Billy Pilgram, Vonnegut's protagonist in Slaughterhouse-Five, hears a flying saucer and thinks it’s an owl—all in the moments BEFORE an abduction!

This is a perfect collision of owls and UFOs, where they blur together to the point where they are mixed up. I fully realize that Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel and Communion is non-fiction, but I am more intrigued by the clarity of the symbolism. And, both books are—without question—icons of pop-culture.

an excerpt:

Overhead he heard the cry of what might have been a melodious owl, but it wasn’t a melodious owl. It was a flying saucer from Tralfamadore, navigating in both space and time, therefore seeming to Billy Pilgrim to have come from nowhere all at once... The only noise it made was the owl song. It came down to hover over Billy, and to enclose him in a cylinder of pulsing purple light.

I read Slaughterhouse-Five while I was in high school, probably back in 1979. To say it blew my mind would be an understatement. I even saw Kurt Vonnegut when I lived in New York. We stood in line together at a corner bodega. He was buying a watermelon! (I am suddenly writing in very short sentences)

I read this in high school, probably 1979

Reading Slaughterhouse Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut was a defining right of passage in the 70's. Here's an 11 minute excerpt where Billy Pilgrim tries to understand time as explained by the Trafalmadorians. This is part of an audio interview with researcher Richard Dolan.

  one-click audio download HERE  

Plus you get to hear the beautiful voice of Jose Ferrer.

Owl talk with Ryan Sprague

Episode Summary: 
Ryan speaks with author, Mike Clelland, about his recently released book, Stories From The Messengers: Accounts of Owls, UFOs, and a Deeper Reality.

This book is a companion to the groundbreaking ideas that began with Mike Clelland's earlier book, The Messengers. It's a further exploration of the connection, both symbolic and literal, between owls and UFOs. There is a strangeness to these accounts that defies any simple explanation. Each chapter tells a deeply personal story where these mysterious experiences are explored in depth. The ancient mythology of the owl is repeating itself within the modern UFO report. What plays out is a journey of transformation, with an owl at the heart of each story.

And in this episode, Mike tells some of those incredible stories and where they may fit in the entire UFO mystery and beyond.

  More posts with Ryan HERE  

Audio chapters from Stories from The Messengers

now available in paperback and Kindle, 

soon in audio format!

I have been posting chapters of the upcoming audio book as a way to promote it before its publication on audible. I have just added a new chapter (below), one of the longest in the book, about 47 minutes.  I plan on adding a few more soon. Alas, I will probably take some of these down after the audio book becomes available, and that is a ways off yet.

  NEW, JUST POSTED!  

Chapter 14 - The Owl and the White Buffalo
New chapter available as of March 24th 2016. Also linked HERE.
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Chapter 13 - Between Two Bridges

This chapter is also linked HERE.

Chapter 10 - Adrienne and Owls
This chapter is also linked HERE.

Chapter 17 - Owls and Gratitude (part 1)
This reading features my very deep voice. I had a cold and I sound amazing! Sadly, I will need to re-record this for the final book project so everything matches. Bummer! Also linked HERE.

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Documentary project from Whitley Strieber

Whitley Strieber describes an upcoming documentary

This short video is meant to generate some buzz for an upcoming documentary project. I realize that there are already a lot of UFO documentaries, yet the overwhelming majority are terribly shallow. I feel strongly this one will aim high.

I have followed Whitley for decades (I read WARDAY in my first apartment in New York back around 1984). He has consistently framed the ideas of alien contact in extremely poetic and sophisticated ways. I have watched this video several times, and each viewing I have listened closely to his words. I am cautious to say this, but he is articulating the same vital ideas that I tried to express in my two books. These issues are complex and elusive.

My second owl book was just recently published—with a foreword by Whitley. I am absolutely honored to have his words within those pages.

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Audio Reading of Chapter 13 - Between two Bridges

recreated image to approximate witness sighting, autumn 2015
(click on image for a HIrez view)

This is chapter 13 of Stories from The Messengers. I have been recording my voice for an audio version of the newest book. The results have been good, and I am working hard to make it sound professional. This is a high quality 192 Kbits/sec file.

Audio chapter — Adrienne and Owls

Look to the birds of the air...

I have been recording my voice for an audio book. I am starting with the more recent book, Stories from The Messengers. It is slightly shorter and I hope to have it available before summer. It is slow going and its taking longer than I expected. The results have been good, and I am working hard to make it sound professional. This is a high quality 192 Kbits/sec file.

Audio excerpt: Chapter 10 - Adrienne and Owls

This is a good example of the tone within the new book. Each story is different, but this one represents a theme that shows up in some of the stories. I wrote about this subtle pattern in the conclusion. Here is an excerpt:

Something that surprised me was the amount of Christian imagery showing up in some of the stories. I am not at all churchy, so I feel I can remain somewhat detached. I am cautious not to make too much of this, but it needs to be addressed. Some people spoke openly about their Christian faith, but there was more to it than that. There was symbolism that I didn’t expect. These examples might seem subtle, but to me they stood out.

I’ve seen a pattern, albeit anecdotal, of people with some variation of the name Chris showing up in this research, and I wrote about it in The Messengers. Christopher, Christina, and Christian are common enough names, but they appear with a heightened frequency within these owl experiences. There may be no other word in Western culture more loaded with mythic resonance than the first five letters of these names. That someone with the name Kristin would walk out into the desert alone wasn’t lost on me.

Another example is the NDE, which is quite literally death and resurrection, and this is at the core of Christian faith. It might be nothing more than mythological symbolism welling up, demanding to be seen. These are powerful stories, so we should expect powerful symbolism.

*       *       *

And... audio of Chapter 17 HERE 
(read with my deep voice!)
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Stories from The Messengers reviewed on Mysterious Universe

season 19 / episode 7

Ben and Aaron from Mysterious Universe spend an hour and a half talking about my new book! I like these guys, they have a wonderful enthusiasm. This is actually a really good long format audio review, as well as an in-depth exploration of the ideas in the book. They joke a bit about some things I felt were quite serious, but they were so dialed-in to the complexities of the stories that I couldn't be too upset.

  one-click link to the Mysterious Universe review HERE  

      Chapters covered in the audio review:

•  Chapter The Alan Caviness Report
•  Owls and Drones
•  Blipping Off the Map
•  Owls and the White Buffalo

These guys did a similar talk on their show back in 2016, where they reviewed the first owl book (linked HERE).

We did a proper interview back in 2013. There was a dramatic storm during the recording, so there is audible with thunder in the background! This was a fun talk with lots of laughs (linked HERE).

Book review from Laura Bruno

Intuitive healer, Laura Bruno

Chapter 12 of my new book is titled Owls and Healing, and it tells the experiences of Laura Bruno.

She just posted a remarkable review of the book, both on her blog (linked HERE) and on the Amazon review page (HERE). Her words left me humbled and grateful. We spoke and emailed extensively over over two years, and I worked hard to try to capture the complexity of what had happened in her life. This is a remarkable story and it taps into the essence of this mystery.

Below is an excerpt for her review:

It reads like a spooky, surreal, yet very intimate gathering of friends sharing stories by the fire. As Mike says, “You won’t understand these stories with your brain, but a deeper truth might emerge if you listen with your heart.” I agree.

Full disclosure: some of my own never before shared stories appear in the chapter “Owls and Healing.” When I first received my proof copy, I read the Foreword by Whitley Strieber and the first couple chapters, then skipped to my own chapter so I could get back to Mike with any changes. I thought he did an amazing job turning two years of emails and phone conversations into some kind of coherent and meaningful story. And then, I freaked the heck out! I could not believe I agreed to share all of this material, many of my deepest, most confusing and traumatic experiences, not just with Mike, but with the entire world.

Part of me wanted to revoke all permission to share my stories, but I knew how long and hard he had worked on this book. I also believe to my core about the importance of this project. Despite the yes, sheer terror, of letting these stories see print, I also felt proud to participate in such a sacred project….

I don’t know how to describe this book other than to recommend you read it. None of the participants offers any clear explanation for our experiences. Nor does Mike. The deeper he delves, the stranger things get. What I call the “Mystery with a capital M” shimmers throughout beautiful, traumatic and/or extremely bizarre memories and documented events. The format of this second “Messengers” book reveals how far profound synchronicities spiral and ripple across time and space—in both individual and “impossibly” interconnected lives. Despite their depth, I suspect that like mine, this sharing reflects only the surface of an endless well.

This collection feels holy….

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How to order the books

The Messengers

The owl has held a place of reverence and mystique throughout history. And as strange as this might seem, owls are also showing up in conjunction with the UFO experience. Mike Clelland has collected a wealth of first-hand accounts in which owls manifest in the highly charged moments that surround alien contact. There is a strangeness to these accounts that defy simple explanations. This book explores implications that go far beyond what more conservative researchers would dare consider.

But the owl connection encompasses more than the UFO experience. It also includes profound synchronicities, ancient archetypes, dreams, shamanistic experiences, personal transformation, and death. From the mythic legends of our ancient past to the first-hand accounts of the UFO abductee, owls are playing some vital role.

This is also a deeply personal story. It is an odyssey of self-discovery as the author grapples with his own owl and UFO encounters. What plays out is a story of transformation with the owl at the heart of this journey.

  Kindle Version HERE — Paperback Version HERE  

Stories from The Messengers

This is a companion to the groundbreaking ideas that began with Mike Clelland's earlier book, The Messengers. It is a further exploration into the connection, both symbolic and literal, between owls and UFOs. 

There is a strangeness to these accounts that defies any simple explanation. Each chapter tells a deeply personal story where these mysterious experiences are explored in depth. The book reads like a collection of short stories. The ancient mythology of the owl is repeating itself within the modern UFO report. What plays out is a journey of transformation, with an owl at the heart of each story.

  Kindle Version HERE —Paperback Version HERE  

Owls and The Super Natural, an essay by David Metcalfe

do those branches seem familiar?

Encountering the Super Natural — An experiential review

an essay by David Metcalfe

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“When we look at the owl through the medium of the close encounter experience, it turns out that something is being explained to us. Like the owl, our mysterious visitors come by night. Like the owl, they silent and all-seeing. And like the owl, they can reach right into our little burrows and carry us off into a transformative experience. For the awful ecstasy that the predator delivers to its prey, causing it to die to this world and be freed into the next, is very much like what the visitor does to her captive, leaving him devastated, at once killed inside and renewed inside, and living in two worlds at the same time, that of physical reality and that of a new kind of reality, the living reality of the soul, not quite physical, but also no longer theoretical.”

— Whitley Strieber, in the foreword to Mike Clelland’s Stories from the Messengers: Owls, UFOs and a Deeper Reality (Richard Dolan Press, 2018)

David Metcalf wrote an essay about the collision of ideas and events surrounding a series of books and authors. Whitley Strieber, Jeffery Kripal, The Super Natural, Communion, myself—and owls—are all tangled in a knot so tight that it defies all logic.

  Read the full essay HERE  

I don't pretend to understand the why or how of it, but owls are somehow connected to the deepest of mysteries. Just a few weeks ago I posted a similar essay on the same books and players, but I added Charles Fort to the mix. That essay is linked HERE. It even has footnotes!

Also, compare and contrast those branches to the cover of the big blue owl book, The Messengers (seen in the left sidebar). The photo of those branches was taken in Metcalf's yard!

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Both books in the THE MESSENGERS series ranked #1 in Amazon

Both owl books are presently ranked number 1 in Amazon Kindle sales in the category of Unexplained Mysteries. This happened after my appearance last night on Coast to Coast AM. 

My first book, The Messengers was published a bit over two years ago. The companion book, Stories from the Messengers, was published yesterday.

I realize that these books are ranked in categories within categories, but it's still a remarkable feeling after all the hard work. It was a labor of love to get these books completed and I feel honored for all your support. Thank you everyone!

Amazon sales ranking

NOTE: The paperback version of 
Stories from The Messengers due out VERY soon. 
Within hours!

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The companion book is available

now available

This book is a companion to the groundbreaking ideas that began with Mike Clelland's earlier book, The Messengers. It is a further exploration into the connection, both symbolic and literal, between owls and UFOs. There is a strangeness to these accounts that defies any simple explanation. Each chapter tells a deeply personal story where these mysterious experiences are explored in depth. 

The ancient mythology of the owl is repeating itself within the modern UFO report. What plays out is a journey of transformation, with an owl at the heart of each story.

After more than two yeas of hard work, my second owl book is available for sale. This on the same day I do an interview on Coast to Coast AM with George Knapp!

   order the book through Amazon HERE   

The first book was my way of wrestling with some big ideas, and I used a lot of examples to make my case. Those examples were all stories from people. Some were gleaned from the UFO literature, but most arrived in letters to me. I tried to talk with everyone at length, and what I realized was that there is a grand novel that needs to be written about anyone who's had an owl story. But the first book required that I edit down their stories until they were just a few sentences. I was forced to do this in order to address the core questions of that book.

It broke my heart to tell those stories in such a fleeting way. The companion book (Stories from The Messengers) was my need to tell these stories more completely. It reads like a book of short stories, and I tried to truly look at ALL the details that played a role in the lives of these people.

The first book was my own therapy. I was in the throes of trying to make sense of my own experiences, and it felt like I was teetering on the edge of madness. Completing the first book was a kind of solace. I was a much calmer person afterwards.

Book two was a much different process. I talked at length with people and really worked hard to tell their stories accurately. This meant lots of long conversations on the phone and over email. Those people telling their stories meant wrestling with demons. I understood this battle, and it made the experience of writing very powerful.

Both books stand alone, and any first-time reader should be able to follow the ideas without having read the other one. The point of the second book was to tell these stories more completely.

The above text is from an interview with Robbie Graham

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