a lone owl and 1974

Danish Blue Plate and resonant weirdness

I sat with my mother yesterday. It was the first time I had seen her in almost a full year. This morning I found this Danish Blue Plate in my sister's home.

My mother was born in Denmark near Copenhagen 81 years ago. She collected these plates and they decorated our home in my youth. They are heavy porcelain and created each year by the Royal Copenhagen company in Denmark. This Christmas plate is titled Winter Twilight.

The image on this plate includes an owl, a full moon (matching tonight's super-moon and eclipse), the Star of David, pine cones (where we get the term Pineal Gland), my ancestry, my mother and 1974. For obviously persona reasons, the year 1974 comes up over and over in my self indulgent research.

Also, I did a psychic session with Anya Briggs in 2009 where she spoke about my mother and her previous lives and how it was intertwined with the blue and white porcelain pottery from Delft Holland. I realized at the time this was eerily similar to my Mother's obsession with the Danish blue and white plates. And, I had dinner last night with family who have been living in Holland.

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not killing anything

I have seen a pattern among people who tell of direct contact experiences. A curiously high number of them will tell of a newfound inability to kill living things. This goes beyond just being a vegetarian (another common trait). I’ve repeatedly heard abductees explain how they no longer swat mosquitos or squash spiders. I just spoke with a man recently who used to be a hunter. He grew up in the wide open spaces in the Rockies and sometime in the 1980’s he shot a deer and then broke down sobbing. He vowed he would never harm another animal again. This was a decided conversion from his previous self.

Often, these conversions come before the experiencer will have any recognition of their own involvement in the UFO phenomenon. I include myself in this, I went through a phase where I stopped slapping mosquitos. Sometime in the late 90’s I made this very conscious decision and bugs simply stopped bothering me. This came at a time when I was spending a LOT of time outdoors. Sometimes mosquitos would bite me, but it lost any sense of being annoying. I would explain to my fellow campers that I had changed my vibrations; this was only in jest, but only partially. Over the years I have faltered in some insanely buggy environments, but for the most part it feels absolutely normal—it’s simply who I am.

I still drive a car where bugs die on my windshield and I buy cat food for my cat. So I am by no means some kind of ascended master, but I feel different than the person I once was.

Chuck Weiss talks about his experiences with not killing roaches in one of my favorite interviews on this site (linked HERE).

The Washington Post reacts to UFO "believers"

The Washington Post published an article not on the UFO phenomenon titled The fear that drives our alien belief (by Caitlin Dewey), but instead on the deluded people who believe in something so obviously silly. Well, that's my interpretation of her article. I am posting this because it comes on the heels of such an even-keeled article about John Mack (linked below), here's a quote:

Vanity Fair this month published a lengthy profile of Harvard psychiatrist John Edward Mack—a man who believed, implausibly, in alien abduction.

Then the author goes on to pose a question, and then answers it in a way that shows that she hadn't done any meaningful research:

What is it about UFOs that drive so many people to believe they exist despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

The idea that there is any evidence to the contrary, let alone overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is a an assumption. Even a cursory glance at the literature reveals a superabundance of reports.

Anyway, this stuff really bothers me.

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Addendum:

Here's a fitting follow-up.

Noam Chomsky once spoke about a New York Times reporter (I'm paraphrasing), the reporter had stated: "Nobody tells me what to write." And Chomsky pointed out: "That's true, but you don't get to be a reporter at the New York Times unless you've proven yourself to be thoroughly obedient to the system."

I am reminded of the submissive dog that is so desperate to please it's master that it rolls onto it's back and pees all over itself.

Read the Washington Post article side-by-side with this post from Christopher Knowles on the Secret Sun.

The Exegesis: You Still Don't Need Their Permission

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a series of articles on Dr. John Mack

John Mack and Budd Hopkins from a decade ago.

1) A surprisingly even-keeled article on Dr. John Mack and the alien abduction phenomenon in Vanity Fair. (thanks RPJ!)

Alien Nation: Have Humans Been Abducted by Extraterrestrials?

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2) Here is a collection of audio clips and links to a series of other excellent resources on John Mack and his research as well as the the witch hunt at Harvard. (linked HERE). 

3) Dr. John Mack on the transformation of human consciousness (linked HERE).

4) Dr. John Mack and several of his very heartfelt patients on Oprah (below).

the first of a series of youtube clips

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owls and Anne Strieber

Now that it's finally springtime I've been riding my bike to town, I do this daily. There is a great big nest up in a cottonwood tree right where the bike lane along the highway crosses a creek and then veers off to its own bike trail.

This nest is home to a Great Horned Owl. I've been taking binoculars along with me on some days when I ride to town. I'll sit in the grass for a few minutes and focus on this amazing creature. Mostly all you can see is just it's cat-like head poking up above the huge nest. It's been wonderful to have this chance to see something so beautiful.

In the early evening of Tuesday April 30th I was riding my bike home from my little downtown. I had my iPod on shuffle and the sun was setting. As I approached this corner in the highway closest to the big nest one song faded off and I waited for the next one to start. Instead of music I heard Anne Strieber's voice.

"Hi subscribers, this is Anne Strieber..."

Anne is Whitley Strieber's wife and she has been hosting a series of special interviews where she talks with close encounter witnesses. What I was hearing was the very first in this series from January of 2010, and I was the guest.

Her voice came on just as I was slowing down to see if I could catch sight of the owl. The sun was setting and the closest spot for a view lined up exactly behind the big nest making for some dramatic backlighting. There was really only one good spot to get a view, it was a narrow opening along the scrubby bushes and aspen trees that lined the highway. From this one place I could see the owl's head and the silhouette of it's tufted "ears." There was literally a halo around the owl and I was staring directly into a shimmering aurora with an owl at it's center.

It was at this moment, as I was standing with my bike, that I realized this was the interview with me. I have a ton of stuff crammed onto my iPod, including a lot of audio interviews. I feel like I've downloaded most of Anne's subscriber series with the close encounter witnesses. The chances of this interview popping up at this moment was striking.

What I also realized was right at that moment Anne was having brain surgery to remove a (non-cancerous) tumor called a meningioma.

Before heading to town on my bike I had read this facebook message from her husband, Whitley:

Anne is in surgery now. There are probably about nine or ten hours to go. It is a very meticulous, exacting surgery. Pray for my wonderful girl!

So I saw an owl backlit by the setting sun while listening to Anne's voice introducing me while she was having a very serious operation on her brain.

This was an impressive cluster of points all in alignment at that moment; the sun, the owl, Anne's voice, Anne's surgery, plus me and my experiences. I am pretty sure this is a female owl sitting on her eggs. So I was looking at an image of motherhood in this same straight line.

Some of the mythology surrounding the owl is steeped in foreboding and death. But I felt none of that, the experience was delightful and inspiring.

Up until yesterday I had only seen one owl in that nest. While riding home last night I did the same thing, I stopped my bike at the break in the trees to look at the nest and I was delighted to see two owls. Both of them were looking right at me. One stayed low in the nest (I assume sitting on eggs) and the other one hopped from one branch to another. This second owl eventually flew to another tree.

The very first day I looked through my binoculars to get a better view of the owl, at the moment I initially focused on the owl's face—it winked at me!

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(more)

Also, in the summer of 2011 I had an experience of seeing an owl in an exact alignment with the full moon.

This same corner, where the bike path converges with the highway lines up with a bridge across a creek. This site has been the location of a series of blog posts. One with an old girlfriend and an owl (here). One with two owls crossing my path (here). And one with a deer (here).

Anne Strieber's journal as she waited to go into surgery (here)

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Mac Tonnies hosts a Canadian documentary from 2008

Mac Tonnies from 2008

Mac Tonnies was the on-camera host for a 2008 VisionTV production titled Life from Other Planets. This was part of a Canadian documentary series for CBC called The Supernatural Investigators. This episode was directed by Michael MacDonald.

This is a tidy little bit of investigative film-making. But for me, what shines through is Mac's screen presence. It breaks my heart to see his face and hear his voice. His soft spoken and thoughtful composure was obviously disarming to each of the people he was talking with.

Mac on the road during the production
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