Mary Midgley on owls

I am occasionally posting excerpts from my ongoing book project on owls and UFO abduction. 

Mary Beatrice Midgley, moral philosopher

In her memoir, Owl of Minerva, British author and philosopher Mary Midgley wrote:

I have borrowed the owl for my title from Hegel, who is well known to have remarked that, ‘the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.’ This is a potent and mysterious symbol that might have various meanings. But the thought for which I want to use it as that of wisdom, and therefore philosophy, comes into its own when things become dark and difficult rather than clear and straightforward. That—it seems to me—is why it is so important… 

Midgley goes on to lament that too many thinkers only want to attend to what is clear, and they turn their backs on things that are dark and doubtful. She is eager to look beyond the brightly lit successes of science, and instead explore the dark  landscapes of meaning and thought. 

It seems to me that we have here the old story of the man who keeps looking for his car keys under the same lamp-post. Someone asks him, ‘Is that where you dropped them?’ ‘No,’ he replies, ‘but it’s a much easier place to look.’

That analogy plays out in the realm of UFO research, with the pragmatic investigator staying only under the brightly lit lamp-post, while the core of the mystery is off in the darkness. Midgley looks to the owl as guide into this shadow realm.

Owls, being associated with the night, are used in many cultures as symbols for two things—first for death, and second, rather differently, for wisdom. Going into the dark brings danger. But, if you have to go out, then surely it is wise to have with you a creature that can penetrate the darkness.

The owl, by this interpretation, is a companion for any traveler stepping off the path and entering the darkest part of the forest. One should expect the owl to show up, either symbolically or literally, whenever a seeker digs into the deepest mysteries. If this plays out to it’s fullest, the screen memory of a four foot tall owl might mean the observer is being told that their journey is difficult rather than clear and straightforward.

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Mary Beatrice Midgley is an English moral philosopher. She was a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Newcastle University and is known for her work on science, ethics and animal rights. She is 95 years old.

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owl ushers in alien contact in Pinocchio

Owls and mystical contact with a non-human entity

An owl shows up right before the introduction of 

the Blue Fairy in Disney's Pinocchio (1940).

Ticking clocks and a hypnotizing owl.

Jiminy Cricket, stares up at an owl clock not two seconds prior to the grand entrance of the Blue Fairy. She descends from the heavens as a star, manifesting as an orb of shimmering light in Geppetto's workshop. The scene plays out as a UFO bedroom visitation, where in some sense, the DNA of the inanimate Pinocchio is upgraded into some in between state, no longer a puppet, but not yet a real human. This mirrors a lot of the ancient alien lore, where intervention by beings from the stars tamper with genetics to create modern humans.

benevolent alien visitation and genetic tampering

Jiminy Cricket (an insectoid!) is dubbed as Pinocchio's conscious by the Blue Fairy in a ritual act involving a magic wand. Presently, the UFO field is all hot about "consciousness" and how it ties into the contact experience.

The owl as symbol of alien contact, punctuates the arrival of the Blue Fairy. Tall and blond and beautiful, she personifies the typical Pleiadian Nordic type. Also, the work of Jacques Valle is a must-read for making the the connection between modern UFO abduction stories and ancient faerie mythologies. Later, the Blue Fairy shows up again, to bring a dead mutant donkey puppet hybrid back to life. More genetic tampering!

Jesus was also ushered in at birth by a star from the heavens. Again like Jesus, the finale of the Pinocchio involves death and resurrection.

This low quality youtube clip (below) begins right AFTER the owl clock cameo. Please note, the clip is 3:33 long. This is often noted in the literature as the time of alien abductions.

Also of note is that author Whitley Strieber wrote about his youthful fear of a cat clock (the kind with the big eyes that moved with each click) in one of books. The owl clock in Pinocchio looks suspiciously like that the prototypical cat-clock. The implication was that the big eyes on the clock reminded young Whitley of the big eyed alien visitors.

These little plot elements from a fairy tale move aren't meant to imply some grand conspiracy. More that the same elements that make up the modern UFO abduction lore have been part of our mythology and consciousness throughout the ages. These telling elements have a curious way of welling up within our pop-culture.

Big thanks to a blog-reader who pointed out the owl and fairy connection in Pinocchio.

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Text added later the same day:

This kind of connect-the-dots riffing can be a bottlomess pit. Several commenters correctly point out that Spielberg's 2001 film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a reworking of Pinocchio, as well as a reworking of a script from Mr. 2001 himself, Stanley Kubrick. The alien/Blue Fairy connection is hammered home in this mess of a film.

Grey aliens watch as a virtual reality Blue Fairy resurects a "real-boy"

The heavily CG'd image above is from the finale of the Kubrick /Spielberg film. Read more in the comments below.

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my responsibility

Casper David Friedrich (1774-1840)

If someone out there in the world googles the terms UFO and OWLS, my name comes up on the top of that list. This means anyone searching for info concerning their own unusual experiences will find me.

Because of this, I've been receiving a lot of amazing owl stories arriving in my email inbox. Presently, it is about one a day. I have made the very real effort to reply to each one of these people, but sometimes it can be hard to keep up. There are stories from what I sense are very sincere people that I haven't contacted. Before I can reply in any meaningful way, there are new owl stories accumulating.

A lot of these emails will begin with a line like this, I've never told anyone about these experiences, but...

Or, they will say that my own work has triggered something in them to contact me. They'll say, I just watched your talk on youtube, and I simply HAD to contact you...

What I'm also getting is an additional weirdness, where folks will describe seeing an owl as they are reading my long format essay (Owls and the UFO Abductee) or while watching my on-line talk. Or, it might come across like this, I was trying to decide whether I should contact you when I saw an owl land on a branch just outside my window.

Each one of these stories are amazing, and they've confirmed that there is something very real happening. What it might be, I don't know, but it is truly is happening.

I am working on a book, and it would be impossible to include all the stories I've amassed. But what has happened is that I am at the point where I can almost feel the patterns that have emerged, and I can address this weird phenomenon in a way I never could have just a few years ago. I can now talk about (or write about) what is at play with an out-and-out certainty. I am certain that owls are playing a role in the mystery, but I still don't know the source.

Please know, I deeply appreciate that people are reaching out to me, and I take this responsibility seriously.

If anyone reading this has sent me an email, I wholeheartedly thank you. If you've sent me a letter and I didn't reply, I apologize. If you have any odd experiences involving owls, I want to hear your story.

Sincerely,
Mike C

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Quatermass and the Pit

I heart Hammer Studios!

This movie stands right along side Kubrick's 2001 (released a year later) in its depth and power. Both are very similar in their themes. This film has been hard to find on source like Netflix, but this is a gloriously clean version for youtube. The film was released in the US with the title Five Million Years to Earth.

The late Mac Tonnies once listed his 10 favorite science fiction films, but this wasn't included. I emailed him right away asking him why not? He replied that he had never heard of it. This is a movie I know he would have completely mesmerized him.

Full Movie in glorious HD

The Nigel Kneale script was produced for BBC in 1958. This six-part series is longer with more subtlety and complexity. On many levels it's better than the Hammer Studio version from nine years later. Christopher Knowles speaks to these ancient astronaut themes better than I could in series of posts on The Secret Sun, linked HERE and HERE.

Episode ONE of a glorious British Drama with ancient aliens

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In conversation with Aaron Gulyas and host Seriah Azkath

Part-one of a two-part conversation with author Aaron Gulyas and host Seriah Azkath on the radio show Where Did the Road Go? 

  Audio linked HERE  

The focus was UFO history, but we only makes it up to the 1950's, so we will be doing a follow up next month. We start back with Ancient Aliens, and then move forward exploring different ideas, theories and events.

Aaron is a teacher, historian, and writer (generally in that order),  He has taught history at Mott Community College since 2006.

Gulyas's first book, Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist: Contact Tales since the 1950s was published in May 2013. His newest book is The Chaos Conundrum, a collection of essays on the paranormal, religion, spirituality, an the atemporal, published by Redstar Books. In Fandom's Shadow, a 50th anniversary retrospective of Doctor Who, Fandom, and its relationship to geography and time, was published in September, 2013 by Deserted Moon Press.

Aaron's website is linked HERE.

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Nick Redfern writes about owls and UFOs

Author Nick Redfern penned an essay for Mysterious Universe, where he points out the connection between owls and UFOs. He also ties in the mid-70's Owlman sightings from the UK, and links these to a possible UFO origin. He links my long format article from 2013, (Owls and the UFO Abductee) early in his essay.

This essay has two parts, both are linked below...

   Nick's essay, part-ONE. and part-TWO   

And, a really good interview with Nick linked HERE.

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Latitude 33: Key to the Kingdom

Latitude 33: Key to the Kingdom, written by Walter Bosley, is now available in an updated format on Kindle for just 99 cents.

This is an investigation into arcane science and engineering at the Disneyland. Was there an inter-dimensional portal that influenced psychic perception of visitors and allowed beings to enter across time and space?

This book reveals surprising evidence that something otherworldly was built into The Magic Kingdom. Inspired by the author's personal experiences. Originally published in 2007. Walter was interviewed HERE.

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