the challenge of hypnosis

Hypnosis is a source of bitter contention within the UFO community. One faction would see it as vital in abduction research, while the other would dismiss anything gained through hypnosis as useless—or destructive. 

In early November of 2017, I was invited to a home in New Hampshire where a small group of experiencers were planning to gather for a pot luck on a Saturday evening. Seven of the people expected to attend had let me share their stories in my books, so I was eager to make the long drive to join them. 

Abduction researcher Mary Rodwell was part of the gathering, and I had emailed her to arrange a hypnosis session while I was there. We scheduled it for Sunday morning, so I brought a sleeping bag and pad and spent the night in a room used as an office. I awoke at dawn to the hooting of a barred owl out the window. 

That morning, Mary and I spent almost two hours in an empty bedroom. She hypnotized me in hopes of finding the source of my fears in connection with my UFO experiences, and the story that emerged really shook me up. I cried a lot during the session, and Mary dried my tears.

What came through was jumbled and emotional, and I didn’t know what to make of it. The story was remarkable, and much of it matched with what I had read in abduction accounts. I shared the details with a few friends, but was cautious to treat it as a memory of a real event.

  this is a long post - read more below  

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moody streetlight

From Wed October 17 2018

A few nights ago I was talking on the phone with Suzanne Chancellor. Our mutual friend Kelly just experienced another close up owl sighting, and Suzanne was filling me in on what had happened. Kelly was featured in the final chapter of Stories from The Messengers, her account involved getting some close-up pictures of a beautiful barred owl while on a hike.

I've since spoken with Kelly, and there’ll soon be a blog post about her experience—with pictures!

It was a beautiful autumn night, and I walked around outside as I spoke with Suzanne. It was one of those conversations where every thread seemed tangled up with everything else. Elements of Kelly's story were reflected back at both of us. It seemed like every little detail was somehow connected to a frenetic web of synchro-weirdness.

We spoke as I walked around the dark driveway of the old inn where Andrea and I live. It's a narrow dirt lane that curves through a dense forest. There is a streetlight at the bottom of the driveway where it joins the asphalt street. The light is usually on at night, but it seemed to flicker as I made my way down the driveway. It slowly turned on and stayed on as I passed under it and walked down the paved road. There was no traffic, and I headed toward an apple tree alongside the quiet road. It was dark and I managed to find an apple, but it was too sour to eat.

While walking back to the driveway, I told Suzanne how it all seemed so cinematic. The eerie way the lone streetlamp lit the road was like something out of a Steven Spielberg movie. I tried to describe the mood of the dramatic lighting as I walked.

I got to the pool of light under the street light and looked up. The lamp wasn't very bright, it’s color seemed a muted amber so I could stare right up into the bulb.

I carefully tried to position myself directly under the light above me. I moved a little to the left, then a bit the right. It only took a few seconds, but when I was positioned exactly under the the light—it went off!

I had just walked along that road for about a hundred yards, and the entire time I was talking about that light, praising its mood as I approached.

As silly as it sounds, it felt like the light clicked off as a playful thank you for my attention and appreciation.

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new book in progress

Cover design, in progress.

Click on the image for a HI-rez view.

In March of 2019 this blog will be ten years old. A lot in My life has changed in those years and this blog has been a diary of that journey.

I am working on a book right now, the title is Collected Writings from Hidden Experience. The process of turning ten years of writing into a book has been an introspective life review. I’ve gone back an re-read (or skimmed) over 800 posts. Looking at my own experiences like this has been quite an emotional process. Collectively these posts tell a story—it’s my journey from doubt, through fear and wonder, to a shaky acceptance.

Many were written in a time of anxiety and confusion—and these posts have a palpable sense of urgency. Some were written in such a flurry that there were more than a few typos. Suzanne Chancellor is playing the role of editor and helping me clean ‘em up. The process of reviewing and editing have made these accounts much easier reading.

I’m creating an ebook, and it’ll be online in early 2019. The print version will be available shortly after—and maybe even an audio book.

The target size of the project is around 110,000 words, or a print book at just under 300 pages.

Some the longer events are told in a series of posts, and it wouldn’t work to just cut and paste them into a book. I’m taking these more complex accounts and combining them into a more readable narrative.

My goal list for this project:

— Keep the “tone” of the original post.
— Edit minimally for clarity and grammar.
— Add any new insights, and note them as new.
— If joining a series of related posts, present them as one long story.
— Try to avoid repeating stories covered in The Messengers and Stories from The Messengers.

I’ve had people tell me I should write my story as a book. I thought about it, but pretty much all my experiences are on the blog. I realized that if I re-wrote everything for a memoir there would end up being a sort of distancing from the events. Many of the posts were written the same day as the experience I was attempting to describe, and the urgency is palpable in the text. A set of collected blog posts might feel a bit choppy compared to a formal autobiography, but I think there is a raw emotion in the posts—and that honesty is valuable.

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Althea Provost, owls, and the transformative experience

recommended interview

I say yes to a lot of interviews. After so many I can get into a rhythm of telling the same stories over and over. I enjoy the chance to talk, but there can be a similar vibe to the questions and format to a lot of show.

The interview I did with Althea Provost blew past the standard interview. From her first words we were into he deepest waters. She asked insightful questions, but it was more than that—she was urging me to confront the core of life’s mysteries.

This video presentation is excellent. She added graphics and quotes to match the conversation. I appreciate the time, effort and thoughtfulness of Althea’s approach.

Althea’s web site HERE

Althea’s other video interviews HERE

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UFO Disclosure Implications

The intricacies of a quandary in under four minutes.

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This was originally posted in Feb. 2010, and I'd nearly forgotten about it. There was this online service where you could create these awkward animations. I wrote a little script and look what happened...  I think it's funny!

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Sun of the Night by Peter Birkhäuser

click on the image for a HI-Rez view

From the book: ‘Stone by Stone: Reflections on the psychology of CG Jung’

Here’s the text that accompanies this remarkable image:

A painting of Peter Birkhäuser (1911-1976), painted during a difficult period of his life, might offer an answer to this question. He called the painting Sun of the Night. It beautifully illustrates why it is so important that the individual is committed in a very concrete way, in his own house, as it were, to the spirit of the collective unconscious.

A nocturnal, owl-like creature with uncanny eyes rises from the horizon like the moon. Its look seems somehow foreboding as if it were in possession of a remote knowledge which certainly surpasses human consciousness. Its strangeness and even eeriness make clear that the encounter of the individual with the spirit of the unconscious isn’t anything like an easy task. On the contrary, the human being in his small house seems to be completely and utterly at the mercy of that supreme and alien power of the “Other.” Compared to the powerful Sun of the Night the small house with its warm human light appears rather unimportant. And now this dwelling place offers a vessel to the human, that is, a protected place of shelter. The human being needs such a place, where he or she can get in contact with and listen to the objective psyche, that is, to the spirit of the unconscious.

(thank you Peter Komidar!)
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best owl photo ever...

the owl is a symbol
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click on the image above for a HI-Rez view

confirmation bias from my phone

voice to text

Sometimes I speak into my phone using the thing that changes my speech to text and it usually works pretty well. I spoke the word OWL and it read as HOW ODD. Not sure if that’s a mistake.

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writing out UFO when I want to say OWL.

ooops!

I want to write UFO, but write OWL instead.

And I make the same mistake the other way around too, mixing up OWL for UFO. This has happened hundreds of time in the last decade. Both are three letter words, and both are at the core of my obsessive research. In my work I’ve argued that these these two “flying objects” are connected to the point where they are blurring together, so I guess this makes sense.

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Video of owls and UFO contact from Eureka Springs Arkansas

Standing on stage talking about my personal experiences and research

I spoke at the 30th Anniversary of the Ozark Mountain UFO Conference in April of 2017 in Eureka Springs Arkansas. I am deeply honored to have been a part of this wonderful event.

My presentation was recorded and put up on YouTube in June of this year. As of this posting, this video has had 183,757 views. This is remarkable! 

I've felt the influence of this video. Over the last few months I've received a LOT of emails that begin like this: "I just watched your presentation on owls and UFOs at the Ozark Conference and I need to tell you my story..."

I have been flooded with a wealth of amazing stories that all trace back to this video. The production team at the conference did an excellent job of capturing my talk. Thank you Adnan!

Adnan is the man behind an amazing set of videos found at UFO HUB. These are very thoughtful and grounded interviews. No sound bites, nothing sensationalistic. Just people talking calmly about their experiences and research without any pressure to make it seem zippy and fast paced.

  more from UFO HUB here  

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Text added Dec 25 2018:
The video has over a quarter of a million views!

GUCCI owl and UFO suede boots

Not much I can say about this...

  Get yours HERE!  

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My memories of Bob Dean

seven minutes of Bob Dean

.

Bob Dean has died at the age of 89

I very briefly met Bob Dean in 2009. He was at the UFO Congress when it was still in Laughlin Nevada. He was quite the celebrity within that crowd so he was always surrounded by a group of people, everyone eager to talk with.

There came a point when I saw him sitting alone in the midst of the flurry of the conference. I politely approached and asked him if I could ask a few questions.

He graciously pointed to the chair next to him and I sat down. He wore an ascot and was smoking a cigar. I felt like Luke Skywalker meeting Yoda. I said I was new in this field and thought I might have had some UFO experiences and I was hoping for any advice he might offer.

He replied with that deep slow voice, "Be very careful my good man. You are standing before Pandora's Box, and once opened, it can never be closed again."

At that point I had been looking hard into my own experiences so I said something like, "Well, it's a little late for that."

I explained that I was taking my first steps into these waters. I was beginning my own research, dealing with my own memories, and it had been really confusing for me.

He told me, "Here's my advice in these matters. Keep a very open mind..." Long pause, "... and keep your bullshit meter set on high."

He was quite a radiant guy. Since then I've followed him through interviews on line. In the last few years I've noticed that he isn't shy about telling the world he was getting old and looking forward to finally going home.

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Andrea’s pendulum

click on the image above for a HI-Rez view

This is a story from around three years ago, sometime in 2015. Andrea has a crystal pendulum tied with a black thread. The thread has two knots, so you can hold the the thread high or low depending on the knot. Andrea uses this pendulum while pinching the lower knot, and I use it at the higher knot.

For a time it was setting unused on a shelf in the closet. There was a day when Andrea asked me, “Did you do anything to the the string on my pendulum?” I said no and asked her what had happened. She showed me the string and it had been re-tied with three very short loops.

I didn’t have any idea how this could have happened and I carefully examined her pendulum. The black thread had been tied in a way that created three evenly sized loops near the top. I hadn’t tied it like this and neither had Andrea. I scrutinized the knot and tried to untie it. I am quite skilled with getting knots undone (see here), but I couldn’t make any headway to getting this knot undone. I really worked at it, even using tweezers, but nothing was working.

It seemed odd and I gave up. I set the pendulum back in its spot on the shelf. A few days later the knot was undone and it was in its previous configuration. I asked Andrea how it had gotten it untied and she had no idea what I was talking about.

Again, I carefully examined the string, and it seemed to be back in the original configuration. Neither of us have any idea how it might have gotten tied into such a tight knot and then how it would have returned to the way it had been previously.

Andrea's crystal pendulum with the thread in its "normal" configuration 

NOTE:
 Pendulums are simply a small crystal pendant at the end of a short silver chain or string, and these are standard issue in the new-age community. The user will hold the string steady, let the crystal dangle, ask a yes or no question and wait for an answer. The pendulum gently swings or rotates as a reply.

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collected writings from hidden experience (an idea for a book)

rough cover idea 

In March of 2019 this blog will be ten years old. A lot has changed in my life in the last decade, and this blog has been a dairy of that journey.

I am considering doing a book with a collection of some of these posts. This is just an idea at this point. The blog has gotten so big that it’s become a hassle to try and dig through and find anything. I've been reviewing the site, starting at the beginning. There are well over 800 posts on this site and most of them wouldn’t be appropriate in a book format, but there are some remarkable entries here.

The content is all available online, so the ebook would need to be priced low. I doubt there would be a print book, but if there were it would be print-on-demand and would need to be priced like a tradition book.

     A few question for my readers:
     1. Would you be interested in a book like this?
     2. What posts here have you found to be especially interesting?

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"The owl isn’t important" gleaned from hypnosis

meaningless?

While in Los Angeles in August, I did a hypnosis session with Yvonne Smith. She’s a Certified Hypnotherapist, author and abduction researcher. A lot came up while lying on the couch in her office, but I’m not ready to talk about most of it. I need to process it more thoroughly before sharing too much.

What I can share is a short bit that emerged about owls. Before beginning the hypnosis, I told to Yvonne to bring up the subject of owls at some point during the session. I requested she ask, “What is the meaning of the owls?” And near the end of the session she asked the question. Below is a (slightly edited) transcript:

Yvonne: What sense do you get about your connection with owls? 

Mike: I get that the owl isn’t important. The owl is like a symbol, or like a sign on a door. It’s just a sign on a door and what’s behind the door is what’s important.

For the next few moments I didn’t say much—all I did was mumble and stammer. I was struggling to say something about being and artist and that I understood something. Then there was an abrupt change, and I began speaking very clearly.

Mike: I understand how people take in a story, and how they need a symbol or a sign on the door. But the owl is meaningless to what is on the other side of the door. It’s just the doorway that’s important. The owl is the right symbol for the door. We are on this side, and EVERYTHING else is on that side of the door. There is a LOT more! We are in this little tight hallway here, and on the other side of the door is this vastness!

I didn’t expect to say that the owl isn’t important. You could hear it in my voice on the recording, I was totally puzzled by the words I was speaking. It became a sort of poetry, and I had the feeling I sometimes get while writing, that sense of, “Hey, this is good!” Right in the moment, I knew this was really good stuff.

The imagery I got during the session was a long narrow claustrophobic hallway with a lot of doors. It was drab like something in a cheap hotel. There was a door with an owl on it that was flung open, and there was this scene of infinite space. It was a sort of dumb special effect like something out of a Dr. Who episode, an expansive view out into timeless multi-layered galaxies.

I used the term vastness while in the hypnotic state. I was trying to express something infinite and limitless—something akin to God.

EXTRA:
 The idea that owls aren’t important plays out as something similar to what Dr. Leo Sprinkle told me during my 2011 interview with him. He spoke about UFOs as a signpost. The post that holds the sign itself isn’t all that interesting, it’s just a stick of wood jammed into the ground. It’s the sign that’s important, ‘Bridge Out’ or ‘Wrong Way’ are important signs. He said, UFOs are not important, they are only signposts—it’s the sign that’s important.

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