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IS ANYONE OUT THERE DEPARTMENT -
Proof in the Stars?
By Stanton T. FriedmanProof in the Stars?
It is not usually easy to validate claims made by UFO witnesses, and it is especially difficult in those cases in which an abduction seems to have taken place. [Captured!] The real complication occurs when hypnosis is used to investigate missing time in conjunction with the abduction.
In the case of the very well-known abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961, many individual hypnosis sessions were conducted three years later by Dr. Benjamin Simon, a psychiatrist with a long history of using medical hypnosis to recover repressed memories of traumatic experiences, especially those that occurred on the battlefield during World War II. Simon knew nothing about UFOs, yet felt it was his duty to elicit details from Betty and Barney under very deep hypnosis to try to determine what happened during their encounter with a strange space vehicle and eleven alien beings.
Following the pent up emotion released by the Hills while in their separate hypnotic states, Simon induced amnesia in each of them in order to prevent them from discussing what they were beginning to recall. This allowed for careful cross comparison between their distinct accounts.
One key validating revelation was Betty’s conversation with an alien about a three-dimensional model or map (probably a hologram) that was shown to her after she asked where they were from. There was a pattern of a dozen or so lights (stars) connected with three types of lines indicating heavy trade routes, light trade routes and occasional expeditions. Betty knew little of astronomy and was unable to explain where she was in the model. Simon instructed her to draw it after she indicated she could remember what it looked like. The drawing was subsequently included by John G. Fuller in his best-selling book, The Interrupted Journey.
At first there seemed to be no way to determine if the map had any meaning. After all, our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least two hundred billion stars. Fortunately, a brilliant woman, Marjorie Fish, visited Betty to get more details about the map, in spite of fact that Fish was dubious about the Hills’ assertion that the alien beings were humanoid. Nonetheless, over a period of a few years and more interviews with Betty, Fish built about twenty-six different three-dimensional bead and fishing line models. Her goal was to find a 3-D pattern to match the two-dimensional pattern that Betty had drawn.
I had been favorably impressed by Betty and Barney when we met in Pittsburgh in 1968 and when I read The Interrupted Journey and Fuller’s Look Magazine articles about the Hills. My colleague, Coral Lorenzen, International Director of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) - one of the two major UFO groups at the time - asked me as a scientist to assist Fish in communicating the results of her research. I agreed, and visited her during one of my lecture tours. I also helped her explain her work at a meeting at Adler Planetarium in Chicago and during a presentation at a Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Symposium in Akron.
Believing Fish to be objective and credible, I published the first article about her work in Saga Magazine and later arranged to interview her and Betty for my documentary film, "UFOs ARE Real." I also convinced the editor of Astronomy Magazine, Terence Dickinson, to speak with her and to publish an article, "The Zeta Reticuli Incident," about her work. It ultimately received more response than any article Astronomy had ever published, before or since.
Also appearing in my documentary was a professor of astronomy at Ohio State University, Dr. George Mitchell, who had been helpful to Fish in obtaining closely-held star catalogs. He used one of her large models as a teaching tool and testified as to her care and accuracy in constructing the models.
Through her detailed and careful research, she was eventually able to identify all the stars in the pattern, and found that all of the pattern stars were sun-like (notwithstanding that fewer than 5 percent of the stars within 55 light years of the Sun are sun-like). Some stars are too old, too new, too bright, too dim, or vary too much in the intensity of their energy production rate to be sun-like, or they have very close companion stars making it difficult to maintain stable planetary orbits in the vicinity. The pattern stars are also, amazingly enough, in a plane, like slices of pepperoni on a thin pizza rather than spread all about like raisins in a loaf of raisin bread. This makes travel between the stars much easier. The pattern is definitely not coincidental.
And most remarkably, Fish identified the base stars as Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli in the southern sky constellation Reticulum, but only after much better data on the distances to nearby stars was obtained and used to rebuild the models. Nobody building a model before the Hill experience would have obtained the right identification. A unique twosome, Zeta 1 and 2 Reticuli are the closest pair of sun-like stars in our entire local neighborhood. They are only 1/8 of a light year apart from each other, only 39.2 light years away from earth and a billion years older than the sun. These two stars had never been highlighted as special before Fish’s discoveries. It makes sense that they would be the hub of the local neighborhood.
The cosmic perspective for intelligent inhabitants of a planet around Zeta 1 or 2 Reticuli would be very different than that for an Earthling, as the sun is thirty-five times farther away from the nearest star than the distance between Zeta 1 and Zeta 2. We Earthlings are out in the boondocks with no other star close by. However, from a planet orbiting around either of these stars, the other star is visible to the eye all day long, and planets around the other star would be directly observable. No inferences would be necessary. Even with our primitive equipment, at such a close distance we could determine, from the composition of the atmosphere around these planets, if biological activity were present.
Residents of Zeta 1 and 2 would have a much greater incentive to undertake interstellar travel than we have here on Earth. They would also have had much more time for the development of advanced travel technology with their billion year head start on us. Technological progress invariably comes from doing things differently in an unpredictable way and we primitives have already determined methods for star travel.
The star map work done by Marjorie Fish was a crucial factor, along with others, in the general acceptance of the Hill story of abduction. Her work was also the target of debunkers and skeptics, including Carl Sagan, who misrepresented Fish’s methods and her results. These attacks along with many others on the Hill case, such as in the TV program, Cosmos, are discussed in detail in my book, co-authored by Betty’s niece, Kathleen Marden, Captured!: The True Story of the World’s First Documented Alien Abduction, The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (Amazon US and UK).
Source: Daily Grail
http://dailygrail.com/node/5100
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THE NUMBER GAME DEPARTMENT -
People Who Believe in the Mystical Significance of Numbers
People Who Believe in the Mystical Significance of Numbers
>Some eccentric arrangements for the forthcoming series of Prince concerts highlight an intriguing trend: surprisingly many public figures seem to believe in the mystical significance of numbers.
Ridiculed by scientists, mathematicians and sceptics, numerology has struggled for acceptance alongside other predictive pseudo-sciences such as astrology and Feng Shui, but a growing number of celebrities including Prince (see opposite), Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) and Winona Ryder are using humble digits to interpret personalities, to explain current events, or even to predict the future.
Colin Baker of the Numerology Association reports a recent surge in interest in all things digital. His members are regularly called to radio and TV studios on auspicious dates, including, most recently, 7 July (07/07/07). Consultant member and numerology teacher Sonia Ducie says the "dramatic" growth in interest in numerology in recent years is a sign of the times. " When society is going through a crisis, people tend to turn to religion or spirituality for answers," she says. Ducie also credits the rise of Sudoku with turning many on to the "power" of numbers.
Not everyone is convinced. Simon Singh, the maths enthusiast and acclaimed author of Fermat's Last Theorem and Big Bang, says: "Numbers are inherently interesting - the patterns they make, their properties and relationships are remarkable, and have fascinated mathematicians for thousands of years - but to attribute bogus properties to them, be they predictive or superstitious, is just a bit sad."
Sad or not, however, it clearly fascinates many - as this numerologically propitious selection of 23 snippets reveals...
1. The theory behind Western numerology goes back to Ancient Greece and the Pythagorean idea that everything can be expressed in numerical terms. Inspired by the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, in which letters are represented by numbers, modern numerologists attach a series of digits to people's names and use these, along with their dates of birth, to "reveal" the person's nature and prospects. But there are other traditions of numerology, notably the Chinese.
2. Spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller is a firm believer in the power of numbers and admits to being obsessed with the number 1111. "I believe that people who have constant contact with the 1111 phenomena have some type of a positive mission to accomplish," he says on his website. " When I see the number 1111, I pray for sick children and world peace," he adds.
3. Numerology forms an important part of Shia Islam and President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is said regularly to consult numbers when making political decisions. Last year he was reported to have brought forward his response to UN demands that he stop enriching uranium to coincide with a holy date in the Islamic calendar.
4. Superstitious Chinese people traditionally attach meaning to numbers based on their pronunciation. The number four is considered to be unlucky because it sounds like "death" but eight is a lucky number because it rhymes with the word for "fortune". The telephone number 8888-8888 was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China and next year's Beijing Olympics will open on 08/08/08 at 08:08:08p.m
5. The 6th century Byzantine physician Aetius Amidenus employed numerology in his cures for various ills. His prescriptions for gout, for example, changed with the months. He prescribed, among other remedies, milk in September, garlic in October, cabbage in December and abstinence in July.
6. Perhaps the best demonstration of the lengths to which many numerologists go to find "meaning" in numbers is the 9/11 terror attacks. Sally Faubion notes on her website: "September 11, 2001 reduces to a 5 (9+1+1+2+0+0+1=14; 1+4=5). Both the 11 (the number of that day) and the 5 have played significant roles in American history". Faubion goes on to point out that America's "destiny number", derived from Independence day (4/7/1776) is, "ironically", also a five.
Others point to the prevalence of the "ominous" number 11 in the 9/11 attacks. For example: the first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11; the attacks occurred exactly 11 years to the day after President George Bush Senior gave an address to Congress entitled, "Toward A New World Order" ; 119 is the area code for Iraq/Iran. 1+1+9=11.
7. The number 666, the Biblical "number of the beast", has long been feared by hexakosioihexekontahexaphobics. An American pastor called Jim Searcy once declared that the Prince of Wales was the Antichrist, because in Hebrew numerology the letters "Prince Charles of Wales" add up to 666. He also predicted that the world would end in October 2000.
8. Tuesday 6 June last year (06/06/06) saw hundreds of expectant mothers desperate not to give birth on the "day of the devil" but not Suzanne Cooper of Bristol who delivered a 6lb 6oz boy at 6am on 06/06/06. His name: Damien. Quoted in The Mirror the next day, dad Mike said: "It was a devil of a birth - a bit of a horror show".
9. Some Christian numerologists predicted dire events would occur on 06/06/06. Tom Chase, an American New Age writer, used astrology and the Bible to calculate that the antichrist would emerge, followed by an asteroid collision and within a year or two the battle of Armageddon. The antichrist, according to Chase, is Vladimir Putin.
10. Filming of the 1976 horror classic The Omen, in which the family of a boy, called Damien, are unaware he is the son of Satan, was beset by a series of unexplained numerological crises. Gregory Peck, star of the 1976 original, and screenwriter David Seltzer took separate flights to the UK for filming, but both planes were struck by lightning. The remake, The Omen 666, was released on 06/06/06.
11. The Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was condemned for wearing a shirt bearing the number 88. In neo-Nazi numerology, the figures mean Heil Hitler, H being the eighth letter in the alphabet. Buffon denied any knowledge of the link, claiming: "I have chosen 88 because it reminds me of four balls and in Italy we all know what it means to have balls: strength and determination."
12. Marcus du Sautoy, a distinguished Oxford professor of mathematics, believes athletes like Beckham who wear "powerful" prime numbers on their shirts perform better than those who do not. Outlining his theory in a lecture earlier this year, Du Sautoy said: "Sport is about psychology and if you genuinely believe there is something powerful about your number then there is no doubt you will play better."
13. Last February a numerologist was jailed for the 1988 murder of a Hull driving instructor. Martin Brown, 42, had scrawled his birth date, the number of his victim's house and the planned murder date on a matchbox found in the area years later. The evidence helped secure Brown's extradition from Australia, where he had moved after the murder.
14. Numerologists believe a single-digit number derived from one's date of birth reveals a lot about one's personality. Finding your "soul number" involves adding the digits of your birth day, month and year. For example, someone born today (28/07/2007) would add the day (2+8=10) and the month (0+7=7) to the year (2+0+0+7=9). So (10+7+9=26). Those digits (2+6) are added to reach the soul number (8). Mahatma Ghandi and Thomas Edison are among a select group of "exceptional" beings whose dates of birth correspond to the "master numbers" 11 and 22.
15. According to numerologist Andy Bulcraig, even our PIN numbers have numerological significance. To find out how, simply add the four digits of your PIN. (If the sum is two-digit, add them together as well.) Steady earners should arrive at four and philanthropists might come to 9, while those with a double 2 or 4 in their PIN will have double the "energy" and will be, says Bulcraig, high earners.
16. Numerologists also derive meaning from names. They assign the numbers 1-9 to three consecutive series in the alphabet: A-I; J-R; S-Z (for example, the number two corresponds to B, K and T). By totaling the values for each of the letters in a name (if the total is two-digit, add them together), you should arrive at a single "soul number". Three, for example, means you are optimistic, four represents stability, and nine is linked to vision and perfection.
17. The mother of the model Agyness Deyn (born Laura Hollins) reportedly changed her daughter's name after reading a magazine article about numerology. It suggested the letters in the new name would give her daughter the best "spiritual combination". Soon after the switch Deyn made the move from a Rochdale chip shop to the catwalks of London and Paris.
18. According to the author Titania Hardie, described by her publisher as " Britain's favourite white witch," a man's Day Force Number (the sum of the digits in the day on which he was born) reveals how good he is between the sheets. Number 2 likes foreplay, 7's a bit boring, 5 is raunchy, and 4 is unromantic.
19. For numerologists the advent of the 21st century signaled a busy few years in the form of a glut of "significant" dates. Most recently, thousands of superstitious spouses-to-be, including Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria, rushed to marry earlier this month, eager to captialise on the triplet of "lucky" sevens in the date 07/07/07.
20. Dr Neil Hair, a Scottish chemist turned numerologist, believes the spate of financial crises that struck corporations such as Enron and Worldcom in the early "noughties" could be explained by the figure zero. " The double zeros in 2001 and 2002 represent hidden files and skeletons coming out of the closet," he said at the time. Hair also reads companies' fortunes by analysing numbers derived from their names and " birth" dates.
21. According to Malaclypse The Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, founders of a sect of the chaos-centred Discordian religion, all events are connected to the number 23 - one of the most auspicious of all figures. This theory featured in the Jim Carrey film The Number 23 and the TV series Lost.
22. Jim Carrey became obsessed with numerology while making the film. He changed the name of his production company to JC23, citing, among other reasons, the Earth's 23 degree tilt, the 23 seconds it takes for blood to circulate around the body, and the fact that he was born at 2.30am.
23. When David Beckham moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, theories abounded as to why he switched his shirt number from 7 to 23. Most speculated he was paying homage to the American basketball star Michael Jordan, who also wears 23, but, in a classic example of the way numerologists always find digital answers if they look hard enough, some point to the fact that "David and Victoria Beckham" comprises 23 letters.
3121
3. Prince, a one-time Jehovah's Witness and committed student of the Bible, has emerged as something of a poster boy for numerology. The artist formerly known as 'the artist formerly known as Prince'' has a long-standing fixation with the number 3121.
1. The singer has never explained the obsession, but many believe it's a reference to the address of the star's rented Los Angeles house. Last year, the mansion's owner sued Prince for allegedly violating his £35,000-a-month lease by ''painting the exterior of the house with purple striping, a 'Prince' symbol, and numbers 3121.''
2. The artist has repeatedly used the four digits, to name his album (3121), his website (www.3121.com) and his own fragrance, which he launched at his Purple Will Reign charity concert on 7.7.07.
1. Prince has even gone so far as to price tickets for his Earth tour, which kicks off at the O2 Arena in London on Wednesday, at £31.21.
Source: The Independent (UK)
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2811660.ece
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LIGHTS IN THE SKY OH MY DEPARTMENT -
Contact Has Begun
Contact Has Begun
GOLDENDALE, Washington - It's an exciting time at James Gilliland's ranch outside of Trout Lake - not because there's nearly daily sightings of flying saucers, that's been happening for years - but because a documentary about the sightings has just been released.
The movie is called "Contact Has Begun," and Gilliland said last Saturday that it is expected to be showing in select theaters across the country. It's also available on DVD.
The documentary was filmed at Gilliland's ranch, a place called Sattva Sanctuary. The movie delves into Gilliland's life story and includes interviews with physicists and other experts who have visited the sanctuary and seen phenomena that they call "definitely off-world visitations."
Gilliland said the documentary is similar to "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" - a 2004 documentary filmed in Portland, Ore., that blends science and spirituality.
Last Saturday afternoon, on a lawn near Gilliland's house, a half-dozen guests had set up tents and blankets on the ground. Some had just arrived. Others had spent the previous night there.
Some claimed they said they saw the flying saucers that Gilliland said have been showing up about every evening, and sometimes during the day, for at least the past 10 years.
Greg Acuna, of Portland, and three family members, described what they saw the previous night.
"There was a light moving in a particular trajectory," Acuna said. "Then it just lit up, as if it was powering up. It moved in different directions and then shot up and out of sight."
His kids said they saw it, as well as a beam of light appear in the trees behind them. These aren't airplanes, Gilliland and the others standing in the field said. They are UFOs.
"Nothing flies like that, at those speeds, and then changing directions they way they do," Acuna said. He added that this was his tenth visit to the sanctuary over the past few years and he said he sees at least three to 16 or 20 UFOs each night.
"Only once did I see none," he said.
Typically, the flying saucers appear as a shining light about the size of a dime in front of Mount Adams, 13 miles away. They come closer, moving in and out of the trees, and even overhead. And guests at the sanctuary have taken a lot of videos and still footage of the strange lights Gilliland said are ships from other planets.
Gilliland's Web site, www.eceti.org., has numerous photos and videos of flying saucers appearing over and near Sattva Sanctuary.
"Most of the footage and photos on the Web site are from guests," Gilliland said, "and if you want to argue with them about what these objects are, then you can."
Some of the videos guests have taken of flying saucers at Gilliland's ranch can also be seen are on youtube.com.
"These beings are extremely spiritual and technologically advanced," Gilliland said. The beings inside the ships are also telepathic. So, although Gilliland allows people to come to Sattva Sanctuary to see for themselves, the strange lights in the sky, he asks for two big favors.
The first is to call in advance to make a reservation. He doesn't charge admission, but he does expect a donation. The second favor is for people "to keep an open mind," he said.
"These beings pick up on negative energy and fear," he added, and both will keep the ships at bay.
According to Gilliland, how close the ships come to the field largely depends on the emotional states and attitudes of the guests.
Saturday was Deborah Warren's first day at the sanctuary. She traveled from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, to see the flying saucers.
"I've wanted to come here for a very long time," she said. She said she had heard of Sattva Sanctuary from friends and the Internet.
Gilliland recently conducted a conference at Sattva Sanctuary where more than 350 guests and UFO and spiritual experts gathered. It was the second one of its kind at the ranch.
Gilliland also hosts a radio show on the bbc.com radio network every Saturday night. His show, where he often interviews experts from many fields of study, is called "As You Wish Talk Radio."
He's also appeared as a guest on the nightly AM-radio show, "Coast to Coast AM." Five times, according to his count.
But when Gilliland came to Trout Lake more than 21 years ago, he wasn't expecting, nor was he planning on, seeing UFOs.
According to his biography, Gilliland was raised in a small desert town spending most of his time in "nature."
In high school, he was a water polo team captain and on the swim team. He said he experienced a wide variety of friends of all kinds.
College was very diverse, he said. He studied biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, pre-law and pre-dental, yet did not acquire a degree or practice professionally. He said having the diversity was more important in understanding all walks of life.
He said he also learned all facets of the construction, grocery and real estate industries. He owned his own commercial real estate company, which developed and managed shopping centers and other large multi-million dollar projects. He was also on the board of directors for the chamber of commerce.
Then came a near death experience. He almost drowned. And then he said he realized that he could not continue life as usual.
This began a spiritual journey and 20-year quest which included six years of yoga, The Inner Christ Ministry, and the Tibetan Foundation, where he was certified as being an intuitive visionary of the highest consciousness and energy. He has studied with other yogis, lamas, master teachers and continuously has been taught from within through his extensive practicing of meditation.
Others recognize him as a teacher, spiritual counselor, energetic healer and published author. He wrote two books and was recently honored by a venerated teacher in the lama traditions as "Rigdzin Norbu," which translated, means "Jewel of Pure Awareness."
He found his ranch, he said, through dreams and visions of Mount Adams and the Trout Lake area. While living in Hood River, he "dowsed" a map, and located the ranch that he would later call Sattva Sanctuary.
He said he kept largely to himself, that is, until he felt as if beings from other worlds were communicating with him.
"I thought it was my imagination," he said. But then, the beings began visiting the ranch with their ships in the sky. "I wasn't looking for UFOs," he said. "They found me."
One day, about 10 years ago, while meditating, he said his sister pounded on his door, urging him to come see what was outside. Above two trees, he said, was a ship. Then a being came out of the ship and approached him.
"I've had face-to-face contact with them," he said Saturday.
"They are here now because we are at a crucial point in evolution, a shifting of the ages and need their help to get through some upcoming major cosmic events, and the tumultuous social, economic and physical earth changes we are seeing now that will continue to escalate," Gilliland said on his Web site.
They likely have chosen to regularly visit Sattva because of the diversity of the guests that come here, he added Saturday. "They come from all religious and spiritual backgrounds."
To arrange a visit to Sattva Sanctuary, e-mail Gilliland at ufojames@gorge.net.
Source: The Goldendale Sentinel
http://stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=54243229781005390