While modern ufology has been a component of our cultural zeitgeist for decades and decades now, during much of that time it has generally been seen as a matter for astrophysicists and aviation experts. While ground-breaking researchers such as Jacques Vallee, John Keel and J. Allen Hynek, as early as the 1970s, suggested the anomalous and highly strange nature of the data takes us well beyond that kind of conventional inquiry, even today, the mainstream still tends to think of UFOs (now monikered as UAP) and NHI – the fancy new name for what we use to call “aliens”, as involving interstellar travelers arriving at Earth in sophisticated spacecraft.

For many, especially in still physicalist-centric Western civilization, this kind of enterprise represents, at least in potentia, a new kind of contact, and a new possibility for communication that takes us beyond what we’ve been limited to amongst our own species over the milenia. But, here again, the data – when one actually looks squarely into them – take us well beyond that notion. And that’s because – contact – and specifically contact with apparently non-human and non-conventionally human intelligences – has supposedly already been happening. The varieties of contact technologies or modalities that have meditated this non-ordinary kind of communication include mediumship/channeling, shamanic journeying, CE-5/HICE, dreams, psychedelics, and even fever states.

In other words, the issue seems to be not one of needing to wait for interstellar travelers to arrive to finally give us this opportunity, for it’s been available to us all along, with some cultures and people groups being more privy to this fact than others. Interestingly, these various modalities of contact and communication also seem to be possible regardless of what would seem to be the expected language and even species-specific differences. And that’s because mind-to-mind communication, known in parapsychological circles as telepathy, seems to be the general rule rather than the exception in these endeavors, thus bypassing the need for translation of written and spoken languages altogether.

But of course, these startling revelations raise further questions: if the issue is not one of needing to wait for interstellar travelers to arrive via superliminal (that is, faster than light) travel, then how exactly is this contact and communication happening? Have they been here – in our so-called “physical” space – all along? Or does the nature of this contact suggest space, and for that matter, time, is simply not what we’ve long assumed? How is it that these various contact technologies are able to connect us with alternative forms of sophisticated sentience, and what do they have in common that makes them effective? These are the captivating and consequential matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 105th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

If there’s one thing that becomes abundantly clear to those who endeavor to study the so-called UFO Phenomenon closely, it’s that it defies easy categorization. When you come across a researcher or enthusiast who claims they’ve made quick work of what’s actually going on – i.e. who’s involved, where they’re from, what their agenda is, etc, you can be sure that their conclusions have more to do with their own wish-fulfillment than with the data at hand.

That isn’t to say there aren’t distinctive patterns that emerge within the totality of human experience with these various non-human others, giving clues as to the underlying reality – because I believe there are. But even amongst those distinct patterns, various elements of ambiguity still inevitably bubble to the surface, resisting simple classification and description. Indeed this ambiguity may be part and parcel of a Phenomenon that involves interaction with entities who seemingly come from domains of existence beyond our own, where perhaps even notions like space and time manifest very differently.

One of the elements where this applies is in regards to how human beings interpret the nature of their experiences with these various non-human, alien others, along a spectrum ranging from positive, to neutral, to negative. This somewhat murky picture gets even murkier when one adds the element of time; for evidence seems to suggest that the longer people have to reflect on the nature of their encounters, the more they begin to see their interactions in either a positive light, or at least as a net neutral. To be sure, this is not always the case, but nevertheless, often enough to draw our attention.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. After all, few human beings are either all good or all bad. Most of us are progressing along a spiral of moral development. To be sure, some are further along than others, but few are what we would describe as completely malevolent, nor the epitome of righteous love and light. It makes sense that the same would hold true for these mysterious non-human others; especially when you consider that – as I would posit – they are, at the end of the day – also facets of the same undivided bedrock of consciousness from which we all derive out being; a being that is not, in the most ultimate sense, divided and distinct, regardless of how these matters might appear at first blush.

I already mentioned that sometimes contactees/abductees/experiencers find that their interpretation of the nature of their experiences evolves over time, given the advent of further perspective. Often this comes down to letting the ontological shock wear off a little – because, lest we forget, these are very often, at least initially, extremely traumatic experiences, where human beings encounter strange looking entities that they’ve been told their entire lives cannot possibly exist. That is not to say that trauma equals inherent negativity – in terms of the intentions of these various others. It just means that the physiological and neurological reaction to the event leaves clear evidence of PTSD for any trained therapist to find clear signs of.

Beyond having perspectives change over the long haul, once in a while we find the interpretation of an experience can change almost in real-time, or, at least within a matter of days, to weeks, to months. That’s exactly what happened in a case we’re going to delve into in this episode. It involves the abduction of two teenage parents and their young infant son. Were they taken against their will? Well, that’s complicated. Were they initially traumatized by the shocking nature of the experience? Yes, absolutely so. Were they also permanently transformed for the better – to the point that their understanding of themselves and reality itself was expanded? Undeniably. And here again we see the overtones of the complexity of these situations.

Why are these experiences initially so ontologically shocking, even when they can ultimately prove so positively transformative? And why and how is the element of personal sovereignty and personal agency so complicated when it comes to the subject of alien contact and/or abduction accounts? These are the very matters we’ll seek to engage with, by delving deeply into an astonishing real-world example, in this, the 72nd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Near the middle part of the 20th century, American society became obsessed with a newfangled fascination. This pastime that took the public’s imagination by storm, prompted serious and excited discussion around interplanetary visitors. The dawning of this new era in pubic life was fueled by a series of sightings of what quickly became known, colloquially, as
“flying saucers”.

More generally, the term adopted was that of UFOs – unidentified flying objects. This term described what was commonly assumed to be, sophisticated technological spacecraft being piloted by alien others – Martians or Venusians or something in that line of thinking; our neighbors from the surrounding planets of our solar system.

Now, while the public’s interest was peaking, the mainstream scientific establishment was much more cautious. All of this hoopla seemed too good to be true; too much like a radio drama depicting an H.G. Wells story, or something along those lines. For that reason, mainstream scientists largely steered clear of this topic. And of course, this bias was helped in large measure by what we understand now to be a dedicated disinformation campaign meant to quell public and academic interest, being perpetuated by the federal government.

However, that said, there were scientists who had not forgotten that their role was to investigate anything mysterious that seemed to be manifesting, without assuming – a priori – that such things simply couldn’t be. These rare pioneers of inquiry are the kinds of people determined to let data – not preexisting bias – lead the way.

One such pioneer was and is a scientist named Jacques Vallee – a living legend who has arguably done more for the field of ufology than any other person in the history of the world. What’s made Vallee so well regarded over time is that, looking back, he was always willing to go – again – wherever the data led him; letting it, rather than the “common sense” thinking of the day lead to the postulating of new hypotheses.

Now, speaking of that, one such data-driven shift that happened for Vallee came when he recognized that, 1.) These supposed encounters with alien beings flying sophisticated spacecraft seemed to regularly include elements of high strangeness more akin to what are commonly referred to as paranormal encounters, and 2.) That, when examined in close detail, these elements overlapped considerably with apparently religious or fairy-tale encounters from distant human history.

This inspired Vallee to do a deep dive, comparing modern-day UFO encounters with events from distant history, leading, eventually, to his controversial, consequential and ground-breaking book Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. And It is the surprising and evocative revelations uncovered in that seminal book that is the topic of this, the 57th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

In last week’s episode I postulated that part of the reason why it’s so difficult to make sense of the actions of the intelligence behind the UFO Phenomenon is because, in reality, that broad range of activity is not the result of a single actor. The data ends up looking nonsensical and contradictory to us because in one case a so-called “alien” intelligence says or does one thing, and then in the next case it does the seeming opposite. But as I argued, this apparent contradiction only exists when we assume a single intelligence and agenda is involved.

From my point of view the reality is anything but. I think what we’re dealing with is a multidimensional multiverse absolutely teeming with life. And while trickster phenomena are undoubtedly in the mix, that alone – from my point of view – doesn’t explain the bizarre mishmash of actions we see evidenced in the data. Again, I think the wide range of activity and messages attributed to these Others comes down to them being different groups – often with different agendas as well as, different sources/origins.

I also made the point in last week’s episode that, while various researchers tend to focus on one subset of the data, while ignoring, dismissing or downplaying the rest, this is the wrong approach – especially if our goal is to gain a greater understanding as to the totality of what’s going on, and to, more importantly, gain further clarity on the very fabric of ultimate reality.

I think our approach should be to attempt to identify patterns within the totality of the data. And as we do that, I think we’ll find that one particular hypothesis might better fit one aspect of the data while perhaps a different hypothesis better fits a different segment. In other words, in no way should we consider these various hypotheses to be mutually exclusive. In fact, I think it’s only in combining them within some overarching meta-conception that we can hope to achieve some semblance of clarity as to the source and nature of these various mysterious Others.

In addition to the confusion that can arise when we have data that effectively is a jumble of activity based on many different kinds of non-human intelligence, one aspect of that data that seems particularly confounding is the regularly reported humanoid form of these so-called aliens. Now, on the one hand, one might want to disregard these reports as being an anthropocentric tendency based on people who didn’t see very clearly during a certain contact or abduction experience, or who are suffering from a failing memory. And that might work, for one or a few cases. But as I already stated, these humanoid forms are described again and again and again in the UFO Phenomenon literature, so much so that we surely can’t explain this all away as blatant, inherent bias in this broad assortment of witnesses.

Not very long ago on this podcast we discussed the Future Human Hypothesis, and how this helps to elegantly explain why these Others so often appear to not only be humanoids, but actually hominids; in other words, biological beings directly descended from human beings.

But are there other possibilities that deserve consideration as a plausible explanation for their uncanny resemblance to us? I believe there are. And we’ll explore both those possibilities, as well as how various proposed hypotheses might weave together to form a fabric robust enough to contain the plurality of alien Others that have been reported over time, in this, the 51st episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Ventures into the skies above our heads may have begun with the Wright Brothers and their rudimentary attempts at flight, but within decades those initial crude experiments evolved into sophisticated spacecraft that could not only take humankind soaring only into the skies, but well beyond. Indeed, by the 1960s the future for humankind seemed clearly to be destined for space, and eventually the colonization of near and distant planets.

And as we gained in our understanding of spaceflight, and as our ever more powerful telescopes could peer farther and farther into the great expanse of the so-called Final Frontier of outer space, we began to wonder aloud about how long it would be before we would discover other civilizations, perhaps now traveling the stars as we hoped to do in the decades to come.

And yet, no matter where we looked, and no matter how far we looked, it seemed that, while every nook and cranny of that great expanse was filled with dazzling displays of starry splendor, life — that is, sophisticated, non-human, alien life, was nowhere to be found. Even something as primitive as bacteria remained elusive.

This of course, led to the obvious question: where was all the life we assumed was out there? If there were plenty of planets in so-called habitable zones, as all of our growing body of data seemed to suggest, why weren’t we discovering life? Why weren’t we picking up the transmissions of distant civilizations with our ever more powerful and far-reaching sensors and telescopes?

This conundrum is known as the Fermi paradox, which, according to Wikipedia, is states thusly: -The Fermi paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial life and various high estimates for their probability (such as some optimistic estimates for the Drake equation).

Now, while this dilemma still troubles many – especially those holding to a more traditional understanding of how life in the Cosmos is likely to have developed over the last several billion years – there are others who have postulated that the reasons are obvious once one really looks at the question in the right way. In other words, the problem lies not in the apparent result, but in the very assumptions we make as to what advanced, non-human life will look like, how it would behave, and where and how we’re most likely to find it.

Not only do these refreshingly inventive, forward-thinking ways of seeing this issue help us to address the Fermi paradox, but they also open up intriguing possibilities as to how we humans may evolve to the point where we too can follow suit, perhaps finding passage into the fascinating realms these Others may already be existing in.

These notions also help those of us intimately involved with a topic such as the UFO Phenomenon to perhaps better understand a truth that we think is staring us in the face: a truth suggesting these Others are not only “out there”, but here, in and around the Earth, and perhaps have been for as long, or longer, than we have. These compelling ideas and the intriguing potential implications they give birth to, are the very matters we’ll seek to explore in this, the 45th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

In last week’s episode of the Point of Convergence podcast we discussed what I consider to be one of the most important cases in the history of the UFO Phenomenon. I speak here of the astounding life and times of Dorothy Izatt, a soft-spoken woman who managed to capture 30,000 feet of film footage documenting bizarre, astonishing, bewildering objects and lights in the sky outside her home in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Of course, the capturing of the footage – as compelling as that is, in terms of offering clear evidence of something you might call otherworldly really taking place – was perhaps not the most important or compelling aspect of Dorothy’s experience. She also claimed to be in regular communication with the intelligences behind these dizzying visual displays. And that combination of documented evidence of contact, along with the nature of the communication that took place with these Others, is what makes this case so particularly unique.

Notice I used the term “intelligences” to describe Dorothy’s contact experiences. I do that not only to designate different individuals within one type or race of alien beings, but also to acknowledge the sheer breadth of contact Dorothy encountered – involving numerous different kinds of beings that fit the description of aliens we’d typically categorize as extraterrestrial, but also other entities, which as we mentioned last week might better be described as extradimensional, whom Dorothy saw as basically angelic in nature.

Indeed, Dorothy’s ability to see and interact with such a broad assortment of Others seems directly connected to her capacity to observe a much wider spectrum of reality than the typical human being. That capacity included her apparent ability to see energy such as microwaves, which we’ll get into later in this episode. Interestingly, her capacity for this kind of extraordinary perception seemed to arise through a combination of what one might call innate gifting, and a kind of augmentation and tuning done by some of these beings themselves.

Dorothy Izatt’s case is also fascinating and illuminating because it touches on her apparent history over multiple lifetimes – during which these Others claimed to have been in contact and ongoing relationship with her. Indeed, this piece, dealing with the expanded modalities of human beings, seems to be central to our quest to understand more about the ultimate nature of the UFO Phenomenon, and indeed of the fabric of reality itself.

All that is to say, the case of Dorothy Izatt is simply too intriguing and too illuminating to be covered adequately in a single episode. And thus, a further discussion of the ground-breaking case of Dorothy Izatt is the topic of this, the 35th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

There are a few cases in the lore of the UFO Phenomenon that tend to get a disproportionate amount of attention. When it comes to cases involving not just sightings of UFOs or UAP, but actual contact with non-human intelligences (i.e. aliens), historically cases involving scary tales of humorless, unfeeling and sometimes outright malevolent entities have tended to get a lot of – as they say – press.

But as we discussed in last week’s episode of the Point of Convergence podcast, evidence actually suggests positive encounters are more prevalent than negative ones; especially when, as we’ve pointed out a few times now, experiencers have the necessary time and perspective to be able to consider their experiences beyond the scope of the initial ontological shock.

Now, while the ontological shock is front and center for many – and completely understandably so – there do exist cases where people have positive encounters with these Others from the outset, with almost none of the usual fight/flight response involved. While cases exempt from the ontological shock aspect are much more rare, they do exist. And when they do exist they often involve a very distinct kind of human being.

One such case is that of Dorothy Izatt. This case is one of my personal favorites, for a few different reasons. First off, the case involves an amazing degree of documentation. Indeed, spanning over decades, Dorothy Izatt – in her quiet, non-nonsense manner – managed to capture literally thousands of feet of footage cataloging her encounters with a wide variety of entities.

Secondly, because the majority of this footage was captured on 8mm film, and this happened before the proliferation of video editing software, the footage is very difficult to dismiss. And, as I’m sure you would expect, believe me, experts have tried. Part of what surprises me, to this day, is that her footage is not studied and discussed more often, considering these factors.

Thirdly, the footage itself is astonishing – both in terms of quantity and quality. One particularly fascinating aspect of the footage involves how one frame of film will show lighted orbs in the sky, and then the very next frame will show a bizarre array of zigzagging lines of light jumping all over the frame. And then, in the very next frame, all you’ll see once again are orbs like in the first of the three frames. In other words, this transformation is happening so quickly that all the human eye recognizes in real time is a flash.

Finally, a key aspect of what makes this case so particularly compelling is the figure of Dorothy herself. Those who were lucky enough to have met her reported that she was a grounded, down-to-earth soul, not a seeker of attention whatsoever, and someone who always exuded kindness, wisdom and humility. If character is a key component in evaluating these kinds of cases, Dorothy clearly passes with flying colors.

Highly pertinent to this podcast and the inquiries we’ve been making – not only into the nature of the UFO Phenomenon, but also into the ultimate nature of all that is – is that Dorothy’s encounters were as diverse as they were astounding – involving levels of contact that both included and that go far beyond the initial telepathic messages she received while first recording dazzling lights in the sky. The fascinating, compelling and illuminating case of Dorothy Izatt is the topic of this, the 34th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.