by Charles Lear
From the days of flying saucers in the 1940s and 1950s, up until the present where many now prefer the term “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP), investigators and researchers have approached the mystery using scientific methods. However, this is not the case for all who have sought answers as to the source and purpose of the reported encounters with strange things in our skies. Many have turned to esotericism, in addition to science, as a means of inquiry. This approach has actually been present from the very beginning of modern UFOlogy and those interested in the subject might consider looking into it, even if only from a historical or sociological perspective.
Esoteric is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.” When one talks of esotericism in association with UFOs or the paranormal, one is usually referring to what has become known as “Western Esotericism” which is a term used to describe a loosely connected group of religious and philosophical ideas that deviate from Judeo-Christian beliefs and post-Enlightenment rationalism. By the late 19th century, organized groups and secret societies had developed around these esoteric ideas, two of the most prominent being the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society. Both of these adhered to the belief that there is a group of cosmic beings that can be contacted by adepts who wish to receive ancient wisdom and advice. The Theosophical Society still exists today.
Arguably, the first group to investigate claims of a mysterious flying object, was the Borderland Sciences Research Association. Formed in Southern California by Meade Layne along with Max Freedom Long, BSRA was an association dedicated to paranormal research and included parapsychologists, spiritualists, and Theosophists. Their research methods included Yoga, Qabalistic technique, and spirit channeling. Their main spirit channeler was Mark Probert, the “Telegnostic from San Diego.” The group put out its first newsletter, the Round Robin, in February 1945. It wasn’t long before they were investigating what they called, “The Ether Ship Mystery.”
The October 1946 issue of Round Robin has an article by Meade Layne titled “Welcome Kareeta!” It describes a sighting reported to Layne via telephone by Mark Probert. Probert said he and a boy watching a meteor shower saw an object “about the size of an extremely large plane” with two reddish lights. He said he saw it twice, at first moving faster than any plane, and then flying across the Moon. According to him, “the flapping of its wings was plainly visible.” He described it as “somewhat luminous.”
The boy, Fernando Estevane, corroborated Probert’s description saying, “It was certainly not a plane. No plane could manoeuver that way.” In addition to those of Probert and Estevane, eleven other witness descriptions, from different areas around San Diego, are included.
After the witness descriptions, Layne tells his readers:
What we are about to do will delight our enemies, make the blood of our best friends run cold. We are going to declare our personal, editorial, present and tentative acceptance of certain “psychic,” mediumistic and clairaudient “communications.”
Layne then includes a statement by Probert, who received information about the object “by his clairaudience.” According to Probert, the object, called a “Kareeta,” was sent to our planet by people from a “far-off planet.” It had 10,000 parts, was made of “balsam wood coated with a thin layer of alloy,” and the wings were operated by small yet powerful electric motors. The people who sent the ship did so to make contact and hoped to make a landing before a group of scientists at an “isolated spot.”
After this, ‘The Ether Ship Mystery” was included among the group’s investigations. In 1950, BSRA published, “The Ether Ship Mystery and its Solution: a Booklet for Public Information,” written by Meade Layne. Among Layne’s conclusions were that the mystery ships materialize out the etheric plane known as “Etheria,” that “little men” may have actually been our size but shrinkage may have occurred during materialization, that then present-day science was not equipped to deal with the mystery, and that “the occultism of today is the science of tomorrow.”
A modern-day Swedish researcher who has looked deeply into the esoteric influences on UFO investigation is Håkan Blomqvist, a doctor of philosophy and director of the Institute of Contemporary History. Blomqvist was one of the founders in 1973 of the Archives for the UFO Research (now Archives for the Unexplained) and is still active with the organization today. Blomqvist wrote a book on UFOs and esotericism published in 2013 titled, “Return of the Gods. UFOs and the Esoteric Tradition.” It has not been translated to English but, in 2017, Blomqvist released a pdf collection of his blog, Håkan Blomqvist’s blog, titled, “Esotericism and UFO Research. A Selection and Compilation of Blog Entries 2013-2017.”
Blomqvist informs his readers that the founders of Sweden’s “UFO movement” in the 1950s were active members of the Theosophical Society Adyar. According to him, when the contactees came to prominence after the 1953 publication of George Adamski’s book co-authored with Desmond Leslie, “The Flying Saucers Have Landed,” there were two camps among the world’s UFO researchers; those who were open to the claims of the contactees and those who dismissed them outright. The contactees’ claims of communication, both verbal and psychic, with other-worldly beings fit in with the beliefs of the Theosophists. Because most of the Swedish UFO researchers were Theosophists, Sweden became a contactee-friendly country.
Blomqvist identifies the main influence in the development of Sweden’s “UFO movement” as Edith Nicolaisen, who founded the “new age” publishing company, Parthenon. According to him, Nicolaisen, and the three women making up Parthenon’s board, were all active members of the Theosophical Society Adyar. Nicolaisen began a correspondence with Adamski in 1954 and published his and Leslie’s book in Swedish, the first UFO book published in that language, in 1957.
There was a shift in 1966 with the publication of the book by K. Gösta Rehn, “The Flying Saucers. Documents and Theories.” Rehn was the Swedish regional director of the American based Aerial Phenomena Research Organization. APRO was very scientific in their approach to the mystery and dismissive of the contactees. Rehn was also scientific in his approach and his book had an influence among Swedish researchers. UFO organizations in Sweden began to form that were more science based and the most prominent of these was UFO-Sweden, formed in 1970. The organization is still active today and manages AFU. Blomqvist was a member in 1973 when he helped found AFU and is still an active member today. In spite of the organization’s emphasis on science, those with esoteric beliefs were and still are welcome to participate.
Today, many researchers around the world approach the UFO mystery with a combination of science and esotericism. The esoteric aspect ranges from entertaining the idea that we are being contacted by intelligences that exist in another dimension, to attempts at initiating contact by psychic means. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallée, and John Keel, all researchers with backgrounds in science, greatly influenced the adoption of this approach, as they all came to the conclusion that science alone was not up to the task of solving the mystery. As valid as this sort of approach might be, good luck getting funding.