I have known Thea Wirsching for a few months and my respect for her intellect and deep knowledge of tarot and astrology and their place in American History continues to amaze. Her advice and her singular project entitled the American Renaissance Tarot was one of the guides and inspirations for our own Ufology Tarot. She recently gave a fascinating lecture at the Philosophical Research Society about the esoteric roots of Edgar Allan Poe.

We talked about her path to her doctorate in English and her dissertation on the hermetic and the occult roots of American culture, particularly in the 19th century. In academia, she pointed out, “the occult is transgressive” and “conjures up the devil” for many, which made her degree more difficult to accomplish. She said that academics often “do not allow the subjects studied the dignity of their beliefs” and we talked about how this might be changing.

Thea mentioned the African American occultist Paschal Beverly Randolph and his influence on Aliester Crowley and that he quite possibly authored the first vampire novel. He was part of a very real and important brand of American hermeticism that influenced occult movements worldwide, and was disseminated through fiction and writers such as Melville, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson, and Whitman and ended up in the teachings of Theosophy and the practice of Spiritualism (which itself was an American phenomenon which spread worldwide.) These authors and others, as well as significant figures from American history play important roles in the American Renaissance Tarot deck and book.

She emphasized that while U.S. history is filled with triumphs and horrors, that we must look at the negative as well as the positive in order to make peace with it and change for the better.

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The interviews so far for our card project have concentrated on the Ufology” part of the process and philosophy of creating these images. In this interview, our resident tarot and occult expert and team member Susan Demeter joined Miguel Romero and I to discuss the symbology behind the artwork and how we are adapting the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck to tell the story of Ufology and the phenomenon that it studies. We took particular time with the evolution of the “Strength” card, featuring researcher Anne Druffel, and why we chose the symbols for Key 8.

The Kickstarter campaign closes on November 30, so if you have been hesitating to join us, have a look and help out if you want to be one of the few who receive the first 22 cards and a discount on the rest of the deck when it is complete.

We will soon return you to our irregularly scheduled program!

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A small group has been working for over a year to bring a project to light, and it has finally appeared this week as the Ufology Tarot. This stems from an idea I had a few years ago to encode notable Ufologists, witnesses, and cases in a system of tarot in order to honor, examine, and especially connect them with directly with the user/ reader on a level that a simple book alone cannot hope to accomplish.

Joined by my friends Miguel Romero, Joshua Cutchin, Susan Demeter, and David Metcalfe, we met periodically and strategized, debated, and sought out history and sources of information, archetypes, and concepts to make these cards a reality.

In this program, David, Josh, Miguel and I discuss the genesis of the project and the ideas behind it. The program was recorded barely 3 hours after we launched the Kickstarter campaign on October 31st.

Please help us bring the first 22 cards (also known as the major arcana) to life! The 56 minor cards, with more deep dives into the history of the UFO subject, will be available through a separate funding campaign after the first phase completes in about 1 year.

THANK YOU! We are excited to finally share this project with all of you.

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Susan‘s latest book is entitled Cosmic Witch, and we discussed the events, ideas, and research that led to its writing. Susan sees definite connections between parapsychology, ghost hunting, witchcraft and UFOs. Near the end of the program, we also talked about her latest blog post on the strange trans-solar object known as “Omuamua” and the possibility that it was artificial, as proposed by Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb.

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We talked about the release of her photography book Séance, which examines the history, issues, and impact of the Spiritualist movement, birthed in the 19th century and which survives to this day. There are literate and informative essays throughout, illustrated with rare and sometimes quite beautiful images and photographs from the history of Spiritualism and related areas of parapsychology, as well as her own stunning images of séances, psychic readings, and the objects associated with them.

We discussed her introduction to the world of the séance, and her eventual evolution into what she calls a “diplomat of spiritualism.” She also mentioned that some people (particularly urban sophisticates and some in the art world) seem to be interested in the paranormal, “but if you make it too real for them, they turn off.” She also gave us a fascinating insight into the phenomenon known as “ectoplasm,” and reports of the substance smelling like bodily fluids.

One of Shannon’s most interesting insights were her comparisons of photography and Spiritualism: “Through their dance with each other, [they] exposed each other’s limitations. We learned about photography’s complicated relationship with truth, and we learned about Spiritualism’s subjective truth.”

Purchase from the publisher.

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Anyone who listens to this show knows the work of Whitley Strieber. His 1987 book Communion was a watershed document that made millions aware of the phenomenon of UFO abductions. It defined and codified the experiences for thousands of people, many of whom wrote to Strieber and his late wife Anne with their own stories. His influence can truly be described as “iconic.” To me, he is the best currently active artist dealing with this subject.

In this conversation, we discussed the beginnings of his experiences, indications of what came before, and the deep influence of his wife in framing and presenting his story. We also delved into the enigma of materials supposedly taken from UFO crashes, the brain physiology of abductees, how Anne has apparently communicated with him since her death, and the times that author William S. Burroughs visited Strieber’s famous cabin looking to make contact with the Visitors.

Commenting on the events of his life, Strieber says he has come to believe that “what we see here is another level of human beings who are in control of souls.” His next book is entitled A New World.

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Charles Topham has nothing to sell, no book to promote, not even a website. He simply has an interesting story with implications for all who look to the interactive relationship between human activity and consciousness and the vast subject we call “the paranormal.”

A few months ago, Miguel Romero (aka “Red Pill Junkie”) wrote to tell me about Charles, and his story of “psychic questing,” which is a concept that is virtually unknown outside of the UK. The basic story is that from the late 1970s to sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s, small, private groups in Britain began meeting to use seances, ouija boards, and other methods in order to locate hidden objects of apparent historical importance, such as swords, precious stones, and documents. The practice is intimately connected with the rich history of English magic and folklore.

Miguel served as co-interviewer as Charles described his interest in UFOs and other out-there subjects from an early age, including apparent communications with non-humans by radio (a’la contactee George Hunt Williamson.) In the early 1990s, he formed a group with a few friends and began their own questing sessions, eventually establishing contact with an apparent entity calling itself “Addie,” who self-described as a young teenage girl of the Victorian era.

Addie began “apporting” objects to the group which responded to the whims of questions from different members, such as photos, books, divination cards, and even precious stones. When I asked Charles early on if there was any chance of fraud, he said “I didn’t see you there,” which was his way of saying “From outside the confines of the group, of course.” We discussed these issues and the fact that hoaxing or faking is an intimate part of much of these phenomena, but does not explain all of it, a concept that is admittedly difficult for some to accept.

I choose to listen without making sharp judgments. Things just seem more interesting that way, and whatever your beliefs, we hope you find Charles’ story worth hearing.

Image above: A Egyptian divination card that Charles says was apported during one of their sessions with “Addie,” and which recently formed the nexus of a personal synchronicity.

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Joshua Cutchin‘s new book is his best yet, and deeply examines the ancient folklore surrounding children who are supposedly taken from their homes and parents by denizens of the “fairy realm.” Don’t make the mistake that he believes in a literal interpretation. He makes this clear in the first interview he gave for the book.

Throughout the interview, one of the themes (as in the book) is that there are very definite parallels between this phenomenon and the “hybrid” lore of UFO abduction literature. These comparisons have of course been made before, but Cutchin’s book also points out the similarities between fairy lore and Bigfoot encounters, as well as the recent focus on wilderness disappearances (think Missing 411.)

We spoke about the “changeling” lore, which holds that children are taken and replaced with a fairy child, which appears weak, sickly, or otherwise “strange” to the rest of the family. Josh pointed out that this tradition was often used as an excuse to ostracize those who were deemed strange or otherwise useless to the community, all too often resulting in cases of infanticide.

He hastens to add, however, that we “do the phenomenon a disservice” by reducing it to mundane explanations. The true nature of this tradition can be best approached by detailed and careful study, such as can be found in Cutchin’s new work, Thieves In The Night: A Brief History of Supernatural Child Abductions.

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Rosemary Ellen Guiley thinks she “came out of the womb writing” and enjoys the process of producing books, which is probably the first time any author has told me this. Guiley is a highly-regarded paranormal researcher with 65 books to her name, that range from encyclopedias of saints and angels, to the divination technique of scrying, to witchcraft, and of course, UFOs. Her new book (co-written with Michael Brein) is entitled The Road to Strange: UFOs, Aliens and High Strangeness. The book features first person accounts of dramatic UFO encounters and includes not only the sighting accounts themselves, but more importantly, the witness’ impressions and emotions during and after, which I believe is very important. We talked about this aspect of emerging research, and how this might be changing UFO study.

We discussed the differences between male and female investigators, and how witnesses react to both. We also brought up the recent controversy over the Chicago mothman sightings and how investigators occasionally seem to enjoy fighting with each other more than the actual research they are supposedly doing. We also talked about her work with an abductee research group (FREE) and how the encounters seem to almost always transform the consciousness of the witness. We delved into the shadow people phenomenon and issues with ouija boards (which is the subject of at least two of her books) and the techniques used in scrying. There was some light debate and discussion on the extraterrestrial hypothesis, and Guiley’s idea that observed alien entities are most likely inter-dimensional beings.

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I have been following the work of Dr. Dean Radin for over 20 years. In that time, I have been privileged to interview him twice. His new book Real Magic will be released just after this show posts and for me, it is his best to date. Real Magic looks at the history of magic in western thought and practice, and suggests that we can legitimately examine issues and concepts formerly considered forbidden by science, such as manifesting thoughts, fulfilling wishes, and considering the relationship of consciousness to what we know as the physical world.

Radin almost became a concert violinist, but luckily for some of us, he decided to go into the sciences. We spoke about this artistic background and how it affects his research. As his career began to track into the study of parapsychology, Radin realized that there was (and still is) a great deal of prejudice in the academic and scientific communities surrounding the study of psychic phenomena and especially “magic,” although he senses that this is slowly changing. As he points out in the interview, if a system of inquiry does not explain everything in its world, then it is wrong or needs revision.

We discussed what might happen if magical effects were commonplace (he thinks it could  be more dangerous than the atomic bomb) and the idea that any other intelligence in the universe may be waiting for us to make some sort of telepathic contact before communicating with us at all. Radin also answered the question of “if we can control reality, why can’t I manifest gold and diamonds?” He also presented a model of the universe based on information and consciousness, and how to treat an individual who experiences psi functioning firsthand, and has their worldview turned upside down.

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