Blog Post #2

In listening to the UFO abductions audio and viewing the corresponding slideshow, I was reminded of the many aspects of extraterrestrial lore that are actually related to the occult. Crop circles, "alien abductions,” and cattle mutilations all have links to these esoteric practices, which - from a skeptic's perspective - would be an indication that they are man-made and/or human-influenced. Crop circles, for instance, often appear as occult symbols like the pentagram and hexagram. These symbols have been historically and contemporarily used in occult practices and ceremonial magick, with the six-pointed star commonly used both as a talisman and for conjuring spirits and spiritual forces in diverse forms of occult magic.

So-called “alien abductions” also have links to occult practices. Many abductees describe being “probed” in their anal cavity, and stories of both blood and semen harvesting via forceful ejaculation and/or forceful penetration by way of alien technology also exist, albeit to a lesser extent. Such was the case for Betty and Barney Hill, who reported an assortment of forceful sexual acts during so-called abductions. These aspects of alien abduction, including bodily fluid-harvesting and anal penetration, are known practices that take place during certain forms of sex magick and occult rituals. Perhaps the most well-known and influential occultist in modern history, Aleister Crowley, for instance, believed that “The blood (or excrements) from anal intercourse attract the spirits/demons while the sperm keeps them alive.” Along the same lines, both blood and semen are used in the creation and sustentation of sigils: symbols and omens that are used in summoning rituals and black magick.

Speaking of Aleister Crowley, during an extended occult ritual - referred to as "The Amalantrah Workings” - Crowley claimed to have summoned a “preternatural” entity called “LAM.” The picture below shows a depiction of the supposed entity Crowley referred to as “LAM,” as well as a depiction of the most commonly reported physical characteristics of a typical alien. Notice the strong similarities between the two:

Cattle mutilations - with reports dating back as far as 1869, and so widely common that they’ve been the subject of two independent federal investigations in the US - are also most frequently attributed to extraterrestrial phenomena. A typical case of cattle mutilation involves livestock having been completely exsanguinated (i.e. drained of their blood), with their body parts surgically removed, and done with extreme precision. These body parts most often include the eyes, tongues, cheeks, and sex organs (including the genitalia and rectum) of the animal. 

As has been previously discussed, blood plays an important role in a number of occult rituals and spells. However, as it turns out, animal body parts - and specifically genitalia - also have a number of uses in the practice of black magick. In Morocco, for instance, so-called “witches” and “warlocks” “use the organs of animals such as tails, toes, horns, legs, and genitals” for their specific cultural forms of sorcery. Similarly, Mexico, Brazil, and Africa (among others countries) are home to “witch doctors” and occult practitioners who often use the ritual sacrifice of livestock in their religious ceremonies.

The use of animals and their body parts in ritual magick is so common throughout history and so prevalent across the world that it has become somewhat of a cliche in storytelling: the ominous idea of the witch’s brew. This trope goes at least as far back as Shakespeare, who wrote in Macbeth “Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Notice the excision of the genital area.

    These concepts all have significant historical basis in occultism. Thus, from the perspective of this class, we should assume that the phenomena of crop circles, abductions, and cattle mutilations are almost certainly man-made and/or directly related to human behavior and psychology, rather than being the different practices of extraterrestrials. My personal belief, however, is that the beings that are the supposed cause of these incidents are not extraterrestrial aliens, rather, they are instead inter-dimensional demons. But what do I know? I'm just a college student!