A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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Spiritualist movement, whose mediums <strong>of</strong>ten spoke with great figures <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> past (Swedenborg<br />
and Benjam<strong>in</strong> Frankl<strong>in</strong> were especially vocal) as well as <strong>the</strong> spirits <strong>of</strong> various exoticised O<strong>the</strong>rs.<br />
The messages carried to <strong>the</strong> Shakers by <strong>the</strong> dead were generally <strong>of</strong> two k<strong>in</strong>ds, a typology<br />
later reflected with<strong>in</strong> Spiritualism with some m<strong>in</strong>or variations. The spirits generally conveyed<br />
words <strong>of</strong> comfort and concern to <strong>in</strong>dividuals or provided broader moral exhortations and a<br />
general prodd<strong>in</strong>g to return to stricter Shaker ideals. Spiritual communiqués became a standard<br />
element <strong>of</strong> Shaker practice, a fact made emblematic by <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> “Holy Hills <strong>of</strong> Zion”<br />
or “Sacred Squares” with<strong>in</strong> Shaker communities. These squares were to be placed atop <strong>the</strong><br />
highest hill with<strong>in</strong> a given community and it was <strong>the</strong>re that twice a year, spr<strong>in</strong>g and fall, <strong>the</strong><br />
Shakers were to commune and feast with <strong>the</strong> spirits <strong>in</strong> what were called “Mounta<strong>in</strong> Meet<strong>in</strong>gs.”<br />
The Shakers also anticipated Spiritualism via <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> women to <strong>the</strong>ir creed and<br />
mission. The Shakers held that God was both mo<strong>the</strong>r and fa<strong>the</strong>r—an androgynous figure nicely<br />
captured by Frederick W. Evan’s emergence from <strong>the</strong> holy fire sans genitalia. The structure <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> church itself called for both male and female leaders and Ann Lee was believed to be <strong>the</strong><br />
"Second Appear<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Christ <strong>in</strong> female form". 49<br />
You will also recall that <strong>the</strong> period <strong>of</strong> Mo<strong>the</strong>r<br />
Ann's Second Appearance was <strong>in</strong>augurated by three young girls <strong>in</strong> Watervliet, illustrat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
precept that it would be a fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e force that would lead <strong>the</strong> world <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> “new era”. As we<br />
shall see, women played a central role <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> discourse and practices <strong>of</strong> Spiritualism as well.<br />
Fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e leadership is a commonplace throughout <strong>the</strong> cases exam<strong>in</strong>ed here<strong>in</strong>. Even when female<br />
leadership is absent, <strong>the</strong> fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>s a strong presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> prevalence <strong>of</strong> non-rational<br />
modes <strong>of</strong> perception and <strong>the</strong> generally passive ethos <strong>of</strong> giv<strong>in</strong>g oneself over to <strong>the</strong> cosmos.<br />
Though <strong>the</strong> situation is not as simple as a displacement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mascul<strong>in</strong>e by <strong>the</strong> fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e. In<br />
communication with <strong>the</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r, gender is <strong>of</strong>ten troubled as a category. The female Christ <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Shakers, Evans shorn <strong>of</strong> his genitals by holy fire, young girls as key spiritual <strong>in</strong>terlocutors—all<br />
49 For a full discussion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> women <strong>in</strong> Shakerism, see Marjorie Proctor-Smith, “’In <strong>the</strong> L<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Female’:<br />
Shakerism and Fem<strong>in</strong>ism,” <strong>in</strong> Women’s Leadership <strong>in</strong> Marg<strong>in</strong>al Religions: Explorations Outside <strong>the</strong> Ma<strong>in</strong>stream,<br />
ed. Ca<strong>the</strong>r<strong>in</strong>e Wess<strong>in</strong>ger (Urbana: University <strong>of</strong> Ill<strong>in</strong>ois Press, 1993).<br />
40