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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have an ongo<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> our collective fate.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>the</strong> leaders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Occult Hierarchy on this earth are said to have been<br />
mighty be<strong>in</strong>gs whose evolution had been completed upon some o<strong>the</strong>r globe, who came<br />
here to guide and lead <strong>in</strong>fant humanity. Later, as some earth humans became competent<br />
to take <strong>the</strong>ir place, <strong>the</strong>se early “God-K<strong>in</strong>gs” withdrew… As <strong>the</strong> centuries passed, and<br />
ritualism and materialism accumulated side by side…<strong>the</strong> wisdom was kept <strong>in</strong> its purity<br />
only <strong>in</strong> hidden, sheltered places—<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> deserts or <strong>in</strong> hidden mounta<strong>in</strong> valleys. 135<br />
This is a <strong>the</strong>me we see carried through and developed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> trope <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ancient astronaut. The<br />
sense that humans have been <strong>of</strong>fered <strong>the</strong> guidance <strong>of</strong>, and were perhaps even created by, some<br />
<strong>of</strong>f-world <strong>in</strong>telligence was most popularly elaborated by <strong>the</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> Erik von Daniken.<br />
Daniken’s books, start<strong>in</strong>g with “Chariots <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Gods?,” were immensely popular <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1970’s,<br />
sell<strong>in</strong>g over twenty-five million copies worldwide. Less popular, but considerably more<br />
elaborate, is Zechariah Sitch<strong>in</strong>’s multi-volume “Earth Chronicles.” Sitch<strong>in</strong>, a scholar <strong>of</strong> early<br />
near-eastern texts, provides a read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> biblical and pre-biblical texts to make <strong>the</strong> case for <strong>the</strong><br />
extraterrestrial orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Homo sapiens. The sense <strong>of</strong> paternal <strong>in</strong>telligence guid<strong>in</strong>g us from afar<br />
that animated <strong>the</strong>se texts is central to <strong>the</strong> contactee mythos.<br />
With <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>clusion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se so-called western gurus along with <strong>the</strong> earlier spiritualist<br />
tradition, one arrives at a fuller understand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cultural precedents that precede <strong>the</strong><br />
contactee “movement.” Vary<strong>in</strong>g from case to case, and vacillat<strong>in</strong>g between <strong>the</strong> purely<br />
mediumistic model and <strong>the</strong> model <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> western guru, contactees were both mere passive<br />
conduits open to <strong>the</strong> will and communiqués <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs, and active <strong>in</strong>terpreters and<br />
exegetes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> word from above. The communion between contactee and space-bro<strong>the</strong>r was a<br />
sometimes somnambulant proceed<strong>in</strong>g and sometimes a conscious (or “super-conscious”, to<br />
borrow from <strong>the</strong> vernacular) and mutual exchange between extraterrestrial <strong>in</strong>telligences and<br />
chosen human <strong>in</strong>terlocutor. The space bro<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>of</strong> UFO lore bore a strik<strong>in</strong>g resemblance to <strong>the</strong><br />
Great White Bro<strong>the</strong>rhood <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>osophical orig<strong>in</strong>. This is no surprise <strong>in</strong> that <strong>the</strong> first recognized<br />
135 Anna Kennedy W<strong>in</strong>ner, The Basic Ideas <strong>of</strong> Occult Wisdom (Wheaton, Ill<strong>in</strong>ois: Theosophical Publish<strong>in</strong>g House,<br />
1970) 93-94.<br />
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