Now and then I read some old issues of Round Robin,
The Journal of Borderland Research. Especially the volumes published 1959-1985
when Riley Crabb was editor and director of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation
(BSRF). These old journals are a treasure trove of interesting and thought
provoking information, research and theories regarding all aspects of
borderland investigation. In my view these were the golden years of the journal
because Riley Crabb was an accomplished esotericist, something quite rare among
investigators of UFO and paranormal phenomena. When Riley Crabb´s wife, Judy,
died in 1985 and he moved to New Zealand the journal continued until 1997 with
various editors. But it lost its ”soul” and concentrated very much on technical
aspects of borderland research.
Riley Crabb
The unique and invaluable BSRF archive was sadly
neglected and housed among dust and spiders in a garage in Eureka, California. After
much negotiation and discussion Swedish ufologist Clas Svahn succeeded in
convincing the custodian of the archive, James Borges, that the best place for
preserving the BSRF archive was at AFU in Norrköping, Sweden. In June 2016 Clas
and his sons Niklas and Markus traveled to Eureka to meet James and together packed
72 large boxes of archival material, which arrived safely at AFU on July 29. This
was a monumental achievement by Clas Svahn who in 2013 also succeeded in
acquiring the Flying Saucer Review archive, among many others, for preservation
at AFU. He should be awarded the Nobel
Prize in Borderland Research – if that ever becomes a reality.
James Borges with the BSRF archive in Eureka, California June 1, 2016
When Meade Layne created Borderland Sciences
Research Association (BSRA) in 1945 he had no idea that within one year he
would co-operate with a unique deep trance medium of unusual capacity – Mark Probert.
Beginning in 1946 Meade Layne and his group of associates recorded many hours
of conversation with the individuals channeled by Mark Probert. This was not
the usual simplistic and naive messages from the spirit world, but intelligent
discussions on science, philosophy, UFOs, paranormal phenomena, esotericism
etc. The group behind Probert were referred to as the Inner Circle and
presented themselves with names such Charles Lingford, Ramon Natalli, Theresa
Vandenberg, Professor Luntz and Yada di Shi´Ite. I have advanced the theory
that these names were personas, fictional characters used by a secret lodge to
hide their real identity. My guess would be the Yucatan Brotherhood mentioned
by Charles Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Alice Bailey and Henry T. Laurency. This
ancient society was part of the ”hidden hand” behind the creation of the
Theosophical Society. By creating various paranormal phenomena they tried to
combat materialism by somewhat novel methods.
Mark Probert
Riley Crabb joined BSRA in 1951. With his wife Judy
(Judith) Riley moved from Hawaii to California in 1957 and began working supervising
of staff of scientific illustrators at the Naval Missile Center, Pt Mugu. He
gave up the Civil Service career in 1959 when Meade Layne, because of health
problems, asked him to become director of BSRA. Riley and Judy moved to San
Diego and from July 1959 worked together as a team to keep the organization and
journal going. Meade Layne had done a great pioneering work with BSRA and was very
well acquainted with both Eastern and Western Mystery Traditions, having been a
member of Dion Fortune´s Society of the Inner Light. But he also had some
problematic sides which would complicate the situation for Riley and Judy and
which they openly related to all members in several issues of Round Robin
1960-1961.
Although BSRA was a non-profit association Meade
Layne insisted on selling it as a business to his successors. They finally
agreed on $1,200 to be paid at the rate of $50 a month. In Round Robin,
October-November 1960 Riley Crabb explained that ”… Mr Layne had no legal or
moral right to sell it; nor for that matter did I have any right to buy it”. But
Riley and Judy accepted these terms as they regarded BSRA as such a unique
organization that it must somehow survive. Soon they also discovered that BSRA
had been incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1951 but Meade Layne
had never bothered to turn in any annual reports. To manage the first year they
had to spend all their personal savings but they also received donations from
members and survived the first hard years. BSRA was now there sole source of
income. Mark Probert and his wife had severed connections with BSRA in 1954
because of different opinions on economy. They started their own organizations
The Inner Circle Kethra E´da Foundation in 1955. In spite of this situation Riley
Crabb wrote in 1960: ”I believe it was the overriding high purpose of the Inner
Circle which gave Meade Layne and BSRA there drive from 1946 onward. That
purpose, remove the veil of ignorance which clouds the minds of men, is as
valid now as it was fourteen years ago; and it is my belief that the Inner
Circle is still with us.” (Round Robin, vol. 16, no. 3, April-May 1960, p. 30).
Meade Layne
To my knowledge Round Robin never had more than 450
subscribers (1986). In 1959 there were 400 so in this respect there was not
much change because of the new director. But Round Robin was not for the
general public but a specialized journal for those who wanted to enter the
Forbidden Science. It was never a love-and-light new age publication. Riley´scomments, covering several issues, on Theodore Illion´s book Darkness Over
Tibet is not for the faint-hearted. As esotericist Riley Crabb was rather true
than nice and could be quite severe on fake mediums and the psychic racketeers
in the UFO movement. After a lecture tour in 1960 he wrote some harsh criticism
of UFO contactee Wayne Aho: ”We lectured in El Paso in November 1960 after the
national election. We were only a few days behind Wayne Aho on that trip. He
advertised himself as a Flying Saucer lecturer but spent the first hour or so
of his talk flailing away at the corrupt Democratic party and accusing Kennedy
of buying his way into office. Then for variety Aho would switch to his other
pet subject, his personal meetings and hours of conversation with Jesus Christ,
an ideal combination for the conservative Bible belt.” (Round Robin, vol. 18,
no. 1, January-February 1962, p. 32).
In 1981 I sent Riley Crabb a copy of The Knowledge
of Reality by Swedish esotericist Henry T. Laurency. In a letter to me December
18, 1981 he wrote: ”Yes, we did receive the Laurency opus and thank you very
much. It appears that he is an initiate of some standing in the Western Mystery
Tradition and has some interesting, even startling, observations on philosophy
and occult science, past and present. The Knowledge of Reality is a welcome
addition to our reference library and we´ll have to try to review portions of
it in upcoming journals”. Unfortunately no review was written but it is
interesting that Riley Crabb noted and recognized that Laurency ”is an initiate
of some standing in the Western Mystery Tradition”. As I have mentioned in
other blog entries I am confident that Laurency is the ”disciple of rare
capability in Sweden”, mentioned by Alice Bailey in A Treatise of White Magic.
When I mention Riley Crabb it is important not to forget his
wife Judy, who wrote many articles in Round
Robin, proving her wide knowledge of psychology and esotericism. Together they
were a truly unique couple and idealistic pioneers in borderland research. Here
is Judy´s short article Are You Nice-minded or True-minded, published in 1961.
”Those who urge the doctrine of Love upon mankind say that Love
will solve all problems and bring peace to the world. These people have nothing
but love to give. But the Mystery Schools train you to look at life and ask
"is Love enough?". Love alone, without wisdom and Power , is
self-sacrifice. The best examples of this are the Christian martyrs. Love
without wisdom and Power is useless, but also wisdom and Power without Love are
barren and useless. This is the condition of the Western world today. Science has given us the wisdom and Power to conquer
the world, but our magnificent weapons threaten to destroy mankind because we
have not Love. No one should concentrate on just one aspect of the Logos . If he does he will learn to
his sorrow that the other two aspects of the Trinity are equally necessary
to a just and perfect balance.
The Trinity is in reality a three-sided Law of Love, Wisdom and Power.
When a person has these three powers well balanced within himself he has health
and well-being . One aspect of the three without the other two in proportion is
useless. To say "Love is All" is sentimentality and the seeker after
Truth cannot be sentimental. You cannot change the Law nor escape its action.
Once you have acted there is no escaping the burden of the reaction.
Love alone does not have the strength nor the wisdom to get the
world´s wo rk done. You cannot evade facts. There has to be discipline. There
have to be arms and police forces to deal with evil. There is crime. There is
suffering in the world. These facts are deplorable and you cannot evade their
reality. The tendency of the spiritually-minded people who are attracted to
metaphysics is to become nice-minded. This is escaping reality rather than
facing it! Any true Mystery School will teach you to face the truth of life.
The Master will insist that you be true-minded rather than nice-minded.”
(Round Robin, vol 17, no. 6, Sept-Oct 1961, p. 1.)
