Gerald Light And The Etherians

During the 1950s and 60s there were three channelers or mediums that had a large impact on the ideas and writings presented by Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF) directors Meade Layne and Riley Crabb. They were Mark Probert, Ralph Holland (Rolf Telano) and Gerald Light (Dr. Kappa). Two of the channelers, Holland and Light, can also be regarded as UFO contactees. Mark Probert and Ralph Holland are quite well known and biographical data is presented both in books, articles and on the internet. But when it comes to Gerald Light information is very hard to find, except a few comments and articles in BSRF´s magazine Round Robin. An internet search will almost only give references to Light´s famous 1954 letter to Meade Layne, with the story of Eisenhower´s meeting with space people.

One of the reasons for this scarcity of data on Gerald Light is probably because the many booklets and pamphlets he wrote were published on low quality paper, which today is so fragile that it is almost impossible to handle without destroying. In the BSRF archive donated to AFU, I have found, besides the original 1954 letter, no less than thirty booklets written by Gerald Light. They are so fragile that it will be impossible to keep them in our regular AFU library so I have digitized all booklets to preserve them for research and study.

I have not been able to determine the year of birth and death of Gerald Light but from a biographical and UFO research viewpoint his 1953 booklet Signs In The Skies is the most informative. He was born in Peking, China, the son of Irish diplomats. In 1930 he worked at the Presbyterian College in Allahabad, probably as a teacher. It was here he realized that his destiny was to go to America:

”When, in 1930, I first learned, as did all mankind, of the discovery of the strange planet Pluto… I first heard this sensational bit of news as I sat at my desk in the Chumbi Valley, a little bit of paradise nestling just beneath the towering heights of the Himalayan Mountains between India and Tibet. In the same mail that brought this news there was a magazine which pictured the amazing buildings which were to be a part of the World´s Fair in Chicago…I knew also that, somehow, I must find my way to Chicago and personally stand before such creations… I had heard the Call – and I set forth upon what was to prove by far the most important voyage I have made in this mortal world of earthly men. In a very real way I was to become an ambassador of the Aquarian Age.”

Gerald Light was no stranger to the occult world and had spent years in meditation and prayer. He was obviously clairvoyant and claims an almost daily awareness of  the ”invisible worlds” and having met and conversed with various beings including devas and nature spirits. The Chicago World´s Fair was held May 27, 1933 - October 31, 1934. It was during this period that Gerald Light arrived i Chicago and it was here he met an extraterrestrial for the first time: ”I contacted my first Flying Saucer at the Chicago World´s Fair in 1933… in 1933 I knew nothing of Flying Saucers”. The encounter occured during a bright Summer morning near the shores of Lake Michigan: ”… as I turned a corner in a rather deserted section of the ground, I came face to face with what I can only call the Presence. He, or She, was not of our earth. This I knew instantly, completely – and fearfully, the moment my eyes met His. Deep within myself I heard, my mind, my soul perhaps, I heard these words: ”Son of Aquarius! Flame of Uranus! Witness the White Company in the Land of the Heights. Hear Our Message, observe Our Genius! Prepare!”

”… this Being bore but slight resemblance to a human man. A single, solitary eye blazed in his forehead. It pierced me to the quick of my soul. This ”eye” was more than an eye. It is the one thing I remember most clearly about this astonishing personage from worlds beyond our own. The ”eye, which seemed almost to be a composite brain in itself, was perfectly round and divided into hundred of facets of surfaces somewhat like a multicolored jewel. Surrounding the eye, which rested in the center of a large head, beautifully shaped and bordered with a kind of hair which looked more like fine metallic wires than ordinary hair, around the eye was a vivid circle of delicately contrived muscles. These were automatic in their action, similar to the pupil of a cat´s eye, expanding or contracting according to the requirements of the light touching it. This Being stood easily twelve feet in height, yet the body was a s large as our standards of proportion would expect. He was slender, almost to the point of delicacy; yet for some reason I sensed that his weight was enormous. I had the impression that I was observing a man of granite and lead, rather than of flesh and blood.”

A couple of years after this seminal event Gerald Light traveled to Wyoming to spend a year at the Teton Mountains. On the night of September 16, 1936 he observed a hugh spherical object emerge from the top of the highest peak, the Grand Teton. Golden sparks emitted from the object which illuminated the landscape. It made a wide circle around the mountain top and disappeared. ”Since that foreboding day nearly twenty years ago, I have personally and consciously contacted the People of the Space Ships many times”, narrates Light. ”I had met The Masters. The Masters! I had met Those overwhelming Beings Who, verily! Are The Lords of the Universe!... Today I am in frequent contact with These Forces That Control the destinies of many planets; subjectively, that is, in my sleep and hours of meditation and prayer.”

There is not much information about Gerald Light´s activities in the 1940s. He appears to be one of the founders of The Aquarian Society in 1941. An association of occultists and Christian mystics working for the coming of ”The Lord Aquarion” (Christ) who ”entered the Etheric Aura of our Earth on Christmas Day 1941” and will stay until Christmas Day 2011. In the 1950s Gerald Light founded The Lodge of Light in Los Angeles and then his contact with Meade Layne of BSRF began. The Lodge of Light published 36 lessons, Harmonics, many small booklets, a bulletin and also a magazine named Galaxies.

I have read most of the booklets written by Gerald Light. They are a curious mixture of various occult ideas, esotericism and messages from the Etherians. Light has a tiresome tendency not being able to get to the point. Eighty percent of the text could easily be discarded as general talk. Some of the booklets give me the same reading experience as when confronted with the intellectual and philosophical quicksand of the Krishnamurti works. In one of his Etheric Notes Light mention that there is often great confusion at the question and answer period after his lectures. He compares this situation with ”reciting The Iliad to the gold-fish in my lily pond expecting them to follow me verse by wondrous verse.”

Long Beach Independent, February 20, 1954

Light claims to have been a student of the mystic and philosopher George Gurdjieff which is reflected in several booklets: ”The Etherian technique for achieving ”immortality” (relative of course) is reasonably simple in the early lessons, and possibly quite enjoyable to some as it has to do with eating and drinking and use, generally, of all our five senses… Briefly, my instruction on this point was to taste every bit of food as though my future life depending upon recognizing all of the separate flavors contained in the food. Smell, - the same way. Look, see, in the same attitude… Let me refer you to Gurdjieff… He was famous for his ability to consume tons of food, and not get unusually fat. His office was lined with shelves crammed full of exotic and peculiar delicicies which he nibbled on constantly… Asleep his body could be lifted by two men; awake, a dozen of us could not budge him. To this day I carry a scar on my left wrist, the result of his hand being laid casually over mine. The pressure, inert weight, was so great it burst the tissues and skin of my left wrist.” 

(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 2).

It is almost impossible to distinguish a clear wordview from the writings of Gerald Light. There are many contradictions. Sometimes it is only the Etherian Masters who have real knowledge of the universe while all other metaphysical systems and Masters are obsolete. While in the next booklet reference is given to the classic Esoteric Tradition. The following to quotations could even be interpreted as that the Etherians are materialists:

”Could it be, with abject apologies to the CS`ers, that there is nothing but matter? That Matter is the One Supreme Element of the Universe of Universes. The God of Gods, the Heavenly Absolute of Absolutes??? The Etherians say – Yes! They of OuterSpace declare Matter to the the All of All. The magnificently superior Beings streaking through our skies insist that ”beyond matter there is nothing”.
(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 4).

”Why do we lose our chemical instruments, when the mountains, the seas endure ”forever?” Because, The Etherian Friends tell us, because we have no conscious awareness of the ”divine” or eternal nature of our chemically-compounded bodies. Why is this true? Largely because we simply choose to ignore the reactions of these chemicalized organs as we live our daily hours through.”
(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 5).

An internet search for Gerald Light will almost exclusively yield references to his classic 1954 letter to Meade Layne on Eisenhower´s meeting with extraterrestrials. The obvious questions is of course why would an relatively unknown California occultist be invited to such a historic event? Given that this contact actually happened I can think of two options.
1. Gerald Light witnessed this event but with the help of remote viewing or astral travel.
2. He heard rumors of the Eisenhower contact with extraterrestrials and made it his own story.

There are in fact several individuals who claims to have witnessed the contact. Some of these stories have been summarized by Timothy Good in his latest book Earth An Alien Enterprise. Very intersting is also the follow-up research made by William Moore. He tried to get to the bottom om the rumor by checking official sources at the Eisenhower library and in 1979 interviewing the widow of dentist Dr. Purcell. The official explanation of Eisenhower´s sudden disappearance from Palm Springs February 20, 1954 is that he at a dinner knocked a cap off a tooth and had been taken to a local dentist for treatment. Moore found that Dr. Purcell´s widow were unable to recall any specifics relating to her husband´s alleged treatment of the president. Neither is there any record at the Eisenhower library of any dental work performed in February 1954 although the library maintains extensive records relating to the president´s health. Moore concludes: ”Clearly something occurred involving President Eisenhower on the evening of February 20, 1954. Whether it was a trip to the dentist, a trip to Muroc, or something altogether different and unrelated, remains a matter of conjecture.” 

(Ike and The Aliens, Focus, vol. 1, no. 2, April 30, 1985.)

Meade Layne frequently commented on the experiences of Gerald Light in Round Robin. And he appears to have a very high regard for his contacts and knowledge: ” When publishing his Etheric Notes, Layne wrote: ”In my opinion, as a student and novice of occutism and the physical sciences, this is the most important material of its kind which has yet appeared in Borderland Sciences publications… Gerald Light, better known to our readers as Dr. Kappa, will be remembered for his singular and unhappy adventure with Etherian visitors (described by us  three years ago – Transcripts IV and V, 1950. He is a man of rare gifts and unquestionable integrity, and in my opinion a very great occultist.” Meade Layne also made the note that ”We accept the M.P. controls, who are always sui generis.”
(Round Robin, vol. 9, no. 5, Jan-Feb. 1954, p. 2).

Riley Crabb, who entered as director of BSRF in 1959 was seemingly of a different opinion regarding Gerald Light.  In 1960 Riley Crabb received an undated letter from Theosophist Evna Edmundson, who expressed grave doubts concerning Light. He had been invited to speak for the Theosophical Society headed by Edmundson. As she was very knowledgeable about astrology she, before the lecture, asked Light som questions. But he proved to have a very superficial knowledge of the subject and only delivered a few platitudes: ”I gave him plenty of rope and he ”hung himself in moments” with me”. Just as the lecture was about to begin Gerald Light slipped out, telling someone at the door he had another engagement.

In his reply, January 18, 1960, Riley Crabb wrote: ”Certainly appreciate your reply to my query about Isabel Devereux. Frankly I was curious about her relations with the occult Gerald Light. I have heard she sponsored him in some classes there in New Orleans in 1954, I believe. Then apparently she discovered he wasn´t all he claimed to be and tried to expose him. If she succeeded in this apparently it had no effect because I have recently received publicity from him, with a New Orleans address. Many of our associates are still intersted in him and his work and are asking about him. If my advice is to be of any value to them I must know the truth. I certainly wouldn´t want to be responsible for urging anyone to study under a charlatan.”

Riley Crabb

About ten years later Riley Crabb had obviously formed an opinion on Gerald Light and his contacts very far from that of Meade Layne. In his 15-part series articles, Inspired By The Dark Forces he wrote: ”Was Himmler really human or was he a humanoid , a soul-less monster, an invader from some dying planet, desperately trying to gain a foothold on this one?...In his writings to Meade Layne back in the 1950s, Gerald Light gave us a eyewitness description of such a Pagan God from beyond Saturn…  Gerald ”Dr. Kappa” Light was a devoted student of Gurdjieff, and Gurdjieff was one of Aghartas free agents in Europé during the buildup of the Nazi power in the 1920s and 30s. Before World War he was at the court of the Dalai Lama in Lhassa, instructing that holy? Man in the arts of black magic. In view of all this I´m inclined to suspect that Light´s Uranian-Aquarian was really a Plutonian trying to direct the world crisis to His own purposes… through the Nazis and other extremist groups.”

(Round Robin, vol. 27, no. 6, Nov-Dec. 1971, p. 33).

Whatever the truth about Gerald Light he was a fascinating figure in the underground world of mystics and occultists. He claimed to have been a member of most of the known metaphysical and esoteric societies in the 20th century and have a library consisting of  more than six thousand volumes upon every phase of occultism and mysticism. But I can only wonder at the spiritual discernment of a man who listen in awe to a giant, one-eyed robot-like humanoid, who suddenly materialize proclaiming: ”observe Our Genius”.