Geoffrey Hodson, Retreats and UFO Bases

In several blog posts I have referred to the extraordinary clairvoyant Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson (1886-1983). He is the author of over fifty titles on Theosophy, psychic powers, spiritualism, meditation and many other subjects. Perhaps best known for his clairvoyant studies of nature spirits and devas. Volumes that should be studied by every ufologist and investigator of paranormal phenomena. In 1988 a very unique book was compiled and published by his second wife Sandra Hodson, Light of the Sanctuary. The Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson. In this diary I have found some interesting comments on the secret retreats of the Planetary Guardians or Adepts. Comments that may also be associated with the reports and claims of UFO bases on Earth. I have received valuable data for this blog from Bill Keidan, New Zealand, a pupil of Geoffrey Hodson, who also maintain an excellent website about the life and writings of Hodson.

Geoffrey Hodson 1953

Geoffrey Hodson was, according to his diary, in contact with several of the adepts belonging to the Planetary Guardians. Having an inquisitive mind he often asked them to clarify various issues and mysteries. The problem of how the adepts could keep their retreats around the globe undiscovered comes up several times in the diary. The answers are quite fascinating:

”28 March 1976. None, no one, can see, find, visit either Ourselves or Our retreats against Our wills… This intrusion, My son, into Our personal privacy and that of the Government of the Brotherhood as a whole, is forbidden and with such potency that the greatest of the inventions of scientists of today and tomorrow cannot enable one single person to enter Our realms against Our wishes.”
( Light of the Sanctuary, p. 281).

”22 May 1977. Geoffrey asked the Master how They, the Adepts, preserve the privacy of Their homes and Themselves, even against aerial photography. The Master answered at once: By a deflection of light, just as when a qualified yogi makes himself or herself, invisible as did H.P.B… The Altyn Tagh Retreat is similarly preserved, as also are all Our Retreats throughout the world and by the same methods will continue so to be preserved; likewise the physical bodies of certain of Us… Needless to say, a physical appearance to a collaborator, as once to yourself, is always possible and permissible. Thus, Our Valley is still Ours and undisturbed as you have experienced many times, and this also will continue as long as needed, whether by ourselves or by Our successors.” 

(Light of the Sanctuary, pp. 356-357).

”22 July 1979. Geoffrey was wondering how the Masters can remain undiscovered in the modern world of aeroplanes and modern aerial cameras and equipment used for scanning terrain and mountainous areas "The Adepts have powers of which you little dream. They can make a group of homes appear like a bare landscape."
(Light of the Sanctuary, pp. 444-445).

There are often references to hidden retreats in the writings of Blavatsky and many of the early theosophists. We also find many comments on ”safe reteats” and ”protected areas” in the books by Alice Bailey. In theosophist Henry Steele Olcott´s Old Diary Leaves, Second Series, is presented an intriguing experience of a visit to such a secret place of the Adepts. In connection with this visit Olcott comments on their hidden archives:
"All the buried ancient libraries, and those vast hoards of treasure which must be kept hidden until its Karma requires its restoration to human use, are, she said, protected from discovery by the profane, by illusory pictures of solid rocks, unbroken solid ground, a yawning chasm, or some such obstacle, which turns aside the feet of the wrong men, but which Mâyâ dissolves away when the predestined finder comes to the spot in the fullness of time." (p. 45).

Now compare these data on retreats in esoteric literature with the experiences of UFO contactee Enrique Castillo Rincon from Costa Rica. They are documented in UFOs. A Great New Dawn for Humanity (1997). In the preface he states: "I am not a mystic nor a religious fanatic... Neither have I considered myself a "chosen one" to save humanity, and I detest those "contactees" who pretend to have been appointed by some divinity to carry some message to the suffering and almost disgraced human race...Over twenty years have passed and I still don´t know why I was contacted. Was it plain chance?... Why was an individual belonging to the "sandwich-class" (middle-class), such as myself, assigned such an "ungrateful" task as this one, which has meant jeers, calumnies, epithets, and nick-names against my person and my dignity?" 

(p.xiii-xiv).

Enrique meet a businessman, Cyril Weiss, of Swiss nationality and they become friends. Later he encounters this man aboard a UFO, as he actually belongs to an advanced group of extraterrestrials trying to help Earth. Enrique is taken to their secret retreat or base in the Andes and given this information: "From antiquity, we have contacted other men, belonging to various cultures. We have influenced their thinking through what you call "Masters". But not only on this planet, also on others; we have contributed to their scientific, cultural and spiritual development. Besides, some of us have been "born" here, or incarnated, if you prefer, since ancient times... We do not explore your planet, because we have had bases here for thousands of years... We belong to an organization that gives assistance to the Planet, and we have always been present."
(pp. 59, 61, 63)

Several of the early 1950s contactees hinted at behind the lines cooperation between the Planetary Guardians and extraterrestrials visitors. Here a quote from American contactee Howard Menger´s book From Outer Space To You (1959): "There are also spacecraft, though of inferior design, which are built by people of this planet. These people are in communication and in service with people from other planets. They are people who possess a high spiritual understanding and have reached an awareness of natural law; therefore they have been entrusted with information enabling them to construct such craft." (p. 159).

Esotericist John McCoy commented on this cooperation in UFOs Confidential, written in collaboration with contactee George Hunt Williamson: ”The spacecraft that are appearing today are under the direction of the hierachy of their own planets and are working in close harmony with the masters and mystery schools on Earth… Today many UFOs are seen in the areas of the Earth where these schools are located – away from the outer world.” (p. 70).

I have also frequently quoted this reference from deep trance medium Mark Probert regarding cooperation between alien visitors and the Planetary Guardians or the Hierarchy: ”There is a certain secret work going on at present between the Etherians and certain high earth authorities (You understand, I suppose, that I do not use the word ”high” in the usual sense. I am referring to those belonging to some of the secret Lodges on Earth). This work has to do with the great possibility of the Earth´s destruction… These men have landed in Australia in a secret landing field. They have not only been to Scotland, but to high authorities in England, and to a few of your men and women here of high standing (I refer to the secret Orders).” (Seance Memoranda From the Inner Circle, November 28, 1951, p. 30).

Mark Probert

George Adamski stated that as a young man he had travelled to a secret school in Tibet, receiving six years of special instruction and education for his coming mission with the space people. According to Glenn Steckling, Adamski was actually flown to a hidden UFO base in Tibet, used by the space people. I have always regarded these claims with grave doubts, but perhaps they are not so far-fetched after all.

Readers of my blog will of course notice the connection between these data and the Esoteric Intervention Theory. In common with UFO researchers Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee I have one foot in empirical science, critical investigation and one foot in the Esoteric Tradition. From this vantage point or paradigm I have advanced the theory that some of the physical UFO contactees of the 1950s were involved in a cultural and psychological influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to highly advanced “vimana” technology. This test was done in co-operation with the custodians of the Ancient Wisdom (Higher Intelligence Agency), using a new type of phenomena as attraction as they used spiritualist phenomena in connection with the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875.

To determine whether this version of the Esoteric Intervention Theory is tenable and will stand the test of time and critical analysis, much further research is required. Investigation and documentation of empirical evidence coupled with an advanced and serious study of the Esoteric Tradition. This is an intellectual challenge for the coming generation of open-minded researchers who enter the domain of ”forbidden science”.

George Adamski - The Mexican Connection

Beginning around 1955 George Adamski entertained plans on settling in Mexico and founding a philosophical school and community, based on the teachings of the space people. He loved Mexico and often vacationed at San Jose Purua, with its famous health giving mineral waters. But more important, his visits to Mexico were due to meetings and conferences with the space visitors, who had a base and landing facility in a secluded area not far from San Jose Purua. After the death of Adamski in 1965, several of his co-workers tried to establish a Science of Life School at Zitachuaro, around 30 kilometers from San Jose Purua. In my research of Swedish contactees I have found indications that another group of aliens also had a base west of Mexico City in the 1960s. But this group of alien visitors had a very different agenda.

George Adamski with Salvador Villanueva Medina in Mexico 1955

Already in 1956 George Adamski tried to engage his friends and co-workers in Mexico to establish a Science of Life school. Two of his co-workers were Ian Norrie, a Scotsman resident in Mexico, and Maria Cristina V. de Rueda, who organized lectures and translated Adamski´s books. Not much happened until 1963 when George Adamski visited Denmark and told of his plans to co-worker H. C. Petersen. An Associated Press release September 24, 1963 stated: ”Danish Air Force Maj. H.C. Petersen said Monday he had been appointed by the  International UFO (unidentified flying objects) Organization to build a center for cosmic studies 35 miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico. The plan will be financed by the organization on the initiative of the California author and UFO expert, George Adamski… ”We already have the site near Guadalajara, where the center will be built,” he said. In the new center, specialists will study cosmic philosophy and make preparations för the new ”abstract” age, he said.”

H.C. Petersen

Much time and effort was now spent among co-workers to find the best place for the Mexico center. Several sites were considered. During a couple of weeks in December 1964 and January 1965 Alice Wells visited Mexico City together with Adamski looking into the potentials of establishing the school in Mexico City. News and comments on the plans were reported in Cosmic Bulletin:

”On May 18, (1964) I flew to Mexico City to meet friends there. And spent a short time at San Jose Purua, where they have the health giving mineral waters. There were a number of ships that came in with passengers for att meeting of the Council that took place in Mexico. In the Saturn Report a second meeting was spoken of… The leaders of the Council were in Mexico City for one day. And from what I could gather, the purpose was for a meeting with Government men. San Jose Purua is not too far from Mexico City, and that probably was the reason for the meeting of the Council in Mexico… While in Mexico we discussed the forming of a group, a nucleus to help Mrs. Rueda in getting the school started in the vicinity of Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. Once this is started, the agreement was made that I would spend 6 months in Mexico teaching, and the other 6 months here and traveling.”
(George Adamski, Cosmic Bulletin, June 1964).

When George Adamski died i April 1965 the Mexico project was abandoned for a while, but the idea and plans were continued in 1967-1968 by old and new co-workers a.o. H.C. Petersen, Fred Steckling and Charlotte Blob. They often visited Mexico and succeeded in getting financial support from lawyer Norman Stone. In a letter from Fred Steckling to H.C. Petersen, May 2, 1968, he mentioned that $20,000 had been donated to the project. The place chosen for the school was Zitachuaro, a small village situated between mountains, not far from the base used by the space people. In the letter Fred Steckling also tells of how he, together with his wife Ingrid, had observed flying saucers disappear into the mountain base and that one of the space people had visited the group while in Zitachauro. Local inhabitants were aware of these activities and often noticed the saucers in the sky.

Fred Steckling 1977

During an interview (Coast to Coast, December 11, 2019) Glenn Steckling, present director of the George Adamski Foundation gave further details of what happened during their work in Mexico:

”George Adamski showed us on a map where there was an extraterrestrial landing facility in central Mexico, so we bought a property very close to that area. And we were three years down there during that time. And within a week of our showing up the Mexican military intelligence police there showed up and with two trucks full of troops and equipment. The commandant was very accommodating, very nice. He came and knocked on the door. My father welcomed everybody with open arms saying come on in, I got nothing to hide. And then they dispersed themselves over the many acres over the ranch and looked with metal rods and magnetometers and all kinds of things. So my father said to them you know this makes me very happy because obviously you wouldn´t be out there if you didn´t believe that it didn´t exist.

The commander pointed to one of George´s pictures that was hanging on the wall and he says. We know they are here. We know they are good for us, but WE don´t want them. He went on to say we have seen an abbreviated file from the Pengaton concerning your activities. My father had seen it too, the size of the New York phone book.  They said to us, you are allowed to stay in this country as long as you don´t go among the population and hold lectures and try to educate the people because we do not want any changes to our system either economically or religiously. So that was that. My father said sure that´s fine. We had other work to do. We were doing research with the telescope. We drove up towards the base and interacted with, not the people in the base, that was still a days hike through the forest away. But with the villagers that lived the closest to that and they looked at us rather strangely. My father said to them why do you look at us so strange. They said, well we have seen the same kind of white people or multi-complected people come out of the forest with nice business suits and dresses and they walk down the road until they hit the main highway, wait for the bus and they disappear, but we have never seen anybody return. That was an area at that time upon which there was a landing facitility allowing them to integrate with the people both in that country and ours.”

George Adamski with the Steckling family 1964, Glenn, Fred, Ingrid

The Mexico Project was abandoned in 1971 and around 1970-71 there was a growing dissension among the former Adamski co-workers. Alice Pomeroy, who had given three years of voluteer service to Alice Wells in Vista, wrote in a letter to co-workers September 8, 1970: ”The confusion seems to be centering around the group in Mexico (Fred) the group in Valley Center (Charlotte) the group in Europé (Hans Petersen and Dora Bauer) and Vista (the two Alice´s). All of these groups, Except Vista, seem to differ in their loyalties and each one has certain others he wishes to support, pushing the rest aside… This confusion… grows increasingly wider and broader. First Steve and Alice B., as individuals. Then Fred and Charlotte as part of a group. Then Fred´s group against Charlotte´s group, and now Europé against the USA.”

Announcement of lectures on Project Mexico by H.C. Petersen 1968

When project Mexico collapsed Danish co-worker H.C. Petersen tried to continue the plans in Denmark and a group with two families was established at a farm near Arnborg. That was the end of the dream to found a school and community based on the philosophy of the space people.

After this blog post had been published I received an email (January 14, 2020) from Glenn Steckling with some additional data and corrections. With Glenn Stecklings permission I add this information here.

”… we purchased the property outside of Zitachuaro - a large working ranch at about 1200 meters elevation - and lived there for 3 years… The School / Ranch (Rancho Las Vegas) was inhabited from June 1969 to March 1972… I remember it well and have the photos. Sometimes one could see the UFOs fly along the mountain ridge near our ranch and disappear behind the mountain where the base was… And the Mexican Military police came to visit us just after we arrived because of it. Their commandant pointed to GAs photo and said, and I quote, "we know they are here, we know they are good for us ... but we dont want them." He went on to say,  "we have received notification from the Pentagon and an abbreviated file, and you are allowed to stay here as long as you dont organize events to educated the public in this country… when my father asked the commandant why the space visitors were "not wanted", the answer was, "Their existence and influence threatens our Religious, political and economic way of life."… The research for the property and financial agreements for purchase in that foreign country was ALL done by my parents. The reason we discontinued it in 1972 was due to political turmoil, student riots, and attacks against foreigners during the Presidency of Echeverria. The rumors from our government contacts concerning an impeding economic devaluation was set to cause more instability too. We were counseled by our space friends that things were changing and it would be wise to soon return to the U.S where we would be needed. At the same time, Alice Wells had contacted us and emphatically urged my father to come back to Vista to directly assist her and the foundation as GA had once instructed too. These items solidified our departure from Mexico. 

GA wanted to do the same in 1958 outside Guadalajara in the lake Chapalla region and did not do so because of associated problems as well. 

Yes, at a village which dead ended near the base of the mountain; the mountain whose final destination could only be reached by an additional one days hike through the forest to the mountain described, we drove up and talked to the locals. The locals said they were perplexed at seeing fair skinned people coming up the road TO them. When my father asked why, they described well dressed men AND women coming out of the forest, not jungle, and walking through town, down the dirt road to the main paved highway and boarding the local buses never to return the same way.”

Somewhat intriguing is that two of the Swedish contactees I have investigated had connections to Mexico, ”Anna” and Richard Höglund. I have discussed the Richard Höglund case in several blog entries and a summary of his story is printed in Timothy Good´s book Earth: An Alien Enterprise. For those not familiar with the basic facts a short English version can be found on this Norwegian website. Swedish readers are referred to the documentation of the case in my book Främlingar på vår jord. Ufokontakter i Sverige. (Aliens On Earth. UFO Contacts in Sweden).

What makes Richard Höglund unique as a contactee is that was a reluctant contactee. During his first contact experience he claimed his kidneys had been healed by a group of aliens and because of that he, from the beginning, felt compelled to work for them in various international schemes. Richard travelled to their bases in Bahamas and Mexico during his active involvement with the alien group between 1965-1977. But he differed from the ordinary contactees in that he was very doubtful regarding their true motives and noted that their morals were not very high. Richard was actually afraid of these aliens and didn´t always believe what they told him. "I don´t know if they are Gods or devils", he once told his friend Gösta Johansson. He didn´t dare stop working for them and towards the end of his life he told my ufologist collegue Åke Franzén to beware of this group as they were dangerous.

Richard Höglund in Nassau, Bahamas

Richard first visited the space people´s base in the Bahamas. There he met another a man named Loftin and they became good friends. But in 1968 Loftin revealed the location of the base to the CIA and he was killed by the space people for this treason. The base was then changed to Mexico, in a place three Swedish miles west of Mexico City. Richard was often gone from home, sometimes for months. He claimed that the space people picked him up in their craft, often visiting the base hidden in the Bahamas and also Mexico. Richard complained once to his friend Gösta Johansson that he was not allowed by his contacts to visit the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968. Gösta noticed that sometimes in the middle of the Winter he found Richard with a deep suntan when he returned to Sweden. Richard was a retired rock blaster with very little money. He couldn´t  have gone on regular flights around the world based on his meager income.

Loftin with Richard Höglund in Nassau

On January 7, 1985 I and engineer Arne Groth interviewed Richard´s doctor in Stockholm, Karl Erik Swensson. He added some interesting details about the Mexico base:

”Karl Erik Swensson: He told of several visits to Central America in the end of the 1960s. It has always surprised me that a rock blaster could go many times to Central America in those days – economically.
Håkan: Did he mention his experiences there?
Karl Erik: No, not very much. He was very reticient. I got the impression he was afraid. I thought the whole thing was very strange.
Arne Groth: Did he give any details about the environment tha made the story credible?
Karl Erik: We didn´t talk about that. He was inside some hangars where they had these motherships that looked like Zeppelins. He travelled in them.”

Karl Erik Swensson, M.D. during interview January 7, 1985

Based on extensive research and interviews with many witnesses involved in the Höglund case this alien group act more like a sort of Mafia than friendly space people. By a strange co-incidence there is also a direct connection here with organized crime. Richard Höglund and his wife Gunvor worked for a time in 1968-1969 in the house of Lou Chesler in Nassau and according to Richard he also met some of his alien visitors there on several occasions. Lou Chesler was active in real-estate development in the Bahamas and a frontman for organized crime boss Meyer Lansky.

I have often pondered on the strange co-incidence that during the same time that George Adamski co-workers tried to establish a school and community west of Mexico City and claimed the space people hade a base in this region, Richard Höglund visited a alien base in the same vicinity in 1968-1970. During his last years Adamski now and then mentioned that evil space people were also operating on our planet. Perhaps further research can reveal what is truth or fiction in these stories?

Fifty Years in the UFO Movement

A couple of days ago my AFU and UFO-Sweden colleague Tobias Lindgren visited Örebro to record the first part in a series of interviews for UFO-Sweden Radio. UFO history and contactee research will be the main topics in these programs. From the organizational archives at AFU he also brought two binders containing the files from the first UFO group I founded in 1970, UFO-Södertälje. These documents made me realize I have actually spent fifty years in the UFO movement.

One Winter evening in the beginning of the 1960s, when I was around ten years old, my mother and I went for a walk to get rid of some bulky trash nearby our then place of living in Södertälje. It was a beautiful, starry night and mother told me about various constellations and stars. This awe-inspiring experience so greatly influenced me that I as soon as possible visited the local public library to borrow books on astronomy. In 1963 our family moved to a new apartment in Södertälje which made it possible for me to watch the sky from a very good position. I spent many nights there with a small telescope, studying the Moon and counting meteors. Mother constantly admonished me to not to stay out to long as I would catch a cold. During these teenage years I learned as much as I could about astronomy and the Greek and Roman myths and legends behind the constellations.

My mother, Gun Blomqvist, Summer 1960

The middle 1960s was a very active and exciting period of manned spaceflights. I followed with eager anticipation the Gemini spaceflights 1965-1966, collecting press clippings and tape recording as much as I could from radio and TV. A teacher at school noted my dedicated interest and once I was even allowed to skip a lesson to make a tape recording.

My mother was from early in life a spiritual seeker and an avid reader. This deep interest was reflected in the library she built up at our home. There were books on Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, ancient mysteries and all the early UFO contactee books from the Swedish publishing house Parthenon. Authors like George Adamski, Daniel Fry, Ray and Rex Stanford, Elisabeth Klarer a.o. As a young teenager I discovered the books in our family library and became deeply fascinated by all these subjects, especially UFOs. Mother was somewhat apprehensive of my newly found interests but she was also happy that I shared her interests and we spent many evenings at the kitchen table discussing and pondering all the mysteries of life and the universe.

Swedish edition of Alan´s Message: To Men of Earth by Daniel Fry

Already as a young teenager I realized that UFOs, paranormal phenomena, spiritualism etc. were not the normal interests of my schoolmates so I kept my passion for mysteries to myself. Beginning in 1967 I worked part time, after school and Saturdays, at the Södertälje Public Library and here I became acquainted with Kjell Jonsson, who also worked part time at the library. We soon became aware of that we studied at the same school but not the same class. Because of our common interest in books friendship grew and we spent a lot of time together.

Although I hinted at my unusual interests it was not until the beginning of 1970 that I seriously introduced Kjell to UFO literature and gave him some contactee books to read. He became deeply fascinated by the UFO enigma and this of course gave our frienship a whole new dimension. In the Summer of 1970 we began contacting various UFO groups a.o. Svensk IGAP, the Swedish Adamski movement headed by Thor-Leif Dahnielson and we also wrote to the newly formed national organization UFO-Sweden, founded in April 1970. In the beginning we had no plans to found a UFO group ourselves as we both were heavily occupied with senior high school studies. We subscribed to the Swedish UFO journals aviable and corresponded with editors and directors. To my surprise Kjell Jonsson became even more active in his UFO interest than me, an avid reader of UFO literature and even entered a subscription to Flying Saucer Review.

Kjell Jonsson, August 29, 1971, during one of our Stockholm journeys to buy UFO books

A seminal event in our interest was a letter, November 15, 1970 from Swedish contactee Mr. Sten Lindgren, then President of Intergalactical federation (IGF). Here in an  English translation:

"Best Cosmic Greetings, Håkan,
Thank you for your letter of November 10. We are affiliated with UFO-Sweden. Regarding further questions: Suggest a meeting in Stockholm on the following alternative dates:
Saturday, November 21, 4 p.m.
Saturday, November 28, 4 p.m.
You decide whether one of these alternatives is ok. Send us an answer as soon as you have accepted. We will meet at the place you decide in your letter, e.g. train from Södertälje or by car.

Awaiting your answer
The Best Cosmic Greetings from
Sten Lindgren"

On November 21, 1970 Kjell Jonsson and I went by train to Stockholm where we were picked up by Sten Lindgren och his co-worker Bjarne Håkansson. We were taken to Sten Lindgren´s apartement at Lidingö. Arriving at our destination we were soon made aware of that this was no ordinary Swedish home. In the hallway was a quote, pinned on the wall, taken from Howard Menger´s From Outer Space To You (p. 48): "We have much work to do on your planet among your people, and we must do it quickly - while there still is a planet and a people to work with". The walls of the livingroom were filled with photos, illustrations and charts all relating to UFO sightings. The books in the bookshelf were a mixture of contactee literature and metaphysics.

Sten Lindgren at the Clavilux 1971

Kjell Jonsson and I were seated on the sofa, nothing was said, and the lights were turned down. Sten Lindgren started playing "cosmic music" on a light-organ (Clavilux). After this introduction we were told that our meeting was arranged by the Brothers from space and that Sten was in both physical and telepathic contact with an extraterrestrial group. We were also requested to start a local UFO-group in Södertälje, affiliated with UFO-Sweden, as this national organization was supported by the Brothers.

As a naive and idealistic teenager I felt this was like entering Shangri-La. Meeting a man who, not only had observed flying saucers, but was in contact with the visitors and working with them. The meeting with Sten and Bjarne worked like a salvation experience and left me literally "high" for weeks. On November 25, 1970 Kjell Jonsson and I formally founded our local group UFO-Södertälje with constant advice from Sten, who claimed telepathic information from the Brothers.

Me as a young UFO enthusiast January 1971

From the beginning UFO-Södertälje consisted of only two members, Kjell Jonsson and I but in March 1971 we started contacting local newspapers, writing letters to the editors, putting up posters in various places and from April 17 – 30, 1971 we had an UFO exhibition at Södertälje stadsbibliotek. Membership grew steadily and from having met at my parents apartment we were forced to rent a small basement premise to continue our meetings. Like most UFO groups in the 1970s we began skywatching hoping the space people would appear. UFO-Södertälje was very much a UFO and New Age group. We corresponded with Gabriel Green´s AFSCA, contactees like Marianne Francis and Hope Troxell. By the end of the year we were 16 members.

Our exhibition at Södertälje Public Library April 1971

Skywatching May 19, 1971, from left Åke Åhman, Kjell Jonsson, Gunilla Olsson

On January 20, 1972 I was interviewed in the local newspaper Länstidningen which created a large response from readers and resulted in many new members. We succeeded in finding a new habitat for the group and 1972 was the most active year for this local group with invited speakers, field investigations and meetings with other ufologists. I started publishing a small newsletter UFO-Bulletinen. UFO-Södertälje was changed to Södertälje UFO-Center and by the end of the year we had 50 members.

From article in Länstidningen January 20, 1972

During the late Autumn of 1972 my UFO interest was heavily influenced by the writings of Jacques Vallee and John Keel and interest in keeping an ordinary UFO group going dimished as research and critical thinking became more and more important. Beginning in February 1973 Anders Liljegren, Kjell Jonson and I started to seriously consider the possibility of leaving UFO-Sweden and creating a new research oriented group. AFU, then Arbetsgruppen för ufologi (Working Group for Ufology) was founded on March 17, 1973. And the rest in history. which I have documented in many blog posts.

Looking back at fifty years in the UFO movement I can still feel the same fascination as when I was a teenager. The UFO movement has been homebase for me. Almost all my close friends I have found in the movement. For me as for many colleagues UFO research hasn´t been only a purely scientific problem but also involved a deeper spiritual quest. Trying to understand the mystery of our existence on this strange planet and the mystery of our consciousness.

Human self-consciousness, the illuminated window in the cosmic night, is to me a tremendous mystery. Simply defining man in material terms is presenting an incongruous flatland model of something infinitely greater. There is a quality in human self-consciousness that requires a different approach. I can never accept the proposition that a lump of matter randomly can form sentient beings, conscious, self-reflecting and capable of ethical decisions. That human beings have an almost unlimited capacity for evil, is something that we are constantly reminded of by reading global media. But what is really interesting and hopeful is that we can surmount harsh existential conditions and develop an almost limitless kindness and empathy. Here we find an indication that the deeper meaning of our existence is the transformation and evolution of our consciousness. We are a step in the evolution of consciousness in the multiverse.

From a philosophical or bird´s-eye view ufology is very much more than just simple identification of lights in the sky. It may take many years of field investigation and study but eventually you will probably arrive at the same conclusion as pioneer ufologist Jacques Vallee:
 ”…the history of ufology should be placed within an esoteric context. Throughout history there has been a tradition of higher knowledge, and the claim that it was accessible to us, if only we agreed to be tested, to work through certain spiritual problems… That´s the meaning of the hermetic schools. The UFO problem, the question of parapsychology, are central to this business. Looking for the solution isn´t just a scientific project; it´s a quest, an initiation, an enigma like that of the Sphinx…”.
(Jacques Vallee, Forbidden Science II, p. 211).