Dear Julia:

I recently attended a workshop for the development of mediumship, and the facilitator made it very clear that she "believes in aliens," meaning that she believes that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth and interacting with humans all the time. She also seems to believe that many people who are naturally psychic are themselves either extraterrestrials or descended from extraterrestrials. This whole subject really put me off. In fact, it made me so uncomfortable that I did not return for the second day of the workshop. Most of the other attendees, however, seemed to be in harmony with this woman's views on aliens. As I generally agree with your viewpoint, I'm wondering what you believe about extraterrestrials, and why so many "spiritual" people are interested in this subject.
Ray

Dear Ray:

I have to admit that your question made me just as uncomfortable as I imagine that workshop made you. I chose it for publication, however, because I believe there is something underlying all this discomfort, and this intrigues me. What I find most interesting is how people like you and me (people on a spiritual path who are either open to or consciously in touch with higher forces such as "Spirit") either believe in aliens, or want to avoid the subject altogether. For me, this validates the theory that aliens are in some way "real," that one must be fairly spiritually evolved to be open to this information, and that they desire to remain undetected. In other words, our discomfort may simply belie the fact that we're not "allowed" to think about them, talk about them, etc., which is of course what many believers assert.

Your question reminded me of an amusing experience I had with a dear friend years ago. Like me, my friend is a Spiritualist minister/ medium, and we were discussing the whole notion of extraterrestrial contact, and how we were NOT into this subject at all. Like you, we were wondering why so many people in new age circles are "alien believers." Well, it didn't take us long to realize how preposterous we were sounding. After all, I wholeheartedly believe that your Aunt Betsy can inter-dimensionally travel to appear at the foot of your bed, or connect with me telepathically in order to offer a message to you, but for some reason, the idea that beings from other planets/ dimensions can do the same is incredible. It's absurd!

This is not to say, however, that I "believe in aliens." I have had direct experiences of spirit communication, including evidential information that was verifiable, so I think I'd be crazy to NOT believe that it's possible to communicate with folks who have passed on. I have not, however, had direct experience of aliens (at least, none that I have been permitted to remember!).

As many amazing experiences have taught me that anything is possible, I simply offer you various possible explanations for the phenomena that have been linked to extraterrestrials. I do think it's obvious that SOMETHING is going on. There are too many people around the world having the same sorts of experiences to chalk the whole alien issue up to nothing more than the power of suggestion.

First, as for why "spiritual people" seem to be more interested in the "alien question" than the general population, I offer you the explanation of many believers, who purport that at least some humans are descended from aliens. Those of us who exhibit a high level of spiritual evolution (including psychic ability), would be of this genetic stock. The stronger our psychic ability, the more "alien blood" we have in us, and hence, the more we tend to resonate with the alien idea. This would explain why psychic ability tends to run in families, and why "psychic people" are more interested in and open to the existence of extraterrestrials. I'm not saying that this is what I believe. I'm not saying that I don't believe it either, however.

Another possibility is that "aliens" are only inter-dimensional beings, which means that they exist, but not physically. This would make them like angels, spirit guides and loved ones in Spirit, and explain why psychic people are more open to perceiving them. This theory doesn't account for UFO sightings or crop circles, of course. Aliens could also be physical beings from other worlds that only interact with us via subtler planes. This is akin to astral projecting and going to visit someone across the country. One thing that supports this idea is the fact that abductees are usually asleep when they claim they were abducted, and they describe feeling terrified and paralyzed. This sounds like sleep paralysis, which is a state of consciousness similar to the state required for astral projection.

"Aliens" could of course also be both non-physical AND physical visitors, which would explain why it's often hard to sort out what really happened. Perhaps there are aliens interacting with us much the same way that Spirit does, AND there are also aliens physically visiting this planet. Aliens could also be humans from the future who have figured out how to come back and visit us. (And if we can believe any of these possibilities, then it seems to me that it should be no harder to believe that aliens are simply beings from other worlds who are traveling across the Universe to visit our amazing planet).

I did have an experience once that pried my mind open about alien matters. Up to that point, I had been largely skeptical, and had leaned toward the theory that "alien" believers were simply interpreting experiences with spiritual entities in the light of their own Star Trek influenced belief systems. Then I met a man in Sedona who was unlike anyone I had ever met before. He had fallen down the side of a cliff in a horrible ski accident, and been horribly mangled. He was in a coma for about six weeks after this, and then awakened one day with no recollection of his life before the accident. What he did know, however, was that he was a "walk-in," which means he was someone from another planet or dimension who had stepped into this mangled body, while the spirit of the man who had formerly occupied his body had departed for another plane.

Now had I read about this in a book, I might have decided that this poor soul had been brain-damaged in that accident, and that was why he had no prior memories and was so far "out there." As with so many spiritual experiences, however, it was not that simple. This man's energy was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It was downright eerie. He did not feel "human" to me. Also, his body looked like a cadaver that had been jumpstarted. It looked and felt like that body should NOT have been up and moving around, and yet there it was. His aura did not match his body either; it was bigger and of a DIFFERENT SHAPE than his body. I've never seen anything like it before or since. It did make me realize that there is a lot going on in the Universe that I don't know much about!

Whenever I really think about it, as your question has made me do, I realize that it's no more amazing to believe that intelligent beings could exist on other planets and visit this one than it is to believe that intelligent beings exist on THIS planet and have managed to visit the moon, or to believe that departed loved ones can communicate with us from the afterlife. However, until I have direct and undeniable experience with extraterrestrials, as I have had with spirit communication, I will remain neither a believer nor a disbeliever. I am simply open to all the possibilities, which means when a subject makes me uncomfortable, I'll look a little deeper. There is a ton of information about ET's available on the internet. I encourage you to explore some of it, and see where it leads you!

- Julia