Mythology: The UFO Connection

Scholars when they research the polytheistic gods of ancient civilizations and cultures start with the assumption that the gods are imaginary inventions of the fertile human mind and purely mythical beings. I start with the opposite assumption, that is that ancient peoples depicted real (extraterrestrial) beings which to them were so advanced as to be deities - the gods. These ‘ancient astronauts’ have an actual ongoing presence which has filtered down through the present day, achieving now an actual quasi-mythology of its own, not just fictional as in say “Stargate”, but as a basis for serious speculation such as Erich von Daniken’s or even my own minor musings. It’s filtered down to the present day in quite another way – UFOs – which have also achieved quite a quasi-mythology over the past six decades in both fact and fiction. Here’s a few of the possible links between then (ancient astronauts) and now (aliens).

*Speaking of UFOs, there are lots of potential UFO events in mythology, from the Star of Bethlehem to the Wheel of Ezekiel. One interesting, out of dozens of possible UFO events in the mythological literature, is this: “According to the Dogon of Mali, one of their eight ancestors rode down from heaven on a rainbow in a ship the size of a granary”. Now I didn’t invent that. It was within the National Geographic’s “Visual History of World Mythology”.   

*’Chariots’ seem to be associated with the ‘gods’ because of the popularity of Erich von Daniken’s book title (when translated into English) “Chariots of the Gods”. But there’s no actual index entry for ‘chariots’ in that book. So, did the ‘gods’ ride in aerial chariots or equivalent? A quick scan of the mythological literature says “yes”! A partial list of the ‘gods’ or demigods (or demi goddesses) who rode in (UFO) ‘chariots’ (or equivalent) include Ravana (India); Zeus (Greece); Hercules (Greece); Mithra (Persia); Re or Ra (Egypt); Indra (India); Thor (Norse); Freyja (Norse); Helios (Greece); Apollo (Greece); Marduk (Babylon); Hades (Greece); Triptolemus (Greek); Cu Chulainn (Ireland); and Medea (Greece). 

*According to Wikipedia, “Chariots figure prominently in Indo-Iranian mythology. Chariots are also an important part of both Hindu and Persian mythology, with most of the gods in their pantheon portrayed as riding them.”

*In ancient times what were aerial ‘chariots’ pulled by various beasties with the ‘gods’ as passengers, are, in modern times, UFOs, along with their extraterrestrial pilots, crew and passengers.

*Visoki Dečani is a major Serbian Orthodox Christian monastery located in Kosovo. Within are various murals. On the "The Crucifixion" fresco, painted in 1350, objects similar to UFOs can be found. They represent two comets that look like space ships, with two men inside of them, and are often cited by those interested in ‘ancient astronauts’. The images are certainly striking and again, Google Images can bring up the relevant pictures. You have to decide for yourself, but if not representing really real ‘ancient astronauts’, well then I’m pretty well stumped. 

*Another classic UFO event in a religious context was the so-called ‘miracle of the sun’ which occurred on 13 October 1917 near Fatima in Portugal. A miracle had been promised by the Virgin Mary as related by three young children to occur on that date. The gathered crowd, some 30,000 to 100,000 in number (the usual figure is given as roughly 70,000) saw some highly unusual luminous phenomena. According to Wikipedia, slightly paraphrased by me… “Witnesses spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel. Not everyone saw the same things, and witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the ‘sun's dance’. The phenomenon is claimed to have been witnessed by most people in the crowd as well as people many miles away. However, no movement or other phenomenon of the sun was registered by scientists at the time. Not all witnesses reported seeing the sun ‘dance’. Some people only saw the radiant colors, and others, including some believers, saw nothing at all.”  Since scientists observed no actual movement of the sun; since it was an overcast day, it’s probable the witnesses to the sun dance and the changing in colors was a bona-fide UFO, making an appearance on schedule to bring credibility to the prophecy.

*It was also believed that the ‘gods’ could appear to human beings in dreams and even carry them off to heaven or the underworld (shades of modern UFO abductions).

*The UFO abduction ‘greys’ seem to be interested in humans mainly with respect to areas or aspects surrounding reproduction and genetics. These are the same sorts of areas required for the ‘gods’ to have ‘created’ humans in the first place, so maybe their grand plan is still unfolding!

*Attempts are still being made towards manipulating the future evolution of humans via the artificial selection of humans subjected to various procedures via what’s termed UFO abductions. Perhaps the long-term goal is to make us less of a threat to them; perhaps an eventual biological merger – an alien/human hybrid (back to the mythological half-and-halves again?).

*If UFO / alien abductions are to be believed, taken at face value, (somewhat backed up and supported by animal mutilation cases), then the alien ‘gods’ – collective now called the ‘greys’ – are still manipulating human genetics and further progressing with the evolution via artificial selection (breeding) of the human species, as well as their own, for the apparent objective is nothing less than a human-alien (or human-grey) hybrid. That this is implausible, well, recall from mythologies around the world those human-animal hybrids like the satyr, sphinx, Minotaur, mermaid, and a host of others.

*The UFO abduction phenomena makes sense in that it mirrors what wildlife biologists often do in the field – capture, study, tag and release.

*The ‘gods’ who stayed behind, still monitor human activities in case we should ever prove a threat to them. Such monitoring is via our modern era UFOs.