Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), which have been re-branded as Unidentified Ariel Phenomena (UAP) by the powers that be, left the realm of taboo a few years ago. Thousands of academics, high-ranking military personnel and more have been sharing their knowledge about the subject for decades. But it wasn’t until 2017 that the subject entered into mainstream consciousness as something serious and non-fictional.
This sudden emergence into mainstream consciousness as something other than a “conspiracy theory” was unfortunately because mainstream media outlets began covering the topic more seriously. It’s a shame that some of these outlets still have so much influence and control over people’s perceptions about various topics and issues. Information warfare is no doubt at an all-time high, and I fear a proper, balanced, and holistic view of the UFO phenomenon will never come from these sources given their long track record of misinformation.
That being said, this is why it’s interesting to seek out different perspectives of the phenomenon from different time periods from multiple cultures.
An Indigenous Perspective
Scholars have estimated that before the ‘discovery’ of the Americas by Europeans, the pre-contact era population could have been as high as 100 million. The people that roamed these lands were comprised of extremely intelligent beings full of knowledge and teachings that were, unfortunately, forgotten by most but carried on by a few. It’s these teachings that can play a big part in guiding us back to a human experience where all life can thrive. Yes, it is possible. Our potential as a human race is greater than we know.
Another aspect of this society might have also dealt with extraterrestrial contact. I am not Native American, so when it comes to the topic of sharing beliefs and stories from our very recent past from this culture, it’s best to leave it up to those who grew up around the Elders sharing them.
Stories of intelligent beings visiting our planet from the cosmos date back to the beginning of time, and span through several different cultures at various points in human history. Antiquity is filled with stories of beings, materials and flying objects that, according to modern-day thinking, should not have existed.
When it comes to Native American ‘lore’ and extraterrestrials, they were commonly referred to as ‘Star Beings.’
Richard Wagamese, who was one of Canada’s foremost authors and storytellers from the Wabaseemoong First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, once wrote:
“My people tell of Star People who came to us many generations ago. The Star people brought spiritual teachings and stories and maps of the cosmos and they offered these freely. They were kind, loving and set a great example. When they left us, my people say there was a loneliness like no other.”
He went on to contemplate,
“If Star People did come to the Ojibway, where did they go? Where did they come from? Who brought teachings to them? What scientific magic did they own that allowed them to make such an incredible journey – and is it possible for us?”
Sure, that sort of thinking doesn’t pay the rent or solve any legitimate earthly problems but it does make the head and spirit swell with possibility and maybe, in the end, that’s the role of science – the aboriginal kind and the western kind – to invite us again into the world of the possible, to make us wonder again.”
Another example comes from Stephane Wuttunee, who is a Plains Cree and French Canadian author and storyteller. He wrote a piece for UFO Digest in 2008, explaining that his perception and understanding of the ET phenomenon as a Native person and its global implications comes from having been partially raised within the culture itself.
In his article, he makes a clear point to mention that in his culture, they “give far greater attention to the seeking of the spiritual understanding of things rather than going after “the truth” as people from dominant cultures do. This is part of the reason why we tend to stand back and view or listen at first rather than bare in with questions or take the hard, direct approach.”
Wuttunee, like Wagamese, mentions the “Star People.” Stating that, while growing up he heard of,
“distant relations and Star People living amongst the stars many times, mainly around campfires and during traditional ceremonies. Far from being anything to be feared, Star People was just another term I grew up around. I remember listening in awe and fascination at the thought of us having relations that lived off and outside our world and sometimes spoke to them in my silent moments at night. I wanted to know who they were and what they looked like if they had families like us etc. In all honesty, the only time I was exposed to “aliens” per se was when I would go to the outhouse and read the Weekly World News or National Enquirer. It wasn’t until my later teens that I discovered that people from the dominant cultures were talking about the same “people” as my elders did, though each side’s sense of perception of these people seemed radically different from one another.
He also points out how stories of abductions were not really spoken of, but rather stories of interactions with beings from other worlds and realms, mostly using telepathic communication and, sometimes, full-on physical and friendly encounters were shared.
“To this day, I’ve often wondered for instance, if White Buffalo Calf Woman, the teacher who brought Native people the four traditional medicines of sweetgrass, sage, cedar and tobacco might have been one of these otherworldly visitors.”
“I Was Told That There Are Four Violent Species In The Universe, Humans Were One of Them”
Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke is a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University and former Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education. Dr. Clarke, who is Cherokee/Choctaw, has worked with indigenous people for most of her career and has some amazing stories to tell.
Here is a great quote at the beginning of her book, Encounters With Star People, Untold Stories of American Indians.
“I first learned about the “Star People” when my grandmother told me the ancient legends of my people. My childhood reality included narratives that traced the origins of the indigenous people of the Americas to the Pleiades; stories of little people who intervened in people’s lives; and legends about the magical gift of the DNA of the “Star People” that flowed in the veins of the indigenous tribes of the Earth. I embraced the stories of the celestial visitors who lived among the Indian people as part of my heritage.”
In her book, she describes a story an Elder who told her about an ancient group of human-looking extraterrestrials that lived underground near Mount Hayes, Alaska (or in that general area). This instantly reminded me of the US Government program in conjunction with the CIA and Stanford Research Institute called STARGATE. One of its functions was to study remote viewing, which is the ability to perceive and describe a distant location regardless of distance.
I wrote a little bit about it in more detail here.
After the program was declassified, some of the viewers began giving interviews. A common theme among the army remote viewers was an extraterrestrial presence. Multiple viewers like Pat Price even gave the location of multiple supposed ET bases located on Earth, which also happened to be underground. One of those locations was Mount Hayes.
You can read more about that story here.
In this story that Dr. Clarke shares, she recounts visiting an Elder on a reservation named “Talie,” who told her the following.
“I have been seeing the star beings all my life. The first time I was about 8 years old. I was berry picking down by the river. I watched the craft come down and land across the river. I crossed the river, stepping carefully on the rocks so I didn’t get my feet wet. I was curious; I had never seen anything like it. When I got within 20 feet, a door opened and I walked inside. I remember that the star beings made me feel welcome. There were two women. One brushed my hair and told me it was beautiful. Sometimes I took them flowers and sometimes rocks. My grandmother told me that rocks had souls, and I tried to explain that to them. I don’t think they understood. But they did teach me how to heal with my hands. The star doctors taught me how to cure diseases with my hands. They taught my grandmother how to heal too. People used to come from all over for healings.”
She talks about how when her grandmother passed, the star beings were very sad, and that she was tasked with continuing her work and to learn about herbs and healing people naturally and metaphysically. When asked by Dr. Clarke to describe them, she said:
“They are fair and tall and thin. They are much smarter than us but interested in our ways. They travel the stars learning from others throughout the star system. They collect information on the aging process of Earth people. They are trying to learn why we die so young. The Star People live much longer than we live. A normal age for them is 1,000 Earth years. They don’t have diseases like we do. Alcohol and tobacco use is not used by their civilization. Individuals chose their jobs early in life and stay in that job forever. They become experts in their field, which results in many discoveries that improve their lives. The star doctors visit earth all the time. They mostly observe, but there are ‘helpers’ all over the world who serve as contacts. Both my grandmother and I have been their helpers. The Star People call themselves ‘Observers.’ They brought life to this planet and they study how it had changed.”
This is another piece that corroborates with many of the stories I’ve heard. It seems that some of these beings, if real, are simply curious observers of planet Earth, collecting data, almost as if some of them are on science missions to bring information back to their own planet.
When Dr. Clarke asked Talie if she could remember anything else that she had learned from them, she replied:
“Yes. They were not violent. I was told that there were four violent species in the (our) universe. Humans were one of them.”
Dr. Clarke ends this chapter of the book by explaining that:
“Over the next five odd years, I often stopped to see Talie when I visited the reservation. She remained strong and alert until her death at 95. On the day of her funeral, several people saw a UFO appear in the sky and hover there. I was one of them.”