"The picture on the left strikes me as looking a bit like an alien. Not a real alien, I mean, but one of those wise and benevolent aliens that were supposed to visit the "contactees" of the 1950s. This drawing doesn't come from the 1950s, however, but from the 1820s. It was produced by the artist and mystical author William Blake (1757 -1827) towards the end of his life, and is entitled "The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in his Dreams". The drawing is one of a series of Visionary Heads" that Blake produced at the request of an astrologer named John Varley.
Blake had experienced visionary encounters throughout his life, and the younger Varley (who is said to have "believed nearly all he heard") was keen to get some of these down on paper. In keeping with the beliefs of his time, Blake tended to interpret his ethereal visitors as "angels". A modern UFO believer might say this is simply pre-Adamski ignorance, and what Blake really encountered were misinterpreted aliens. But (as I've said before) this is grossly patronizing - it's just as likely that modern alien encounters are misinterpreted angels!
Blake is often seen as an early precursor of the New Age movement. Like modern New Agers, he was convinced that everything the establishment taught you was wrong, and he was influenced by esoteric disciplines like Gnosticism, alchemy, yoga and Kabbalah. He even seems to have invented the term "New Age" itself - at least in its capitalized form (although to be honest, Blake tended to capitalize everything). In the preface to his poem "Milton", he wrote: "The Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer and Ovid; of Plato and Cicero, which all Men ought to contemn; are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible, but when the New Age is at leisure to Pronounce, all will be set right! And those Grand Works of the more ancient and consciously and professedly Inspired Men, will hold their proper rank and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration. Shakespeare and Milton were both curbed by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the Sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age!"
"The best known and most striking of the visionary pictures Blake produced for John Varley was the image of a ghost - more specifically, the Ghost of a Flea" (right). This was, according to Varley's account, a "spiritual apparition" that was summoned by Blake and Varley during a s'eance - although it was visible only to Blake. As already mentioned, Varley "believed nearly all he heard"!
A photo of a UFO over the skies of a busy Beijing street is causing a sensation in China. The image, recalling an earlier era, is a classic flying saucer type, shrouded by a foggy sky.The story behind the photo seems to be propelling the mania as the Chinese are not generally impressed by pictures and videos of unidentified flying objects.But an account in a Beijing newspaper of how the object was caught on film is creating tremendous buzz, because, as the photographer claims, it was all an accident of timing and luck."This UFO was in Beijing CBD Jingxian. Today I shot it in the morning from the CTS overpass. I was too interested in the traffic and the main road, when I pushed the shutter I actually had a UFO!"The picture shows what looks to be something straight out of the 1950s, but, because of the spooky, foggy sky and the story behind how it was captured on film, many Chinese citizens have become true believers.Maybe it's the start of the next revolution?via Gather.com
Date: July 1, 2011Time: Approx: 10:30 p.m. We live just outside Cambridge, Ontario and my son and I saw the exact same thing at the exact same time. We reported it to the American Meteor Society and they explained that it must have been Chinese Lanterns which is BS, as it was a perfectly calm night. Coincidentally there were numerous reports of a huge fireball that "exploded" and "fragmented" over Texas and was observed in Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania all around the same time and heading in a general north to south direction. I believe what we observed were the blazing fragments of the object the entered the atmosphere over the southern states and broke apart. The witness for the above report is referring to this sighting: "VIVID ORANGE OVAL SHAPED LIGHTS SEEN OVER CAMBRIDGE ONTARIO" and the link is: "http://canadaufo.blogspot.com/2011/10/vivid-orange-oval-shaped-lights-seen.html" If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: "sighting@telus.net" with the details of your sighting. "All personal information is kept confidential." "The Vike Factor (Brian Vike) http://the-v-factor-paranormal.blogspot.com/""Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/"
