“ To summarize, then: the book you are about to read is an effort to provide systematic documentation and literary illustration of modern folklore in the perspective of ancient myths and traditional legendary material. ”
Passport to Magonia: from Folklore to Flying Saucers
Review
When I began studying religion, I was faced with a plethora of seemingly historical reports from all ages and all cultures of fantastical paranormal phenomena with scant physical evidence. After a little digging, it became clear to me that in order to remain honest, one either needed to reject all of the reports as psychological error on the part of the observer or - to my scientific horror - they are all potentially "real".
In Passport to Magonia, Jacques addresses this dilemma without reservation, giving us a tour de force through history of the strangest encounters between humans and the supernatural and/or extraterrestrial craft and beings. Despite the divergence in the qualia (the conscious way each individual experiences something) of the events, Jacques makes a strong case that the similar patterns between the encounters indicates a common source or technology across history. You might ask, how are stories of encounters with the gods in Judaism and other ancient near eastern cultures, medieval reports of gnomes, fairies, or changelings who steal or swap children, and the modern UFO and UAP phenoma connected?
Jacques tells stories of beings that took pancakes from a confused farmer and of a unit of soldiers who disappeared into an ominous cloud mistaken for fog and were never heard of again. He recounts the medieval story of a beautiful and moral woman who was hounded sexually by a demonic creature that would shapeshift to try and seduce her and eventually built a mound of bricks around her bed with her husband still in it. The bricks disappear the next day, after being removed and piled in a corner, confounding an entire church parish. Some of the stories are so ludicrous, it makes one feel like these beings are capable of shifting the entire substrata of the cosmos to their will - whether for good or evil.
In Angels or Devils, the book explores that although many incidents are pleasant - or even bizarrely neutral - in their narrative, some of them are ominous and exhibit all the traits of standard witchcraft or occult activity. In fact, in multiple places Jacques stops himself to declare that to go further would be diving straight into the practices of occult rituals and that is not the subject of the book. But for the curious reader, it leaves open a door that is even larger than one can imagine. It is for this reason, I believe, that so many people who have experiences show deep interest in spiritual, religious, or occult activity. Jacques' hypothesis is that they are all one and the same.
Quite simply, Jacques makes the case all of these phenomena are connected because of the ways in which they influence humans, particularly our consciousness. Waxing philosophical in between story after story that will make you question your understanding of reality, Jacques points out that most of the personal encounters with strange craft or beings include a mixture of both physical and psychical effects. If physical evidence remains after an encounter, it is usually useless for examination using our traditional methods. But the best evidence is the way the encounters influence the minds of people, often in groups.
Book Quotes
From Preface
“ Things were not so simple, though, when serious research was undertaken to uncover the real history of the phenomenon. The American press may have invented modern flying saucers, but there were historical analogues to the observations reported in the States. Isolated, marginal researchers like Charles Fort in New York had uncovered anomalous sightings by astronomers in records dating back to the 19th century; stories of celestial wonders could be found in the archives of medieval writers and even those of the Roman historians. ”
From Foreword, 2014
“ The Japanese peasants had the disagreeable tendency to interpret the "signs from heaven" as strong indications that their revolts and demands against the feudal system or against foreign invaders were just, and as assurance that their rebellions would be crowned with success... For instance, on September 12, 1271, the famous priest Nichiren was about to be beheaded at Tatsunokuchi, Kamakura, when there appeared in the sky an object like a full moon, shiny and bright. Needless to say the officials panicked and the execution was not carried out. ”
From Chapter 1: Sorcerers from the Clouds
“ What matters here is the link between certain unusual phenomena - observed or imagined - and the alternation of the witnesses' behavior. In other words, these accounts show that it is possible to affect the lives of many people by showing them displays that are beyond their comprehension, or by convincing them that they have observed such phenomena, or by keeping alive the belief that their destiny is somehow controlled by occult forces. ”
From Chapter 1: Sorcerer from the Clouds
“ It is common belief that the term "flying saucer" was "made in America." ... Well, yes. But a farmer from Texas described a dark flying object as a "large saucer" as early as January, 1878... ”
From Chapter 1: The Age of the Gods
“ That there is the strange beings' peculiarly insistent desire to get hold of terrestrial objects: flora and fauna. The stories quoted in this connection verge on the ludicrous. But to pursue the investigation further leads to horror. This is a facet of the phenomenon we can no longer ignore...
To the well-known question that figures in almost every UFO questionnaire, "How was your attention called to the object?", one frequently finds the answer: "My dogs seemed terrified." "There was a commotion among the cattle." "All the dogs in the neighborhood started acting madly." ”
From Chapter 1: Angels or Devils
“ In any case, it is important to understand what need these images fulfill, why this knowledge is both so exciting and so distressing to us. Such is the subject of this book. ”
From Chapter 1: Return of the Humanoids
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