Second of a four-part series
I LOVE THE SKY, deep blue by day, black and infinite by night. To me, the sky is a source of wonder and inspiration. Yet, to many the sky is a source of fear, the domain of alien visitors. While some see close encounters as a wondrous contact with the stars, others experience it as the curse of alien abduction — intrusive, unearthly terror.
Last month in the first part of this series, we introduced the alien abduction phenomenon. To summarize, it involves the experiencer being taken against their will by beings from another world. Most often, it occurs late at night. The experiencer awakens, unable to move. Four or five beings appear around the bed, each about three feet tall with large black eyes and a diminutive, featureless face. The person experiences stark terror as the beings float him/her out of the bed, directly through a solid wall or closed window and into a waiting UFO. At this point, if not before, the experiencer’s memory usually blanks out. They awaken in the morning, sensing something had occurred during the night, but with no recall of the event.
A case in point was a recent hypnosis session with an experiencer I will refer to as “Jane,” who represents a composite of similar cases sufficient to illustrate the phenomenon. Jane had had several recent close UFO sightings, as well as vague memories of visits from strange beings. She had nightmares, general anxiety and unexplained fear of the dark.
Jane awoke to see a bright light shining in through the bedroom window. She had not recalled lights there before. Curious, she decided to get up and investigate — but when trying to get out of bed, she found she was unable to move. Fear instantly hit her as she saw several small beings appear through the solid wall and take their places around the bed. At that point her memory blanks out.
Jane wanted to undergo hypnosis to explore the experiences but before we could begin she needed to feel safe from “Them.” Clearly, some kind of fear management was required, both to resolve the fear issues in her daily life and to allow hypnotic regression work.
One technique I use to reduce fear is to have the person picture a safe place. This could be some safe time and place in the past or it could be something from their imagination. For those with a strong metaphysical background, spiritual figures such as God, Jesus, the Universe, protecting guides, etc., can bring strength and security. I then invite the experiencer to view the events through a TV screen or something similar, to see the events while remaining safe. In Jane’s case, we were able to create a comfortable room with a TV where she could observe her alien encounter.
Another case, which I describe in my book, The Cosmic Bridge, involved an experiencer I call “Evelyn.” One hair-raising encounter occurred in northwestern Wisconsin over ten years ago in which she consciously recalled alien beings floating her out of her bed. From that moment on, she felt consumed with fear, frightened even of being alone in the house at night.
Another investigator and I interviewed her at length. The fear was clearly evident in her face. Later, when we began to do hypnotic regression, the terror emerged full force, locking her up in fear. The expression on her face literally raised the hair on the back of my neck.
Evelyn’s fear response was far too intense to manage just by using the safe place technique I described above. Stronger fear reduction was needed, to find and heal the source of the fear. Often, this can be done using a hypnotherapy technique called parts therapy. This technique uses the idea that the mind is like a quiltwork of different thought complexes or sub-personalities called “parts.” In a typical person, all parts integrate together into a seamless whole. Yet, parts can also have conflicting motivations and actions, something each of us would experience as indecision, uncertainty or inner conflict.
With a person in hypnotic trance, the hypnotist can address parts individually, almost like individuals. In this case, with Evelyn deep in hypnosis, I was able to speak with the part responsible for the “protection” she was experiencing. I asked what its origin was. It told me it came from early childhood. Evelyn’s family had a long history of paranormal abilities. During her early childhood, to discourage Evelyn from this same path, the minister of her church told her anything unexplained was of the devil. This germ of fear took its place in her subconscious to surface many years later around her alien abduction. This part now “protected” her by triggering fear at any reference to UFOs or alien encounters.
Still, Evelyn wanted to understand her experiences. Thus, in addition to the fear/protector part, I was able to find this “spiritual explorer” part within her mind. Fostering a dialogue between the two parts, we were able to strike a deal. As long as other aspects of her life remained normal, her “protector” would allow her to visit her unexplained experiences. Now she could explore her encounters with much less fear. At this, she recounted events typical of most alien abductions, but more importantly, she was able to live without her ever-present fear.
I have seen many others encounter this same weight of fear and using this type of healing work, we have been able to resolve the fear and explore their experiences.
Next month: We examine the details of UFO abduction more closely and ask what its purpose might be. Stay tuned as we continue to explore one of the greatest mysteries of our time.
