The Billy Meier phenomenon

Billy Meier's contacts with aliens from the Pleiades were big news about 30 years ago. Indeed, I heard about Meier and his alien woman Semjase already in junior high. A Swedish weekly magazine had published a sensational article on the case, complete with photos of Semjase. The case caused a tremendous amount of controversy in the United States, where Meier (a Swiss national) got some supporters. Then, interest in the Meier case died down, and today only a few hard-line nerds such as myself remember it. However, it seems that Meier and his small circle of supporters (called FIGU) are still going strong in Switzerland.

Of course, the Meier case is a transparent hoax. His films and photos of UFOs are laughable forgeries, and so are his prophecies. Meier's predictions about the collapse of the Soviet Union, two U.S. wars with Iraq and impending doom due to climate change and overpopulation were supposedly issued in 1958, but not published until 2005! His sensational new gospel, "The Talmud of Jmmanuel" is a modern apocryphon of the usual kind, with all the anachronisms and misunderstandings firmly in place (see my review of it elsewhere).

Meier claims to have met Saddam Hussein, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, King Farouk of Egypt and Mahatma Gandhi already as a young man. He also claims to have been employed as a professional hitman by several Mideast governments, code named "The Shadow". Supposedly, he served in the Foreign Legion and successfully deserted from it, in the middle of the Sahara desert. I'm not sure if anyone has bothered to check Meier's stories, or check if he even understands Turkish, Arabic, Amharic and other "shadowy" languages. Considering the general track record of this man, I'd say he made it all up!

This documentary is pro-Meier and brought to us by Michael Horn, Meier's officially recognized representative in the US (recognized by Meier, that is). I don't deny that the film is well-produced and interesting. Weirdly, even a token sceptic have been featured, who indirectly accuses Meier of being schizoid or having a delusional disorder (a more diplomatic way to suggest that Billy is a pathological liar). Most of the other interviewees are Meier fans or supporters, including one man who claims that the aliens gave him an apple which he has preserved in alcohol to this very day (he does indeed show the bottle with the apple in it). This is the most comic part of the entire show, with the old man complaining about most people not taking his apple story seriously...

On a more disturbing note, Horn calls for an armed One World Government to fight terrorism, and wants us to follow a man of principle and integrity whose identity is never specified (obviously the Messiah...or the Anti-Christ if you're a wee bit sceptical to Meierism). Coupled with the fact that Meier's bizarre new gospel is both anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic, I think it's obvious that we are dealing with some kind of proto-fascist sect.

Still, I'm involuntarily fascinated by Meier and his little band of followers. It's obvious that we are dealing with a contactee case. The Billy Meier story is part of the religious-spiritual undercurrent of the UFO phenomenon. It has obvious similarities with the Adamski case, including the hoaxed photos and the grand pretensions. The spiritual message of Meier (who looks like Moses complete with the big white beard) is a mutated version of Theosophy - again like Adamski. Note also the distorted Biblical or Egyptian names of Meier's principal alien contacts: Semjase, Semjasa, Sfath, Asket, etc. There is also the typically Gnostic role reversal, with evil Biblical characters being seen as good. Judas Iscariot supposedly wrote the true gospel of Jesus, the name of the fallen angel Semjaz turns up in the names of the benign aliens, etc.

More interestingly, perhaps, are the almost archetypal features of the story. Meier claims to have met aliens already as a kid. They became Meier's spirit-guides and groomed him for his future role as a prophet. The priest who regularly visited Meier's family was supposedly aware of the alien presence, and became a kind of additional mentor to the young man. This reminds me of many other cases: Whitley Strieber claims to have been educated by aliens already as a kid, Carl Gustav Jung claims to have met a spirit-guide named Philemon, both Jung and Rudolf Steiner had mysterious human masters alongside the spiritual ones, etc. Perhaps we are dealing with a "real" meme or psychological archetype, typical of charismatic prophet-figures?

The end-result of the Meier saga also strikes me as archetypal. Induced by the spirits, the "prophet" goes public, forms his little religion...and eventually all his prophecies turns out to be wrong, forcing him to fake evidence to stay afloat. Yes, Eduard Albert "Billy" Meier does fit the bill in more ways than one! Perhaps Meier did have genuine spiritual experiences, but if so, it's a tragedy that he warped them into a fascistic new religious movement based on make-believe.

I can't give this pro-Meierite propaganda flick five stars, but since "The Billy Meier Story" is fascinating in its own right, I nevertheless give it three - the OK rating. Of course, it's also available for free on Youtube.