"It depends on who´s looking"

Damien Echols is a celebrity with a controversial past: he spent 20 years on death row in Arkansas for a crime he *may* not have perpetrated. Do I even dare linking to his content? Let´s just say that all the usual caveats apply in this case...

In this YouTube clip, Echols actually reads extensively from John Michael Greer´s book "Monsters". Echols is fascinated by the fairy or fey, not the Tinkerbell characters of pop culture, but the "real" fairy of Celtic and British folklore. Both Echols and Greer believe in their existence. Indeed, they believe that the fey are a global phenomenon. 

The short story is that the fey are strange beings whose energies are concentrated on the "etheric plane" rather than the physical ditto. Humans, by contrast, have their energies focused on the physical. In occult philosophy, the etheric plane is the dimension of existence immidiately "above" the physical. When the fey appear on the physical plane, they therefore come across as incomprehensible to humans. We can´t fathom their purposes, nor can we see them as they really are. The fay have the ability to manipulate our consciousness (an ability known as "glamour"), which explains why they can take essentially any form they want - they can "see" our thoughts (which are "visible" on the etheric plane) and adapt themselves to our preconcieved ideas about how a supernatural creature should look like. Yes, you guessed it: UFOs and aliens are just fay in new disguises. Damien Echols references the film "The Mothman Prophecies" here, in which Richard Gere´s character asks Indrid Cold (the Mothman): "How do you really look like?" at which Cold answers "It depends on who´s looking"! 

Echols also agrees with Greer´s take on cryptozoology. There are essentially two kinds of cryptids: the flesh-and-blood variety, which are real but unknown animals, and the paranormal version, which are fay disguising themselves as unknown animals. There are a number of signs that give the fairy game away, so to speak: if the cryptid has unnatural features (say seven toes on every foot), smells like sulphur rather than like an animal, or come in weird colors, it´s most probably a fay messing with your mind. Echols also reveals that there are ways in which humans can defend themselves from the fairy. Magic is one way, another is iron. For whatever reason, iron can hurt the etheric body. (Note: it´s not silver or garlic!)

In a later portion of the broadcast, Echols discusses seemingly unrelated topics, including enlightenment. His system seems to be a somewhat eclectic combination of the Golden Dawn, Mahayana Buddhism, Tantrism and perhaps even Eckhart Tolle. A truly enlightened person is incomprehensible to the unenlightened, since he no longer has any desire. Indeed, an absolutely enlightened person can´t even remain in our universe. However, many enlightened beings chose to remain here anyway, perhaps to teach the unenlightened, perhaps for reasons known only to themselves. In order to stay, the enlightened person must hold on to *some* earthly desire, which explains the otherwise curious fact that even highly accomplished spiritual teachers might have a fondness for, say, good food. At another point, Echols says that the enlightened have "preferences" rather than desires. (I´m not sure if I buy any of this, frankly.) More intriguing is the claim that enlightenment is only a part of something Echols calls "the Great Work". In other YouTube clips, he seems to be suggesting that the Great Work entails becoming an angelic being and creating your own worlds... 

For information purposes only.