Shiva as alchemist

 

- Welcome, stranger!

A kind of sequel to the previous blog post. I want to see this place! 

Who is Hatakeshvara?

Hāṭakeśvara (हाटकेश्वर) is a form of Śiva, particularly associated with the subterranean realm Vitala in Purāṇic cosmology. The name is usually understood as "Lord of Hāṭaka", with hāṭaka meaning gold (especially a particular kind of sacred or subterranean gold).

He is a rather obscure but fascinating Śaiva form.

Hāṭakeśvara in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The key passage is 5.24.16, in the description of the seven lower worlds.

The text describes Śiva and his consort Bhavānī dwelling in Vitala. Through the power of their union, a special form of gold called Hāṭaka is produced from the subterranean waters.

The inhabitants of Vitala use this gold to make ornaments and enjoy extraordinary wealth.

So the basic symbolism is:

Śiva + Śakti → subterranean fire/energy → Hāṭaka (gold)

Hāṭakeśvara is therefore an unusual Śiva manifestation connected with chthonic power, fire, fertility, transformation and precious metals.

The name

Hāṭaka = a type of gold
Īśvara = Lord

Hence:

Hāṭakeśvara = "Lord of Hāṭaka (gold)."

The Bhāgavata passage actually makes the connection more explicit by saying that Hāṭakeśvara is the name by which Śiva is known there.

His consort

The text associates him with Bhavānī (Pārvatī).

This is significant because Vitala isn't simply a realm where an isolated Śiva is present. It is a Śiva–Śakti environment.

The resulting gold is described as having a brilliant appearance, and the beings of Vitala use it for their ornaments and possessions.

Is Hāṭakeśvara a major deity?

No. Unlike:

• Mahādeva,
• Rudra,
• Bhairava,
• Natarāja,
• Dakṣiṇāmūrti,
• Paśupati,

Hāṭakeśvara is a relatively obscure regional/cosmological epithet of Śiva.

There are, however, temples called Hāṭakeśvara in India, and the name has also been used independently of the Bhāgavata's cosmological passage.

One should therefore distinguish:

Hāṭakeśvara as the Purāṇic Śiva of Vitala

from

Hāṭakeśvara as a temple/deity name used in later regional Śaiva traditions.

Why he is interesting for your previous question

There's a striking implication here.

You were asking about the possibility of sacred darkness / sacred night, rather than darkness as something evil.

Vitala is a subterranean, "lower" realm, yet the Bhāgavata places Śiva and Śakti right there, generating a substance of extraordinary beauty and value.

That makes Hāṭakeśvara an interesting example of a broader Hindu principle:

Śiva is not confined to the luminous, heavenly regions. He is present in the subterranean, chthonic and hidden dimensions of reality as well.

And because Hāṭakeśvara appears together with Bhavānī, the symbolism is almost quintessentially Śaiva-Śākta: consciousness and power operating within the depths of manifestation, transforming the "dark" or hidden realm into something precious.

Underworld

 

- Underworld? Nah, human, we are part of your world!

Some fascinating aspects of Hindu mythology... 

What is Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala, and Patala?

These are the seven lower worlds (Sapta Pātālas) of Hindu cosmology. They are described particularly clearly in the Purāṇas, especially the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Book 5, chapters 24–25), and also in texts such as the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

They are usually listed, from highest to lowest:

1. Atala
2. Vitala
3. Sutala
4. Talātala
5. Mahātala
6. Rasātala
7. Pātāla

A crucial point is that Pātāla in this context does not simply mean "hell." The seven talas are subterranean realms inhabited by nāgas, daityas, dānavas and other supernatural beings. They are often portrayed as extraordinarily beautiful and luxurious, even more so than the human world. The actual hell realms (Naraka) are a different part of Hindu cosmology.

1. Atala — अतल

Atala literally suggests something like "not bottomless" / "without foundation", although the traditional etymologies vary.

It is associated with Bala, a son of Maya. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa describes Bala as possessing magical powers and creating women who enchant beings entering his realm.

The striking feature of Atala is sexual/magical enchantment. Bala is said to produce three kinds of women who can intoxicate or bewilder those who encounter them.

So Atala represents a world of pleasure, sensuality and magical illusion.

---

2. Vitala — वितल

Vitala is associated particularly with Śiva in his Bhairava/Hāṭakeśvara aspect in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

A remarkable feature of this realm is the production of Hāṭaka, a special form of gold, through the interaction of Śiva's energy with the subterranean waters.

Thus Vitala has a strong connection with:

• Śiva,
• subterranean fire,
• alchemy/metals,
• gold,
• extraordinary material abundance.

This one is particularly interesting from a Tantric/Śaiva perspective, because the text isn't presenting the lower world simply as evil. A form of Śiva is actually present there.

---

3. Sutala — सुतल

This is probably the most famous of the seven.

Sutala is the kingdom of Mahābali, the great Daitya king encountered by Vāmana, the dwarf incarnation of Viṣṇu.

When Bali gives Vāmana the requested three paces of land, Viṣṇu expands into his cosmic form and takes the universe in two steps. Bali offers his own head for the third.

Rather than simply destroying Bali, Viṣṇu blesses him and makes Sutala his kingdom.

Even more remarkably, Viṣṇu promises to personally guard Bali's door.

Consequently Sutala is paradoxical:

A "lower" world whose ruler is one of the great devotees of Viṣṇu and whose entrance is guarded by Viṣṇu himself.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa therefore describes Sutala as extraordinarily fortunate.

---

4. Talātala — तलातल

Talātala belongs to Maya Dānava, the legendary architect of the Asuras.

Maya is a master of:

• architecture,
• magic,
• illusion,
• extraordinary technological/artistic construction.

Śiva destroyed the three cities (Tripura) of the Asuras, but subsequently granted Maya protection.

So Talātala is particularly associated with Māyā in the sense of supernatural architecture and illusion.

---

5. Mahātala — महातल

Mahātala is primarily the realm of the Nāgas.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa describes great serpent beings dwelling there, including:

• Krodhavaśa,
• Takṣaka,
• Kālīya,
• Suṣeṇa,
• other powerful serpent chiefs.

They live with their families in splendid subterranean palaces.

The inhabitants are powerful and dangerous, but the text emphasizes that they are also capable of fear—particularly fear of Garuḍa, the great enemy of serpents.

---

6. Rasātala — रसातल

Rasātala is inhabited by powerful Daityas, Dānavas and other Asuras.

The word rasa can mean essence, juice, taste, fluid, pleasure, etc., so its literal etymology is not entirely straightforward.

The inhabitants are portrayed as extremely powerful beings who have been defeated or oppressed by the gods.

Interestingly, they are not described as being in a state of constant punishment. They possess magnificent dwellings and considerable sensual enjoyment.

---

7. Pātāla — पाताल

Pātāla is the lowest of the seven.

It is the domain of the greatest Nāga kings, including:

• Vāsuki,
• Śaṅkha,
• Kulika,
• Mahāśaṅkha,
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
• Takṣaka,
• Karkoṭaka,

among others.

And here Hindu cosmology becomes wonderfully strange.

Pātāla is not dark and miserable. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa describes it as possessing magnificent palaces, jewels, gardens and sensual pleasures. The jewels on the heads of the Nāgas illuminate the realm.

So although Pātāla is "below" the human world, it can be more beautiful and materially pleasurable than Earth.

---

The really important distinction: Tala ≠ Naraka

This is often lost in simplified diagrams.

You can roughly think of Hindu cosmology as having:

Upper worlds
→ Bhūḥ
→ Bhuvaḥ
→ Svaḥ
→ Mahaḥ
→ Janaḥ
→ Tapaḥ
→ Satya/Brahmaloka

Middle
→ Bhū-loka, the human world

Lower worlds
→ Atala
→ Vitala
→ Sutala
→ Talātala
→ Mahātala
→ Rasātala
→ Pātāla

And separately:

Naraka = hell realms associated with karmic punishment.

So "Pātāla" does not mean "Hell" in the way Naraka does.

---

And there is a fascinating theological point

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa doesn't simply make the cosmology into:

heaven = good
earth = neutral
underground = evil
hell = punishment.

It's considerably more complicated.

Sutala, for example, is technically a lower world but is blessed by the personal presence of Viṣṇu.

Vitala contains a manifestation of Śiva.

Pātāla contains magnificent Nāga civilizations.

And the inhabitants of the lower worlds can be extraordinarily powerful spiritual beings—even if their consciousness is often dominated by pleasure, pride or material attachment.

That fits surprisingly well with the broader Tantric idea you've been exploring: "lower" does not necessarily mean metaphysically evil. A realm can be closer to matter, instinct, sensuality or chthonic power without being outside the Divine order.

In fact, Vitala and Sutala are particularly interesting from a Śaiva–Vaiṣṇava perspective, because they demonstrate that even the deepest/subterranean regions of the cosmos are not outside the sphere of Śiva or Viṣṇu.

Koreshanity

 

Credit: MATTYMOO101

So there *is* a connection between David Koresh and Cyrus Reed Teed? I always kind of wondered about that one... 

Dude!

Dragons and giants

 

For the record, I don´t believe in this kind of stuff. I think...

Ascension to INNER Earth

 

Peter Mount Shasta (Peter Mt. Shasta) is not only a spiritual teacher in the I AM tradition actually living in the town of Mount Shasta, California. He is also a UFO contactee. I previously linked to a video in which he claimed to have met Semjasse (as he spells her name), the alien female from the Pleiades mostly associated with Billy Meier.

In this interview, Peter continues his story. If I read him right, Semjasse took him on a tour through the Hollow Earth by an entrance at the North Pole. Admiral Byrd is explicitly mentioned. There is an apocalyptic undertone in the interview, Peter claiming to have heard a prophecy by Ascended Master Saint Germain that cataclysmic events will make it necessary to evacuate the Earth surface. However, the chosen ones will not be beamed up to spaceships, but rather taken to the interior of the planet, which is paradise-like, these conditions being the result of the Inner Earth vibrating on a higher frequency.

One intriguing feature of Peter Mount Shasta´s message is that it sounds less negative than similar channeled messages about an impending “world evacuation”. Everyone is called upon to meditate and cleanse their karma, forgive their enemies, and in general spread compassion and light around. By thus avoiding negative energy, more people can perhaps be saved from the destruction at the last moment.

In the second clip, Peter shows pictures of the UFO-shaped clouds around Mount Shasta (the actual mountain), claims that the aliens created us, and discusses the recent “disclosure” in Washington DC.

Fake aliens from a hollow earth

 

 

These are some clips from the YouTube channel of Coby Obi, a Nigerian supporter of Hindu Tantrika Paramahamsa Nithyananda (often accused of being a cult leader). I´m not sure how aligned this channel is with the "official" messaging of Nithyananda. For instance, it has a rather marked Afro-centrist tendency and often references Zulu shaman Credo Mutwa (who was also a favorite of David Icke).

In the clips above, Obi argues that Earth is hollow and the home of "inner earth civilizations". I get the impression that they are malevolent or asuric in nature (the asuras are the "titans" or "giants" of Hindu mythology). There are supposedly entrances to the inner earth all over the world: India, China, Igboland in Nigeria, Congo...

More disturbing still, is the idea that the "grey aliens" of UFO lore are degenerate humans from the future, visiting us in their time machines. These humans have become completely dependent on technology and seem to represent a kind of alternate asuric timeline. The "UFO disclosure" in the United States is really a conspiracy to make us accept these fake aliens from the hollow earth and/or the dystopian future. 

Luckily for us, there are also real aliens. Unsurprisingly, these are the devas (gods or demigods) of Hindu lore, beings of light inhabiting higher planes of existence. If we align ourselves with their teachings, we can presumably live free and spiritual lives without dependence on technology...

Presented here for easy reference only. 

   

Overlords of Antarctica

 

First, a somewhat curious Iranian threat against the United States:

>>>Iran’s Navy commander announced in a televised broadcast last fall that the regime owns Antarctica and will build a military operation in the South Pole. "We have property rights in the South Pole. We have plan to raise our flag there and carry out military and scientific work," Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said in late September, according to a translation by the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).>>>

Probably just BS, but who knows? The second link goes to an even more peculiar conspiracy blog, which I link to mostly for fun. Think Nazis in Antarctica, Hollow Earth, Face on Mars, the Moon landing was a hoax, a dash of anti-Semitism ("banking practices" - yeah, he means the Jews, right?)...

Make of this material what you wish. 

Iran declares Antarctica its property in direct challenge to Biden, global treaty

Iran and Antarctica

 

The throne of Kong

 

Credit: Thurundir

"Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021) is the latest but apparently not last film in the so-called MonsterVerse series. One of the lead actors is Swedish: Alexander Skarsgård (I admit I had no idea). While the film isn´t terribly interesting, I admit that it was better than I expected and can work as light entertainment on a rainy Saturday evening. Some standard tropes have been reimagined in fun ways. Thus, the crackpot conspiracy theorist who turns out to be right is African-American, while the ugly computer nerd who knows everything turns out to be just ugly, knowing essentially nothing at all! Some other tropes are the usual ones, such as the mad scientist being eaten by his own monstrous creation (bye bye!). 

I did enjoy all the "in-house" references to the Illuminati, lizard people, the breakaway civilization, and so on. Indeed, the entire MonsterVerse concept is  woven around one of the crazier alternative ideas out there (pun intended): the Hollow Earth. The monstrous "Titans" inhabiting these nether regions of our planet get their enormous powers from a mysterious source even deeper down, and naturally the bad guys (called Apex) want to tap it for their own nefarious ends: to energize "Mechagodzilla", a robot interfacing with the extracted neural pathways of a particularly evil Titan, the famed hydra-like Ghidorah. Unfortunately for Apex, the robot spins out of control and becomes the apex predator. The only thing that can save the human race (and, I suppose, the franchise) is a temporary alliance between two other Titans who are usually at each other´s throats: King Kong and Godzilla...

The final battle between the cryptid monstrosities is set in Hong Kong, but before we reach that point, the film takes us on an extended trip through the Hollow Earth, which turns out to be anything but a paradise. Sure, the jungles are lush, but the titantic beings dwelling there are engaged in an apparently never-ending bellum omnium contra omnes, with Kong as the "king" sitting on a mountain throne, trying to uphold some semblance of order with his huge battle-axe, powered by the enigmatic energy from further below. I can´t say that´s much of an improvement over life on the surface, to be honest! Apparently, the sequel will be called "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire", a rather ominous title and pit these titanids against an even bigger terror from the bowles of our hardboiled planet, the identity of which isn´t revealed by Warner Bros just yet. OK, let me guess. Sorath? Cthulhu?

I´m already bracing myself for that extravaganza!   

Bigger than the universe

 

Swami Mukundananda is a Radha-Krishna-centric guru based in Dallas, Texas (of all places!), where his temple serves a portion of the local Hindu community. (He´s the bhajan singer from a previous blog post.) 

In this clip, he talks a lot of nonsense about Vedic cosmology (which actually *did* teach that the Earth was a flat disc, and so on). However, he also tells a couple of funny teaching stories about the vastness of the universe. I previously heard Buddhist stories of a similar kind. The one about Indra and the ants sounds familiar somehow…

Make of this content what you wish! But yes, if you think space travel will save your Charvaka ass, you´re in for a rude awakening, LOL.   

Död eller levande

Credit: Niraj Suryawanshi

Insåg just att jag aldrig länkat till denna... 

Moder Jord och Hare Krishna: Möt miniguden "Död o återfödd"

Truth Asocial

Overheard on Twitter: "What if Flat Earth is a PSYOP to distract from Hollow Earth?"

Original tweet

Remember the Titans

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (2019) is a sequel to "Godzilla" (2014), and the third film in total in the so-called MonsterVerse series (I haven´t seen the fourth one yet). I didn´t find it particularly interesting, except for a few Lovecraftian references, but I suppose I´m a bit too old for monster films! 

The concept of the MonsterVerse is that a primordial breed of "titans" have been awakened from their underground slumber. The monstrous creatures are studied (and sometimes chased) by a secretive government organization known as Monarch. These cryptozoologists believe that humanity can co-exist with the Titans, indeed that the world somehow belongs to them rather than to us (compare the Old Ones in Lovecraft´s horror fiction, but with a more positive spin). Naturally, the more regular military disagrees and rather wants the monsters dead, buried and gone. 

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" introduces a rogue faction, headed by a former military officer who has become an eco-terrorist. With the help of a Monarch turn coat, the mad colonel wants to use the Titans as WMDs to wipe out large portions of humanity, thereby restoring the precious ecological balance of our planet. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry when it turns out that one of the titans is really a gigantic space alien, known as King Ghidorah, who can telepathically brain-wash the other monsters with the goal of destroying *all* humans, presumably including Monarch and the deep ecologists themselves...

One of the plot twists is that Godzilla is on our side ("for now"), and so is Mothra, a bizarre and over-sized insectoid extravaganza. When Godzilla loses the first round of fighting against Ghidorah, and flees to the ruins of an ancient city at the ocean floor (Atlantis?), Monarch helps the titan by "doping" him with a nuclear explosion! In the dramatic finale, Godzilla unleashes the nuclear energy, incinerating the alien dragon once and for all (unfortunately together with most of Boston). Or so we hope, since MonsterVerse will probably just continue this franchise until we all drop dead...

Since "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" was made in 2019, it´s of course very politically correct, with female scientists, Black female military officers (one of them fat), and a super-smart young girl who looks like a boy. The Titans have sex across the species barriers and turns out to have an ecological consciousness, helping humanity to save the coral reefs and making the deserts bloom?! It´s therefore quite ironic that a more classical Hollywood save-the-nuclear-family petty drama also forms part of the plot. 

In the end, not even the Hollow Earth and Eldritch angles could save this production for me. The family drama was just annoying, the mad military man isn´t mad enough, and there are just too many monsters (and nuclear bombs). It probably isn´t a relevant criticism of a scy fy flick, but "King of the Monsters" comes across as *unrealistic*. In real life, kids aren´t that smart, nor do fat women become military commanders. But perhaps Japanese scientists really do carry out kamikaze missions? A further exploration of the Titan mythos would have been more interesting, but I suppose the American audience want to see woke mayhem in the neighborhood of Boston... 

Welcome to Monarch

"Kong: Skull Island" from 2017 is apparently one of several "MonsterVerse" films, which reboot the Godzilla and King Kong franchises. I´ve only seen the 2017 flick, in which a secretive group of maverick scientists working for the US deep state get more than they ask for. The year is supposedly 1973 (yet, everyone looks more modern - or less, in some cases). The classified Monarch crypto-zoology project is almost shut down due to a lack of tangible results, when a satellite discovers Skull Island, an unknown territory in the middle of the Pacific surrounded by almost impenetrable storms. Monarch´s team of monster-hunters and heretical geologists (one of them an academic outcast who believes in the Hollow Earth theory) are joined by US military personnel from the Vietnam War on an expedition to investigate the site. What happens next is easy to imagine, LOL.

Or perhaps not, since the main twist of "Kong: Skull Island" is that King Kong is one of the *good* guys. Skull Island is connected to gigantic cave systems in which prehistoric creatures still live, creatures so abominable that the Earth really belongs to them, not to humanity, if they ever decide to come up for a quick snack. Note the combo of Hollow Earth speculations and Lovecraft´s Eldritch horrors! King Kong seems to be the only monster fighting on the side of humanity against a breed of bizarre oversized reptilians known as skullcrawlers. Kong´s family was killed by the crawlers, and he is the last of his race, being worshipped by the natives of the island as a god for keeping the place reasonably safe. Due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Kong and the Monarch away team end up fighting each other, enabling the dinosaurid horrors to escape their underground caverns...

This isn´t *really* a good film (it would have been even worse without the huge budget!), but as lighter entertainment on a cloudy Friday afternoon, I suppose it works tolerably well. 

The mother lode of skepticism

“Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science” by Martin Gardner is something of a classic. Published already in 1957, Gardner's thorough-going study of pseudo-scientific cranks and cultists still feels fresh. It has also inspired a number of later books. Reading it I realized that both Patrick Moore and Poul Fersling borrow heavily from Gardner, to the point of plagiarism. (Fersling is a Danish author whose encyclopedia of the paranormal is popular in Sweden.) It's hardly surprising that Gardner went on to became a prominent member of the skeptical organization CSICOP. His book could almost be described as the mother lode of skepticism!

What makes Gardner worth reading today is that many of the “fads and fallacies” he describes and attacks are still thriving: homeopathy, Velikovskianism, Dianetics, young earth creationism, Forteanism, the search for Atlantis and parapsychology comes to mind. Since I'm not an orthodox skeptic, I happen to believe in *some* of the supposed fallacies included in the book. For instance, I'm more positive towards parapsychology than the author. I'm also interested in some “occult” subjects mentioned only in passing. To keep the book manageable, Gardner has concentrated on ideas which claim to be scientific, something outright esotericism does not. That being said, I think Gardner's tome can act as a “reality check” on those of us who like to linger on the fringe.

The book is frequently entertaining, so even the chapters on crank ideas long discarded are worth reading. These include doodlebugs, Lawsonism, Reich's speculations on Orgone Energy, the medical ideas of William Horatio Bates, the “Biblical” Flat Earthism of Reverend Dowie, and the absolutely crazy idea that we live *inside* a hollow earth! Further, Gardner mentions Welt Eis Lehre, promoted by the Nazis, and Lysenkoism, promoted by the Soviets under Stalin. The example of Lysenko shows that pseudo-science can get political influence, with disastrous results, even in a supposedly “rational” and secular system. On some points, Gardner guessed wrong – thus, he believed that the UFO craze was essentially over and would become a purely occult thing. In reality, it went on to become the 20th century's most enduring folk belief! Crypto-zoology isn't mentioned at all, but this was before the Bigfoot craze triggered by the Patterson-Gimlin film.

“Facts and Fallacies in the Name of Science” will probably remain in print for some time, and *should* remain in print. While somebody who is before his time inevitably end up on the fringe, there are many people who end up there for, shall we say, other reasons. Gardner may not always be right, but at least he has given us a useful map of the far side…

Five stars.

Asbestos Head is the man

CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS!!!

“Asbestos Head” is not a book about the Hollow Earth, as erroneously stated by one of the other reviewers. I downloaded the work (it's free) in the hope of reading some entertaining stuff about flat earth conspiracies or the like. Instead, I was forced to sift through a short fiction story with an almost stereotyped “hippie” message.

Everything is subjective, everything constantly changes, Christianity and capitalism are authoritarian, love and sex should be free, why bother having kids, smoking weed and using psychedelic drugs is the way to go, live in the Now, love and forgive everyone unconditionally, meditate á la Zen, read Kerouac or Alan Watts…

Weirdly, this wasn't published circa 1967, but in 2008! I frequently laughed out loud when reading about Asbestos Head (the main character) and his weird friends Pin Head, Pot Head and Machine Head, to mention just a few. The hippie and love summer message is absolutely undiluted, making you see how absurd and unpractical it really is. Several characters are typical “misunderstood geniuses” or “INTJs” who come across as awkward and slightly autistic to everyone else. The solution to all problems seems to be to empty your mind and stop thinking altogether (or, I suppose, smoke weed). The anti-social angle is also obvious.

Interestingly, the short story has a misogynistic slant. The two women, Matriushka and Mary, are the two most negative characters. Mary (her name isn't a co-incidence) is depicted as a prostitute who once claimed to experience a virgin birth. Matriushka is a shallow promiscuous gossip who nevertheless demands “commitment” from Asbestos, who refuses and treats her to a lecture on free love. In the last chapter, Matriushka is locked up in a basement and apparently abandoned by a Zen monk! That a story about unconditional love and anti-authoritarianism turns out to be anti-female may or may not tell us something about the author's own “issues”. Another interesting fact is that Machine Head, who is a Cyborg and part of a hive mind, is treated as a positive alternative to humanity, although he too falls short of the true vibes of the Now.

What's the story *really* about? Presumably mimicking Robert Heinlein, the author reveals in the very last chapter that Asbestos Head is Jesus Christ who has returned to Earth to teach his true gospel. This explains why his parents are named Joseph and Mary (the prostitute – note also the conflation of the Virgin Mary with Mary Magdalene), while Asbestos himself is said to be an “orphan”. Since Jesus-Asbestos turns out to be a hippie Buddhist, the world refuses to listen, prompting the misunderstood savior to commit Japanese-style suicide (seppuku) in the last chapter! Without this plot twist, the story would just be a long litany of pseudo-spiritual preaching for the eternally unsaved.

I was waiting for the Flat Earth /Hollow Earth material, so I admit I was somewhat disappointed by “Asbestos Head”, but I suppose you get what you (don't) pay for. The author Eric Dubay describes himself as a 30+ American living in Thailand where he teaches Yoga and Wing Chun part time while exposing the New World Order full time. His Youtube channel does include expositions on the Flat Earth, but also attacks on “Freemasons” and “Jews”, making you wonder how unconditionally he really loves his fellow men (or Cyborgs). But yes, if you're into conspiracy, I'm sure there's more where this stuff comes from…

Nazis beyond the North Pole

Admiral Richard E Byrd was a famous American explorer of both the Arctic and Antarctica. He passed away in 1957. For whatever reason, his name became posthumously associated with a bizarre hoax, a “secret diary” in which Byrd is supposed to have detailed his encounters with UFOs. The publication history of the “diary” isn't entirely clear to me. The diary itself is dated 1956. It was mentioned in 1959 by one F Amadeo Giannini in “Worlds Beyond the Poles”. Apparently, Ray Palmer – the pulp magazine editor and ufologist extraordinaire – commented on Admiral Byrd's alien encounter shortly afterwards. Palmer concocted a story about how the federal government had confiscated all copies of the December 1959 issue of “Flying Saucers” magazine (of which Palmer himself was the editor). The ostensible purpose was to stop the truth about Byrd's discoveries from ever reaching the public. Finally, in 1964 one Raymond W Barnard (real name Walter Siegmeister) published a book titled “The Hollow Earth”, in which he discusses Byrd's diary and Palmer's claims.

This is the “diary” itself. It's rather short and perhaps not worth nine dollars. It's also obviously a hoax. The “diary” is a story of alien contact or abduction, typical of its time, with Byrd cast in the role of contactee or abductee. Written when contact with UFO occupants was seen as benign, the aliens turn out to be highly spiritually evolved and want to stop us from detonating more atomic bombs. Their leader is called The Master (obviously one of the Ascended Masters of Theosophy). More bizarre are the Nazi traits. The aliens are called Arianni, speak English with a German accent and are described as blond Nordic types! Their craft carry swastika-like insignia. However, this could also be a Theosophical trait: the swastika is a Buddhist symbol used by Theosophists, and Theosophy founder Madame Blavatsky regarded the Aryans as the most spiritually advanced race (however, she included the dark-skinned peoples of northern India in this race, hardly Nordic types). Speculations about an advanced Aryan civilization at the North Pole are a chapter in itself, but Bal Gangadhar Tilak's “The Arctic Home in the Vedas” (1903) can be mentioned here. Blavatsky believed in “polar” and “hyperborean” civilizations, but they weren't Aryan in her version. The whole “diary” sounds almost like a parody of Theosophy, with the Nazi aliens cast as radiant peaceful creatures who only want what's best for us. I have no idea who wrote it, but I suppose Ray Palmer might be a prime suspect. It's interesting to note that Barnard seems to have been into both Theosophy and Anthroposophy.

A curious trait with Admiral Byrd's diary is that Byrd (or rather his fictitious persona) doesn't encounter the aliens in outer space. Rather, the Earth turns out to be hollow! During an attempt to fly over the North Pole, Byrd accidentally flies right inside the opening to the subterranean world where he discovers lush vegetation, a living mammoth and a rainbow city inhabited by the Nordics. The Hollow Earth angle is vintage Palmer, who had rocked the world with “The Shaver Mystery” already in 1946. The mystery story was set in an underground world inhabited by intelligent alien-like beings. Theosophists, Anthroposophists and the Theosophy-derived I AM Movement (which had Nazi affinities) were also interested in occult truths about the subterranean realms.

Those who believe in the veracity of Admiral Richard Byrd's lost diary belong to the outer edges of ufology or even neo-Nazism, so this is definitely fringe material. Yet, it's surprisingly well known fringe material. I've heard about it already as a kid, since Hilary Evans' excellent book “UFO: The Greatest Mystery” mentions the hollow earth and Byrd's supposed expedition beyond the North Pole. Not sure how to rate this material. It feels like two-and-a-half stars.

For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky

Credit: Joe King 

“Valerian and Laureline” is a French comic with a science fiction theme. I've only read one album so far, “The Land Without Stars”. I saw it already as a kid, but it didn't look exciting, so I never read it. In contrast to the other reviewers, I don't think the drawings are very good. But yes, I also thought of David Lynch's “Dune” or the Jabba aspect of “Star Wars” when reading this album. The “Flash Gordon” motion picture featuring Max von Sydow also came to mind.

I admit that the plot (if that's the name for it) is quite funny!

The spatial-temporal agents of Galaxity, Valerian and Laureline, are quite the characters. Valerian is an immature drinker and prankster, although he is also pretty good at manning space shuttles and fighting with blunt instruments. Laureline is The Beautiful Half-Nude Girl Who Can Fight, Too. This unlikely couple penetrates the atmosphere of a bizarre, hollow planet with an internal sun, the inhabitants of which are completely oblivious to the outside universe, or to the fact that their world (Zahir) is on a collision course with several human colonies.

The two agents quickly discover that Zahir is in the grips of a never-ending war between two cities, Valsennar and Malka. Valsennar is a patriarchy where women do all the dirty work, but with a twist: the ruling males are effeminate, while the subordinate females are aggressive and war-like. Conditions in Malka are the opposite: the rulers are a caste of warrior-women or Amazons, while the cowardly men are forced to become cannon-fodder. I admit that Malka was something to behold! Yes, this is how “the men's rights movement” imagines Sweden to look like, ha ha. Poised in between the two warring powers are the nomadic Lemm people, who sell explosives to both sides, no questions asked.

Naturally, there's a lot of jokes about gender roles, stereotypes and pointless wars in “The Land Without Stars”. Apart from the feminist (or quasi-feminist) message, parallels to the Cold War are pretty obvious. The parochial "hollow earth" where nothing ever changes and nobody knows anything about the wider galaxy is an obvious metaphor for our species, obsessed with its trivial BAU while the world is on a collision course with crises that can wreck us all. It's also interesting to note that the hollow earth concept used in this comic seems to be a version of the “concave” one, mostly associated with Cyrus Teed (1839-1908), a harmless crackpot mentioned in books about such things. Let me also note that a zoological survey of Zahir would be most interesting. These guys really disprove the old canard that bumblebees can't fly!

For giving me a few laughs, I give this comic album four stars.

Those were the days

"UFOs: The Greatest Mystery" by Hilary Evans was probably the first book I read about UFOs as a kid. It's short, concise, and has large colour illustrations, many of them credited to the Mary Evans Picture Library, co-founded by none other than Hilary Evans himself! Apparently, it's very convincing too, since I had a "UFO phase" as a preteen. Later, I became more fascinated by the fact that people can believe whatever they want to believe. And these days, I'm just tired of it all.

The book manages to cover virtually all aspects of UFOs and the UFO subculture, despite being so short. Cases mentioned include Socorro, Lakenheath, the Papua observations, the death of captain Mantell, and the Hill abduction case. However, there is very little about alien abductions overall in this book, probably because it was written in 1979. The abduction craze didn't start in earnest until the 1980's and 1990's. George Adamski is prominently featured, and the book also mentions some more bizarre speculations about Nazi-UFO connections, "the hollow earth" and MIBs. The Roswell saga is notable by its absence, and so are Billy Meier and the lovely Semjase. Nor does the book mention Erich von Däniken. Still, it's surprisingly comprehensive for a work only 100 pages long, where almost half of the pages are illustrations!

"UFOs: The Greatest Mystery" ends with a dramatic and apparently real photo of a human crowd anticipating the landing of an interstellar space craft. Alas, it's not really real. It's actually from the movie "Close encounters of the third kind". Still, it's a fitting close. Evans' book was published during a period when the UFO phenomenon was still interpreted by many people as benign, and perhaps even as a chance at salvation. It was an optimistic mystery waiting to be solved. If you pick up a ufology book today, a very different picture emerges...

Times have changed, apparently. And so have the mysteries.

Among flat earthers and UFO contactees

As a teenager, I read Patrick Moore's "Countdown", laughing heartily all through the book. But yes, I was somewhat intrigued by some of Moore's claims. According to the Swedish back matter, Moore is a famous British astronomer, and I wondered how such a person could possibly be on a first name basis with George Adamski, a notorious UFO crank.

That's because Moore is an *amateur* astronomer, stupid.

"Can you speak Venusian?" is an earlier book by Moore, and something of an involuntary companion volume to the previously mentioned "Countdown". The author takes us on a journey through the netherworld of Independent Thinkers, actually a sorry but entertaining lot of cultists, pseudo-scientists and - no surprise there - UFO contactees.

Some of the chapters deal with well known figures, such as Velikovsky, Däniken and George King. The Flat Earth Society and the Evolution Protest Movement are featured. The claims of the Independent Thinkers vary from the unbelievable to the positively bizarre. Thus, the Atlantean Society believes that there are underground railways on Pluto, and a certain Robert Randall claims that a crater outside a small British town was caused by an exploding UFO from Uranus. Then there's the theory that the Earth is hollow, and that we live on its inside, or the claim that the sun is frigid. The author even met a person who claims to have translated "Hamlet" into Venusian.

Moore's involvement with the milieu of Independent Thought seems to have been more than causal. Today, long after the publication of this book, many people suspect that the contactee Cedric Allingham was a hoax, and that Moore himself was behind it. In the book, Moore mentions another hoax, perpetrated by person or persons unknown at the expense of the Aetherius Society, a new religious movement led by the previously mentioned George King (who is also a contactee). King suspected that Moore was the hoaxer, and even paid him a visit at the latter's house! Our amateur astronomer denied everything...

Perhaps some of the claims in this book should be taken with a certain grain of salt?

Be that as it may, "Can you speak Venusian?" is an entertaining read - unless you happen to believe in flying saucers - and I therefore give it four stars.

(This is a review of the updated 1976 edition, published by Wyndham Publications)