Ashtar Galactic Command
Encyclopedia
Ashtar is the name of a purported extraterrestrial
being, who was first claimed to be channeled by early UFO contactee George Van Tassel
, on 18 July 1952.
communication with extraterrestrial intelligences utilizing a method which included both natural human abilities and the use of an allegedly advanced form of alien technology, rather than the more traditionally "religious
" non-technological spiritual medium based approach taken by many other early channelers of the era. Van Tassel maintained that the method he utilized was not a "paranormal
" or "metaphysical
" activity, but rather an example of the application of an allegedly advanced extraterrestrial science, that anyone could implement with the proper training.
Residing near a large boulder, situated in the desert of southern California
called Giant Rock
, in a UFO focused community he founded in 1947, the earliest messages Van Tassel claimed to have received from Ashtar were first presented to the public at an annual event called the Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention
, which he himself organized. Van Tassel's early purported messages from Ashtar contained a great deal of apocalyptic material, which focused on concerns regarding the development of the soon to be tested hydrogen bomb. Van Tassel also claimed that Ashtar had provided specific messages that he was expected to pass on to the U.S. federal government
regarding the potential negative impacts of the proposed upcoming bomb tests.
By 1955, a few well known channelers of the era, including Elouise Moeller, had incorporated the concept of an Ashtar Command and related ideas, as key components of their own developing systems. Several channelers, including Van Tassel himself, began publishing accounts which described predictions of the imminent arrival of an Ashtar-led UFO armada on earth, in order to guide and protect mankind. The public failure of these predictions had an enormous negative effect on the expansion of the Ashtar Command 'movement'. Without Van Tassel's role as a single authority constituting the sole source of messages from Ashtar, the movement became less cohesive and began to splinter from internal pressures. Several dozen channelers were simultaneously claiming to be obtaining, in some cases, competing authoritative messages directly from Ashtar. The overall movement began to wane in relative popularity because of infighting.
community for a period of roughly twenty years, the concept of an Ashtar Command was revitalized by a channeler named Thelma B. Terrill, (best known as "Tuella") who channeled messages and wrote a series of books on the subject in the 1970s and 1980s. Her work shifted the focus from Van Tassel's extraterrestrial technological model, to a more 'spiritualized' approach. Tuella's version of the Ashtar narrative tended to play down the necessity of the direct involvement of UFOs in human affairs, with the shift of importance being laid onto purely interior spiritual development as a means of reaching "higher dimensions" and receiving the assistance of Ashtar Command. Despite Tuella's influences, several channelers maintained a separate more UFO-based cosmology, which insisted on the importance of messages from Ashtar containing predictions of the imminent destruction of earth, and the need for a literal physical evacuation of the planet, with the assistance of the spacecraft of Ashtar Command. By the 1990s the movement began to splinter into factions once again.
in 1977, they also began using the term Ashtar Galactic Command as opposed to simply Ashtar Command (see Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax for more details). Ashtar came to be depicted as commanding a fleet of dozens to hundreds of flying saucer
s continually monitoring Earth, and the being Vrillon came to be depicted as Ashtar's communications director.
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
being, who was first claimed to be channeled by early UFO contactee George Van Tassel
George Van Tassel
George Van Tassel was an American contactee, ufologist, and paranormal research leader who commenced building the Integratron in 1958 in Landers, California.- History :...
, on 18 July 1952.
Van Tassel
Although the purported method of communication resembled what is commonly referred to as "channeling", Van Tassel claimed to have established a new form of telepathicTelepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
communication with extraterrestrial intelligences utilizing a method which included both natural human abilities and the use of an allegedly advanced form of alien technology, rather than the more traditionally "religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
" non-technological spiritual medium based approach taken by many other early channelers of the era. Van Tassel maintained that the method he utilized was not a "paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
" or "metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
" activity, but rather an example of the application of an allegedly advanced extraterrestrial science, that anyone could implement with the proper training.
Residing near a large boulder, situated in the desert of southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
called Giant Rock
Giant Rock
Giant Rock is a large freestanding boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, that covers of ground and is seven stories high.In ancient times it was considered sacred by the Native Americans of the Joshua Tree, California, area. In the 1950s it was a gathering point for UFO believers...
, in a UFO focused community he founded in 1947, the earliest messages Van Tassel claimed to have received from Ashtar were first presented to the public at an annual event called the Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention
UFO convention
A UFO convention is a convention about UFOs that usually take place annually at hotels or convention centers and mainly feature contactees giving presentations about their experiences...
, which he himself organized. Van Tassel's early purported messages from Ashtar contained a great deal of apocalyptic material, which focused on concerns regarding the development of the soon to be tested hydrogen bomb. Van Tassel also claimed that Ashtar had provided specific messages that he was expected to pass on to the U.S. federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
regarding the potential negative impacts of the proposed upcoming bomb tests.
Ashtar Command
As the weekly channeling sessions at Giant Rock continued through the early 1950s, the Ashtar messages became much more elaborate and began to provide details of the purported existence of an extraterrestrial "government", which claimed to closely monitor activities on earth and offered material and spiritual support to its citizens. This concept of an "Ashtar Command" was appropriated for use by a number of prominent early channelers, both inside and outside the Giant Rock community, and was soon being utilized by several in the context of their own personal claimed messages from Ashtar, along with the use of the figure of Ashtar himself, originally developed by Van Tassel.By 1955, a few well known channelers of the era, including Elouise Moeller, had incorporated the concept of an Ashtar Command and related ideas, as key components of their own developing systems. Several channelers, including Van Tassel himself, began publishing accounts which described predictions of the imminent arrival of an Ashtar-led UFO armada on earth, in order to guide and protect mankind. The public failure of these predictions had an enormous negative effect on the expansion of the Ashtar Command 'movement'. Without Van Tassel's role as a single authority constituting the sole source of messages from Ashtar, the movement became less cohesive and began to splinter from internal pressures. Several dozen channelers were simultaneously claiming to be obtaining, in some cases, competing authoritative messages directly from Ashtar. The overall movement began to wane in relative popularity because of infighting.
Tuella
After decreasing in popularity within the New AgeNew Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
community for a period of roughly twenty years, the concept of an Ashtar Command was revitalized by a channeler named Thelma B. Terrill, (best known as "Tuella") who channeled messages and wrote a series of books on the subject in the 1970s and 1980s. Her work shifted the focus from Van Tassel's extraterrestrial technological model, to a more 'spiritualized' approach. Tuella's version of the Ashtar narrative tended to play down the necessity of the direct involvement of UFOs in human affairs, with the shift of importance being laid onto purely interior spiritual development as a means of reaching "higher dimensions" and receiving the assistance of Ashtar Command. Despite Tuella's influences, several channelers maintained a separate more UFO-based cosmology, which insisted on the importance of messages from Ashtar containing predictions of the imminent destruction of earth, and the need for a literal physical evacuation of the planet, with the assistance of the spacecraft of Ashtar Command. By the 1990s the movement began to splinter into factions once again.
Yvonne Cole
One individual, named Yvonne Cole, who claimed to be channeling Ashtar messages from 1986, predicted the destruction of all earth civilizations and the arrival on the planet of various alien cultures in 1994. Cole claimed that governments were working with extraterrestrials to prepare for contact. These prophecies furthered the continued fracturing and disappointment within the movement when they failed to occur.Developments after the mid-1990s
Despite these failures, by the mid-1990s, and continuing to present, several of these channeling groups began to utilize the Internet in order to promulgate their beliefs and to attempt to encourage a movement toward unifying the movement and establishing a single 'authoritative' source for all Ashtar messages. Individual channelers espousing messages which differed and continued to focus on themes such as the destruction of earth, were declared invalid. It was claimed that channelers who had avowed such messages in the past and continued to do so, had in fact been deceived by spiritual forces who opposed Ashtar's benevolent intentions. Most significantly of all, the new more unified movement declared that in future no new channeled messages from Ashtar would be accepted as valid unless they complied with criteria established by the recently formed and authoritative core group. The criteria consisted of a set of twelve "guidelines", which it was claimed established a baseline of 'orthodoxy' for the movement. After the alleged radio broadcast from VrillonVrillon
The Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax was a broadcast interruption through the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the United Kingdom at 5:10 PM on 26 November 1977...
in 1977, they also began using the term Ashtar Galactic Command as opposed to simply Ashtar Command (see Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax for more details). Ashtar came to be depicted as commanding a fleet of dozens to hundreds of flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s continually monitoring Earth, and the being Vrillon came to be depicted as Ashtar's communications director.