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Contact in the Desert 2015

Contact-Desert-2015Contact in the Desert – 2105

Contact in the Desert is growing into a premier Ufology event drawing thousands from around the world. When I first arrived on site in 2013 and ran ​into Paul Andrews, I was surprised. Then I decided to rekindle an association that started back in 1998. Paul had invited me to come work for him in LA, just off Venice Beach.

I had spectacular results in running The Prophets Conference in Phoenix the previous October. Jim-ZencompThe only bummer was Cody and Robyn Johnson split town without paying me or Jim Dilettoso (right), who had recommended me to them. We did get something later, but then I had to pay the local waste management and generator folks. It was a sad situation and no one suspected the Axiom Group of such behaviors.

Paul and I didn’t work out at the time back then, but it was good to see he had teamed up with Victoria to produce Contact in the Desert. It was a spectacular showing although at the worst time of year for most folks, especially the elderly. It took two years to move it to May and even this last weekend was a bit too much for many. I ran into a elderly woman using a walker who was obviously determined to be there, but had a heck of time in the heat. Perhaps moving it to a different meteor shower period – Lyrids Meteor Shower – might do, April 22-23 with a full moon on April 22.

Speaking of Victoria, Paul’s event partner, she even got into the act of sharing her experiences and understanding on one of the panels in the amphitheater. It was really great to see one of the event coordinators reveal their story. I’m sure the DVD is available through the Contact in the Desert website. All the presentations will be available soon. Ask around and get your favorites. I think you can get the whole package for around $100.

Zen&JohnAnthonyWest-compI love getting into the thick of things, consistent with my given name, Bruce (means ‘dweller of the thicket), and volunteered as an A/V runner delivering the master copies of DVDs to the duplication station just outside the Sanctuary, the main speaker location. I ran into many folks I’ve known for years and met some new folks as well, like John Anthony West.

Of course there were some challenges with the event. When you have a first-some, first-served entrance into the main events it can be a challenge to get in and/or have a decent seat. There were viewing areas outdoors as well that were packed, too. With folks like Erich Von Daniken, Giorgio Tsoukalos, Jimmy Church and George Noory present there is always a crowd around them. Even at 80 (Erich had a birthday over the weekend) he still stands and delivers with a rapid-fire onset of details and facts from years of experience.

Speaking of experience, Grant Cameron and I had a wonderful, albeit short, chat on Sunday andZen&Grant-comp he requested a copy of Zendor the Contrarian, so I’m waiting with baited breath for the review.  Grant is one of the most observant and reflective of the cadre of Ufologists. He’s a bit like Richard Dolan, who thought I must be tagged upon our initial meeting in Phoenix some years ago. The difference is Grant spends much less time on conspiracy as he looks for the threads of commonality in experiencers and evidence of a larger perspective of Communion amongst humanity and our visitors, entering a new state of consciousness.

The Experiencer Gatherings, hosted by Alan Steinfeld and Barbara Jean Lindsey on Friday and Barbara on Sunday were especially dear to my heart. Many folks come to find corroboration and validation in their experiences, even solace in the fact that they are not alone and their concerns are heard. Each has their own interpretation and understanding depending on their level of consciousness and observation capacity. What seemed to be stressed the most through the sharings was to not be afraid and embrace the energy instead of trying to fight it.

Danny&Zen-compNow that doesn’t mean complete surrender to that which you might feel dangerous. It was mentioned that although one may not be prepared, the process of evolution – coming to terms with the cosmic consciousness condensed into form – is tantamount to rising above the fear, guilt and shame game that inhibits the sense of Oneness that more advanced experiencers acknowledge. The sense of open-heartedness in the meetings was obvious in how folks treated one another, too.

The attendance for the event has grown by leaps and bounds, with parking strewn across the 17-acre grounds. I’m not sure of the exact attendance, but it seemed around a couple thousand. We had around five thousand come through at the Prophets Conference in 1997. Event attendance in general is down from years past, but it’s beginning to climb again. The contrast of being in the open-air instead of hotel or resort environments is refreshing, kinda of a Burning Man rendition of Ufology.

Walking around the grounds at night revealed many small groupings of folks enjoy each others DannySheehan-FREE-compcompany, perhaps for the first time. An observer could easily recognize the exuberance and childlike spontaneity of experiencers all across the event grounds. There were some real serious types that often find it difficult to be happy, but the majority of folks by far enjoyed the weekend of Contact in the Desert.

In view but not a big topic of discussion was the presence of FREE via posters Rey Hernandez left with me from the International UFO Congress in February. I’m already looking forward to next year. Thanks to Paul and Victoria and all the staff and volunteers who made this event a memorable one for thousands. In only its third year it is promising to be one of the largest gatherings in the world now. If you considered going this year, but didn’t, I’d make sure to get your ticket early next year.

Volunteers-FREEWe also invite you to find and visit the Rose Cottage in the evenings for some conversation and comaraderie. You’ll meet some of the most interesting folks in a much more intimate environment. Our small group of diverse and unique travelers will welcome you with style and grace. Look forward to seeing you there!

This year’s gathering included Ron James and Steven Bassett. Ron and I had met several years ago when he owned Dream Theater in the Village of Oak Creek, just outside Sedona. An old friend, Swami Beyondananda, was doing a show there. Ron runs a magnificent network called iVolveTV that features material you just have to explore. He also produced the Citizens Hearing DVDs.

Btw, we’re looking for more authors for UfologyPRSS. If you’d like to contribute, please sent us an email with your contact information and reason for wanting to be a contributor, plus a writing sample or link to something of yours online.

Contact in the Desert

Your Chance to Win Tickets!

Now in its third year amidst the desert background in the Joshua Tree area, Contact in the Desert is moving the the end of May. Patrons are getting their wish as the previous August dates, even with the Perseid meteor showers, was challenging to heat-sensitive folks. It’s a beautiful venue, though.

Contact in the Desert New Dates

Joshua Tree Retreat Center is the oldest and largest retreat center in the Western United States; a unique architectural landmark on a sacred site. Their mission is to support the education and nourishment of the infinite human potential. The atmosphere is certainly conducive, especially with the new dates for the 2015 Contact in the Desert event.

You can enter to win two free passes for the weekend, too. Click on this link. It’s time sensitive. Make sure you look up our Curator, Zen Benefiel, at the event. He’ll be staying in the Rose Cottage and will undoubtedly be hosting some great after-hours discussions. Keep your eyes and the skies and your head in the silence within… that’s where you’ll find the most interesting conversations.

Contact in the Desert recap

Alien.317The second Contact in the Desert event at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center was held this last weekend. Attendance grew to well over a thousand people in spite of the sweltering heat. When asked about possible date changes the event organizer, Paul Andrews, stated that the reason Perseid Meteor showers are most visible then. I’m not quite sure what that has to do with ‘contact’ but suffice it to say the dates will probably remain the same for next year.

Speakers presented on a varied of topics and you can research that on the Contact website.Since I know most of the presenters and am very familiar with their work, I spent most of my time among the participants to get a feel for the ‘common man’s’ observations and reflections on the subject at hand. From the queries I made, there is a vast array of perspectives and revelations (so to speak) being promoted, but not much is being done to query the crowd or seek out the experiences of real contactees. There is a lot of talk about consciousness, but no opportunities ti explore aside from the limited number of devices provided by a few of the vendors.

There was a surprise visit by one of the wayshowers of the consciousness movement, IMG_0703Barbara Marx-Hubbard, who happened to walk in and sit a few feet away, just before a small cadre of folks gathered around her for a short discussion. it was obvious that she was unfamiliar with advanced non-human intelligence, but she spoke of the need for a collective gathering around the possibility of open communication. Later in another short chat she mentioned spoke of a woman who had a large following in Canada and claimed to be a mouthpiece for the universal feminine principle many, many years ago and she thought it was a cult. The individual was part of a mass abduction in 1973.

The point regarding the latter is that expanded or cosmic consciousness can present itself through a variety of forms and sources, from crop circles to ‘channels’ that perform specific tasks for communicating information humans may not quite understand yet. I found it interesting the Ms. Hubbard could not see the significance of her own cult, but it was not my job to propose that view. Regardless, the worlds are bridging and the fact that she was at this event shows that walls are coming down and people are beginning to recognize the significance of non-human interactions. Many of the attendees I spoke with reflected the same and were frustrated that more focus is not on the communications that have been taking place.

alienanimation19In all fairness the groups that were assembled for the purpose of sharing experiences were littered with stories that would have taken a master coagulator to find the common thread in them. Most of them were related from a very human-centered and fear-based perspective. The obvious reflection was we fear what we do not understand and the interpretation of experiences is through a very linear lens. More experienced contactees argue the point that no fear is necessary and our view through that lens is extremely skewed and simply incorrect. The simple notion that everyone I spoke to agreed upon was that we are cosmic consciousness condensed into form becoming aware of the fact.

The expansion of that simple notion spans myriad places, spaces and realms of consciousness across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The scientific discoveries that back up the notion of multiple dimensions and attending bodies (part of our multidimensional self) are beginning to bleed over from astrophysics and quantum physics. Questions and theories viewed through linear lenses seem to skew the view intended by the above-human intelligence. There seems to be a general consensus, though, that non-linear and non-local experience is necessary in order to have a better view of the big picture, incapable of being seen let alone understood by those who have not entered the non-linear and/or non-local worlds of consciousness. We need ways to create opportunities, safely, for folks to have experiences. We also need to have better conversations about them

In an effort to continue the growth of UfologyPRSS Blog I reached out to several noted authorities and old friends and invited them to write for us. Many agreed to provide material and to review existing material, written and video, that is on the Web at time. We’ve assembled a huge variety of feeds from around the world and many seem to have conflicting stories or present skewed views through very human lenses. We hope these new additions will help to develop better discernment tools for the material. Not everyone has a pure agenda for getting at the truth and whenever profits are involved you can be sure there will be controversy and withholding of truth. Our job is to share what we find.

In the future we look for open conversations that focus on the development of situational protocols that include tools to discern how the experiencer is interpreting their experience in order to get a more objective and clear perspective or the purpose. Apparently information from trusted sources indicates that human ‘spiritual’ awareness still isn’t congruent with cosmic consciousness (soul) in that we think we have a choice in our experiential timeline. Abductees complain about being taken against their will but give no credence to the possibility that there is another timeline they have no knowledge of, one they agree to participate in before incarnating here on Earth.

What do you think? Please respond below.

2014 IUFOC Recap

iufocThe 33rd International UFO Congress was February 12 – 16. It’s the largest conference of its kind in the world. The International UFO Congress is an organization in Arizona dedicated to the dissemination of information related to many areas in Ufology. It was established in 1991 and hosts an annual conference. While previously held in Laughlin, Nevada, the conference moved to the Phoenix, Arizona area in 2011.

The IUFOC features presentations given by authors, researchers, experts, enthusiasts, and those who have witnessed paranormal or anomalous phenomena from all over the world. It also provides a forum to discuss the experiences and findings. This week long event usually has over thirty speakers, a film festival, vendors, and experiencer sessions. Topics generally covered are alien abduction, UFO sightings, UFO crashes, crop circles, paranormal experiences, government conspiracy and much more.

This is probably the premier UFO-focused event in the world. John Rao and crew really do it up right. We’ve reported on the Open Minds team earlier. The quality of the venue, the quality of the mini-events within the IUFOC, like the EBE Awards, the Mixer and Dinner and the Sky Watch are all top notch. If you ever get the opportunity to attend, it will be one of the best experiences you’ll have of meeting folks that come from all over the world who are interested in or have experiences with UFOs.

We did manage to have conversations with many of the speakers and vendors during the event. We even got a few on video endorsing UfologyPRSS, including Ben Hansen, Dr. Lynne Kitei and Kim Carlsberg. We are truly appreciative of their support. Click on the video below for all the endorsements. We know it will help us continue to grow. We also want to express our appreciation for the folks at Open Minds and their exquisite production of the International UFO Congress.

The nature of the UFO phenomena covers a plethora of possibilities. There is as much consideration for conspiracy as there is for objectivism, regardless of Ayn’s introduction. Does our government really have involvement with other worlds? Some say yes and some say no, but we really do not know for sure. What would it matter, anyway?  Is there something that our government could offer the public as some kind of gesture in disclosure? Perhaps the revelation of the off-planet visitors is simply that we need to learn to get along. That alone is more challenging now than any engagements with extraterrestrials.

There were some new folks speaking at the IUFOC this year including Kawaunee Lapseritis, speaking about psychic Sasquatches; Mike Clelland, speaking on Owls and synchronicity regarding contact experiences; and David Marlen, who spoke on the triangular-shaped craft that frequents our skies. Some of the old favorites were there as well, including Steven Bassett, Patty Greer, Rob Simone and Dr. John Alexander. The former hopes for government disclosure, the latter doesn’t think the government knows much at all.

One of the highlights of the festivities was Ben Hansen’s hosting of the Sky Watch on Friday evening. Ben has been a popular figure since the Fact or Faked television show and is now representing Night Vision Ops, an inexpensive line of night vision equipment. It was reported by some that later that night there was a mysterious UFO that hovered over the location for some time. You might search the web for them.

DonWare

If you’ve been to any of the IUFOC events over the years, you will have noticed Don Ware, who consistently brings interesting bits of information to share. Don has been a regular for as long as we can remember. He combines his understanding of Ufology with tidbits from the Urantia Book. Speaking of, this was the first year the Urantia Foundation was part of the festivities and their books were flying out the door. Maybe there is a new source of information that Ufologists haven’t explored yet.

Although the gathering draws attention from all over the world, there hasn’t been much ‘new’ news in decades regarding the phenomena. There does seem to be a bit more of an inquiry into the possibility of extraterrestrials living among us, though. There was a lively discussion between several fellows one evening, patrons and another ‘regular,’ that included a few retirees – detective, human resource manager and an engineer. We overheard them discussing the possibilities of ETs living among us and what that might be like, especially if the ET didn’t know they were and grew up as an orphaned human with a penchant for discovering his or her lineage. We’ll see what develops.

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