American Indian Shaman’s Perspective Of Life In The Universe

1. Would you share the main points of your background with our readers so they can understand more about you before we progress into the interview?

Brent Raynes: Sure. I’ve been deeply interested in things Ufological since early 1967, going back to the very young age of 14. I credit the popular book Flying Saucers-Serious Business by the late Frank Edwards for inspiring me to begin journeying down the pathway of things unexplained. Initially my focus was reports of UFOs and my take on them was strictly “nuts and bolts” in my thinking. However, after a couple of years my thinking had noticeably begun to evolve to the point where I was looking into other aspects and areas of things unexplained, including cryptozoological anomalies like Bigfoot and Mothman, and of course the wide open realm of the paranormal..

Of course, as far as the extraterrestrial question goes, astrophysicists all agree that we’re made up of the dust of the stars, going back to the Big Bang, and no matter where this interactive intelligence behind the ongoing UFO phenomenon ultimately originated from in the beginning, the frequency of activity and various paranormal factors seems to strongly indicate its more of an earth-based activity than something strictly ET.Pioneering investigative UFO journalists like John Keel, Jacques Vallee, and Brad Steiger certainly influenced my evolving thought patterns. I began to realize that besides the mainstream extraterrestrial theory, there existed alternative theoretical explanations for the UFO enigma along the lines of other dimensions (something quantum physicists should seriously take note of), the possibility of an interactive non-human intelligence that existed in a hidden realm very nearby. John Keel coined the term “ultraterrestrials” for such beings. Keel speculated that though normally hidden from our perceptions, from time to time we’d catch a glimpse of them, and so these presumed UT’s would offer us staged events and even communications wherein we were fed information that would seem acceptable within the range of our existing beliefs. Keel’s early book Operation Trojan Horse and Vallee’s Passport to Magonia both took a thought-provoking look at early historical accounts of fairies and various other so-called elemental forms, monsters, demons and angels, and showed how inspite of the different cultural frames of reference the essential details behind such experiences were hauntingly similar.

2. Could you give us some history on Alternate Perceptions Magazine?

Brent Raynes: I’d be glad to. What ultimately became Alternate Perceptions began initially back in 1985 as Para-Ufology Forum, a newsletter of just a few pages that was circulated to a few dozen interested students and researchers of ufology. As the title suggests, I was seriously exploring alternative perspectives from the beginning of this publication. Also at that time, Dr. Greg Little, a Memphis (TN) author and psychologist who had recently written a book on UFOs entitled The Archetype Experience (exploring the enigma from a Jungian orientation), began corresponding with me and contributing articles with his alternative UFO views. We hit it off, sharing a lot of similar ideas and interests, and in 1993 Greg proposed that we join forces and he’d help me edit the magazine and would even publish it. It evolved into a sleek color cover magazine of over 50 pages with several magazine distributors from coast to coast. We changed the title to Alternate Perceptions to reflect our widening and deeper evolving interests in numerous areas that fall under the broad umbrella of the so-called “paranormal.” In fact, we share a deep and mutual interest in Native American spirituality and shamanic matters, and we’ve been co-leaders of Indian Mound Tours sponsored by the ARE (Association for Research and Enlightenment) in Ohio, Alabama, and Georgia.

3. What do you currently think about Atlantis modernly now with all your wisdom over the years. It seems like it gets rediscovered every year a few times news wise. Your thoughts on that?

Brent Raynes: This is an area that Greg and his wife Lora have explored very extensively. They’re the real experts here! They’ve spent years at considerable expense and personal risk visiting the Bimini Road and other enigmatic sites in the Bahamans, on land and underwater. Of course, it was in this area that Edgar Cayce, America’s famed “Sleeping Prophet” predicted remains of Atlantis would appear in that area and that there was a Lost Hall of Records.

4. So when it comes to Atlantis what is your absolute perspective on it how it was destroyed?

Brent Raynes: I’m no expert on Atlantis, if there is any such animal. Without a doubt there were many ancient peoples and civilizations that have been lost to our modern knowledge. From what I’ve read and understand about the final destruction of what we call Atlantis, it may have been a huge asteroid striking the earth with tremendous force, fragmenting on its way down causing many craters and pathways of destruction that have today become largely lost in the landscape of an undiscerning modern eye.

5. Did an event happen in your life or awakening of sorts and could you share it with us?

Brent Raynes: As I explained earlier, my fascination with these things evolved from books and articles that I had read. I have no obvious conscious memories from early childhood that I can say with certainty motivated me to move in this direction with my life. However, later as an adult, with regard to attending Native American ceremonies and engaging in related practices, and going on paranormal investigations, I have had a variety of visionary and paranormal experiences.

6. I have a high interest in the Native American and Star people connection. Is there anything you can share with us about your background in these realms?

Brent Raynes: Back in the mid-1970s, an Ohio “contactee” who had some Native American ancestry herself, introduced me to a Susquehannock medicine man in Pennsylvania who also claimed that he had been contacted by tall humanoid UFO beings known to his ancestors as the Yuh-dush-gwa. He told me that the UFOs were not only interplanetary but also manifestations of “spirit,” adding “as are the spirits, powers, forces and beings who ride them, materializing to whom they will.” He was the first Native American contactee I had met. I have met and had contact through the years with several others since. I feel that the parallels between early shamanic accounts and the modern UFO contactee/abduction syndrome are very interesting and may ultimately help shed some needed light and deeper meaning on all of this. The tales of abducting little people, the mysterious spirit journeys to upper and lower world realms, all seem to contain suggestive elements of similarity.

7. When it comes to your experiences with the Shamans what are some of the rituals that they use to commune with the spirit world and to have otherworldly experiences?

Brent Raynes: We’ve been in dozens of sweat lodge ceremonies, participated in drummings, done chanting, prayer – various forms of meditation essentially – and even used the powerful Peruvian whistling vessels which some believe open portals to other realms. I have done workshops on the whistles at gatherings in several states and it’s often a very powerful spiritual and sometimes even a positive life-changing event for some.

8. Why do you think in the UFO community there is alot of negativity and fear when it comes to the ETs and it seems like in the Native American community there experiences are without fear and much more pure and positive?

Brent Raynes: Greg Little explained this to me years ago in a way that seemed to make a lot of sense. In the beginning of a Native American vision quest ceremony, the Trickster was generally expected, according to their belief system, to put in an appearance, to test these initiates to see if they were worthy to gain higher knowledge and wisdom. If they failed to discern the truth and see through the Trickster’s web(s) of deception, then their unworthiness might leave them to progress no further up the ladder of truth. However, if they could see through the surface illusions of what the Trickster was actually teaching, then they could proceed up the ladder a little further to discern higher truth and wisdom. Unfortunately, a lot of people let their ego get in the way and both their ego and their lack of discernment ability causes them to embrace only what their preconceived belief-oriented “comfort zone” would allow. Thus they’re stuck at the bottom rung of the ladder, like an earth-bound ghost clinging to the Middle World.

Early people, Native Americans and others, learned long ago to navigate these realms to gain access to higher knowledge and understanding. In the case of the modern ET scenario, the Trickster aliens have gotten their bluff in on us and we’ve given over our power to them, thinking that they’re all powerful and wise, failing to embrace our own light wisdom and higher guidance!

9. Could you give us some background on the books you have authored and their premise?

Brent Raynes: In 2004, I wrote Visitors From Hidden Realms, which attempts to take a comprehensive global and historical perspective on the UFO phenomenon, covering a lot of Native American material as well. It was published by Eagle Wing Books of Memphis, TN. Then in 2009, Tim Beckley’s Global Communications published my book On The Edge of Reality: Dream Weavers – The Mastering of Time and Space, which again includes a lot of Native American stories and interviews with numerous and fascinating UFO personalities like Phil Imbrogno, Andrew Collins, Marie D. Jones, Anthony Peake, and others.

10. What are you up to presently and in the future and could you share your links with us?

Brent Raynes: For the last couple of years I’ve really been quite involved in EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) type work. A large part of this has been in using what is commonly called a “ghost box.” Now the “box” picks up ordinary AM and FM radio frequencies, but the words and “messages” that I and others have received and recorded have been far from ordinary. For one thing, we’ve had numerous instances of intelligent, interactive responses. We also get specific names (including first and last) and specific spirits identify themselves to us over and over. They have even addressed us by name, and one game I began to play with the “voices” back at the beginning was to write something down on a paper and ask the “voices” to say the word, and many times they did! It’s all pretty mind-boggling.

Each month a new issue of Alternate Perceptions is posted online. It’s free and you can read the current issue and archived back issues by simply going to:

http://apmagazine.info.

Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to Paranormal to Prophecy