UFO Religions: Contactees, the Aetherius Society and Raëlism

UFO religions are new religious movements whose beliefs centre on contact with extraterrestrial beings, who are typically understood as spiritually advanced teachers, creators of humanity or bearers of salvation. They arose mainly after the "flying saucer" sightings of 1947, through contactees who claimed meetings or channelled messages from beings of other planets, and they drew heavily on Theosophical ideas of Ascended Masters. Well-known examples include the Aetherius Society, Unarius, the Raëlian Movement and Heaven's Gate. Scientists have found no evidence of extraterrestrial visitation.

Theosophical and Esoteric Forerunners§

The idea of wise beings from other worlds predates the flying saucer. In the eighteenth century Emanuel Swedenborg described conversations with the spirits of inhabitants of other planets in Earths in the Universe (1758). Nineteenth-century Spiritualist mediums sometimes described life on Mars or Jupiter; the Swiss medium Hélène Smith, studied by the psychologist Théodore Flournoy in From India to the Planet Mars (1900), produced a "Martian" language.

Most important was Theosophy. Theosophical writers taught that a hierarchy of Masters guides humanity's evolution, and C. W. Leadbeater and others described its head, Sanat Kumara, as a Lord of the Flame who came to earth from Venus in the remote past. In the 1930s Guy Ballard's "I AM" Activity, based on his claimed encounter with the Ascended Master Saint Germain on Mount Shasta in California, included Venusian visitors among its teachings. When flying saucers entered popular culture, this cosmology was ready to absorb them.

Flying Saucers and the Contactee Movement§

On 24 June 1947 the American pilot Kenneth Arnold reported nine fast-moving objects near Mount Rainier, which he said moved like saucers skipped across water; newspapers coined the term "flying saucer". Reports multiplied, including the Roswell incident of July 1947, and the US Air Force later investigated sightings through Project Blue Book (1952–1969).

In the early 1950s a series of "contactees" claimed not merely to have seen spacecraft but to have met their occupants. George Adamski, a teacher of a mystical philosophy in California, described meeting a Venusian named Orthon in the desert in November 1952, in Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), co-written with Desmond Leslie. George Van Tassel held conventions at Giant Rock in the Mojave Desert and claimed to channel messages from a space commander named Ashtar; he later built the domed Integratron. The contactees' Space Brothers were typically tall, beautiful and benevolent, and warned humanity against nuclear war, recasting the Theosophical Masters in the anxious atmosphere of the atomic age.

When Prophecy Fails§

In 1954 a Chicago woman, Dorothy Martin, announced messages from beings of the planet "Clarion" predicting a great flood on 21 December and the rescue of believers by flying saucer. A team of social psychologists led by Leon Festinger observed the group, and their book When Prophecy Fails (1956), using the pseudonym "Marian Keech" for Martin, introduced the theory of cognitive dissonance to explain why some believers became more committed after the prophecy failed.

The Aetherius Society and Unarius§

The Aetherius Society was founded in London by George King (1919–1997), a taxi driver and student of yoga, who said that in 1954 a voice instructed him to prepare to become "the voice of Interplanetary Parliament". He founded the Society in 1955 and later moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. Its teachings, presented as transmissions from "Cosmic Masters" such as Master Aetherius of Venus, include Jesus, the Buddha and other religious founders among those Masters. Members carry out "Operation Prayer Power", storing prayer energy in containers for release in times of crisis, and make pilgrimages to mountains they believe were spiritually charged by the Masters.

Unarius, an acronym for "Universal Articulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science", was founded in California in 1954 by Ernest and Ruth Norman. Its teachings emphasise past-life therapy and interplanetary brotherhood, and Ruth Norman, known as Uriel, prophesied the landing of a fleet of spacecraft, for which the group acquired land in San Diego County; the landing was expected in 2001.

The Raëlian Movement§

The Raëlian Movement was founded by the French journalist and racing-car enthusiast Claude Vorilhon, who took the name Raël. He reported that in December 1973, in the volcanic Puy de Lassolas near Clermont-Ferrand, he met an extraterrestrial who explained that humanity had been created in laboratories by the Elohim, a race of scientists, a word Raëlians read as the plural Hebrew name for God in Genesis. Raël founded the movement in 1974, and it teaches that the Elohim will return when humanity builds them an embassy.

Raëlism combines an atheistic, science-based reading of scripture with sensual meditation and a strong interest in cloning as a path to eternal life. In 2002 a company associated with the movement, Clonaid, claimed to have produced the first cloned human baby; the claim was never independently verified and is generally regarded as unsubstantiated. The movement remains active internationally.

Heaven's Gate and Other Movements§

Heaven's Gate began in the 1970s with Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, who called themselves "the Two" and taught that members could leave the human level and ascend to a "Next Level" through extraterrestrial transport, an idea with roots in Christian apocalypticism, Theosophy and science fiction. In March 1997, at Rancho Santa Fe in California, thirty-nine members died by suicide, believing that a spacecraft travelling behind the comet Hale–Bopp would take them on. The event shaped public perceptions of UFO religions, though most such groups have no connection with violence.

Other movements with extraterrestrial themes include the Nation of Islam's teaching about a "Mother Plane" or "Mother Wheel", and the "ancient astronaut" theories popularised by Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods? (1968), which claim that aliens built ancient monuments. Archaeologists reject these theories, which often deny the achievements of non-European peoples. Scholars sometimes include Scientology in discussions of UFO religions because of cosmological teachings in its confidential upper-level materials, though the Church does not describe itself in those terms.

How Scholars Interpret UFO Religions§

Carl Jung, in Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies (1958), interpreted the round "saucer" as a mandala-like symbol of wholeness projected onto the sky in an age of anxiety. Later scholars such as Christopher Partridge, James R. Lewis and Susan Palmer have studied UFO religions as religions in their own right, noting how they translate older figures, angels, Masters and gods, into the technological language of the space age, a process sometimes compared to the gnostic myth of saviours from beyond the cosmos (see the Demiurge). They also connect these groups to Spiritualism, through channelling, and to the New Age.

On the factual question, there is no scientific evidence that extraterrestrial beings have visited the Earth. A 2024 historical review by the US Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office found no verifiable evidence that any UFO sighting represented extraterrestrial technology.

Frequently asked questions§

What is a UFO religion?§

A UFO religion is a religious movement whose beliefs centre on extraterrestrial beings, usually seen as spiritual teachers, creators or saviours. Most arose after 1947 and draw on Theosophy, Spiritualism and Christian apocalyptic ideas.

What does the Aetherius Society believe?§

The Aetherius Society, founded by George King in 1955, teaches that advanced Cosmic Masters from other planets guide humanity, and that prayer and spiritual service can channel healing energy to the world. It regards figures such as Jesus and the Buddha as among these Masters.

What do Raëlians believe?§

Raëlians believe that humanity was created scientifically by extraterrestrials called the Elohim, whose messages Raël says he received in 1973. They reject the supernatural, regard science as the path to eternal life, and hope to welcome the Elohim to an embassy on Earth.

Sources and further reading§

• Earths in the Universe — Emanuel Swedenborg, 1758
• From India to the Planet Mars — Théodore Flournoy, 1900
• Flying Saucers Have Landed — Desmond Leslie and George Adamski, 1953
• When Prophecy Fails — Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken and Stanley Schachter, 1956
• Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies — C. G. Jung, 1958
• The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds — James R. Lewis (ed.), 1995
• UFO Religions — Christopher Partridge (ed.), 2003
• Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion — Susan J. Palmer, 2004
• Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion — Benjamin E. Zeller, 2014
• American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology — D. W. Pasulka, 2019