Raelians Revive Swastika Symbol
On December 13, 1973, Canadian race car driver and journalist Claude Vorilhon was walking in the mountains west of Clermont-Ferrand, France, his hometown. It was there that he claimed to see a flying saucer land and meet a four-foot tall humanoid with skin that was “white, but slightly greenish like a man suffering from liver trouble.” The being said its name was “Eloha.” Vorilhon said that he noted a symbol on the side of the craft, and on the being’s uniform.
Vorilhon said that the star-swastika symbol “is formed by interlocked triangles which means ‘as above, so below’ enclosing a swastika which means ‘all is cyclic in infinite time.’”" He now said that his real name was “Rael” and that he was to be earth’s ambassador from the “Planet of the Eternals.” The movement was first called “Madech,” which was later changed to the “International Raelian Movement” or simply “Raelians.” They now claim 55,000 members worldwide.
After protests from the Jewish community, the Raelians changed their symbol in 1991 to a more new-agey look.
Raelian book published in 1992. If you look closely, you can see that a sticker has been placed over the old symbol, which I tried to peel off.
Now, the Raelians have just announced that they are going back to the original swastika layout. The reaction from Jewish groups has so far been unexpectedly calm, perhaps sensing that any noise will just garner Rael more publicity, which is what they say he is trying to do with this move. As the Canadian Jewish News quotes their specialist in cults: “It’s just another attempt to get media attention,†said Mike Kropveld, director of Info-Secte in Montreal. “My sense is they feel they haven’t gotten talked about in a long time, and Rael loves to be in the media eye.â€Â
For their part, the Raelians released a statement on Jan. 19, stating that not using the older version would keep the public from knowing what it really meant: peace, “infinity in time,†and eternity. Their website shows the swastika symbol behind a picture of Vorilhon, but the graphic next to their web address is still the “swirl” version. The Raelians also say that thirteen cloned humans are now living, fostered by the Clonaid foundation, which garnered worldwide publicity in 2003, but so far has refused to produce any evidence of their claims.
See my earlier post about Contactees for more on the Raelians.
P.S. The weird stuff you can find just by doing a little research continues to amaze me. Here’s a picture of Rael and Hugh Hefner (and a few Bunnies, or Sensual Mediation Assistants) at the Playboy mansion from 2005. I guess Hefner admires Rael, for obvious reasons.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 11:43 am and is filed under Breaking News, Contactees, UFOlogy, Wake Up Down There. You can follow responses via RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.
del.icio.us Digg Reddit BlinkList Google Ma.gnolia StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Help
- Related News Stories:
- Raelians In The News Again »
- UFOs and Raelians »
- Russian Sun God Politician Killed By Lightning »
- Contactees And Free Will »
- Messengers of Deception »
- Comments from the Black Vault »
- Heaven’s Gate - 10 Years Ago Today »
- Vallee & UFOs »
|
Feb 08 2007 
February 8th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The swastika emblem pre-dates the Nazi nincompoops by hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It even was a common sign painted on the flanks of the horses of many of the Plains Ameri-Indians (Sioux. Pawnee, Comanche, etc.), although typically the rendered swastika was usually directionally reversed (”flopped”) from the way the Nazi banners, etc., depicted it The Raelian version does smack a bit of the “sig heil” emblem. I think the Jewish community would be less inclined to take humbrage if the image were reversed. The version they are going with is a bit on the tasteless side of “edginess”.
By the bye: as a P.S., I am to tell all that Nick will be back soon. He has had to fly over to the U.K. because a family health situation has arisen there and he is needed by his parents. He assures he will be back “on duty” as soon as this family crisis has straightened itself out.
February 8th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Bill,
Nick told me about that, but I didn’t think it was for public consumption. I’m glad he gave you the all clear.
In one of Kenn Thomas’ books there is a picture of some of the Nazi “Paperclip” scientists hanging around an Indian store somewhere near White Sands Proving Grounds in the late 1940s. The storefront has a few swastikas painted on it! I think some people have tried to make more of this than there really is.
The swastika has a very long history as a religious symbol. I have personally seen it in Native American rock art, and on Buddhist temples in Japan. The Hindus use it in their art as well. The fact that it was developed independently in various cultures all over the planet brings up questions about the origins of symbols, civilizations, and even the mind itself.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Craig…
There’s even Atlantean & Lemurian talk about the swastika because it DOES appear in so many disparate places and times across the world and through history. Yet another example of how our “authorized” versions of things don’t always address these persistent little conundrums out there.
Yeah, as to Nick, I found an email on one of my e-addresses this morning where he explained about his “down time”. Said to let some of these folks on UFOmystic.com know why he was absent and that he’d be back asap.I chose not to go into any particulars with it..other than it being a health thing…since that is his own business.
Let’s hope we see our guy soon. We miss him and wish him all the best.
Bill
February 8th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Bill,
I’ll bet they DO address it, but in a runaround manner.
And stop calling me “Craig.” He’s over at Cryptomundo.
Greg
February 8th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Greg, Hef was probably hoping Rael’d let him in on the secret of how to migrate his soul into a younger clone of himself.
And Rael was probably hoping Hef’d let him in on the secret of how to migrate into an endless series of bunnies ever younger than himself.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
alan,
How true! I think the photo was probably taken around the time that Playboy had a photo spread called “The Rael World” in October of 2004 with 6 pages of free publicity and naked women from the group’s ranks.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Greg….
I hadn’t noticed that, but looking back I see I HAVE been calling you “Craig”. A thousand pardons sahib !!! I must walk the walk of a thousand cobras. And you don’t look aq BIT like the Woolybooger!!!!!!!
February 9th, 2007 at 9:21 am
The swastika symbol, as noted by Bill Hancock, was used by many Native American tribes. It is really a global icon, originating in India. There it is a symbol of good luck. A friend of mine from Tamil Nadu has even found a pool in the shape of a swastika.
Here is my article about Hopi swastikas.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Yo! GREG!!!!!
I’ve figured this out!!!! Its your PICTURE that keeps me calling you “Craig.
When I hit one of your posts to read I see your picture at the top of the page.
Except for the fact that your hair is a shade or two darker than his, you look almost like a dead ringer for a friend of mine, my local bank manager, whom I drink coffee and shoot the breeze with a time or two a week. AND whose name is CRAIG. So sometimes, when I’m “seeing” you on a post, I “see” him too…and when I’m playing on the keyboard “shooting the breeze”, I see I can confuse the two…especially, I suppose, if I’m drinking coffee at the same time.
Pre-senile dementia, I think they call it.
..Bill
February 9th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Bill,
No problem. I’m getting the first inklings of that dementia thing too.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I’ve been commenting on the Raelians, including their use of the swastika, for a long time. I just posted about this on OrangeOrb.
The swastika has its pre-Nazi history, etc. and it’s good. But the Raelians, in my view, have nothing good up their floppy sleeves,lol.
(I love the photo of Hefner with Raelians.)
February 10th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Gary,
I very much enjoyed the article. It looks like you have visited the areas you write about. I have been to El Morro a few times, but did not see the swastika you photographed (not too easy, considering the thousands of etchings at the site.) Where did you locate it?
February 11th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Gary,
Excellent article on the Anasazi/Hopi/swastika connections over at “Book of Thoth”. Very thorough and informative job there. Kudos to that.
BH