Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
UFOs, Angels and Fairies: Do You Believe?

UFOs, Angels and Fairies: Do You Believe?

Last updated on: May 31, 2019 at 6:20 am by Tom Rapsas

UFOs, Angels and Fairies: Do You Believe? 2019-05-31T06:20:45-06:00 Tom Rapsas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Brian McMahon via unsplash.com

Is there a direct connection between angels, including guardian angels, and the other mysterious entities that people encounter, like aliens, ghosts and fairies? Possibly.

All of these unearthly beings often appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. They defy rationale or scientific explanation. Yet, to the people who witness them, they are as real as you and me, and seem to represent first-hand proof that there is more to this world than meets the eye.

You may have seen a string of recent news reports about encounters the US Navy has had with UFOs, causing speculation as to just who or what is behind these crafts. Several Navy pilots who witnessed the UFOs first-hand refused to speculate on their origin, one saying, “we’re here to do a job, not make up myths.”

With UFOs, have our myths come to life?

The idea that UFOs are really a form of modern-day mythology was first proposed by the famed philosopher Carl Jung in a book titled Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky. Jung speculated that UFOs come from the collective unconscious, a vast repository of myths and dreams of people throughout the world, all connected in a complex matrix that transcends time and space.

While many believe that UFOs are spaceships from another planet, in the book Angels and Aliens, author Keith Thompson echoes Jung proposing that that UFO encounters contain mythic and legendary elements—and may come from somewhere deep within our psyche. Thompson compares UFOs to visionary experiences like “angelic visions, shamanic journeys and folkloric encounters with fairies.”

Most enthralling are the tales of those who encounter not just unidentified crafts, but their inhabitants. There are stories galore of people who have seen aliens, and many thousands who believe they have been brought to their “ships,” often for bizarre experiments. Here, Thompson suggests that it’s our cultural upbringing and own mindset that helps determine how we interpret what we see—angel or alien, friend or foe.

Angels can be every bit as mystifying.

In Angels Are for Real: Inspiring, True Stories and Biblical Answers, Judith MacNutt reports that angels are often invisible, though their physical presence can be sensed. Other times, angels appear with distinguishing traits that set them apart from the rest of us. Eyewitnesses have described them as “8 feet tall, wearing a robe,” “beautiful, androgynous, and dressed in white” and “glowing, surrounded by a bright light.”

I wrote previously wrote about the “angels” and visions of God’s mother Mary sighted by three young children at Fatima, apparitions that only they could see. The story was recounted in a book Dimensions by the astronomer and noted ufologist Jacques Vallee. He pointed out that the events at Fatima involved luminous spheres, lights with strange colors, a feeling of “heat waves”—all physical characteristics associated with UFOs.

When the children of Fatima would address Mary, no one else present could see who they were talking to or hear Mary’s response. Some of the witnesses testified to hearing the buzzing of a bees, a sound associated with many modern UFO-sightings. Others reported seeing “a weird disk…turning rapidly…plunging in zig-zag fashion” and “a luminous globe spinning through the clouds (that) rose and disappeared into the sun.” It caused Vallee to come up with more questions than answers when trying to explain the event:

Could it be the imagination of man? Is there a science of deception at work on a grand scale, or could the human mind generate its own phantoms, in a formidable, collective edification of worldwide mythologies? Is a natural force at work?

Fairies are another category unto themselves.

In her book Fairies, Real Encounters with Little People, Janet Bord points out that at one time in rural areas of Great Britain and Ireland, encounters with fairies were so common that people took them for granted. She cites scores of examples dating back centuries, first-hand accounts of locals who have witnessed fairies, in all manners of dress, ranging in size from a few inches to a few feet tall.

They are frequently seen dancing and spinning in circles, other times running at incredible speeds, have even been spotted playing the fiddle, or engaged in acts of mischief. Like UFOs, fairies have the ability to disappear in the blink of an eye, just as quickly as they appear.

Bord also wonders if UFO entities and fairies are one and the same. She believes that there is a life force present in all living things that can sometimes manifest itself in strange ways. As Bord points out, perhaps “people are influenced by their environment and upbringing” when trying to interpret their otherworldly experiences.

For instance, she writes of a Reuters story out of Peru where in 1977 a student named Jorge Alvarez fell into a swamp. He was sinking fast when “four little creatures of human appearance, with three fingers on each hand” suddenly appeared and, holding out a branch, pulled him to safety. He later described them as three feet tall and covered with green scales. Had Alvarez been raised in Ireland, might he have seen these entities as fairies and not little green creatures?

Are these strange entities we see real or merely symbolic?

Are they living in another world that is parallel to our universe? Or, like Jung suggested, are they powerful myths that have come to life? We really don’t know for sure. Perhaps our ignorance is best summed up by the parapsychologist John L. Randall who, when discussing the possibility of parallel worlds, said:

What we regard as “reality”—the everyday world with its three spatial dimensions and linear time-flow—is no more than a distraction from a much more complex universe. We are indeed like the men in Plato’s allegory who, seeing the shadows of a higher reality on the walls of the cave, mistake these shadows for reality itself.

Is there more to this world than meets the eye? Are mythic creatures like angels, aliens and fairies in some sense real? In a world where such mysteries exist, is it any stranger to believe in the existence of God?

Previous Post

May 25, 2019

How to Worry Less—and Enjoy Life More

Next Post

June 6, 2019 Feeling Lonely? Try the 8-Step Heart Meditation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 50+ Spirituality 60 Second Inspiration Activism Adversity Afterlife agape aging Aliens Angels Angels and aliens anger animism Astrology Atheists Attention Attitude Authenticity Awareness Awe Ayahuasca Balance Beginnings Being Present Belief Bhagavad Gita Bible birth of Jesus Blessings Bliss Bono Breathing Buddha Buddhism Calling cats Centered Centering Prayer Chakras Change Character Character and Aging Christ consciousness Christianity Christmas Church Civility commencement speeches commitments compassion Connecting with God Consciousness Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Contentment Conversations with God Coping Coping mechanisms Corinthians Coronavirus Covid creativity Daily practice Dalai Lama David Brooks David Frenette Death Deathbed visions Decisions determinism Discernment disconnecting Donald Shimoda Dreaming of the Dead dreams Drinking Easter Eastern religion Eckhart Tolle ego Elders Emerson Engagement Enlightenment everyday magic Evil Spirits Expectations experience Faith fate Fatima Fear Feel Finding God Fitness Fulfillment Gandhi Gary Zukav Generosity Giving Gnostic gospels Gnostics God God's will Golden Rule Good & Evil Gospel of Thomas Gospels Grace Gratitude Grief Growing Older Guardian Angels gumption Gurus Halloween Happiness health health and happiness Heaven Helping others High Strangeness Hinduism Holiday Season honesty Honor Hope Humility impostor syndrome inner music Inner Work Insights insomnia Inspiration Inspirational intuition Investing Jeff Bridges Jesus Jesus Christ John Templeton joy joy of life Justin Bieber Kaballah Kabbalah Karma Kindness koans Law of Attraction Life Life after Death Life and death Life Balance Life Hacks Life Lessons Life Path Life Philosophy Life Plan life purpose Life Rules Life Tips Life's Big Questions Lindsay Lohan Listening Living Intentionally Loneliness Love Magic Mark Twain Marriage Meaning of Life Meditation mentor Mentors Mid-Life Crisis Mindful Mindfulness Money Monks Multiverse Mysterious World mystical experience Mysticism Mystics Mythology Napoleon Hill Near Death Experience (NDE) New Thought New Year New Year's resolutions Noise Oprah out-of-body experience Parables Peace of mind philosophy Plant Intelligence Pope Francis Positive Thinking Prayer prayers for the spiritual Preachers Premonitions presence Prophecies Prophecy Prophets Psalms Purpose Purpose of Life quietude Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Trine Reconnect Recovery reincarnation Relaxation Religion resolutions Resurrection Ritual Rituals Rules to Live By sadness Sam Harris Sandy Second Act Seeking self Self Mastery self-help self-improvement Seneca sermon sex shamans Sickness Silence Silence of God sleep small voice Smiling Social Activism solitude Soul Soul and Spirit Soul Awakening Spiritual Awakening spiritual beliefs spiritual guidance spiritual journey spiritual living spiritual path Spiritual philosophy Spiritual Practice Spirituality Spirituality and work Spooky Spirituality Stillness stoicism stoics Storytelling Stress Relief Success Suffering Suicide Surrender tao Thanks Thanksgiving the afterlife the bardo the Bible the Blues The Election the Kingdom the secret the self The Soul Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Thomas Moore Time Tony Robbins tradition UFOs Uncategorized Universe Values visualization Voice of God Wake Up Call Wake Up Call book Walls Walt Whitman Well-being Winter Blues Wisdom words to live by Work work/life balance worry Yogananda Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 November 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Paul's original name?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Saul Matthias Levi Simon

Books by This Author Books by Wake Up Call

See All Titles »