Ashtar Command
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Ashtar (sometimes called Ashtar Sheran) is the name given to an extraterrestrial being or group of beings that a number of people claim to have channeled.
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...
contactee Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a cultural phenomenon, con ...
George Van Tassel George Wellington Van Tassel (March 12, 1910 – February 9, 1978) was an American contactee, ufologist and author. Early life Van Tassel was born in Jefferson, Ohio in 1910, and grew up in a fairly prosperous middle-class family. He finished ...
was the first to claim to receive an Ashtar message in 1952. After the introduction of Ashtar by Van Tassel, other
mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...
began to claim contact. At one point, dozens of people were claiming contact with Ashtar and presenting conflicting messages. The most widely publicized of these messages were met with failure when they predicted civilizations flourishing on the other planets and an imminent landing of space ships on Earth. Due to his common depiction as a
humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...
with blond hair and European features, Ashtar may be considered a Nordic alien. The Ashtar movement is studied by academics as a prominent form of
UFO religion A UFO religion, also called a UFO cult or flying saucer cult, is any religion in which the existence of extraterrestrial (ET) entities and communication with them is a core belief. Typically, adherents of such religions believe the ETs to be i ...
. An example of a religion incorporating Ashtar is the Czech Universe People who venerate Ashtar alongside
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
and
Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
among others; one of their site domains is "ashtar-sheran".


History


Background

With the advent of
UFO religions A UFO religion, also called a UFO cult or flying saucer cult, is any religion in which the existence of extraterrestrial (ET) entities and communication with them is a core belief. Typically, adherents of such religions believe the ETs to be i ...
, "
Ascended Masters Ascended masters, also known as Mahatmas, are believed in several theosophical and related spiritual traditions to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans. Through a series of spiritual transformations, ...
" from the esoteric teachings have been described as reappearing in space suits. The space concept was not entirely new however, as the more arcane teachings of
Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...
contained references to extraterrestrial masters.Grunschloss, Andreas (2004) p422-3.Denzler, Brenda (2001) p46 The concept of the Ascended Master is particularly clear in the Ashtar teachings. The very word "ashtar" appears in
Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian-born Mysticism, mystic and writer who emigrated to the United States where she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an internat ...
's ''
The Secret Doctrine ''The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy'', is a pseudoscientific esoteric book as two volumes in 1888 written by Helena Blavatsky. The first volume is named ''Cosmogenesis'', the second ''Anthropogenesis''. It ...
'' (1888). However, this reference is to the
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
term ashtar-vidya, meaning the technology of advanced warfare of the type mentioned in the ''
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
''. Brenda Denzler observes that "in the long run, probably the most important person for the propagation and perpetuation of the contactee movement was
George Van Tassel George Wellington Van Tassel (March 12, 1910 – February 9, 1978) was an American contactee, ufologist and author. Early life Van Tassel was born in Jefferson, Ohio in 1910, and grew up in a fairly prosperous middle-class family. He finished ...
".Denzler, Brenda (2001) p43 In 1947 Van Tassel moved to
Giant Rock Giant Rock is a large freestanding boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms covering of ground. Giant Rock is the largest freestanding boulder in North America and i ...
, near Landers in the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where he established a large UFO Center. This became the most successful and well-known UFO meeting center of the time.Denzler, Brenda (2001) pp43-4Ellwood, Robert S. (1995) p395 As one of the founding "fathers" of the modern religious ufologies, Van Tassel also created arguably the most prominent UFO group established in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, although not as influential or well-known today. This was the "Ministry of Universal Wisdom" begun in 1953, which evolved out of two previous groups he had organized at Giant Rock in the late 1940s. The organization investigated and encouraged the healing arts, but its prime focus was to collect and analyze UFO phenomena and interview contactees. Due to radio and television interest, Van Tassel became the most well-known promoter of contactee experiences and something of a celebrity in the 1950s.


Purported contact with Van Tassel

In 1952, Van Tassel claimed to receive messages via telepathic communication from an extraterrestrial and interdimensional being named "Ashtar".Helland, Christopher (2003) p163Flaherty, Robert Pearson (2011) p592Clark, Jerome (2007) p26 This source became the "first metaphysical superstar of the
flying saucer A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...
age". Van Tassel also interpreted the Christian
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
in terms of extraterrestrial intervention in the evolution of the human race, and claimed that
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
was a being from space. The Ministry of Universal Wisdom taught that all humans have the power to tap into the "Universal Mind of God", which facilitates evolutionary progress such as that exemplified by Jesus and Ashtar. Van Tassel also claimed that by accessing the Universal Mind he could receive messages not only from Ashtar but from humans who had died, such as
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...
. From Tesla, he claimed to receive instructions to build the " Integratron" machine, which could extend lifespan and access knowledge from the past and future. Van Tassel's early purported messages from Ashtar contained a great deal of apocalyptic material, which focused on concerns regarding the development of the soon-to-be-tested
hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lo ...
.Helland, Christopher (2003) p164 It was claimed that on July 18, 1952, Ashtar entered the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
as Commander in Chief of the Ashtar Galactic Command to warn humanity of the dangers of detonating the H-bomb, including the destruction of the planet.Helland, Christopher (Lewis, 2003) p498 The messages stated the space command was determined that humans would not destroy the Earth through the wrong use of nuclear power and that the Command was helping the human race. Van Tassel also claimed that Ashtar had provided specific messages that he was expected to pass on to the
U.S. federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...
regarding the potential negative impacts of the proposed upcoming bomb tests.Reece, Gregory L. (2007) p136Grunschloss, Andreas (2004) p423 After the actual explosion of the H-bomb by the U.S. and Russian governments, the channeling claimed that the space forces had assisted the planet to survive the bomb tests. Although his purported method of communication with extraterrestrial intelligences resembled what is commonly referred to as "channeling", Van Tassel claimed to have established a new form of
telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
communication with these "sources", utilizing a method which included both natural human abilities and the use of an allegedly advanced form of alien technology, rather than the more traditionally
religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
, non-technological,
spiritual medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...
-based approach taken by many other early channelers of the era. Van Tassel maintained that the method he utilized was not a
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
or
metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...
activity, but required being "in resonance" with the messages being sent. It was an example of the application of an allegedly advanced extraterrestrial science, that anyone could implement with the proper training in meditation techniques.


Giant Rock Space Conventions

Van Tassel held weekly channeling sessions at Giant Rock at which people could "ask questions" and "channel answers" from extraterrestrials. According to Jerome Clark, these gatherings coalesced the scattered contactee subculture into a recognizable movement in January 1952. This led to the annual Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention organized by
Van Tassel Van Tassel or Van Tassell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *George Van Tassel (1910–1978) * Gilbert Van Tassel Hamilton (1877–1943) * William Gilbert van Tassel Sutphen (1861–1945) * Park Van Tassel (1853–1930) *Marie ...
, which began in the spring of 1953 and continued for at least another 24 years. It marked Van Tassel's most important role in UFO history. In 1959, up to 11,000 people attended these conventions and heard channeled messages claiming to come from space.Helland, Christopher (2000) p38 Most of the well-known UFO contactees attended these conventions as speakers and channelers.Helland, Christopher (2003) pp 163-4
J. Gordon Melton John Gordon Melton (born September 19, 1942) is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the I ...
states that almost all of the 1950s contactees became involved in the two ecumenical structures founded by either Van Tassel or Gabriel Green.Melton, J. Gordon (2002) p798 Most of the early messages Van Tassel claimed to have received from Ashtar were first presented to the public at these events.


Ashtar Command

As the weekly channeling sessions at
Giant Rock Giant Rock is a large freestanding boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms covering of ground. Giant Rock is the largest freestanding boulder in North America and i ...
continued through the early 1950s, the concept of an "Ashtar Command" was appropriated for use by a number of prominent early contactees and channelers, based on the figure of Ashtar, originally promoted by
Van Tassel Van Tassel or Van Tassell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *George Van Tassel (1910–1978) * Gilbert Van Tassel Hamilton (1877–1943) * William Gilbert van Tassel Sutphen (1861–1945) * Park Van Tassel (1853–1930) *Marie ...
. Robert Short (AKA Bill Rose), editor of the 1950s UFO magazine ''Interplanetary News Digest'', was a member of Van Tassel's group. He began to popularize the messages, but as Van Tassel did not agree that other Ashtar messages were authentic, Short broke away and began his own group called "Ashtar Command". By the mid-1950s, the concept of Ashtar and a galactic law enforcement agency preparing an imminent rescue of humanity had become well-established, and included various well-known, esoteric channelers of the era. For instance, Elouise Moeller predicted that a space fleet would arrive in the near future; and Adelaide J. Brown claimed that flourishing civilizations existed on the other planets in the solar system. However, as time and scientific knowledge progressed, the public failure of these predictions had an enormous negative impact on the expansion of the Ashtar Command movement due to the lack of a central authority that could undertake damage control. Although Robert Short had spent a lot of time promoting the Ashtar message, he was neither the leader nor the only interpreter, as by this time dozens of Ashtar channelers were presenting conflicting messages.Helland, Christopher (2003) p170


Development into spiritual religion (1990s onward)

The initial account of the Ashtar message as channeled through Van Tassel was not a spiritual message as such but "an early contact account between extraterrestrials and humankind". It focused on intervention in human scientific development, and was described as technological communication from a real space being on an urgent interstellar undertaking. However, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as many individuals in the spiritualist movement began to claim contact with Ashtar, the space being began to play more of an Ascended Master role in the narratives. The Ashtar Command evolved into a movement that had a central authority for several decades up to the mid-1990s, and has been described by Robert P. Flaherty as "the common property of a diffuse
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
Spiritualist Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...
milieu". During this time the teachings claiming to be channeled from Ashtar varied immensely. Part of this movement metamorphosed when Tuella founded Guardian Action International.Tumminia, Diana (2007) p309 Guardian Action Publications was founded by Tuella when Ashtar approached her with a special mission to publish several books through the 1980s. Andreas Grunschloss, who refers to the Ashtar Command as a worldwide network of several loosely organized groups, describes much of the Ashtar channeling as akin to
cargo cult Cargo cults were diverse spiritual and political movements that arose among indigenous Melanesians following Western colonisation of the region in the late 19th century. Typically (but not universally) cargo cults included: charismatic prophet ...
s, due to the blending of spiritual ascension with new alien technologies and ecologically harmless energies. Grunschloss maintains that most of the Ashtar
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...
concepts involve a transformation of human beings, via these technologies, who will then return to the planet Earth to enjoy a golden millennium. Later, with the failure of these prophecies, teachings were modified to include a less material and more spiritual emphasis.


1970s broadcasts

In 1971, a British radio talk show devoted to UFOs received a strange call-in claiming to originate from outer space, which some of the guests believed to be genuine. This turned out to be the prelude for the 1977 Southern Television broadcast interruption, when a voice calling itself "Vrillon" of the Ashtar Galactic Command temporarily took over a television transmitter in southern England.


1986 prediction of 1994 apocalypse

Yvonne Cole, who claimed to be channeling Ashtar messages from 1986, predicted the destruction of all Earth civilizations and the arrival on the planet of various alien cultures in 1994.Helland, Christopher (2003) p173 Cole claimed that governments were working with extraterrestrials to prepare for contact. According to Cole, the landing would be broadcast through the global media and include a message from the Ashtar Command. Due to "sensitization", most of humanity would accept the
UFOs An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...
as part of humanity's continuing evolution, while Ashtar followers would be needed as advisors, ambassadors and peacekeepers between the alien races and humankind. This would lead to a radical transformation of the world as humanity was initiated into a higher level of existence. These prophecies furthered the continued fracturing and disappointment within the movement when they failed to occur. Despite these failures, during the 1980s a number of individuals began to claim contact with the Ashtar Command through channeling, and various small groups were formed to receive and disseminate the messages.Helland, Christopher (Lewis 2003) p499


The 1994 Pioneer Voyage meditations

In 1994, a small group of Ashtar Command members claimed that an extraordinary event had taken place: "the lift-off experience". They communicated via the Ashtar Network that they had been placed aboard the "ships of Light" that were circling the planet. "The Galactic Fifth Fleet" had used "physical vibrational transfer" which involved the human consciousness (or, sometimes, the "etheric body") being raised from the physical dimension and transferred to the "Light ships". A second event was predicted for December 1994 in which over 250 people participated and which was declared by the leadership to have "opened a portal to the AC (Ashtar Command) ships for ever". It was claimed that in order to participate, a person's vibrations were raised through an eight step contemplative procedure; and that the Pioneer Voyage would occur during the period of a devotee's meditative state and would later be revealed to the individual in some form of conscious recall. This eventually evoked "memory recall" from a core group of Ashtar Command members meeting in Australia who began providing accounts of their "time aboard the ships". Others followed suit. The time on the ships was claimed to be extensive even though the member's meditation period was short. Helland notes that, despite an increase in complexity, the general themes have remained in accordance with the Australian reports. The claim is that the events are occurring on a spiritual or etheric dimension and not a physical one. The group claims that the purpose of the lift-off is for the ascension of the human race as a whole, to which individual ascension is a precursor and an aid. It also claims that the collective ascension is being aided by large electronic grids deployed around the planet by the guardian ships.Helland, Christopher (2000) p40


Developments after the mid-1990s

By the mid-1990s (and continuing up to the present) several of these channeling groups began to utilize the Internet in order to promulgate their beliefs and to attempt to unify the movement by establishing a single "authoritative" source for all Ashtar messages. This led to more prominence in the religious scene and significant membership. This cohesive response addressed the problem of conflicting, negative and failed prophecies which, after some effort, enabled the Ashtar Command to produce a single Ashtar worldview. Individual channelers espousing messages which differed and continued to focus on themes such as the destruction of Earth,
conspiracies A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
, extraterrestrial mass evacuations and general fear-mongering were declared invalid. It was claimed that these channelers had been deceived by negative space beings who had rebelled from the Ashtar Command, made alliances with similar others, and begun operating on the "lower planes closest to Earth". Most significantly of all, the new, more unified movement declared that in future no new channels would be accepted unless they operated on the "level of the soul". As Christopher Helland points out, this was crucial to the formation of an orthodoxy. Channeled messages from Ashtar would be accepted as valid by the new orthodoxy if they complied with criteria consisting of a set of twelve guidelines which outlined what the movement stood for and how Ashtar would interact with society. This had never been attempted before in the 45 years of channeling Ashtar, who was also presented as a divine figure similar to
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. The new framework claimed that the millions of spaceships believed to be constantly in the vicinity of Earth would never interfere on the planet's surface unless there was a serious problem such as a
third world war World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, l ...
or an "astrophysical catastrophe". Helland observes that the emergent group was "noticeably more spiritually focused and less concerned with extraterrestrial spaceships and visitors".Helland, Christopher (2003) p175 He states that very little distinguished the new Ashtar Command from other theosophically influenced groups, except that in 1994 a distinctive component, the Pioneer Voyage, was incorporated into the Ashtar worldview.


Credibility

Helland points out the failure of the July 1952 prediction channeled through
Van Tassel Van Tassel or Van Tassell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *George Van Tassel (1910–1978) * Gilbert Van Tassel Hamilton (1877–1943) * William Gilbert van Tassel Sutphen (1861–1945) * Park Van Tassel (1853–1930) *Marie ...
that life on Earth will be destroyed "when they explode the
hydrogen atom A hydrogen atom is an atom of the chemical element hydrogen. The electrically neutral hydrogen atom contains a single positively charged proton in the nucleus, and a single negatively charged electron bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb for ...
" because in November 1952 the first
H-bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
was detonated with no such effect. However, the same message also stated that Ashtar was intervening to stop the destruction of the planet. After the explosion, ensuing messages claimed that various actions were taken by Ashtar's space fleet to repair damage.Reece, Gregory L. (2007) p. 137 Helland notes that the Ashtar belief system is based on faith in an extraterrestrial celebrity, the concept of which has fared better than the individual messages. The main shifts in content seem due to failed prophecy, which has moved the emphasis from a physical space fleet averting doom, to the more theosophical concept of an
Ascended Master Ascended masters, also known as Mahatmas, are believed in several theosophical and related spiritual traditions to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans. Through a series of spiritual transformations, ...
aiding spiritual advancement. He maintains that the Ashtar beliefs are best seen as a syncretism between the I AM movements and the
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...
experience, a belief system which regards UFO experiences and sightings as the natural progression of the spiritual development of humanity. Though followers of Ashtar believe in his divine right and knowledge spread across the human race, he and others of his kind have yet to provide any physical evidence of their existence.Helland, Christopher (2003)


See also

* Ashtar (god) * Ashtar Command (band) * Joshua David Stone


Footnotes


References

* Clark, Jerome "The Odyssey of Sister Thedra" in Tumminia, Diana G. (ed.) ''Alien Worlds: social and religious dimensions of extraterrestrial contact'' (2007), Syracuse University Press, , Chapter 2, pp 25–41 * * Ellwood, Robert S., "UFO Religious Movements", in Miller, Timothy (ed.)(1995) ''America’s Alternative Religions'', State University of New York Press, , Chapter 41, pp 393–40. * Flaherty, Robert Pearson, "UFOs, ETs and the millennial imagination" in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), ''The Oxford handbook of millennialism'' (2011), , Oxford University Press, Chapter 30, pp568–587 * Grünschloss, Andreas, "Waiting for the 'big beam': UFO religions and 'ufological' themes" in * Grünschloss, Andreas, “Ufology and UFO-related movements” in Partridge, Christopher, (2004), ''Encyclopedia of new religions: new religious movements, sects and alternative spiritualities'', Oxford University Press, , p372-376 * Helland, Christopher, "From Extraterrestrials To Ultraterrestrials: The Evolution of the Concept of Ashtar" in * Helland, Christopher, “Ashtar Command” in Lewis, James R. (ed.) (2000), ''UFOs and popular culture: an encyclopedia of contemporary myth'', ABC-CLIO Inc, , pp. 37–40. * Helland, Christopher “The Ashtar Command” in Lewis, James R. (ed.) (2003) ''Encyclopedic sourcebook of UFO religions'', Prometheus Books, , "Appendix 5" pp497–518 * Lewis, James R. (2003) ''Legitimating new religions'', Rutgers University Press, * Melton, J Gordon, (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of American Religion'' 7th edition (2002) * Partridge, Christopher, "Understanding UFO religions and abduction spiritualities" in * Partridge, Christopher (2005), ''The re-enchantment of the West, volume 2: alternative spiritualities, sacralization, popular culture and occulture'', * * Tumminia, Diana G. (ed.) ''Alien Worlds: social and religious dimensions of extraterrestrial contact'' (2007), Syracuse University Press, *


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashtar (Extraterrestrial Being) 1952 introductions 20th-century apocalypticists Alleged extraterrestrial beings Channelled entities New Age Religious belief systems founded in the United States UFO religions