Starseeds: Spiritual Psychosis and UFO Religion
The summer of 1947 was a big time for those who love conspiracies, mysteries, and all things strange. This was the summer when mysterious debris was recovered near Roswell, New Mexico. Almost instantly, this became international news, and the stories of extraterrestrials and flying saucers began flowing in. Subsequently, the 1950s and 60s, saw a golden age of sorts for ufologists and conspiracy nuts everywhere.
Of course, we now know that the debris was from an experimental military spy balloon which was part of Project Mogul, which was intended to able to listen in for Soviet nuclear tests. But, as one can imagine, this boring reality did not sit right with those who love their weird and the wacky. And it wasn’t helped by the fact that the US Army originally lied and said the debris was from a weather balloon. That initial coverup has led to Roswell being a hotbed of conspiracy theories ever since.
This part of the story I imagine most people know. Many of us have seen the pictures of ufo-themed restaurants in Roswell, seen documentaries about the case, been fixated on the closely-related Area 51, or even watched the 2000 direct-to-video movie Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, which, as far as I can remember doesn't explicitly involve Roswell, but certainly leans heavily on the incident for its plot.
However, what many people are unaware of are the UFO religions which were born out of this incident. Perhaps the most well-known UFO religion, though many may not realize that it is one, is Scientology, which is based around the belief that Xenu, a galactic overlord, brought millions of his people to Earth in the distant past before killing them with hydrogen bombs. It is believed that these dead souls, called Thetans, inhabit modern humans and cause us harm. UFO religions also include the likes of the Nation of Islam because of their belief that their founder, Fard Muhammad, will one day return on a spaceship to eradicate the white-dominated order found in the modern world. (For a list of other UFO religions, browse this Wikipedia page.)
But these are not the UFO religions I want to discuss today. No, I’d rather discuss a small, but growing population who have termed themselves “Starseeds”.
Starseeds, sometimes referred to as Star People, are followers of a New Age belief system that posits that some people are actually ancient souls which originated from distant star systems and have made the choice to be incarnated on Earth for some kind of purpose, typically that of helping humanity “evolve” or progress in some way. As such, Starseeds often believe they hold greater wisdom, greater connection to the universe, and perhaps even have access to supernatural abilities of some form or another. This is often also tied up with a belief in, and practice of, “light language”. The best way I can describe light language is that it’s basically tongues for non-pentecostals. It is believed that speaking light language through sounds, hand movements, and symbols can somehow bypass a person’s intellect and speak directly to their soul, perhaps even allowing for a speaker of light language to transmit healing to another person through speaking it or to channel messages from outer space or even from other dimensions.
As with many other streams of New Age belief, Starseeds also tend to appropriate symbols and beliefs from other faith traditions, particularly those that are pre-Christian or Eastern. For example, I’ve found videos of self-proclaimed Starseeds who traveled to Egypt to get closer to the pyramids so they could better channel their light language. Discussions of chi, chakras, and reiki are also common. As are misappropriated readings of reincarnation and similar Eastern religious beliefs. And look, I’m not someone to pooh-pooh someone’s eclectic beliefs. I, myself, draw from many different traditions. However, I do my best to respect these traditions, understand them in their fullness, and synthesize them with a proper understanding of how they are taught and practiced in their original contexts. Starseeds, like many New Agers, tend to take these things wildly out of context, tokenize them, fetishize them, and outright misuse or misunderstand them. This is not responsible religious syncretism.
Regardless, that is not the biggest issue I have with Starseeds. Starseeds, like so many other belief systems, tend to hold themselves up as higher than and better than other people. They lean entirely away from anything resembling rational thought or scientific inquiry, and tend to espouse beliefs that seemingly have no basis in any kind of reality. Just items that are thoroughly made up, including deep histories of mythical cities such as Atlantis, or deep histories for their Starseed reincarnations.
I’ve spoken of spiritual psychosis before and how fully leaning into your own, unfounded beliefs can be problematic not only for you but for those around you. In my opinion, Starseeds take this to a whole new level, choosing to base a spiritual superiority on their unfounded beliefs which only fuels the belittlement of others and this same, dangerous spiritual psychosis.
Dear reader, you are not an alien. You are a flesh and blood human and that is enough. That is already miraculous and truly needs nothing else to make it borderline unbelievable. You do not need to be from Alpha Centauri to be fascinating. You already are.
