A small group has been working for over a year to bring a project to light, and it has finally appeared this week as the Ufology Tarot. This stems from an idea I had a few years ago to encode notable Ufologists, witnesses, and cases in a system of tarot in order to honor, examine, and especially connect them with directly with the user/ reader on a level that a simple book alone cannot hope to accomplish. Joined by my friends Miguel Romero, Joshua Cutchin, Susan Demeter, and David Metcalfe, we met periodically and strategized, debated, and sought out history and sources of information, archetypes, and concepts to make these cards a reality. In this program, David, Josh, Miguel and I discuss the genesis of the project and the ideas behind it. The program was recorded barely 3 hours after we launched the Kickstarter campaign on October 31st. Please help us bring the first 22 cards (also known as the major arcana) to life! The 56 minor cards, with more deep dives into the history of the UFO subject, will be available through a separate funding campaign after the first phase completes in about 1 year. THANK YOU! We are excited to finally share this project with all of you. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Jacobo Grinberg-Zylberbaum (1946-??) In 2019, I told my friend Miguel Romero about the little-known Mexican parapsychologist Dr. Jacobo Grinberg Zylberbaum, but we could find little about him online, except for a few sensationalized articles in Spanish. This year, a documentary on his life, work, and mysterious disappearance in 1994 at the age of 47 was released. Titled “The Secret of Dr. Grinberg,” it is currently making the rounds of the film festival circuit, seeking a distributor. Miguel wrote a review. Miguel and I spoke about his work and life and the childhood trauma that shaped him, and as a young man, how he met an English spiritualist who made predictions which “shook him out of his materialism.” Grinberg also attended university in New York and experimented with LSD. He even became a colleague of Carlos Castaneda for awhile. In 1985, he attended a conference in Costa Rica with Jacques Vallee, John Keel, parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, and Spanish ufologist Salvador Freixedo, among others. He was referred to by some who knew him as the “Einstein of consciousness,” and developed a unified field theory of consciousness which he called “Syntergy.” We hope a new appreciation will be kindled and continue to grow for this little-known pioneer. End music is a cover of “Planet Claire” by Spanish musician Aviador Dro. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

It was suggested that I restart the “popup” idea in order to get back to posting shows more often. These programs are about 30 minutes in length and posted within a day of the interview. Susan‘s latest book is entitled Cosmic Witch, and we discussed the events, ideas, and research that led to its writing. Susan sees definite connections between parapsychology, ghost hunting, witchcraft and UFOs. Near the end of the program, we also talked about her latest blog post on the strange trans-solar object known as “Omuamua” and the possibility that it was artificial, as proposed by Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Hello. Nice to see you again. In this interview with Tim Renner and Joshua Cutchin, we talk about the information and revelations in the second (and final) volume of their “Where the Footprints End” project examining the case for a non-biological Bigfoot. Cutchin and Renner contend that there is far too much evidence that the creature is more ethereal than physical. Tim remarked that anomalous occurrences associated with sightings are fairly common, and often include UFOs, strange lights, and parapsychological phenomena, and which have been largely ignored by mainstream researchers, a term he has dubbed “weirdwashing.” This, both authors agree, is an apparent attempt to make the subject “respectable” and accepted by mainstream science. Like UFO cases, Bigfoot sightings and encounters often vary in description between different witnesses. Josh pointed out that the image of the creature has changed in the last century, from more of a “wild man” (i.e. a human who lives outside the bounds of civilization) to a more savage portrayal since the mid-20th century, and this actually the opposite of what might be expected. We also talked about some of the stranger aspects Bigfoot/ human interaction such as curious (and often disturbing) reports of apparent mimicry of human speech and phases, the construction of glyphs made from sticks, structures which seem to serve no apparent purpose, and reports of UFOs sighted in the vicinity of Bigfoot activity, the instances of which Tim characterized as being “so many it’s ridiculous.” The song at the end of the program is “Witch Tree Prophetess” By Tim Renner’s band Stonebreath. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Josh Cutchin and Tim Renner have just released a book that is designed (and sure) to goose the Bigfoot research community out of its “flesh-and-blood-hypothesis” stupor (the theory that the creature is an undiscovered primate.) In Where the Footprints End, they have gathered case after documented case of paranormal events associated with Bigfoot sightings, beginning with a dramatic incident  from 1973 where the creatures (TWO of them) were observed in close proximity to a large, lighted object that left a glowing circle on the ground and apparently gave one witness a vision of the end of the world. We spoke on this case and many others where the idea of the phenomenon as simply an elusive animal is called into serious question. Based on their research, Renner and Cutchin believe parallels with hauntings and poltergeists are inescapable, as well as connections to the world of the dead. We also discussed the strange explanations given for cases of Bigfoot tracks that apparently stop suddenly in mid-stride (hence the name of the book.) Fascinating conversation that is sure to make you excited, upset, or both. The end theme is by Tim Renner’s band Stone Breath. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Religious studies scholar Dr. Stephen Finley (Louisiana State University) is almost singular in his academic study of the UFO origins of the belief system of the Nation of Islam (NOI.) In the late 1980s, Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the most popular offshoot of the group, announced that he had an encounter with space people on a mountaintop in Mexico, and was taken aboard what he referred to as the ”Mother Wheel,” where he claimed to have met with the deceased leaders of the religion and given the blessing and authority to lead the group into the future. Dr. Finley joined me to discuss this episode and the tributaries of personalities and events that led to it, and how it has affected the history of the Nation of Islam ever since. We traced the origins of the African American experience that led to this belief system, and his claim that “you cannot make sense of the NOI without looking at it as a UFO religion.” Finley believes that his study “says something about who we are as a people” and that the very act of marginalizing the subject (especially among his fellow academicians) was what drew him to it in the first place. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Kevin Day has been interviewed and scrutinized endlessly by the UFO community. He was the Aerial Defense Matter expert and radar operator on the guided missile cruiser Princeton in early November of 2004, when the so-called “Nimitz UFO encounters” occurred. He has also served as Air Intercept Controller Supervisor (AICS/TOPGUN), Anti-Air Warfare Coordinator (AAWC) and Operations Department Leading Chief Petty Officer. In this interview, Day first describes the events of that day, and how they affected those involved. As a radar and detection expert, his opinion is that “the Navy tech allowed us to see something that had been there for a long long time.” He describes his impressions and feelings during the main incident and more importantly, how they have affected his life and outlook in the years following his retirement from the Navy. Day says that unnamed officials later visited him on his property and declared that he was “incredibly important in what’s about to happen,” implying some sort of scenario where UFOs and whatever operates them would become more well-known and accepted. Day makes no comment as to what these might be. He also reports some possible psychic effects from the incident. We ended with an extended discussion of his UAP Expedition project, where Day and others such as physicist Kevin Knuth, entrepreneur Deep Prasad, and MIT scientist Rizwan Virk will attempt to attract and record any UFO activity they are able to capture in the area of the original sightings. We had a lot of tech problems for the first 1/3rd of the interview. I have inserted tones inserted at these points in the recording. Thanks to Dave Altman for arranging this interview. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Shannon Taggart is an artist and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York.  Her images have been exhibited and featured internationally, including in TIME, the New York Times Magazine, Discover, and Newsweek. We talked about the release of her photography book Séance, which examines the history, issues, and impact of the Spiritualist movement, birthed in the 19th century and which survives to this day. There are literate and informative essays throughout, illustrated with rare and sometimes quite beautiful images and photographs from the history of Spiritualism and related areas of parapsychology, as well as her own stunning images of séances, psychic readings, and the objects associated with them. We discussed her introduction to the world of the séance, and her eventual evolution into what she calls a “diplomat of spiritualism.” She also mentioned that some people (particularly urban sophisticates and some in the art world) seem to be interested in the paranormal, “but if you make it too real for them, they turn off.” She also gave us a fascinating insight into the phenomenon known as “ectoplasm,” and reports of the substance smelling like bodily fluids. One of Shannon’s most interesting insights were her comparisons of photography and Spiritualism: “Through their dance with each other, [they] exposed each other’s limitations. We learned about photography’s complicated relationship with truth, and we learned about Spiritualism’s subjective truth.” Purchase from the publisher. Purchase from the U.S. distributor. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Michael Masters earned his doctorate in Anthropology in 2009 and is on the faculty of Montana Technological University. His specialty is in biological anthropology and evolutionary biology, specifically the study of fossil hominid skulls to trace trends in evolution as well as studies of the eye socket to determine the causes and solutions to visual disorders. In 2018, he released “Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon,” a study of evolutionary trends which may lead humans to eventually appear like what we now describe as the popular concept of “aliens,” which is known as neoteny (“the slowing or delaying of body development, compared to non-human primates, resulting in features such as a large head, a flat face, and relatively short arms.”) The other main premise of his book is that if we eventually begin to look like aliens, there is the possibility that we may be returning from our own evolutionary future and appear as what we know as UFOs and their occupants. We discussed the theoretical possibility that backwards time travel is possible. Masters maintained that the events of the past half century may be very interesting to anyone traveling from the future because of all the rapid changes which have occurred. Masters also believes that the embargo on UFO discussion may be “just about to pop” and that academics will “be their own disclosure.” LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

From March 10th to the 17th, I visited my friend Miguel Romero in Mexico City. At the suggestion of our friend David Metcalfe, we decided to conduct a live show from the condo where we were staying. Most of the program was a travelogue of the city and surrounding areas, Mexican history, comparative religions, and food. We spoke on our visit to the massive basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and a true goddess figure in her own right. We discussed the ease with which Mexicans accept both their Catholic/ Spanish history as well as harboring an infinite amount of pride in their indigenous heritage. We also attended a wrestling match (aka Lucha Libre) which is very different from the American version. We recalled a possible near robbery which we experienced while on a canal touring the infamous “Island of the Dolls,” and the ignorant bliss that was present in the country at the time with regard to the growing pandemic. Miguel suggested that we should “embrace living in a state of eternal surrealism.” He summed up his country as “a place where the fantastic goes hand in hand with daily life.” LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD