Okay, one quick post today, but I doubt I’ll have time for more. I was reminded over the weekend of something I read several years ago in a Joseph Campbell book. I’m not sure which one, but I managed to track down something really worthwhile in Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, page 321. He’s talking about how in primitive cultures, men would often organize into “lodges” or secret societies:

Admission to them is through election and they are generally limited: they are not for all. […] [They reach] beyond the local tribe seeking out friends and members among alien peoples […] a particular stress is given in these secret men’s societies to a skull cult that is often associated with the headhunt. Ritual cannibalism and pederasty are commonly practiced and there is a highly elaborated use made of drums and masks.

If this doesn’t start ringing all kinds of bells with modern conspiracy theory, especially in terms of secret societies, and ritual abuse, then I don’t know what does. When I come back, I plan to investigate this primitive mythological connection in much greater detail.

I also seem to recall somewhere reading a story about maybe Australian Aboriginals. When a boy would reach puberty, he would be kidnapped by men in the tribe who were dressed as spirits. Then he would undergo an intense initiation ritual. The parallels here to alien abductions are too many for me to go into at the moment. If anybody knows of good links or info in this direction, please leave it for me for when I get back. Thanks!