Erich Daniken - Miracles of the Gods

'I am the queen of heaven (Cosmos).'

'I am the immaculate conception.' (High-flown description of the original artificial mutation?)

The visionary describes transmitted groups of symbols in the words at his disposal, using analogous images.

The claim made by visions to be of extraterrestrial origin would not be sufficient by itself. For example, when an angel appears to the eighteen-year-old Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Religion, and says he knows the secret place where tablets with the history of mankind are hidden, and if it then turns out that the tablets are found exactly at the spot described, this means to me that extraterrestrial beings have given Joseph Smith information that could only be known to them.

(Because they prepared the hiding place on our planet thousands of years ago!) What was later made out of the vision phenomenon (it was Jesus!), belongs to the fairy-tale factory in which religions are manufactured. 'Belief, not disbelief, is what is dangerous in our society'. [27]

However much these interesting details may arouse our interest, we must not lose sight of a central phenomenon, the solar miracle! Whether at San Damiano, Fatima or Heroldsbach, tens of thousands observed - and put it on record - a gigantic flying wheel with spokes, revolving furiously in the sky.

Sometimes this wheel slowed down its revolutions; it moved in front of the sun and past it. Who is not reminded of the grandiose space-station in the film 2001 by such descriptions? Space-stations are like gigantic wheels which turn slowly on a central axis. This creates in the external rooms round their

'equator' the artificial gravity that is necessary for interstellar journeys. In the centre, at the hub of the wheel, are the energy stations from which the propulsive forces are led to the actual 'wheel' down spoke like communication shafts.

Is that also a possible explanation of solar miracles? I do not think it is out of the question. The tens of thousands who witnessed the phenomena are no fools and their descriptions of what they saw tally to such an extent that some 'object' must have existed for them to see.

Space journeys over interstellar distances last for thousands of years, according to our terrestrial chronology. I consider it plausible that extraterrestrial brains akin to ours order 'visionaries' through apparitions to lead large groups of people to a place named by them on a day and at an hour also named by them. At this point of time X the space-station, travelling somewhere among the stars, uses its concentrated energy to transmit the picture of the station. Result: tens of thousands of receivers on our planet see a gigantic gleaming wheel, flashing all colours of the rainbow, that sails majestically past the sun. Then why is this phenomenon not visible from all places illuminated by the sun? Well, the extraterrestrials, by fixing the specific place and specific time, had also chosen the angle from which their signals would be perceivable (via visions).

The question remains why the extraterrestrials started such a manoeuvre. To me it is conceivable that they wanted to give a clear sign. 'Here we are: we live in a great space-station and you puny men must understand that your intelligence originates from us who are capable of staging such a spectacle.'

We earthworms crippled by our upbringing do not realize this, but turn the message into a religious miracle. I'll wear sackcloth and ashes if I'm wrong, but I can't see miracles in physical events.

Genuine visions have been vitally concerned in opening up the consciousness of mankind. All founders of religions, who went among men inspired by these phenomena, announced that it was not they themselves who were speaking, but that 'that which is in me and above me' was speaking through them De facto they often told mankind about new things which were far above the state of knowledge and experience of their time.

But, thank heaven, founders of religions and adepts were not the only recipients of visions. There are also the great brains which got their ideas from contacts with extraterrestrial beings. We talk of geniuses. They are the chosen few, those ripe for contact, who are able to convert extraterrestrial impulses into thought molecules. The scientifically trained and investigating brain, which grasps symbols and transforms them into knowledge, does not talk about visions. At some point in the biographies of the great men in human history moments occur in which visions, illuminations or inspirations caused the great turning point or the decisive earth-shattering realization (the idea). The justification of the visions of great men is their contribution to mankind.

Religions, especially their founders, use visions like 'crumbs which fall from their masters' table'

(Matthew, 15:27). The visions that are useless from the religious point of view, the visions and illuminations which great men get from the supernatural, are the ones which bring progress.

They are the ones I believe in.

No one knows the countless number of visions that have been received since men were able to think.

In order to give a rough idea of the extraordinary gamut of visions (with visions of Mary predominant in the Christian era), I have prepared a calendar composed solely of those cases I came across during the writing of this book. If investigators collaborated in listing all known visions in the world and the results were compiled at a central research centre, the result would certainly be a work with many more volumes than the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The following is a very brief resume: Mythology: The Slavic Fates, the Sudenica, who appeared after the birth of a child, frequently showed themselves in threes at midnight.

Borovit, the Slavic wood spirit, appeared as shepherd or wolf. A tall, green 'Water Man', bedecked with aquatic plants, frequently appeared to Croats, Slovenes and White Russians. Csodasiuszarvas, a kind of flying stag, appeared to the ancient Hungarians, surrounded by radiant light. Bodb, Irish goddess of battles, sometimes appeared in the form of a crow.

The Irish Mother Goddess Macha appeared to various heroic figures in hideous guise. If the heroes did not do what Macha wanted, she turned them into beautiful maidens. The Roman god of war, Mars, appeared to Numa Pompilius (715-672 B.C.), second King of Rome.

Valkyries appeared on wild flying horses and intervened in battles. The Celts believed that the hero Finn could turn himself into the stag Mongan by twisting his cape, and appear anywhere he wished in this new transformation. In addition to many other gods, the god Huracan constantly appeared to the Maya and gave them instruction. Angels and archangels often appeared to our ancestors, Adam and Eve, and so did gigantic revolving flying wheels.

c.5,000 B.C. The divine sister Inanna appeared to Enme-Kar, the ruler Uruk, and advised him how to overthrow the city of Aratta.

c.4,000 B.C. Various divinities appeared to Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and gave him wise counsel.

c.3,500 B.C. The Sumerian gardener Shukallituda saw the goddess Inanna resting in his garden.

c.1,500 B.C. After Manu had survived the Flood on the peak of the Himalayas, the God of the Universe Brahma appeared to him and transmitted the 'Laws of Manu'.

727-722 B.C. Tobias, hero of the apocryphal Book of Tobit, who lived in the time of the Assyrian King Salmanazar, had a vision in Mesopotamia of the Archangel Raphael.

c.500 B.C. Buddha, the Enlightened One, received his wisdom from the 'Universal Spirit' in visions.

204 B.C. Ptolemy IV decided to have all the Egyptian Jews killed. Two radiant angels of terrifying aspect appeared and paralysed the attacking army.

c.287. In the open country two angels watched over the corpse of St. Vicentius of Valencia, Spain.