Review by: KEN KORCZAK
At some time in the future, INGO SWANN will hold a significant place in history. He will forever be known as “The Father of Remote Viewing.” This will be on par with, say, Michael Faraday as “the Father of Electricity” or Max Planck as “The Father of Quantum Physics.”
True, remote viewing is yet to be widely accepted by the mainstream scientific community, but it also took a long time for quantum physics to catch on. Thus, Ingo Swann must, as yet, wallow among the backwater fens of what is called “the paranormal” or “esoterica” or the “New Age mysticism,” or whatever.
That will change, however. Nothing can stop remote viewing from gaining widespread acceptance by mainstream science because the hard data supporting it is incontrovertible. It’s not only a real phenomenon, but it represents a revolutionary leap for humanity thanks to what it implies about the laws of physics and the nature of consciousness. The reality that any human being can remote view requires that we update the fundamental model of the universe we accept today.
Ingo Swann died in 2013. As remote viewing continues to gather momentum and acceptance, so does the legacy of this remarkable man. I’ll stop with the discussion of remote viewing here, but no article involving Ingo Swann can fail to acknowledge the historic significance of his contribution to science.
But Ingo Swann was essentially an artist by trade – a painter. It could be said his work for the CIA on the secret psychic spying program was ancillary to his artistic pursuits. In addition to creating art with paint, Ingo Swann had serious ambitions to be a writer and become an accepted, published author. He struggled to gain traction for his literary pursuits, however. A fellow psychic, the famous Uri Geller (who was much better at marketing himself than Ingo), decried the fact that Swann’s manuscripts were “ignored by publishers.” Geller said of Swann: “If you were blind and a man appeared who could teach you to see with mind power, you would revere him as a guru.”
Swann resorted to self-publishing his partially autobiographical, PENETRATION, after it was summarily rejected by every publisher he sent it to. (See my review of Penetration HERE). In conspiracy theory fashion, Swann believed it was the explosive nature of the information in Penetration that caused it to be blacklisted by some powerful governmental censorship mechanism – or perhaps even some deeper conspiratorial group. That’s unfortunate because I think anyone who reads Penetration can understand why this book was roundly rejected – the first part of Penetration is wild and riveting, but the latter part contains scads of utter nonsense about the moon. Ingo was a brilliant pioneer and innovative thinker, but he sometimes veered precipitously into the weeds.
At any rate, today I’m looking at his book exploring the history of Marian apparitions. I’ll say at the outset that this is an absorbing, fascinating read – perhaps mostly because of the subject matter – but also because of the special position of the person who wrote it. I can’t think of a better person than Ingo Swann to bring a fresh perspective to this vexing, extraordinary centuries-old phenomenon. Ingo’s viewpoint is not ensnared by any religious or theological influence. Ingo was one of the few people on the planet who could look upon Marian apparitions as an aspect of something much larger and more mysterious.
I should say, though, that Ingo was not the first to recognize that Marian apparitions might be something other than merely an artifact of that peculiar brand of Catholic pantheism. The astronomer and computer scientist Jacques Vallée devoted an entire chapter to Marian apparitions in his 1975 book, The Invisible College. He called the phenomenon, “the physics of the B.V.M” — the physics of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Vallée wrote:
“We are faced with a technology that transcends the physical and is capable of manipulating our reality, generating a variety of altered states of consciousness and emotional perceptions. The B.V.M. may dress in golden robes and smile radiantly to children, but the technology which “she” uses is indistinguishable from that of gods and goddesses of other tongues and garb; it is also indistinguishable from the phenomenon surrounding the UFO phenomenon.”
Ingo Swann and Jacques Vallée were colleagues. Vallée was brought in as a consultant by Russell Targ and Dr. Hal Puthoff during the development of remote viewing at SRI. Vallée said he “oriented” Swann toward the idea of using the coordinates approach to RV. Ingo then developed coordinate remote viewing (CRV) into a mature protocol. He later trained Jacques Vallée in the use of CRV.
In this book, Swann maintains a measured approach. He simply marches out the facts as they are known from the historical record of these events. He covers 22 apparitions Marian apparitions. He fills in the details of the times and provides us with a background of what life was like in the location where the B.V.M appeared. He then describes to details of the apparitions and the lasting effects these strange events had on the “seers” and the local people, and how the events altered history – and they arguably did so – significantly.
He begins with the famous apparition of what came to be known as the Our Lady of Guadalupe which occurred in 1531. It happed on Tepeyac Hill in what is now Mexico City. It was 10 years after Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztec empire. Mexico City was the Aztec capital called Tenochtitlan. The apparition appeared to a native Aztec man who adopted the name Juan Diego after the Spanish conquest of his homeland. His birth name was Cuauhtlatoatzin (Talking Eagle). Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was later canonized as a saint of the Catholic faith. Our Lady of Guadalupe remains a major figure of worship in Mexico today but also has a reputation that spans the globe among Catholics.
Ingo Swann then takes us down the road of history providing the details of the major Marian apparitions that have occurred across the centuries. Each story is deliciously fascinating. Ingo Swann seems to understand that what he’s writing about is already so sensational, there is little need for him to embellish, over-analyze or burden us with added commentary.
Like many people, I’ve long been familiar with apparition phenomenon. Just about everyone is likely familiar with the famous events at Lourdes in France and the mind-blowing happenings at Fatima in Portugal. But after reading the details of each even as laid out by Swann, I realize now I only had a gist about what really happened during these mind-boggling events. I found the intricate details of each case to be vexing, stunning, uncanny and … and … I don’t know, just difficult to wrap one’s mind around.
It also came clear to me just why Ingo Swann chose to write an entire book about his subject – he was present at a Marian apparition himself!
He took part in the incredible events of Bayside, New York, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens. The principal seer was Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife and mother of five who began having visions of the B.V.M. inside her Bayside home in April of 1970. The public apparitions would take place on the grounds of the St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church.
The Bayside apparitions drew thousands of people but were never sanctioned or accepted by The Church. That didn’t stop throngs of believers from gathering around Mrs. Lueken when she experienced her raptures and reported to the eager masses the messages being delivered to her by Mary. These communications were often bizarre, apocalyptic and smacked heavily of wacky conspiracy theories – subjects which most agreed a simple woman like Mrs. Lueken could not have concocted of her own mind.
A fascinating aspect of the Bayside apparitions were Polaroid photographs. The Lady herself instructed Lueken to tell her followers to bring cameras. People were to snap random photos, pointing the camera in any direction. Remember, this was long before digital imaging technology. Most people were using Polaroid instant cameras which ejected prints that self-developed in minutes. These, The Lady said, would reveal proof that a genuine heavenly presence was among them. In one instance, Swann stood next to a woman who snapped a picture that showed “dozens of little angels.”
Swann offered her $200 on the spot for the picture! She refused!
I found THE GREAT APPARITIONS OF MARY to be among the most fascinating and absorbing books I’ve read in years. The fact that it was written by the great and enigmatic Ingo Swann is icing on the cake. Keep in mind this book is not grinding a religious ax, and it’s not a vehicle for the promotion of Catholic theology. Ingo lays out the facts for his readers with objectivity – but also with just a smattering of the insights that only the special intellect and perspective of Ingo Swann could deliver.
PLEASE SEE ALSO:
THE TRANSCENDENT INGO SWANN by Raul daSilva
PENETRATION by ingo Swann
READING THE ENEMY’S MIND by Paul Smith
Ken Korczak is a former newspaper reporter, government information officer, served as an advocate for homeless people as a VISTA Volunteer, and taught journalism at the University of North Dakota for five years. He is the author of: BIRD BRAIN GENIUS
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