How prophecy never fails: interpretive reason in a flying-saucer group

Sociology of Religion, Summer, 1998 by Diana Tumminia

The "reliving" started to spread throughout the community, first by word of mouth, then during the Center's night classes. According to testimonials, the students were experiencing considerable stress. They had come to believe that Uriel was leaving them. At the same time, they were prepared to meet the Space Brothers, the extraterrestrial architects of the New Age. Now it was clear that the Space Brothers were not coming for Uriel was still there among them.

Reaffirmation

They had come face to face not with a Space Brother, but with the issue of Uriel's credibility. Would they abandon their student roles because of the disconfirmation of the prophecy? Many had doubts about continuing in Unarius. A few students left immediately, while most struggled with their consciences, now that they heard they were reincarnated murderers. Students Sanosun and Helen reported in class that their bodies ached all over; they experienced terrible physical pains (Norman 1985a). Crystal, another student, gave this testimonial in class.

. . . I got all mixed up and I thought 'Gee, maybe this means that some of the Science isn't true,' but then I thought, 'How can that be? This is ridiculous; how can you face that?'That was the battle that was going on! (Norman 1985a: 249).

In her testimonial, Unarian Sanosun said that she had to force herself out of bed each morning, because she could not face herself or her fellow students. She explained that she moved through the day like a zombie, "distrustful and unloving."

My attempted withdrawal and lack of interest, seemingly started after the spacecraft failed to land on the' spot of the Lemurian property near El Cajon, when we were all reliving the Isis-Osiris cycle, when They [Ernest Norman and Ruth Norman] were killed by the mob before the spacecraft could take them aboard. Fear has always been riding high in my makeup, but now I was closing my ears to the sound of voices, I was seeing within a very small radius of the space in which I moved, I was no longer interested or enthusiastic and all joie de vivre was gone (Norman 1978: 58-59)!

Uriel had alerted The National Enquirer before the event, but media were not called in for the aftermath (Norman 1985a). Rather the group chose to come together in classes and personal interaction, discussing their feelings within the interpretive context of having a "reliving" of the Isis-Osiris Cycle. Although the students struggled with their new revelations, little free time remained because the Unarian Mission had to proceed. At the beginning of November, Unarius staged a two-day seminar, "The Psychic Age," in conjunction with San Diego State College's Continuing Education Department.

As 1976 began, Unarians were experiencing another "reliving," the Lemurian Cycle (Unarian Students and Norman 1976). Crystal was plagued with bad dreams. A psychic reading revealed her past life during the destruction of Lemuria. According to the reading, the evil Lemurian Masters had controlled the masses by implanting electronic devices in their foreheads; the people lived as robots. During classes, everyone was drawn into the cycle as they discussed their own experiences. They too had memories of torture and pain from their past lives on the lost continent.