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Kithra
Kithra has been a regular columnist at Review since we started. But other than the fact that she won a Christmas hamper last year, which she didn’t share with anyone and that she doesn’t go out much, we know very little else. So, here’s a bit more.
SM: A brief, potted personal history please! Age, where brought up, marriages, children etc.
K: I shall be fifty-seven this October, and I’ve been in Cornwall for almost twenty years. But I was brought up in Berkshire, where I spent my formative years, apart from being sent away to boarding schools in Worcestershire and Avon. I’ve been married twice, both times to the same man, and we spent a little while living on the Continent, mostly in Andorra and a little time in Spain. However, I was widowed twenty-one years ago, and I value my independence far too much to consider marrying again! But I do have one lovely daughter, and four beautiful grandchildren.
SM: In what area of the paranormal/spiritual did your interest first develop?
K: When I was two years old I had my first OOBE while undergoing an anaesthetic for an operation – an experience still so vivid it probably accounts for my phobia about hospitals. Then when I was eleven my adoptive mother died, (my adoptive father having died when I was six), and I had two more OOBEs; both of which are still very vivid in my mind. And I’ve always been somewhat psychic; for example on the day my mother died I’d said to somebody at school that I didn’t have a mother. What I’d meant to say was that she was in hospital, but at the time I said it she was already dead. Oddly enough a similar thing happened when my husband died. I’m not sure that it ever consciously occurred to me that I was psychic because it’s something I’ve always been aware of. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m a genuine psychic, but I do seem to have this ability to predict disasters. It’s not that I can tell you what, where, or when, just that I get these strong feelings and within a week there’s usually been some dreadful catastrophe. I did it with the Shuttle disaster, I did it with the Asian earthquake/tsunami and, very unusually for me, I did it with 9/11 via a dream the night before. And those are just the most recent ones that I remember. So the paranormal is a subject I’ve always been interested in.
On spirituality, that’s a more recent interest of mine. When I say recent I mean about ten years. I’ve long believed in reincarnation, and it’s never made any sense to me that one lifetime is long enough to learn all the things we need for our spiritual evolution. But it was only when I read a book about metaphysics, in the early 1990s, that things seemed to crystallise for me. At that point I was working on personal growth and self-improvement, and when I read Gill Edwards Living Magically everything just seemed to fall into place for me. There’s a very old saying that goes something like 'when the pupil is ready the teacher appears' – and that’s how it was for me.
SM: In relation to Ufology, where do your thoughts and beliefs lie? What do you think is going on?
K: I’ve been interested in Ufology for about forty-five years. I think it must have
started with a very odd experience I had at school one night. One of my friends
had run away late one evening and I was watching her walk down the drive and
out onto the highway. It was dark and I wasn’t supposed to be out of bed,
but I stayed at that window for a very long time, even when she’d disappeared
from view.
At one point I saw what I can only describe as a 'Michelin Man' walking
down the road. The ‘apparition’ must have been very tall as he would
have been as far away as two or three hockey pitch lengths from where I was
watching. I had ‘it’ in view for about three or four minutes, and during
all of that time I didn’t see or hear a single car, or person, passing
along the road. Perhaps I was suffering from the Oz Factor. I knew I was awake
because I was feeling cold kneeling up at that window, rather than being warm
in bed. However, the next thing I remember is waking up in bed in the morning,
and I’ve no idea how I got there. Again, this memory is as clear as though
it happened yesterday.
When I first seriously started to learn about Ufology I used to keep a world map on the wall, and put little map pins into it for each case I heard about. I suppose I was really looking for patterns – although I don’t remember finding any! Back in those days I tended towards the idea that all UFOs were nuts and bolts machines, either with or without occupants. And on a drive with my husband one day, back in the early 1970s, we saw what we both believed to be a UFO. It was just like the proverbial silver cigar! Living near Greenham Common Air Base we were used to seeing a lot of different types of aircraft, but this thing had no wings, no tail, and no windows. Up until then my husband was a confirmed sceptic, but he changed his mind when we saw that.
Now, after all these years, I no longer really know what to believe. I’m sure that some sightings are of real, tangible, machines and/or aliens. But I’m also very much inclined towards the belief that many are of a more ethereal nature. And, personally, it isn’t so much about which is which. For me it’s all about trying to put different parts of a puzzle together without first having seen the finished picture. By different parts I mean not just UFOs because I would include many other related, and unrelated, subjects. For example, I’m interested in all types of strange phenomena, from ghosts to astrology, and I’d also include 'alternative history', and what are known as out-of-place objects.
SM: Is there a universal connection running through the paranormal?
K: Yes, definitely. I try to see things from a spiritual viewpoint, and for me it’s about opening my mind to other realities. So each weird happening – the things that make you go Hmm!!! – is an opportunity to do that. To see things from a different angle. I believe I’m a spiritual being having a human existence rather than vice versa. I don’t ‘buy into’ the current matrix, and I refuse to have my life ruled by the things that concern most people, e.g. money, the cult of celebrity, the politics of fear, etc: It’s the deeper level of life that I’m concerned with, the age-old questions such as ‘why are we here?’ And ‘where did we come from?’ And ‘where do we go from here?’
And before you ask, no, I don’t classify myself as being part of the New Age Movement either. That’s not to say I’m not interested in some of their ideas, but some of it is just too ‘off-the-wall’ for my taste. For example, take Channelling – I’ve studied some of the material, and I can’t say I’m convinced that it comes from either Heavenly Beings or Aliens. I think it’s far more likely to come from the channeller’s subconscious – or perhaps they’re tapping in to the Universal Consciousness.
SM: You seem convinced that some form of non-elected authority rules over us with its own aims and goals. Who do you think they are, what are they trying to do? What do they want to achieve?
K: I'm of the view that humanity was probably seeded on Earth in some very distant past, and quite possibly by an alien civilization. The Missing Link has never been found, and I have no problem with idea that somewhere along the line the DNA of an ape, or ape-like species, was altered to produce human beings. I can also believe that we're an experiment, with the aliens watching us in the same way a scientist would watch an animal in the zoo. However, the reasons behind it are, in my opinion, to help us evolve into higher beings, spiritual beings, and to one day become civilized enough to join the galactic community. It just doesn't make sense that any 'evil' aliens want to take over the Earth and use us as either slaves, or even food. They are so far in advance of us that if that had been their intention they could have, and would have, invaded and conquered us decades, or centuries, ago.
SM: Actually what I meant was, and I know this from our private correspondence, that you believe in TPTB and or the Illuminati.
K: Yes, I believe in both the PTB and the Illuminati of the NOW (New World Order). I've long been convinced that there's a secret, hidden, power ruling the world and, like many others, I also believe that many of the secret, global, power-elite are members of the Bilderberg Group. That's where the real deals are done, and the future agendas are set. These shadowy figures have control over all the important events in world history, for example it's 'they' who decide who'll go to war with whom, who'll be elected to positions of political power, what the Money Markets will do - and all of it is often decided years, even decades, in advance. I know the Bilderberg Group only came into public consciousness fairly recently, and in fact the Group itself was only established in the last century. But I think that many of its members come from families whose history can be traced back to powerful families from centuries ago. And those who have that sort of power will, in most cases, do anything to keep it.
As for the PTB, they're the 'enforcement arm' of the Illuminati. So even though we may know them as MI5, MI6, the CIA, etc: their orders often come from the chiefs of the Illuminati. And when someone gets too close to the truth behind it all these agencies are the ones tasked with eliminating them; and that usually means killing them off in some way that, to the uninitiated, appears to be nothing more than a freak accident, or senseless crime, or even some sudden illness.
It's not that I believe in every conspiracy going. Some are pure rubbish although, of course, you have to do your own research and then decide which you judge to be real, and which are nothing but a hoax. However, one of the problems I have is that it would make sense to 'enslave' us in a materialistic world, for example encouraging a money-oriented, throw-away, society. That would certainly increase their profits, but when it comes to some theories, like those who maintain that some democratic governments are secretly trying to kill off their populations, what would that achieve? Make them ill and increase the drug company's profits I can understand, but a decrease in the populace just cuts down those who are able to work, and those who are able to spend.
SM: How would you react to being labeled paranoid in relation to your opinions above?
K: You know the old saying ‘just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t trying to get at me!’ But to give you a serious answer I hope that I’m not paranoid, as I’ve no reasons to be. I know that recently there’s been a list of ‘dead Ufologists’ and ‘dead Microbiologists’ doing the rounds of the Internet – and yes, some of those deaths are extremely strange. I can also well believe that the PTB (Powers That Be) would not only want to eliminate certain people, but that they have done so. However, I don’t know enough about anything to be in danger – at least I’m assuming that’s the case. But if they do ‘get’ me as well ……… then remember you read it here first!
SM: You’ve had a fairly traumatic life with a lot of ups and downs. Do you turn to a higher spirit in times of need? Do you believe in a god?
K: What some people call God I'd call the Universal All, or the Great Spirit. I think there's an intelligent design behind the Universe. It's not by pure chance that the environment to support life, and I include human life, is exactly right. Just a few 'millimetres' either way and we couldn't exist. I believe we're all sparks of that one Universal All, and that we can exist in many dimensions at the same time. It's just that we're so constrained being in a dense human body that we can't see any other levels. We each of us come to experience a different aspect of life, (regardless of whether that's on this Earthly planet or one somewhere else), with each of us being a different facet of that one Universal All. And the ultimate aim is to complete the cycle and return to The Source. That's the way in which the Universal All gathers a physical experience of everything in creation.
We've long been hearing that the Universe began with a Big Bang. Well, even when I was a child at school I used to ask what there was before the creation of the Universe, and I was always told there was nothing at all. But I couldn't then, and I can't now, accept that answer. If you trace everything backwards you reach the state where we're told it was just a small ball of gas that exploded into being a Universe, and prior to that was a void. My question has always been 'who created that gas?' I don't find it credible that it just sprang into existence - from a void!!! However far back you care to go you still come up against this question, and I've never heard any satisfactory answer.
As for having had a fairly traumatic life, and turning to a higher spirit in times of need, well, I suppose the first part of your question is very subjective. Looking back, yes, my life has been full of traumatic events. And at the last count, a couple of years ago, those close to me who have died - from natural causes to illness, suicide, and murder - totalled about twenty-five. But these deaths began so early in my life that at the time I wasn't old enough to recognise them as being traumatic; and then it became such a repeating pattern that my response really became one of 'here we go again!'
However, in more recent years I've come to understand that we choose everything that happens to us before we come, in each separate lifetime; and that each event is a learning opportunity. So I don't see myself as a victim because I now realise that I chose all of these things. I certainly seem to have set myself a hard path in this particular lifetime, but it's all for the good of my own personal spiritual evolution. And I don't believe that I would have set myself anything that I wasn't able to cope with. So each time I encounter a traumatic event, whether it be personal, or some major disaster somewhere in the world, I try to look at it from a higher perspective. At that level it can make sense, and it can teach us all a great deal.
SM: Some might interpret that answer as you saying that in a previous experience, you chose to endure the distress that you have experienced in this life time. To many, that wouldn’t make sense. How do you rationalise that?
K: Oh no. If I’d already endured that type of distress in a previous lifetime
I wouldn’t need to undergo the same thing again – unless I didn’t
learn the lessons from it previously, lol. What I believe is that we make a
‘life plan’ before we reincarnate each time, and in that plan we
include the lessons that we need to experience in order to learn. Some people
call it Karma, the ‘what goes around comes around’ scenario, but
I think it’s subtler than that. I believe that between each lifetime we
not only assess the life just past but also our previous lives. It’s then
that we decide which areas we want to concentrate on in the next life. We’re
not compelled to immediately ‘repay debts’ from the life just gone,
but have a choice as to which situations we want to try and learn from in our next life. I can understand how this might not make sense to people, especially
those without a belief in reincarnation or, indeed, any knowledge of how it works. Of course I’m not saying that I know how it works, I doubt that
any of us really do, just that the idea makes complete sense to me.
It’s really about a personal belief system; and some may even call it
a coping mechanism. But it’s the one that works for me, the one that helps
me to make sense of the world, and all the dreadful things that happen in it.
That may not be a rational explanation for many people, but I wonder how they
might rationalize their own beliefs. If I asked somebody to justify his or her belief in God, for example, what answers do you think I’d get? In many
ways it’s akin to the ‘science or faith’ debate. And before
your readers start sending you angry emails, yes, I know those two disparate
subjects are now becoming much closer! However, I’ve long been on the
side of metaphysics as opposed to pure science.
SM: Run through what an average day is like for you.
K: I’m afraid my answer to this will be very boring. Being an agoraphobic,
with some physical disabilities, I’m currently totally housebound. So
I tend to wake somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., and then it takes me a while
to get going. I have to sit down to recover from the shock of getting up, lol. Most
days I’m at the computer by around 9:00 a.m. – unless I feel compelled to do some household chores – and then I have a list of favourite websites
that I like to visit every day. I’m a newsaholic, and I like to keep track
of what’s going on in the world which, naturally, includes news from
the fringes, such as Ufology, Earth Changes, the Paranormal, and related subjects.
I’m also fascinated by the whole Planet X topic – although it’s
such a huge subject that I wouldn’t choose to write about it! Depending
on what I find I like to share it with friends, after which I take time to answer
my emails.
I also have my own website, so I often update some of the pages with links to the interesting articles I’ve read during the day. Of course I don’t
spend all day on the computer. I take a couple of hours break for lunch and another hour around teatime. Between those two breaks I often try to do
some research for whatever article I might be thinking about writing for Review. Then, after a final check on my Inbox, I log off about 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. to spend
the rest of the evening watching TV. Bedtime comes after the news headlines at 10:00 p.m. and I read a book for at least an hour. I couldn’t sleep if
I didn’t read; it’s my way of relaxing at the end of the day. You
see, I told you that it would be a very boring answer, lol.
SM: Do you have any other interests away from all this madness?
K: Yes and no. As you’ve just read, most of my day is spent on
the computer following my main interests. But away from that I’m very
interested in politics, and history, especially British History up until about
the middle of the 1700s. And I’m also interested in; 'alternative
history'; what a fascinating subject that is. Apart from that I read quite a
lot about what many term New Age topics, for example Astrology, Auras, Chakras,
Crystals, Tarot Cards, the meaning and use of Colours. Only, as I said in one
of my previous answers, I don’t consider myself to be part of the New Age Movement. I just have a very enquiring mind, and I believe that the brain
needs to be used all the time; otherwise it falls into a state of atrophy in
old age. However, my greatest problem is that I read so much information that
I have trouble remembering most of it – too many senior moments these
days!
SM: Kithra, thank you.