NASA’s Dark Secrets: UFOs, Pagan Rituals & Time Travel

September 20, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

NASA’s Dark Secrets: UFOs, Pagan Rituals & Time Travel

American Alchemy with Jesse Michels

On July 16, 1969, 230,000 miles from home, Buzz Aldrin opened a small kit of personal items he had brought to the moon. Using a silver chalice, a bit of wine, and a piece of bread, he quietly administered communion—the first liquid ever poured on another world. Among his belongings was also a small silk flag hand-stitched with the symbol of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Aldrin held that order's highest rank, the 33rd degree, symbolically tied to the 33 vertebrae of the spine and the crown chakra, said to be the gateway to divine insight.

He was not the only astronaut with such affiliations. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14's sixth moonwalker, conducted a private ESP experiment during his journey, attempting to send mental images back to Earth using a set of cards. The results were better than chance. Mitchell later founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a think tank dedicated to consciousness and psychic phenomena. And he found an unlikely supporter: Wernher von Braun, the former Nazi and father of American rocketry, who encouraged Mitchell to find a site within NASA to study consciousness further.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:07) **The Hidden History of Rocket Science** - Jesse Michels introduces the episode's thesis: that the space program is entangled with occult rituals, Nazi scientists, secret societies, and non-human intelligence.
2 (01:04) **Buzz Aldrin's Moon Communion** - Aldrin performs a private Christian communion on the lunar surface, the first liquid ever poured on the moon.
3 (03:27) **Edgar Mitchell's Paranormal Experiments** - Apollo 14 astronaut Mitchell conducted a private ESP experiment on the way to the moon, attempting to send mental images to Earth.
4 (06:56) **The Central Question** - Michels poses the episode's core inquiry: Is rocket science foundationally entangled with the strange, the mystical, and non-human intelligence?
5 (08:21) **George Ellery Hale: The Mystic Astronomer** - Hale built the Mount Wilson telescope that allowed Hubble to discover other galaxies, but he also claimed to receive creative inspiration from a spirit or elf.
6 (12:36) **Jack Parsons: The Occultist Rocket Scientist** - Parsons, a self-taught genius, co-founded JPL and developed solid and liquid rocket fuels, but was also a devoted member of the OTO practicing Crowley's sex magic.
7 (24:40) **Nazi Occultism and Rocketry** - The highest levels of Hitler's regime were obsessed with the occult, including the Thule Society, which held seances to contact non-human intelligences from the stars.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

We explore the hidden history of rocket science, intertwining themes of mysticism, occult practices, and the influence of non-human intelligence.

We look at key figures like Jack Parsons and Edgar Mitchell, the occult obsessions of the Nazis, the esoteric dimensions of NASA's missions, and Russian Cosmism.

Is there a cosmic purpose for humanity, culminating in the idea that the history of space exploration is not just a technical story, but one deeply rooted in consciousness and belief?

Paul Hynek (AREA 52) | https://youtu.be/d68a1JfwVsE?si=wvT9S8PShY7UH5yq

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