The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity and the UFO Abductee Paperback – December 3, 2015

Book ReviewThe Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity, and the UFO AbducteeBy Mike ClellandTo say I devoured this book would be an understatement. The fact that the title includes the phrase, “UFO Abductee” also makes that understatement a miracle. Although I’ve had a lifetime of extremely paranormal, inter- and extra-dimensional experiences, have used telepathy since childhood, and religiously watched the show “Roswell” during my non-reading brain injury years, that whole X-files, UFO Conference, and “abductee” panoply is just not my scene. I’m much more of an intuitive reading, gardening, Reiki teaching, shamanic journeying, Faerie Realm, create beauty, tree-hugger type.Not that the two can’t coexist! I’ve long noticed obvious crossovers; I just really don’t like to focus on any kind of victim mentality or the cloak-and-dagger secret space war, black-ops military projects, and “the Nazi’s won WW2” conspiracies. Nor do I enjoy the largely dis-empowering, Savior-in-the wings, “luv-n-lite” cotton candy of most material supposedly channeled from ET’s. Thankfully, Mike Clelland’s new book is none of these things. Rather, “The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity and the UFO Abductee” explores the absurdly frequent appearance of owls before or after periods of unexplained missing time, UFO sightings, death (including Near Death Experiences), and/or moments of extreme spiritual questioning.Although Mike does address the common “screen memory” of a four foot tall owl so often shared by abductees, this book spends much more time looking at synchronicities with real owls. Parts of “The Messengers” will no doubt make readers uncomfortable, but anyone who’s ever had an attraction to or relationship with owls will value the diversity of exploratory lenses — from owl experts to shamans to animal communicators to contactees to paranormal researchers to psychologists/psychiatrists to hypnotherapists to outdoorsmen to myths from around the world. The book also becomes an exploration of consciousness itself. How does synchronicity “work,” and by extension, what role(s) do we really have in the creation of our own experience of reality? More importantly for the purposes of “The Messengers,” what role do owls play in the Mystery of mysteries, and what reality-shattering implications might that role bring with it?“The Messengers” presents both a deeply personal and universally human quest. Mike Clelland, also known as “The Owl Guy” has experienced truly bizarre owl encounters — in frequency, unusual behavior patterns, and especially in their meaningful timing. On his journey to understand his own experiences and their implications, Mike has interviewed hundreds of other people about their own synchronous owl stories. Page after page of magical tales weave their own comforting web of synchronicities across time and space. We find owl stories and dates linking people and events sometimes thousands of miles and many years apart. Inexplicably intertwined with the owl stories come sightings of UFO’s, colored orbs, strange lights, and the development of certain personal traits — high levels of intuition, energetic healing abilities, and a profound sense of “mission.”Since so many people who contact Mike with their on owl stories (myself included) also end up having weird owl synchronicities right after emailing or calling him, “The Messengers” contains multiple layers of such intricately knotted stories that the book rewards readers with an undeniable sense of the vastness and complex beauty of life. So many stories involve moments of intense doubt and then the mysterious appearance of an owl that results in clarity and a deep reverence for life. Many people also share how owls “freak them out” or “terrify” them, and Mike explores these stories through a variety of lenses, including the highly inconsistent attitudes of indigenous cultures to owls. Unlike many animals, the spiritual meaning of owls varies from place to place.Everything I’ve mentioned so far would make “The Messengers” and interesting and powerful book; however, imho, Mike’s treatment of what he calls “the maybe people” makes this one of the most important books of our time. Mike spends most of the book trying to make sense of his own “maybe” status as someone who does not consider himself a UFO abductee but who nevertheless exhibits very similar traits and paranormal experiences as those who do. His journey remains his own, but by providing it in context of so many others’ journeys, it encourages readers to look more deeply at our own lives. Doing so takes courage, and Mike shares his own struggles with the journey, which, in turn, helps others to continue on own own path. I cannot say how “The Messengers” will affect you, but I promise you, it will.I feel so grateful for the release of this book at this moment in time. Of course, we would expect perfect timing from a book on synchronicity, but this book arrives like the caress of an owl’s wing. As chaos seems to spiral out of control, readers will find a strange sense of both comfort and awe in recognizing intricate harmony just beyond the veil. When all the old structures fail — in individual lives or in society — unanswerable questions arise. At such moments, remembering the Mystery becomes its own answer. I offer deep thanks to Mike Clelland for his gift to humanity in these challenging times.

I bought this book on sight simply because I was immediately struck by the Owl image on it's cover. I really didn't know what to expect, and perhaps this might explain a few disappointed reader comments, what exactly does that crazy title suggest?!I've seen owls all my life, although not the 3 or 4 foot variety which is often mentioned in this book. Despite my owl experiences not qualifying as 'other worldly' or surreal I was locked onto that image and bizarre title and I just had to know what the heck this guy was talking about! Apparently his stories were so commonplace and frequent he was able to fill an entire book with Owl musings,unbelievable re-tellings, UFO connections and those cryptic synchronicities-I just HAD to read this book.The author's style is real, person to person authentic and complete with all the usual human failings in others words-Genuine. I was drawn in immediately from the brilliant forward, by Richard Dolan.Mike Clelland deserves a huge 'thank you' for having the courage to write from his gut and do justice to all those he quotes, giving them the same due respect. It's just the honest 'truth' as best as anyone can wrap their heads around a flurry of phenomenon so pervasive, so unreal yet there it is, make of it what you will but don't criticize The Messenger' for bringing it to you.Buy this book and go deeper into the mysteries of life. I believe it's why we're all here.

It actually took me a while longer than normal to come to a conclusion on how I would like to review this book. So I will review it in two different ways...1st: Over-all Review: 4 StarsThis is a solidly written book, as far as information goes, in terms of the content covered which is laid out in the complete title of the work, Clelland has done a good job. Now I have to agree with several other reviewers that this work is in bad need of an editor. I am usually pretty forgiving of this as (I’m sure you can see) not the greatest grammatically myself. But this book has sentence structure errors, repeated words and phrases when averaged out would come out to probably every 9th page and that's being generous which means there are over 40 + errors, (there are probably more), I honestly don't think this is the fault of Clelland, but the editor, because as I stated above many of these errors are simple sentence repetition or misspellings. This aside.He covers everything thoroughly, from multiple perspectives on the representations of owls, from lore, to myth and legend, to archetypal views. His conclusions if you have not run into them before you will most certainly find interesting. Call this a cop out, but, you are going to have to read it to find out what those are. Mainly, because you really need to have a look at the whole picture he lays out here before you should know the ending. I respect the author’s hard work enough to do that.The only drawback is that Clelland tends to get long winded at times, and this isn't because he is necessarily over explaining (sometimes it is), but he tends to interject phrases like "Well if we look at it this way..." or "Logically as I am thinking about things..." or similar. Mr. Clelland, you don't need to validate your theory by stating this, that's why I am reading this book, it has your name on the cover, so it is implied that it is your theory, unless cited differently, and obviously I want to know your thoughts and theories or I wouldn't be reading your book. This is his first book, obviously, I or anyone else shouldn’t expect a first go at it writer, to be perfect, This seems to me to happen because of lack of confidence, but, as I said above, I can’t hold it against him, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and surmise that this will disappear as time goes on and he publishes more works.Overall this is a solid book that in a later edition, should be looked over and revised by the author and a better editor. But this is a solid book, which I have come to expect from anything published by Richard Dolan press. There a discerning lot, and I appreciate that in the morass of books out there on this and similar topics.2nd, Personal Review: 3 starsOk, so, if you are coming to this book without being a studier/practitioner of Esotericism, metaphysics, depth psychology, or mythology, then you are going to be getting a good introduction as far as they relate to this topic in this book.But, if you happen to be seasoned in any of these areas, or at least have a pretty good working knowledge throughout some of the schools of thought I mention above, you are going to get pretty darn bored when he starts going through mythology, archetypes as well as some of the concepts on manifestation.If you have read any of either Patrick Harpur or Jacques Vallee, then you are going to be very familiar with theories of manifestation, and in a much deeper way then in this book. So honestly for me, once I got past the first 100 pages or so, I really started to get kind of bored. But I have studied many of these subjects personally for years.Conclusion:I have to give this book four stars, it would be five, but the editing errors, and the authors self-validation phrasing gets to be a bit tedious, even though I include my personal gripes in the second section of this review, I feel as though fairly I can’t take these into account. Because the book I feel the author was never intending to be aimed at the smaller populace that already has a big bank of knowledge in this area, and why should he, to cover and present a topic with multiple theories well, especially one like this which hasn't been covered in a book yet. You got to do what Clelland has done.This is a good book, it’s worth buying, and if you have any interest at all in this area, I think once you reach the end, you will over all feel that it is time well spent.

This is a truely amazing book for all of you who are searching for the synchronicities in your life. The stories from all sorts of people make this a 'hard to put down' book. You will want to move to the next story.Mike Clelland is a wonderful writer (and speaker).You will love this book! High praise!

Vor einiger Zeit sah ich ein YouTube Video über Eulen und Aliens von Mike Clelland, welches mich nachhaltig faszinierte. Also beschloss ich mich weiter in das Thema hinein zu lesen. Und ich wurde nicht enttäuscht. Das Englisch ist auch für einen nicht-Muttersprachler einfach gehalten und gut nachzuvollziehen, der Lesefluss ist einfach, kommt nie ins Stocken und macht total Spass! Es wird nicht nur auf eulenbezogene UFO-Phänomene eingegangen, sondern auch die Anatomie, Mythologie und die Behandlung der Eule in der Popkultur aufgezeigt (mit Referenzen u.a. zu Twin Peaks und Harry Potter, was ich besonders toll fand). Es handelt sich hierbei also um ein umfassendes und abwechslungsreiches Werk. Der Author ist dabei angenehm selbstreflektiert und auf dem Boden geblieben, was mir bei einem solch unkonventionellem Thema recht wichtig war. Es ist definitv kein abstruses esoterisches oder Okkultes Geschwafel! Ich werde mir nun die anderen Werke von Mike Clelland auch zu legen! Absolute Kaufempfehlung!

This book really moved me. Massive props to the author Mike. Thanks Mike. Such a heartfelt effort, I look forward to the next installment.

First things first..... it is very well written. It is quite an enjoyable read. It makes you want to stop everything and keep reading right to the end.It is interesting, especially if you can be open minded about the possibilities of there being unknown beings and flying craft in this world.I chose this book because I have had a significant experience with some sort of unknown being and an Owl at the same time which cannot be explained.I had heard of other people connecting UFO's and Owls but this is the first time I have actually read of others accounts. My experience happened in East Sussex early hours of the morning in which my son witnessed as well, so I was intrigued to see if anyone had seen what I had, but in the book no one mentions going through what I witnessed.One thing I feel I need to add is that the Author has many owl experiences/coincidences, in which he thinks are all linked up to him.Although I am a strong believer in UFOs and Alien Beings, because of my own unwanted experiences what people need to be aware of is how their brain works. The Unconscious Mind is a very powerful tool, and if you focus on something it will bring that 'something' to your awareness. For example if I said to you: 'Don't think of a Blue Tree' your mind will imagine a Blue Tree. Your mind cannot process a negative so it gives you what you focus on, so it wouldn't matter if I said 'Think of a Blue Tree or Don't think of a Blue Tree' your mind would imagine a Blue Tree.After my owl experience I wanted to know if anyone else had had similar or same experience, so my Unconscious Mind pointed out owls all the time. I could be in a shop or browsing at anything and my Mind would bring Owls to my awareness. Some people say its a coincidence but your Mind is focused on looking for owls. My son was given a car (his dream car) by his boss and thereafter my sons Unconscious Mind was bringing to his awareness the cars that were like his. So a lot of the small 'coincidences' (as in seeing Owl items or hearing someone talk about Owls) the Author has with owls can be explained by the Unconscious Mind at work. But there is a definite link between UFO's, Aliens and Owls which is the main focus of what this interesting book is about. People are experiencing owls around the same time as seeing a UFO or Unknown Being, for some reason Owls are significant.

Die Verbindung zwischen Eulen und UFOs war mir bis zur Lektüre dieses Buches keineswegs klar. Zwar wußte ich aus meinen Lektüren zum Paranormalen, dass Eulen durch ihren Ruf angeblich Geister ankündigen können, auch war mir der Volksglaube der Eule als "Totenvogel" bewußt.Clellands Buch stieß jedoch das Tor zu einer völlig neuen Dimension auf. Zum Glück verzichtet der Autor dabei auf alles vordergründig Sensationelle und Reißerische, das andere Bücher über UFOs und Entführungen durch Aliens (leider) auszeichnet. Auf die chronologische Aufzeichnung der Ereignisse wird weitgehend verzichtet, das Buch liest sich wie das Einweihungsritual eines Novizen in eine höhere Realität.Auf den Nachfolgeband darf man gespannt sein. Erstmal fünf Punkte für ein außergewöhnliches Buch!