With our extensive knowledge of spiritual entities, we seldom label a phenomenon without careful research and consideration. Midwest Spirits acknowledges that paranormal activity can be caused by a wide range of sources and entities, such as: spirits of the dead, spirits of the land, and sometimes even “alien” beings.
Animists are people who recognize that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always lived in relationship to others. Animism is lived out in various ways that are all about learning to act respectfully, carefully, and constructively towards and among other persons.
— Graham Harvey, Animism: Respecting the Living World
Midwest Spirits finds inspiration in the Western Esoteric Tradition and the work of paranormal luminaries like as Jacques Vallée and John Keel. Using meticulous research and data collection, Keel found strong correlations between varying types of paranormal activity. At times, Keel called it simply, “The Phenomenon,” as sightings of UFOs, cryptids, and poltergeists often followed the same patterns and would occur simultaneously in a geographic area.
We believe Keel and his peers were finding new language to describe an old point of view, perhaps the oldest spiritual belief – animism. In the animist perspective, the lights in the sky, the strange beings seen in the woods, and even the invisible visitors to your home, are all manifestations of the spirits. Those manifestations often have different characteristics and are as individual as human beings but can be traced back to beings from outside our dimension interacting with our own.
For the Ancient Egyptians, the human soul had five distinct parts. They recognized the complexity of spiritual existence. When we see our own biological bodies consisting of dozens of interrelated systems, including separate biological life forms that inhabit our body, why would we believe that spiritual existence is any less complex? And that some of these beings also have complex cultures and societies that can be as, or even more, rich and detailed as own.
That’s why we believe it’s important to identify commonalities in the phenomenon, but never be constrained by one belief system. We must recognize that these things most likely are much more complex than just, “intelligent vs. static,” hauntings, or “human or inhuman,” spirits. Each one has its own motivations and modes of being.
In the end, all we can truly say is that the world is much stranger than most people consider.