I am going to post the following information that was forwarded by my friend 'Cosmic Ray' Keller:
An interview with the “Cosmic Ray” Keller by N.E. Ohio Coast-to-Coast A.M. Radio Discussion Groups organizer, Michael A. LaRiche, a.k.a. “North Coast Mike” of Rootstown, Ohio
I have known Dr. Raymond A. Keller, the now world famous author of the Venus Rising series of books, since the mid-1960s, when he and a neighborhood friend, Alan T. Weston, were publishing the Flying Saucer Report, a mimeographed monthly magazine that attained a global subscription base after an article about the two then teenage UFO investigators and writers appeared in the National Enquirer. Keller and I were members of the Cleveland Ufology Project and often worked with its late director, Earl J. Neff, on various UFO investigations. The young “Cosmic Ray” was even then fascinated by the contactee phenomena. Having read all of George Adamski’s books, as well Howard Menger’s From Outer Space to You, he came to believe that intelligent beings from nearby worlds in our solar system were interacting with us Earthlings at some undefined levels of the human consciousness.
Published by Headline Books of Terra Alta, West Virginia, and available on amazon.com, the Venus Rising series includes Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet
(2015, 2016); Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus
(2017) and Cosmic Ray's Excellent Venus Adventure
(2017). I would best describe these books as a unique blend of retro sci-fi, UFO lore and the literary genre of magic realism.Dr. Keller operates from the assumption that the UFO phenomenon is largely subjective in nature. It cannot be objectified and cataloged neatly into some little box, to only be opened for future reference, when more scientific facts have been accumulated and assessed. The celestial door can be opened on almost any occasion in the here and now, thus granting access to the ethereal realms. With a master’s degree in Latin American literature, specializing in the literary genre of magic realism, in addition to a degree in history with an emphasis on emerging cultures in the developing world, I believe that Dr. Keller is well suited to approach the UFO enigma in this tangential manner.
The first book, Venus Rising, details the interactions over countless millennia of varied intelligences from the planet Venus with the inhabitants of Earth. The second book, Rockets to Venus, explores the origins of the atomic and space ages and the rush by sundry nations to send probes to our sister planet and garner information about the advanced civilizations that exist there, beneath the dense cloud layers. And the third and latest book, Cosmic Ray’s Excellent Venus Adventure, continues with contemporary and personal accounts of Venusians clandestinely carrying out their missions of peace here on our planet.
The Androgynous Orthon
North Coast Mike: I’ve always considered it a great pleasure to accompany you, Cosmic Ray, on some of your public appearances; and I’m always amazed at the plethora of both young people and senior citizens who come over to the Venus table at various meetings to buy your latest books. How do you account for the popularity of your books among these two disparate groups?
Cosmic Ray: Many of the senior citizens buying the Venus books are familiar with the accounts of the early contactees, having developed an interest in the subject of extraterrestrials living among us since the decades of the 1950s and 1960s. Remember, that having grown up in the Great Depression, most of the older seniors were attracted to idealistic and utopian political movements on the left in their youth.
As far as the contemporary scene, the young people are attracted to the contactee message because they have not been tainted by the commercial and crassly capitalist society we live in. Having caught the vision from Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich and other progressive leaders, they understand that it is not an entirely impossible task to build a utopian world we can all be proud of, one that serves the interests of all. Hence, we can actually do something to ready ourselves for acceptance into the Galactic Federation of Light, as some refer to the higher celestial realms currently remaining unseen to the majority of Earth’s doubting and intransigent population.
North Coast Mike: What problems do you see with the intermediate-aged group of UFO enthusiasts?
Cosmic Ray: Keep in mind that I’m speaking in generalities here, Mike. But for the most part, this is the generation that tolerates a few having all the good things in life, while millions go without the daily necessities, even for their survival, as we currently see in Puerto Rico and other islands of the Caribbean devastated by the hurricanes. These are people in distress who need immediate relief. There shouldn’t be anything to debate about this. This issue is not a political football to be bantered about. They’re also of the generation that adheres to the “nuts-and-bolts, I’m from Missouri, so prove it” brand of ufology. This closed and linear sort of thinking will not serve to lift them up to higher levels of multi-dimensionality. They won’t move much further than cataloging lights in the sky, at least so far as UFO research goes.
North Coast Mike: I have to admit that I’ve been duly impressed by many of your fans who’ve approached you at the Venus table in the course of various UFO and paranormal meetings. I’ve taken note of some of the pertinent material they have passed on to you for inclusion in some of your future books: unpublished documents and manuscripts that include artwork and photos from contactees of the 1950s, as well as contemporary unpublished manuscripts by allegedly hybrid Earthlings-Venusians about life on other planets, and even never-before-published drawings, photos and other materials pertaining to the Venusian presence here on Earth. For instance, in the course of the Saturday, 16 September 2017 Mutual UFO Network Conference outside of Columbus, Ohio, a Mrs. J. R. of Ohio, a friend of the late George Adamski who spent considerable time with him out at his spiritual community in Vista, California, presented you with a photograph of her and a friend standing in front of that famous painting of Orthon. What can you tell us about this unique photo and the disposition of the Orthon portrait?
Cosmic Ray: The portrait depicts the androgynous Orthon, the Venusian scout ship pilot who contacted George Adamski on 20 November 1952 in the hills outside Desert Center, California. It was painted by Alice K. Wells, the first secretary to Adamski who also worked in the famous Palomar Gardens Café on the slopes of Mt. Palomar, where the famous Cal Tech observatory is situated in the heights. Mrs. J. R. stands at the left and Mrs. Ingrid Steckling of the George Adamski Foundation stands on the right side of the portrait. The photo was taken about 20 years ago in Mrs. Steckling’s home.
Wells was one of the original witnesses to Orthon’s first contact with Adamski and she prepared the painting about a month in advance of its unveiling at the 7-8 August 1954 Flying Saucer Convention held at the Skyline Lodge in Palomar, not far from the café or the famous telescope. This was the assembly presided over by the three most prominent contactees of the age: George Adamski, Truman Bethurum and Daniel Fry. After the convention, the portrait returned to the foyer of Adamski’s home in Vista, California, where it remained until his death in 1965, whence it and many of the contactee’s personal papers and artifacts were transferred to Fred and Ingrid Steckling of the George Adamski Foundation. In 1991, Fred passed on. Glenn Steckling, Fred and Ingrid’s son, is the current director of the George Adamski Foundation, and Wells’ painting still remains in the Steckling’s home in Vista, California, so far as I can ascertain.
North Coast Mike: I understand, however, that this portrait is not the first, and definitely not the last, to be made of Orthon.
Cosmic Ray: You’re quite correct, Mike. On page 31 of Cosmic Ray’s Excellent Venus Adventure, I present a sketch of Orthon made by Gene Duplantier, the renowned Canadian artist and illustrator of pulp science fiction magazines, based on the description given to him of the Venusian by Alice K. Wells at the 24 March 1954 flying saucer convention in Detroit, Michigan, which she traveled to with Adamski, who was the featured presenter. The sketch closely resembles the enigmatic Dolores Barrios in both fashion of clothes and general appearance. The original sketch is in the files of the Gray Barker Collection at the Waldomore Facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
The other sketch of Orthon, drawn personally by another Adamski encounter witness, George Hunt Williamson, can be seen on page 36 of my book, Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus. Williamson clearly sketched Orthon as a young woman, similar in size and appearance to the enigmatic dressmaker Dolores Barrios, whose biography appears in Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet. Williamson included the photo in an article published in the December 1954 issue of Valor: The Magazine of Soulcraft (Noblesville, Indiana). So far as I know, the Williamson sketch of Orthon is the first one to appear most closely following the premiere showing of Wells’ portrait at the August 1954 Palomar convention.
North Coast Mike: This certainly helps to explain Orthon’s androgynous look. After looking at the drawings from Wells and Williamson, I can readily see that Orthon is really Lady Orda, as you explained in her biography that you supplied in the last chapter of your first Venus book. The photographs of yourself and Lady Orda taken at different times and places out in California that appear in your second and third Venus books, also lend credence to the idea that the first Venusian cosmonaut encountered by George Adamski was the beautiful but mysterious Dolores Barrios.
Cosmic Ray: Yes, Mike, the androgynous look largely comes from the unisex uniform worn by all of the Venusian cosmonauts. The outfits were not exactly like Zsa Zsa Gabor in the movie, Queen of Outer Space (1958).
North Coast Mike: Before we conclude this interview, I can’t help but asking this question, Cosmic Ray. Is there anything new and exciting the Venusians can teach us about sex?
Cosmic Ray: I’m afraid not, Mike. All the positions come from the same “bag of tricks,” so to speak, that were outlined in Ancient India so long ago in the Kama Sutra. However, I might add that when we Terrans develop some of our latent psychic powers, like telepathy, to a greater extent, then we shall find that this will carry over and add immeasurably to the pleasure garnered from having more satisfactory and closer encounters of the intimate kind.
The Cosmic Ray smiled and winked.
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