Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth (1977), Chapter by Chapter

Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth is Stuart Holroyd’s account of the first years of the Council of Nine sessions. Phyllis Schlemmer was the channel. A channel is a person who lets another being speak through her. The voice that spoke through her called itself Tom.

Holroyd was a British writer who sat in on the sessions. He was asked to write the book in September 1975. He wrote it as an observer, not as a believer.

This book is the older companion to The Only Planet of Choice. That later book collects the sessions. Holroyd’s book tells the story of the people around them. I go through it in order, chapter by chapter, from my own reading.

The book at a glance

• Title: Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth.
• Author: Stuart Holroyd.
• Introduction: Colin Wilson.
• Publisher: W.H. Allen, 1977.
• Length: an introduction and nine chapters.
• Copy: a borrowable copy is on the Internet Archive.
• Copyright: the book is still in copyright. The quotations here are short excerpts.

Introduction by Colin Wilson

Colin Wilson was a British writer on the occult and the mind. He puts Andrija Puharich at the center of the story. Puharich was an American doctor and inventor who studied psychics.

Wilson starts with Uri Geller in 1974. Geller is the Israeli psychic famous for bending spoons.

According to Puharich, strange voices spoke out of Geller's mouth – or from above his head – declaring themselves to be 'Space Intelligences' who had selected Geller to be their Messenger in Chief to the human race.

Colin Wilson, Introduction, p.10

Wilson offers his own theory about the brain’s two halves and about poltergeists. A poltergeist is a so-called noisy spirit that moves objects. He also notes that Holroyd covered the May Lectures in London in May 1974, where Puharich and Sir John Whitmore spoke.

Wilson’s key point is about the people. He says Puharich, Whitmore and Schlemmer “all turned out to be sane.” He does not dismiss what happened to them.

Beyond all doubt, something very strange has been happening, and is continuing to happen, even as I write these words.

Colin Wilson, Introduction, p.13

Chapter 1: Preposterous Propositions

In January 1975 Holroyd visited Whitmore in Ossining, New York. Since March 1974 the group had been in contact through Schlemmer with beings they called “the Management.”

The Management claimed a long history with us.

The Management had been observers of the Earth's history for millennia, and had intervened in it on several occasions in the past...

Stuart Holroyd, p.21

The group did unusual work for them. They used a Faraday cage, a metal room that blocks electric fields. In November 1974 they went to Moscow on a meditation mission.

The purpose of the trip was nothing less than to help avert an imminent crisis in the Middle East by influencing the Russian leaders in Moscow by meditation.

Stuart Holroyd, p.27

In October 1975 a poltergeist event involved a plant. Holroyd then sat in his first trance session at Orsett Hall in Essex. The spokesman was Tom.

Chapter 2: The Forming of the Triangle

This chapter tells how the three founders came together. Phyllis Virtue Schlemmer came from a psychic family. Her grandfather Thomas Virtue died in 1934. She ran the Psychic Center of Florida.

Bobby Horne was a cook from Daytona. He joined in January 1974. On 21 February he healed a man named Reg.

Puharich brought a long history. He held 56 patents. In 1952 an Indian sensitive named Vinod first spoke to him for “The Nine.” Puharich later studied the Brazilian healer Arigo and worked with Geller until they split in 1974.

In March 1974 in Miami, Bobby channeled “Corean,” which was named as a civilisation. The Nine were described as the “Nine Principles and Forces.” Hoova was named as the civilisation behind Puharich’s contact with Geller (p.52).

Tom then spoke through Phyllis about deep history. He described a chant from about 34,000 years ago that came from three cultures. Those cultures stood for love, owning and observing. He also described the massacre of “a much more advanced civilisation” at 40 degrees north and 79 degrees east. That point is the Tarim Basin, a desert basin north of Tibet. Holroyd sees a parallel with the work of J.J. Hurtak.

Whitmore heard the tapes on 7 April at Ossining, with the biologist Lyall Watson. On 19 May the group made its commitment at Mill Hill. Andrija became the director.

Chapter 3: A Change of Channels

In May 1974 the London lectures took place. At Brunel University on 22 May a plant experiment by Marcel Vogel failed.

Around 17 June the group met on Stocking Island in the Bahamas, with Shealy and Watson. Bobby dropped out. From then on Phyllis was the only channel.

The messages grew more detailed. A control named Ryr was described as a “computer.” Tom said he came “from the zone that you would call cold,” and that he had a soul.

Tom gave rules for the landing. It would come when about 75 percent of people were ready. A new era had begun on 16 October 1971. Only about 2 percent of people keep their commitment.

Tom also spoke of implants. One member was said to be “wired in the left ear.” Holroyd closes the chapter with the three features of the sessions that impressed him most (p.100).

Chapter 4: Exits

Roberto Assagioli supported the group. He was the Italian founder of psychosynthesis, a spiritual school of psychology. He also warned them about dark forces.

On 8 July 1974 Phyllis had a heart attack. On 20 July Tom spoke at what the group called a “party.” He said the Management had people in most governments except China. He spoke of a pact on UFOs between the United States and the Soviet Union. He named Alice Bailey as the most reliable source. Bailey was an English writer of channeled Theosophical books.

On 21 July Tom described the landing. It would be physical, last nine days and cover the whole world. He described Christ as a collective. He said Earth is a dense planet that holds back the universe.

Phyllis then stood before the Nine themselves. They were the “top bananas,” the same Nine who had spoken through Vinod. Ultima was named as a civilisation. Assagioli died on 23 August.

Tom was clear about what the Nine are not.

we are not God. All of you and all of us make God

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.131

We are not your gods

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.141

I read this as a clean break with worship. The Nine claim a role, not a throne. Compare the Hebrew Elohim, the gods of Genesis, whom the later sessions link to the Nine.

Chapter 5: Encounters with the Opposition

Tom spoke about Jesus.

We call him the Nazarene.

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.142

Jesus was “one of us,” Tom said, but not one of the Nine. Tom also gave names for himself: Harmarkus, Harenkar, Tum and Atum. Atum is the Egyptian creator god. Tom linked these names to the Sphinx and Egypt.

The group felt opposed from 14 September to 22 October. Tom framed it plainly.

We are in a game of war.

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.162

The chapter brings in T-fields and L-fields, from the work of Russell and Burr. These are proposed fields of thought and life around living things. Tom warned of an ice age within 200 years.

Tom then gave the deep history. The trio of cultures were the first arrivals, more than 34,000 years ago, at Aksu in the Tarim Basin. Adam and Eve date from then. Ur in Sumer and Egypt came 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Sumer was the first known city civilisation in Mesopotamia.

Ultima and Hoova appear again. Members learned of past lives: John was said to have been Peter the Hermit. Ashand was linked to the young English psychic Matthew Manning. Tom predicted an attempt on the life of President Ford.

Chapter 6: Ambassadors Extraordinary

The group met at Ossining on 2 November 1974. From 7 to 15 November they made the Moscow trip. They traveled through Helsinki, Warsaw, Ankara and Tehran, and then Copenhagen.

Tom alleged a United States plot for war on 29 and 30 November, aimed at Arab oil. He called the interim period “Armageddon.” He revealed that Ultima’s true name was Altea. Altea was running an intervention through television and radio, with 27 percent success. On the flight, Tom said Andrija was one of the founders of Aksu.

From 24 November to 12 December the group was in Israel. They went to Yavneh, Jerusalem, Ein Kerem, Megiddo and Galilee. Megiddo is an ancient hill city in northern Israel. Tom said its first settlement was in 9228 BC and called it a stronghold of “truth.”

Tom said the Israelis descend from Hoova, and that Hoova’s leader is Jehovah. This is the Jehovah or YHWH of the Hebrew Bible. Holroyd summarises the teaching on pages 220 to 222. Around 2000 BC Abraham received a genetic upgrade. Jehovah appeared as Moses, bringing the Law, and as Jesus, bringing Love. The crucifixion was not planned.

Tom did not defend the Bible.

We did not control what men put in your Bible

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.229

Andrija was called “the proclaimer.” Tom said a crater at Megiddo came from the destruction of the Alteans (p.229). The chapter ends with a prayer and a definition.

The battle of Armageddon is between what you call the sons of light and the sons of dark

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.232

Chapter 7: Revelations

This is the Atlantis chapter. Tom said Atlantis was a colony from Aksu. It stretched from Greece to the Americas and ended around 11,000 BC. Its true name was Altean. This matches what I see on the Altea Region page.

The Alteans had superior medicine, electronics and telekinesis. Telekinesis is moving objects with the mind. They misused sex and became degenerate. The Nine destroyed it.

We were angry," ... "It was perhaps our ignorance in not understanding the density of the planet Earth.

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.235

The Nine admit a mistake here. They misjudged how dense Earth is. Tom said Altean souls now live as dolphins. For the end itself, see the events leading to the final destruction of Atlantis.

Altean medicine went on to Egypt, Ur and China. The founder of Ur came “first as a bull, then as a ram,” and then as a dolphin. Tom held back the secret of the Great Pyramid for a later day (p.237). Tom placed Aksu at 32,400 BC. He said the Nordic peoples came from Ashand and that black people “were the originals.” Holroyd compares all this with Plato, Berosus and the Dropa disks.

Tom then named the Nine.

We in truth are Aeons.

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.241

The Aeons are the divine powers of the Gnostic texts. I cover them in the forming of beings by the Elohim, the Aeons or time spirits.

The chapter then reads the Book of Revelation. The opposition had controlled Earth for 1,300 years. The seals began in December 1971. Tom said John the Baptist received Revelation. The 24 elders are civilisations. The half hour of silence is the landing, which lasts nine days. The perfect communicators were Jesus, Buddha, Socrates and Blavatsky. Jim Hurtak was said to be from Altea.

Chapter 8: Walking on Eggs

On 7 March 1975 Tom predicted that the Middle East would come to the brink at Passover. Kissinger’s peace effort failed on 23 and 24 March.

At Megiddo on 13 March Tom described an altar. He called it the “core of a giant wheel that vibrates in twelve directions.” Black stones there came from a “bombardment from the sky” at the time of Altea. The Nazarene was fed by this energy.

In Nazareth that same day Tom gave a cosmology (pp.284 to 287).

The Nine together are what you would call the infinite intelligence

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.284

A unified infinite intelligence supported by pure love and which grows with pure love.

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.286

The 24 heads of civilisations include Jehovah and Hoova. Souls are sparks of God. God feeds on love. Only humans and porpoises have intelligent souls.

The group moved on to Hermon on 16 March, then Tiberias and Eilat. They went to Ras Muhamed on 21 March, where they met porpoises, and the Dead Sea on 22 March. Tom spoke of a “golden law.” He said Israel had nine missiles. Tom said the group was walking on eggs, which gives the chapter its title (p.301).

On 31 March Tom said “We have passed.” On 3 April a poison on the Golan was said to be dematerialised. The Sinai Agreement followed in August 1975.

Chapter 9: Anatomy of a Mystery

In the last chapter Holroyd steps back. He sets out five hypotheses (p.313). He rules out fraud. He weighs the evidence.

He returns to the three cultures, one that came with love, one that came to own and one that came to observe (p.319). He tests five possible sources of the information (p.322). He finds most spirit teachings thin and watery (p.326).

Holroyd draws parallels. He compares the sessions with Gnosticism, as described by G.R.S. Mead, with Blavatsky and Bailey, with Ishkomar as reported by Brad Steiger, and with Mark-Age.

Tom has the last word, on 11 January 1977.

there is hope for future generations on this planet

Tom, quoted by Stuart Holroyd, p.341

The book ends with Matthew 24 (p.342), the chapter of the Bible on the end of the age.

Holroyd’s verdict

Holroyd leans toward the strongest hypothesis. He writes that the material “is compatible with our hypothesis number 5: that Phyllis is channelling information that emanates from a non-human intelligence” (p.325).

He goes further on page 327. He writes that “there are strong supportive arguments for the extra-terrestrial hypothesis.”

He stays honest about the limits. He notes that “arguments by elimination cannot be conclusive.”

I find this a fair verdict. Holroyd weighed fraud, the unconscious and spirits before he leaned toward contact. For me, the book is the best first-hand record of how the Council of Nine material began. Read it with The Only Planet of Choice and the picture becomes complete.

Related on this site

1. The Only Planet of Choice, Chapter by Chapter: the companion review of the sessions.
2. Channeling: how this kind of contact works.
3. The Altea Region: Hurtak’s Altea and the Atlantis link.
4. Elohim: the gods of Genesis and the Nine.
5. The Sphinx: Tom’s link to Atum and Egypt.

Sources

The book

• Stuart Holroyd, Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth, introduction by Colin Wilson. W.H. Allen, London, 1977. Borrowable copy on the Internet Archive. The quotations are short excerpts.