It seems everywhere you go, these uncanny times, they mention “orbs.” There are UFO “orbs” (balls of light in the sky). There are orbs taken by cameras in cemeteries. There are orbs at shrines and in churches. Or at apparitions sites. There are orbs in homes.

It seems both good and evil use orbs to “materialize” in our dimension. Our Lady of LaSalette arrived in a ball of light, and orbs have been consistently recorded at spots such as Medjugorje.

On the dark side, they hover near places of occult ritualism. They can show up at seances.

Good or dark, they should not be played with, since we can’t be sure. Indians knew them as “spirit lights.”

There can be consequences.

Take that place famous now as “Skinwalker Ranch,” focus of a major Netflix series and slew of books due to its standing as a locus for various phenomena (from ghosts and poltergeists to UFOs and “bigfoot”): Many of those who have investigated it — and we’re talking a number of scientists and even U.S. military intelligence agents — not only come away with no answers but also something tagging along.

For, spirits can attach. They can hook onto the unwary. According to a book written by two intelligence officers and a well-known television journalist, George Knapp (Skinwalker at the Pentagon), “Most people who spent more than a day on Skinwalker Ranch brought ‘something’ home with them from the property. The effect was almost universal and universally unpleasant.

“All five actively serving intelligence agency personnel who visited the ranch during [a major research program] experienced profound anomalies while on the property. And even more importantly, all five brought something home with them.” So did at least a dozen site security personnel.

That something was often orbs, which would appear like “portholes” (see the current “Special report“).

The book by Knapp et al, which was cleared for release by the Department of Defense Office of Security Review in 2021, has a chapter entitled, in fact, “Blue Orbs Are Not Benign.”

The incidents are legion. One involved a 48-year-old biotechnologist (identified by a pseudonym, Ron Becker) who was in his car with his daughter. “As the younger Becker watched in puzzlement, the three bright orbs began moving quickly toward their car,” notes the book. “Within seconds, two of three small round blue objects flew directly through the vehicle. One passed across the dashboard in front of father and daughter before exiting the car through the window.

“As the younger Becker watched in horror, the second orb entered the upper left arm of the father, passed through his upper body at the level of his bicep. The daughter had witnessed the exit of the blue orb from her father’s shoulder.”

He was later debriefed by scientists working for a private, government-connected research group, the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), which is funded by billionaire Robert Bigelow, and told them the two balls were different shades of blue and that within minutes, he became nauseous. Shortly after, he allegedly experienced an intense red rash on his face and lost hair from his scalp and left eyebrow. For two years afterward, he felt “unwell,” and soon was diagnosed as having ductal carcinoma in his left chest (where the orb passed).

Not pleasant.

Black shadows.

Poltergeist phenomena.

Are we to ignore it — when our culture, especially the youthful segment, is now so immersed in arcana? (To finish on this particular phenomenon, tiny orbs are sometimes reported above those in need of deliverance.)

And of course, right on cue: Disney, with now this:

That pretty much summarizes it.

[resources: spiritual warfare books]