Although he may have no intention of such, Steven Spielberg -- the most famous and talented director on earth -- has done much to spread occultism, extraterrestrialism, and the New Age.

Such will be accented this week upon release of a new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a joint effort with George Lucas, who created Star Wars and The Force (and was also a partner in the previous Indiana Jones movies).

For the most part, no doubt, it is simple yarn-spinning and action -- a fun movie. It's not to say it shouldn't been seen (and enjoyed). But there is also an occult underpinning, as has been true of some of his other blockbusters. Meanwhile, Spielberg is also involved in setting up a "UFO-ghost network" called "The Rising."

But back to the movies:

There was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It tried to warm us to "aliens," which appeared strikingly similar to age-old visages of demons. More endearing yet was ET. During the filming of Close Encounters -- according to Spielberg himself -- there was poltergeist activity (the strange movement of objects in hotel rooms used by the crew). Later, Spielberg would make a series of movies called Poltergeist (and featuring demonic phenomena).

Notes Snopes -- a website that checks false reports and rumors -- "what is seen as an unusually large number of deaths have [indeed] occurred among the former cast of the Poltergeist trilogy.

"This occurrence has given rise to the rumor that the productions were in some way 'cursed' due to the nature of the films themselves, as if evil spirits conjured up in the make-believe world of the cinema have since reached out into the real world."

Labeling this particular rumor as "true," Snopes notes that two of the children acting in the movies ("They're he-eere!") met with untimely deaths (one murdered, another from a bowel obstruction).

Perhaps that's "coincidence."

Another Spielberg movie, his big-screen version of The Twilight Zone, is best known for the helicopter accident which took the lives of actor Vic Morrow and two illegally-hired child actors during the filming.

Indiana Jones didn't seem so bad, but had some occult rituals as well as superstitions. Now Spielberg has released a new Indiana Jones movie and this one is based on a myth involving magical crystal skulls.

These skulls are supposedly scattered around the world but once belonged to the Mayans in South America -- known for their rituals and occult knowledge.

Legend has it that the skulls -- which are said to have magical powers -- will be found and brought together on December 21, 2012.

"The crystal skulls are a number of human skull models fashioned from blocks of clear or milky quartz crystal rock, claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders," notes Wikipedia. "Contemporary mainstream scientific opinion is that the skulls are instead of 19th century European manufacture. None of the specimens made available for scientific study have been authenticated as pre-Columbian in origin. The skulls are often claimed to exhibit paranormal phenomena by some members of the New Age movement, and have often been portrayed as such in fiction."

A distinction has been made by some modern researchers between the smaller bead-sized crystal skulls, which first appear in the mid-19th century, and the larger (approximately life-sized) skulls that appear toward the end of that century, notes the entry.

The smaller crystal skulls may be actual Mesoamerican beads that have been carved in modern times into a skull shape; they may even represent a genuine Mexican Catholic cultural practice, as at least one example has been found attached to the base of a Crucifix (reflecting a Christian symbolism of Golgotha, the "place of [the] skull").

"However," it notes, "it is the larger crystal skulls that have attracted nearly all the popular attention in recent times, and researchers believe these to have been manufactured as forgeries in Europe.

"People who believe in the psychic power of crystal skulls say that the skulls are a center of radiant psychic energy and have the power to increase happiness and improve people's lives just by being held, handled and spoken with; others have suggested that crystal skulls can be used like crystal balls, to aid divination." Notes the London Daily Mail of one such skull found in Belize, it is  "rumored to have supernatural powers and many who had spent time alone with it described a glowing aura and said bizarre filmic images appeared inside it." Psychics "channel" near it.

We get the point.

The date of December 21 rings the loudest of possible alarms in many circles because of the belief -- especially among New Agers -- that 2012 is indeed a special year that will see catastrophic change. The Mayans, who vanished 1,000 years ago, had a calendar which, it is said, runs in 5,126-year cycles and ends on that date.

Add to that the fact that 2012 is the year that the ecliptic path of our solar system is expected to pass through the equator of the Milky Way -- unleashing what some believe will be unusual gravitational and other forces. A real issue or just imaginary lines?

Some calculate that this will occur on December 21, 2012, at 11:11 international time. Can we believe it?

Whatever the case, it rings an even louder bell because millions around the world -- inside and outside of Christian circles -- claim to be constantly encountering that number (11:11).

And so brace yourself for a week of great focus on that year. Is there also a Christian element to it? Does 11:11 bear significance when it comes to "judgments" or personal fate (many assert to see it as harbingers of major family events)? Is 2012 the year many events long awaited (and in "secrets") will begin?

There are mystics who have pointed to 2012 -- non-Christian mystics who see rising seas and a shift in the earth's magnetic fields. That specific year is mentioned by one near-death experiencer who "saw" the future.

Even John Lennon in 1968 weighed in with an esoteric line: "If this scene is around in 2012, the masses will be where I am today and I should be as groovy as Jesus by then."

All hokum -- and worse, a snare of the deceiver?

We certainly believe that something -- many things -- are coming, but we also believe they should be dealt with solely in a Christian context.

[See also Our archives on 11:11; 2012, and Does Maya calendar predict apocalypse?]

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