James Gilliland

Early Life and Spiritual Foundation

James Gilliland is a Southern California native who pursued an intensive spiritual path from an early age. He studied yoga for six years and earned advanced spiritual certifications, including The Teaching of the Inner Christ and the Rigdzin Norbu ("Jewel of Pure Awareness") credential. As a multiple Near Death Experiencer (NDE), Gilliland credits these episodes with awakening him to dimensions beyond ordinary perception and accelerating his spiritual development.

In the 1980s, Gilliland relocated from Santa Cruz, California—where he had founded a meditation center during a six-year residence—to the Pacific Northwest. In 1986, he established the Sattva Sanctuary on 70 acres near Mount Adams and Trout Lake, Washington, envisioning a dedicated space for spiritual healing and, ultimately, direct contact with off-world intelligence.

ECETI Ranch and the Contact Paradigm

The Sattva Sanctuary evolved into what is now globally recognized as ECETI Ranch (Enlightened Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Under Gilliland's directorship, the property has become one of North America's most documented contactee research sites, attracting thousands of visitors annually seeking direct CE-5 (Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind) experiences—mutual, conscious contact between humans and non-human intelligence.

Gilliland claims that an "unprecedented event" is unfolding at ECETI, featuring sustained UFO sightings, orb phenomena, and structured contact with "spiritually and technologically advanced extra and ultra-terrestrial off-world visitors." The ranch operates as a retreat center offering workshops, transformational events, and the annual Science, Spirit and World Transformation Conference, drawing researchers, experiencers, and seekers interested in multi-dimensional contact phenomena.

The site maintains a video archive documenting UFO activity, with Gilliland presenting these events as evidence that formal contact is already ongoing at ECETI and can be replicated through intention, meditation, and collective consciousness alignment.

Publications and Teachings

Gilliland is a best-selling author whose works blend contactee narratives with spiritual cosmology and non-human intelligence frameworks. His major publications include Reunion with Source, Becoming Gods, The Ultimate Soul Journey, and Annunaki Return Star Nations and the Days to Come. These books draw on his claimed multi-dimensional contact experiences and NDEs to construct a narrative of human-off-world relations spanning historical, contemporary, and prophetic timelines.

Through his writings and public speaking engagements at major UFO conferences—including the International UFO Congress and Contact in the Desert—Gilliland positions himself as a bridge figure dispelling disinformation narratives and providing direct testimony to ongoing extraterrestrial engagement.

Media Presence and Cultural Influence

Gilliland maintains a substantial media footprint, hosting As You Wish Talk Radio, a weekly broadcast addressing UFO phenomena, spiritual topics, and world transformation themes. He has been a recurring guest on Coast to Coast AM, one of North America's most widely heard paranormal and alternative media platforms, and has appeared in History Channel documentaries and other mainstream UFO programming.

His online presence includes active social media engagement (@eceti on X/Twitter) and maintains ECETI.org as a hub for conference announcements, event registration, contact testimonies, and video evidence archives. Gilliland is recognized internationally as one of the more consistent and media-visible contactee figures in the disclosure-era community, distinguished by his focus on repeatable contact methodology and community gathering spaces rather than singular personal encounters.