Note: Children of Light was written for young teens as well as adults and though The Labyrinth is the sequel, it was written for older teens and adults, and includes information about tantra and 'light conception.'

Introduction

In 1990 I began on a spiritual journey after entering a new age bookstore and walking out with five books. After that there were countless trips to the local library. Much of the information seemed utterly implausible, but I also realized that like most people, I believed what I'd been taught. So I decided to expand my thinking outside the box. Rather than declaring information to be right or wrong, I simply said to myself, "This is a possibility."

Interestingly enough as the years passed, I found fantastical information coming to me over and over from very credible sources. Everything was presented as non-fiction, but I kept thinking these ideas and events would make a wonderful fiction/fantasy story. Some of the information woven into The Labyrinth comes from books and web sites without 'hard evidence,' (the claims of time travel, mind control experiments and 'soul transfer' were just too fascinating to pass up!) but at the same time there's also information woven into the plot that can be found in highly respected magazines and scientific journals.

Based on the idea, 'truth is stranger than fiction,' The Labyrinth, weaves together stories, events and secret government and other-worldly plots that are so unbelievable, there may very well be truth to them! At the end of The Labyrinth I've listed all the books and Internet web sites, so you can decide for yourself what you think is true!

Of course, to really think outside the box, the larger question may be the nature of reality itself. Albert Einstein introduced the fourth-dimension of spacetime to our three-dimensional world and revolutionized modern physics. Yet Einstein said:

"The distinction between past, present and future
is only an illusion, however persistent."

If something as fundamental as spacetime is an illusion...however persistent...what other persistent illusions do we accept without a second thought?

Welcome to The Labyrinth!!

Chapter 1
The Initiation

A chill crept up Noël's spine as she felt herself moving in a strange energetic force field. Closing her eyes tightly to stop the dizzying sensation in her head, the spinning light-show still continued. Finally the light softened. Noël opened her eyes and discovered she was standing in front of an immense window on a galactic ship hovering miles above Earth at a time when two moons still orbited the planet. It was beautiful beyond belief. But as the ship's course changed she saw a sight she wasn't prepared for – a glimmering city of white marble set on the edge of pristine, crystal-blue water. In that moment Noël realized the Initiation had taken her into the very distant past: She was seeing Atlantis.

Living on the fifth dimension Noël had traveled extensively through the Milky Way galaxy, but she'd never had the experience of going back through time. Of course there was no way to be prepared for such a thing; the Initiation was a highly guarded secret. Even her friend Miles wouldn't reveal his experience, but she noticed he'd changed. At some point during his initiation he'd fallen in love with her.

This shouldn't have come as a total surprise – Noël was extraordinarily beautiful with a perfectly proportioned, strong, athletic body, long dancer's-legs, sun-streaked, shoulder-length blonde hair, and eyes so intensely blue, people would stare at her unintentionally; but she never thought a thing of it. Miles was three years older than Noël and though she'd had a crush on him for years, it never occurred to her that one day he would feel the same way.

Though Noël had just graduated from high school her parents didn't give her advice about dating, continuing her education or finding a job; those were all third dimensional issues that didn't concern anyone living on the fifth dimension. Instead they tried to advise her against participating in the Initiation, stating she was too young to understand what she was getting herself into: Upon his return, Miles immediately agreed.

Noël's parents, Amelia and Matthew, had considerable experience on the third dimension, however, Noël had been born and raised on the fifth dimension. Like everyone else living there, she only knew a perfect Utopian world – she'd never experienced fear or pain: The Initiation had been designed to introduce participants to both experiences; not as a punishment, but as a preparation for the potential reality of life on the third dimension. The more her parents and Miles tried to dissuade Noël from the Initiation the more she was determined to have her own experience – for better or worse.

As she stood at the window of the starship, Noël became aware of a heated discussion going on in the next room. She moved effortlessly through the wall and found herself privy to a high council meeting, yet no one paid the least bit of attention to her presence. She couldn't help but notice the contrast in the two groups. A group from Mars was dressed entirely in black with hooded capes. They all had sallow complexions and dark, piercing eyes, with a brooding disposition. The other group was from Atlantis. They wore mainly white, with crystals and gold adorning their clothing or worn as jewelry. They all had bright, glowing child-like complexions with eyes sparkled with humor and good will. They all had long limbs, and delicate features, yet they seemed strong and athletic as well.

The leader of the group from Mars, a man twelve feet tall, seething with anger bellowed, "We can clearly see that the impact of this asteroid will irreparably damage the planet. You have the laser technology …why won't you simply blow it up before it hits the earth? Are you insane?"

A beautiful woman wearing a long, ornate dress woven with strands of gold, stood up. She wore a simple gold crown with a diamond on her forehead. She said calmly, "Azar, you and your people have been here for thousands of years, yet you only function out of logic. You still have not developed your intuition or the ability to trust that there is perfection in everything... and everything happens for a reason."

"What reason could there possibly be for the destruction that's about to occur?" raged Azar, pushing back his hood, revealing his long, black hair pulled slickly back into a ponytail. "You don't even know where the asteroid will hit… it could be right in Atlantis... then how smug and trusting would you be?"

"Our decision is final, Azar," said the woman matter-of-factly. "We have always trusted the Creator in everything. We will not stop trusting now."

The Atlanteans stood up in one accord, moved into glass portals and instantly disappeared. The room was about to erupt, but there was a sudden shuddering in the ship. Noël spun around and saw a mammoth asteroid blazing through the sky. Horrified, she watched it slam into the earth, obliterating thousands of square miles of land as fires instantly spread in all directions. Earthquakes reverberated around the planet while volcanoes spewed molten lava into the air. Tidal waves battered the shores, and though Atlantis was shaken, it was still standing.

A panic-stricken, angry man approached Azar and said, "Sir…it was a direct hit to our colonies. No one could have survived!"

Azar exploded, "So that's the perfection she was talking about…trusting the Creator! They were trusting that WE would all be destroyed! We will annihilate them!!"

Planting his feet, Azar used his mind to control the ship. Everyone instantly stopped and emulated his position. They were using their combined mental strength to control the ship and attack Atlantis. Noël watched as a laser beam shot down to earth, aimed directly at Atlantis. But before the beam could strike, it was deflected by a golden-white energy field, which encased the city for miles in every direction. The laser beam fractured, sending splinters into space, ripping holes in the spacetime continuum.

Instantly, dark shadows of disembodied beings oozed through the tears between the dimensions. These beings had been trapped on the astral plane for an indefinite period of time. To anyone existing there, this dimension would be called hell. Insanity was rampant. Most were people who had lived their lives with extreme cruelty to others. Their own thoughts and actions caused them to be prisoners of the astral plane. Though they were unimaginably cruel or insane, they still had to live with each other. Some had been shackled together by their own hatred. Clearly they wanted to kill each other, but there was nothing they could do, as a fist or a knife would pass cleanly through the other person's body without a scratch or a mark.

The Shadow People seeped into the city of Atlantis, anywhere from twenty to a hundred disembodied beings attaching themselves to the energetic fields of the Atlanteans and everyone on the planet. They instantly penetrated the Martian spaceship as well, and attached themselves to everyone on the ship, including Noël. Ghastly images of atrocities penetrated her mind as she relived the bleak memories of the beings that had attached themselves to her. Noël immediately knew what everyone on the ship and the planet was experiencing. It was impossible to escape the pain and misery now firmly implanted in her psyche by the Shadow People.

Stabbing pain exploded in Noël's head as she dropped to the cool floor of the ship wishing desperately she had never chosen to participate in the Initiation. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in a world of black and white; much the way things appear at night when illuminated only by a full moon. Though Noël could see clearly, she couldn't discern any colors. There was so much atmospheric pressure she could do no more than take quick, shallow breaths. Hyperventilating, her fingers and hands stiffened into a state of paralysis. Noël closed her eyes and consciously slowed her breathing.  In a few minutes her body began to recover.

As she adjusted to the murky darkness, Noël saw people all around her. At first they were hardly recognizable because they were shrouded by the black energy of disembodied spirits. Noël could barely see the Shadow People directly, but like heat coming off the pavement on a hot day, their shadowy presence distorted the background behind them. Some were directly attached to people, but many more drifted aimlessly creating an icy mist throughout the room. As Noël rose to her feet, the disembodied spirits became a palpable presence.

The surrounding black energy field buffeted her until an explosive energy literally knocked her down. The floor beneath her began to separate and open. She could feel energy being sucked out of her body, but there was nothing she could do... her entire body was paralyzed.

A dim fog rolled through Noël's mind as she found herself swirling in clouds of emotions she'd never known before. As if electrically connected to the dark spirits surrounding her, Noël felt stabbing, white, hot pain stinging through her body with unbearable intensity. All at once a dark, red light flowed into the room from the opening in the floor. As if hypnotically drawn, the Shadow People turned at once toward the muddy, red light. Instantly most of them disconnected from Noël, leaving her barely conscious on the floor.

From her position on the floor Noël was able to see over the edge of the vast opening next to her. She could see the earth miles below and the dark, red energy rising from the earth's surface. Noël psychically understood what she was seeing and feeling. It was the terror felt by people on the earth, plagued by the Shadow People attaching themselves to their physical and energetic bodies. As this dark red energy reached the ship, the Shadow People reacted like junkies finally getting a fix. Affecting them instantaneously, they began to wander away satiated. Helplessly Noël felt her energy draining away as the Shadow People began to reattach themselves to her.

The opening in the floor began to close quickly as a woman wearing a black cloak with the hood drawn over her head, approached Noël. She whispered, "I'm here to help." With that, she helped Noël up off the floor, and practically carrying her, moved swiftly toward an exterior wall. As they approached, a panel of the wall appeared to vanish, revealing a small spacecraft docked at the side of the merkaba. The spacecraft appeared to be made of some glassy see-through substance, but there was nothing in it, not even an instrument panel. Despite the fact that there appeared to be nothing to propel the craft, they traveled instantaneously to the earth's surface, hovered just above an enormous pyramid, then moved directly through the earth's surface, seamlessly without a ripple.

They landed in a small underground city about a mile beneath the pyramid. Just like Atlantis, the streets were white marble, but the pyramid shaped buildings were all crystalline. Entire buildings were created solely from one type of precious gem, with every color represented. These huge gemstones had been cut into blocks so perfectly shaped and balanced that only gravity was required to maintain the structures. Though they were deep beneath the surface of the planet there was natural sunlight; in fact the sun appeared to be directly overhead. Noël was instantly surrounded by a energetic field of light and her pain disappeared. Everything from departure to landing had taken place in less than a minute.

As the woman pushed back the hood on her cloak, Noël realized it was more than a garment, there was a protective quality to the cloak that prevented the woman from being subjected to the energy of the Shadow People. The woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She was slender, tall and extraordinarily beautiful, with deep brown eyes, long, black hair, and a tan complexion.

"My name is Inanna ... I'm sorry for your pain,” she said genuinely. “You've been infected by the Shadow People, and without help, their collective memories would eventually become yours ... you'd live in a waking nightmare filled with horrific memories... feeling their emotions as you relive their memories. It can cause total dementia.

"The energetic field that's currently around you is a temporary protection... for both you and others. But it's temporary, and you can't return home to the fifth dimension with this field intact. Normally we would drop the magnetic field around you, which would cause the spirits to separate, but the problem is that when the magnetic field is low enough to force the separation, you would also lose your memory, entirely. Can you see the electromagnetic field around your body?" asked Inanna.

"Yes," replied Noël looking more closely at the energetic field surrounding her.

"Good…now try to focus about six inches in front of the field," said Inanna, holding her hand that distance from the field to help Noël visualize what she was talking about.

At first Noël couldn't see anything, but then something seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I see light in the shape of two pyramids rotating in opposite directions," said Noël, astonished to think the light had been there all along, yet it wasn't until she looked for it that the light came into focus... then it seemed obvious. Suddenly she remembered she had seen a man move in this energetic field before.

"That's it," said Inanna encouragingly, "now use your mind to rotate the field 90 degrees. I'll do it with you... don't be afraid... and don't try to force it. Hold the image and allow the light to move."

Noël took a deep breath and imagined the energetic pyramids rotating from twelve o'clock to three o'clock. Immediately it shifted and clicked into a position exactly 90 degrees from where it had started. Everything vanished.

Noël found herself in a room with no windows or doors. There was a small table with a bowl of fruit, a golden goblet with a sweet smelling liquid, and three candles burning. On the floor was a mattress with blankets and a pillow. Noël guessed she was somewhere inside the pyramid she'd seen on the Earth's surface. And though it would have made perfect sense to feel frightened or trapped, she was in fact, relieved she would finally be able to eat and sleep.

Noël had never felt the aching emptiness of hunger or dizzying exhaustion. In the fifth dimension people ate only because it was pleasurable, not because they were hungry, and they needed very little sleep since they were energized by light. Noël devoured the fruit, quickly drank whatever was in the goblet, and flopped onto the bed. She had expected a straw mattress, but this was a featherbed with silk sheets and soft blankets. A warm feeling tingled through her body. The next moment she was sleeping in a fluffy cloud of contentment without a care in the world.

Noël found herself drifting deep into the Amazonian rain forest, late at night, hovering in front of an elderly man with a deeply lined face, painted with red, circular lines. His brightly colored, feathered headdress, countless strands of multi-colored beads, and an unusual feathered ornament through the piercing on his face, indicated his status as a tribal shaman.

He was tending a small fire, brewing a plant spirit potion in a pot hanging above the fire. As if expecting Noël, he looked up for a moment and motioned for her to sit across from him. He puffed mapacho, wild jungle tobacco, and blew the smoke down onto the crown of Noël's head, then into the palms of her hands, and said a lengthy prayer.

“This is ayahuasca ... we call it the vine of the soul... teacher of the teachers. We use this to access higher dimensions, but you have come here tonight to access the third dimension,” said the shaman telepathically as he poured a cup of an acrid smelling thick, brown liquid and ceremoniously handed it to Noël.

Acknowledging the shaman, she bowed her head and reverently took a sip from the cup. The tea was highly concentrated with a bitter after-bite that caused Noël's face to squint involuntarily as she swallowed. For a few minutes she sat quietly listening to the sounds of the jungle. A lone owl hooted, cicadas whirred and rustled in the leaves with a thousand other unseen insects, a bird whistled sharply as frogs croaked in the nearby river. Snakes slithered through the leaves on the ground only inches from where Noël was sitting.

Gradually a warm, buzzing feeling began to course through her veins. Simultaneously the shaman shook his shacapa, a rattle made of leaves, and began singing icaros, ancient tribal medicine songs, in a language no longer spoken, but full of feeling. The vibration of the song painted pictures in the air, and called down spirits from the plant, animal, bird and insect kingdoms to guide Noël through her visions. As the buzzing vibration became stronger she felt as if she'd been infused with the spirit of the ayahuasca – somehow she was being guided by its extraordinary intelligence into the divinity behind all creation; the transcendent field of infinite, ever present love.

Complex patterns spun through her mind as animal and insect shapes appeared, then blurred into unrecognizable shapes, and reappeared as tiny snakes in bluish hues, darting in and out of her vision. Her in-breath sounded like wind howling through trees in a cold, desolate place.

Suddenly Noël saw Earth, not the pristine Earth she knew, but a world filled with wars, disease, pain and chaos. Tremendous upheaval was taking place as the tectonic plates shifted, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes that tore the planet and towering tsunamis that wiped out entire cities. Ice caps at the poles were melting at an alarming rate, even as gaping holes in the ozone layer became larger and more apparent.

In the next moment a matrix of sacred geometrical symbols surrounded and encased Noël. This was not a cold, imprisoning feeling, but warm and nurturing like entering a cosmic womb. Noël felt her own cellular patterns restructuring, entraining with symbols, as if she was being reborn. A message filled Noël's mind: The Earth and all of humanity throughout time and space, was being reborn as well.

Overwhelming peace and gratitude flooded her body; then it was as if she had no body at all. Noël opened her eyes and looked at the shaman, but there was a black hole where his face should have been. As if reading her mind the shaman reached for her hand, grabbed it and began shaking her arm with an energy so intense her entire body began to vibrate. The shacapa was vibrating, the icaro was vibrating, the night itself was vibrating, everything was vibrating – drawing her spirit back into her body.

Suddenly Noël saw a white light glowing around the shaman: Symbols of the divine shimmered and pulsated in the light as he sang hypnotic notes filled with complex patterns; at times sunny and joyous, at other moments frightening and mournful.

When he stopped singing the shaman turned to Noël and said telepathically, “You are seeing the end of days. There are many prophecies about this time. Earth is ridding herself of accumulated negativity. This is the time for all people and nations to come together. It is also time for those living on other dimensions of this planet to work with those on the third dimension. You are not without choices, but you must remember the silent language of the ancestors or all will be lost."

Suddenly Noël found herself sitting bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. This wasn't the first time she'd had this same dream-vision

Chapter 2
The Game

Two nights earlier Noël had awakened in a cold sweat. Shaking, she climbed out of bed and headed down the hall. When she reached the kitchen, candles were lit and her mother was waiting for her with a warm cup of cocoa.

Noël hugged her mother and said, "You always know when I need you."

Her mother smiled, handed her the hot chocolate and said warmly, "I knew this time would come..."

"I'm so confused," Noël wailed, setting her cup on a small table and flopping into a cozy chair. "I never knew people really lived in the third dimension. They're in so much pain!"

"I know," said her mother, quietly sitting in an overstuffed chair next to Noël, holding a cup of tea. "Your father and I have both been there."

"You were?" exclaimed Noël, completely taken aback. "You never told me that!"

Her mother sighed, "We don't talk about it, Noël…not because we're trying to hide anything from you... it's just a different way of life here in the fifth dimension. Here we understand that thoughts and feelings create our experience, not just as individuals, but collectively as well. This collective consciousness is what maintains the fifth dimension, as we know it. If we were to focus on all the problems in the third dimension, or rehearse our former experiences there, we'd find ourselves creating the very same problems in our world... only on the fifth dimension we'd create it instantaneously. That's why we all consistently practice peace on a daily basis."

"But mother," said Noël hopelessly, tears welling up in her eyes, "the people in the third dimension are about to destroy the planet and the fifth dimension along with it."

"I know it seems that way to you right now, Noël," replied her mother reassuringly, "but there are so many things you don't understand."

"Then tell me!" Noël implored.

Amelia took her daughter's hand and led her out to the veranda where candles were already lit. They sat together on a porch swing with soft cushions. The night air was warm and sweet with the fragrance of magnolias and jasmine. Fireflies danced in the moonlight. The evening was so magical and peaceful it was hard for Noël to believe that another world in such opposition existed.

"The third dimension and everything you saw going on there is actually a game," said her mother matter of factly.

"What do you mean?" asked Noël in astonishment. "How can you call that kind of suffering a game?"

"You know how you play holographic games at school," replied her mother, gently stroking Noël's silky hair, "and everything seems totally real? Every character you need is there in costume, playing the part they're supposed to play. And no matter what happens, whether it seems to be good or bad, you know that regardless of the outcome... in reality, nothing changed. You were just playing a game. And as you get better and better at the game, you look for more and more challenging programs.

"The third dimension is the ultimate virtual-reality game... it's the most sophisticated program ever created. It's also the most challenging game in the universe, because the players choose to play with no conscious memory of who they are, where they came from, or the fact that their feelings run the game. They have no idea that their body is actually a bio-computer with every experience programmed right into their DNA." Noël's mother suddenly laughed and said, "I was just thinking how your father and I felt when we were first introduced to these concepts... we didn't like it one bit!"

"Are you saying that all the people I saw dying chose to have that programmed into their DNA?" said Noël, thoroughly confused. "Why would anyone choose to suffer like that?"

"Sweetheart... The Game is a multi-dimensional program super-imposed upon itself... there are entire libraries and courses of study devoted solely to the experiential aspects of playing the game. That's why everyone experiences the Initiation first... Only then do they decide if they still want to play. I know you're concerned about people suffering... but you don't need to worry... there's a limit to how much anyone can suffer while playing the game.

"You see, in every program there's a balance of freedom and limitation. If there's too much freedom the game would be boring, but if there's too much limitation, then it's frustrating. If there's ever too much physical pain, the player will pass out... and the ultimate safety net from too much pain is death... which of course, is an illusion that only exists in The Game.

"In reality it's impossible for a player to fail, suffer, or die... but since The Game was created to be the most believable illusion in existence... the players often believe in failure, suffering and death... and because feelings run the program... they experience those things until they move into playing The Game on a higher level. Believe it or not, players can... seemingly die a horrible death... and the minute they come back to the fifth dimension most of them can hardly wait to go play again!

"But death causes so much pain for those who believe it's real," said Noël sadly.

"That's true," her mother soothed, "but there's a bigger picture... Imagine the ecstasy of being reunited with someone you thought you'd never see again! Or the joy of discovering you were playing a game all along, and finally understanding exactly why you programmed it the way you did!"

At that moment Noël and her mother burst into laughter as their St. Bernard came out to the patio trying vainly to wag his tail, despite the fact Lily the kitten had attached herself to her favorite moving-target and was dragging along behind him. Amadeus flopped on top of Noël's foot with a heavy sigh, followed by Lily leaping up, paddy-pawing Noël's lap, then curling into a furry ball and purring loudly.

"But how do you learn the rules, if you don't even know you're playing a game?" asked Noël still puzzled.

Her mother smiled as Amadeus laid his big, drooly head on her lap. She ruffled his ears and said, "Even though the player has no conscious memory... everything is programmed into their DNA... so on a deep, subconscious level they intuitively know they're playing a game, they know the rules, and they know how to succeed... they'll feel the truth when they come upon it... but it often takes awhile for them to acknowledge that they already know the answers.

"In a way it's like trying to read a message that's been written backwards... it seems incredibly complicated unless you simply hold it up to a mirror and read the reflection. The answer to every problem that arises in The Game... can be discovered by the player through reflection because every answer lies within. And sooner or later the players begin to realize that whatever they focus on they attract... for positive or negative."

"But what's the goal of The Game?" said Noël.

"Entertainment..." her mother replied, laughing as Lily suddenly sailed off Noël's lap practicing her favorite dive-bomb sneak-attack on the sleeping Amadeus. "In a way it's simple... there are two motivating factors in The Game, pain and pleasure. Player's naturally move away from pain and gravitate toward pleasure. At the same time there are only two choices: Love or fear. Those who make loving choices learn through joy, those who make fear-based choices learn through pain... either way, they learn.

"Oddly enough every player starts off already understanding the art of happiness. But the more they play the game, the more convinced they are that they have to attain happiness... and then it eludes them... until they remember what it is to be a child again... how to be completely present in the moment... with no attachments to the past or expectations of the future!"

Stunned, Noël said, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because you had no experience of pain and fear... and without that you'd view The Game from a logical perspective, not really understanding that you could spend years and years in a painful, challenging environment," replied her mother compassionately. "And even though your father and I had an amazing adventure playing The Game, I wouldn't choose to do it again."

"Mother... I'm convinced something different is happening. Is it normal for someone from the third dimension to contact the fifth dimension?" Noël asked.

"No, dear," replied her mother, "that is very unusual."

"I think The Game has somehow gotten out of control... maybe something has gone wrong in the programming," said Noël emphatically. "Or maybe it's time for the people playing the game to know it's not real. The shaman said, you are not without choices..." Noël took a deep breath and said with conviction, "I have to find a way there."

"Darling, even if you were old enough to play The Game," replied her mother patiently, "you'd have to be born as a baby and you'd have no memory of all this. You'd have no idea that it was all a bio-computer generated program. You wouldn't be able to help, you'd just become a part of the problem."

"Well, couldn't I have it programmed into my DNA that I would remember so I'd be able to help?" asked Noël.

"Yes, you could," replied her mother, "but there are some real challenges involved in knowing... the truth. The players have too much invested in playing the game their own way... not many players will want to believe you, because they'd rather be right than happy... at least for now. Aside from all that... in the same way that you were blocked as a child from traveling near a black hole or the event horizon, you're absolutely blocked from playing The Game for another three years. And even if you could play, you'd have to do the Initiation first."

"Well, the least I could do is start with the Initiation," said Noël eagerly. "I know it's unusual for someone to do it at eighteen, but I'm not restricted am I?"

Her mother sighed, "No, you're not restricted. And maybe the Initiation will help you see The Game from a different point of view…what it's really like to be there."