Author’s Note:  

Because my story encompasses both real and fictitious characters and situations, you may wonder what’s fact and what’s fiction in Lark’s Labyrinth.  A great many years of research underlie my tale, and the Spear of Longinus has been the stuff of legends for 2000 years, so it’s not always easy to define such boundaries, but I’d like to set the record straight as best I can.

All that said, Lark’s Labyrinth is, of course, a work of fiction and must be read as such. While some of the characters are based on real life figures in history, their actions and words as portrayed in this book are entirely the product of my imagination.

I’ve tried to the best of my ability to be true to the spirit of the times from Calvary to now, and my characters have simply woven themselves into the fabric of historical times that were so extraordinary, they are nearly indistinguishable from fiction.

The Facts:

The Spear of Longinus

is a documented historical artifact that has been passed from hand to

hand through the centuries since the Crucifixion.  It has been owned by many powerful rulers – Charlemagne, Constantine, Attila the Hun, The Knights Templar and Hitler to name just a few – each of whom believed it gave them the power to rule the world.  Each of the rulers mentioned in Lark’s Labyrinth actually possessed the Spear and history has confirmed their belief in it.

There are actually several Spears of Longinus that have surfaced over the centuries, and needless to say, no one knows which, if any, is the genuine Jesus Spear. But the one that became Hitler’s obsession – so much so that he had a duplicate forged and built a bunker to protect it – is the one that launched me into my story.

General George Patton… 

actually uncovered the Spear of Longinus, beneath St. Katherine’s Church in Nuremberg in April 1945.  Against direct Presidential orders to return it to Washington as a spoil of war, he personally carried it

to the Habsburg family (European preferred spelling of Hapsburg), without explanation of why he’d chosen to disobey a direct order.  He is said to have told others that such a power-object should never be in the hands of any government, but that my be only rumor.

No one knows for certain if the general found the original, the counterfeit or both!  It was this historical fact which has allowed me my leaping off point.  I confess to exercising  poetic license to suggest that he determined to keep so potent an object of power out of the hands of the venal men of government, and allowed a conspiracy to help him do that.  Needless to say, there is absolutely no historical evidence to support Patton’s being complicit in allowing a spear-napping to take place!

However, the poem attributed in Lark’s Labyrinth to General Patton was actually written by him, and it is a fact that he believed in reincarnation and spoke of remembering many of his former lifetimes, in which it seems, he had always been a soldier.

He is said to have believed that he, himself, might have been the Centurion Longinus in an earlier life.

Adolf Hitler and the Occult….

There is considerable evidence, in both mundane and esoteric literature, to suggest that Hitler was a serious practitioner of Black Magic.  He established a Nazi Occult Bureau called Ahnenerbe, and belonged to the Thule Society, which was a powerful organization of occultists.

The quotes from Mein Kamph and Dietrich Eckart’s memoirs are genuine, and there is  evidence that high ranking members of the SS, and both Hitler’s and Himmler’s personal staffs, were expected to take occult blood oaths and to participate in serious magical ritual.  As to the uses of the energies of suffering and dying in the concentration camps for occult purposes, there is no way to prove that this was the case, but it has long been believed by those who study both the Dark and the Light Magical Arts, that the energy of this suffering may have been used for occult purpose, as such suffering is used in the Black Mass.

Needless to say, there is no need to speculate on the extent of the evil perpetrated by the Nazis, the Gestapo, the SS and the Concentration Camp administrators and medical personnel – this is an evil so well documented and so vast, it quite simply defies imagination.

The Nazi Hunters…

The Nazis who escaped Nuremberg are still being hunted and found.  Despite the advanced ages of these men and women, many have lived and prospered in their new identities, often with new faces gleaned from plastic surgery.  Both the CIA and the Vatican have much to answer for in the help they provided to doctors, scientists and other politically powerful Nazis, who wished to avoid just punishment for their crimes and had something to trade for their escape from Justice.

Project Paperclip…

is all too real and all that was said here of its purpose and its many offshoots, is documentable historical fact.  The internet and libraries are filled with material on these subjects if you care to dig, although there is still a great deal about it that is even now classified as Top Secret.

The Vatican…

is a complex world of both religious and political power.  Its tempestuous history is well documented for any who care to pursue such knowledge.  The assassination of Pope John Paul has never been proven, but so many unusual circumstances surrounded his death and its aftermath, that a great deal of speculation has been made both inside the Church and out, about whether the death was natural or an assassination.

His 33 day reign as Pontiff and the curious circumstances surrounding his demise, are certainly odd enough to engender questions.

Pope Pius XII…

(Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli) was Papal Nuncio to Berlin for more than a decade before becoming Pope.  He was known to be sympathetic to Germany and there were documented instances in which he entertained members of the Nazi High Command during the war.  He was conspicuous in his unwillingness to condemn the treatment of the Jews, and while his supporters claim this was necessary in order to protect the Vatican States from Nazi takeover, there is at least enough evidence to cast doubt on his motivations in remaining silent so long about so heinous a  crime against humanity.

There is a good deal of evidence available on both sides of this issue and I would suggest that you read up on this subject if it interests you, as the story of Pius XII’s Beatification and plausible Canonization is quite real and is still in play.

The History…

I have endeavored to treat all historical research with diligence and respect.  Except for those instances in which my fictional characters have visions, I have followed the facts of history as much as possible.

As to the Visions themselves, they are similar to those experienced by many of the faithful of varied spiritual disciplines, including myself.  The conversation in which Hitler’s Personal Astrologer and Metaphysician Haushoffer is quoted about Hitler’s occult training is taken from an interview with him in a Russian newspaper.

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