extraordinary%20encounters

Asia, and South America. The “thought machines”
inside these temples broadcast vibrations
to those who were receptive to them.
The principal message was that other nations
must free themselves of European domination,
though the Ancient Three had opposed
the Japanese imperial designs that helped
spark World War II. Once the Ancient Three
had realized their vision and taken benevolent
control of the Earth, there would be no more
slavery, colonialism, or excessive taxation, and
all races would be equal.
Though the Hefferlins soon faded into obscurity
without ever providing proof of Rainbow
City (or even of their enigmatic friend
Emery, for that matter), the notion of Rainbow
City figured in Robert Dickhoff’s
Agharta: The Subterranean World (1951) and
Michael X. Barton’s Rainbow City and the
Inner Earth People (1960).
See Also: Shaver mystery
Further Reading
Kafton-Minkel, Walter, 1989. Subterranean Worlds:
100,000 Years of Dragons, Dwarfs, the Dead, Lost
Races and UFOs from inside the Earth. Port
Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited.
X, Michael [pseud. of Michael X. Barton], 1960.
Rainbow City and the Inner Earth People. Los Angeles:
Futura.
Ramtha
Ramtha, perhaps the leading channeled entity
of the 1980s, first appeared in a Tacoma,
Washington, living room to announce, “I am
Ramtha, the Enlightened One, and I have
come to help you over the ditch”—by which,
it turned out, he meant the “ditch of limitation”
(Knight, 1987). J. Z. Knight (born Judith
Darlene Hampton) and her husband had
been experimenting with pyramids, which according
to a 1970s New Age belief had mysterious
powers. For a short time, Knight believed
that Ramtha was a demonic entity.
Soon, however, a spiritualist friend helped her
understand the nature of her experience, and
she gave her guidance in how to channel
Ramtha. On December 17, 1978, she gave
the first public channeling of Ramtha.
Ramtha 209
Ramtha claimed to be 35,000 years old,
born on the lost continent of Lemuria.
Lemuria, in the Pacific, was destroyed in an irresponsible
experiment its scientists conducted.
Some residents, including Ramtha’s
family, escaped to southern Atlantis (the experiment
that devastated Lemuria also destroyed
much of north Atlantis). There they
lived, experiencing poverty and discrimination
in the slums of a city called Onai. When
he grew into adulthood, Ramtha led a revolt,
which overthrew the existing order in Atlantis.
As he was recovering from wounds, he
became interested in meditation and spent
much time reflecting on metaphysical questions.
He also learned to alter his body so that
its vibrations changed, allowing him to enter
the light realm. On the occasion of his physical
death, he ascended permanently to that
realm. Just before that happened, though, he
demonstrated his new paranormal powers in
India, where he is still remembered and
revered as the incarnate deity Rama.
In the early 1980s, Knight went public
with Ramtha. She traveled throughout the
United States giving two-day workshops
known as “Ramtha Dialogues.” Along the
way, she attracted the attention of New Ageoriented
celebrities such as Shirley MacLaine,
Richard Chamberlain, Mike Farrell, and Shelley
Fabres, who enthusiastically supported her
work. MacLaine discussed Ramtha in her
best-selling Dancing in the Light (1985).
Knight put together a nonprofit corporation
that evolved into the non-tax-exempt Sovereignty,
Inc.
By this time, Knight had amassed so much
money that a growing legion of critics questioned
her sincerity. She now lived on a luxurious
horse-breeding ranch in Yelm, Washington,
the focus of a large following of pilgrims
who had moved to the Northwest from
homes all over the nation and the world.
Some, seeking a safe haven from the cataclysmic
Earth changes that Ramtha said were
about to occur, had left families to do so. Sessions
with Ramtha were expensive. Beyond
that, critics charged, Ramtha had become, in