In January of 1987, Dr. Jose Arguelles published a scholarly interpretation of the Mayan calendar, titled The Mayan Factor, in which he predicted that Planet Earth was about to undergo a 25-year process of planetary transformation which would begin with Harmonic Convergence on 17 August 1987 and would be completed on 21 December 2012 of our Gregorian calendar.

In August of 1987, during the week of Harmonic Convergence, the I AM Presence of the ascended master Saint Germain, speaking through his dedicated full-body channel Azena, gave five public presentations in Mount Shasta, for which I had the honor of making the preliminary arrangements. All five presentations were recorded on audiotape, and key portions of this material were subsequently published by Triad in 1993 as chapters 4 through 6 of Earth's Birth Changes.

On 15 August 1987, during the first of these presentations, Saint Germain confirmed the published prediction of Dr. Jose Arguelles that Harmonic Convergence marked the beginning of a 25-year process of planetary transformation which will culminate in the year 2012. During the following presentations, Germain then proceeded to explain that this 25-year process is nothing less than a process of planetary ascension from our third dimension of consciousness into the fourth dimension of consciousness, which he termed "superconsciousness".

He specified further that the pivotal point of this planetary ascension process will be experienced as a "rapture" in which those who shift into fourth density will no longer be perceived by those who remain in third density. (See Matthew 24:40-41; Luke 17:34-36.)

Of particular interest is the fact that during his fourth presentation, which took place on 20 August 1987 in the parking area overlooking Upper Panther Meadow, the I AM Presence of the ascended master Saint Germain revealed that our universe is currently in the process of being absorbed by a parallel universe which he said will be perceived by our astronomers as "a grand golden nebula on the horizon of your universe." He then went on to disclose that the absorption of our universe by this parallel universe constitutes the specific means by which the ascension of our planet is being facilitated.

Describing it as "the physical manifestation of the Second Coming of the Christus," Germain declared: "That which you call the golden nebula is the New Age perceived." He then predicted that its approach will give rise to an exponential acceleration of synchronistic events as we gradually shift into higher frequencies of energy, adding: "When you traverse this threshold, when you become one with the golden nebula, you are in superconsciousness."

Making it absolutely clear that the pivotal point of this planetary ascension process will be experienced as a dividing of the ways, Germain specifically stated: "Those not desirous of going hence into superconsciousness, into the golden nebula of Christus, will remain upon third-density Earth-plane, as you go into fourth."

Saint Germain also made it abundantly clear that lightworkers have a crucial role to play in facilitating this planetary ascension process: "Those entities will indeed assist in the conduction of the energy at its most receptive points into the Earth plane and allow us (the Council of Light) to bring forth the current, as you would term it, of the God I AM essence. The alignment and atunement of the 144,000 as you have called them, will become the 'rod of God' as it were, a direct influx of energy into this universe . . . There are about 550,000,000 entities who shall participate (as helpers) in the convergence of this time flow. Those entities will be likened unto a transformer, affording a 'stepping up' of the energy that has been introduced, to embrace the entirety of the Earth plane--all her peoples, all her nationalities, cultures, creeds, races, yea even brothers of other planetary understandings. It is indeed a time of celebration, of love. Know that the love that is issued forth from the heart will wave its magic wand and transform the Earth plane. The fruits of the labor of love upon Terra will bring humanity into Oneness--a humanity at One with God, where God is known."

On 21 August 1987, toward the end of his fifth presentation, Germain dropped the following hint regarding the timing of this cosmic event: "As another convergence comes forth, your next convergence as it is termed, you shall understand all four elements in experience of four-dimensional knowingness of convergence multidimensional. You indeed shall experience galactic understanding, not only of that which is within your plane, but within all the other planes as well. There is that which you call an axis of multidimensional understanding that connects all the planets within your solar system. And there is that which you call in 1999 will be [sic] all the axes or solstices in alignment. And you indeed will experience a linking of sorts with this galactic axis, for you indeed are part of the chain of it. You indeed are essence of it, energy born of the alignment that you have brought forth into fruition."

The extraordinary significance of these words becomes clear when we consider them in the light of the astronomical fact that the grand alignment of our solar solstice meridian with the equatorial plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, which began with first contact around 1975 and which will end with final clearance around 2021, reached midpoint around 1998 plus or minus three years. For comprehensive information regarding this alignment of our solar solstice meridian with our galactic equator, see the works of John Major Jenkins: Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (1998) and Galactic Alignment (2002).

Since 1987, many different messages have been received by many different channels from many different sources regarding the planetary ascension process which is currently in progress. Although these messages are potentially enlightening, they are also potentially confusing unless we bear in mind the crucially important fact that the same event can be perceived in many different ways for the simple reason that each dimension of consciousness gives rise to an entirely different perspective. Thus, for example, the limited perspectives of the Sirians, the Pleiadians, and the Arcturians on the fourth and fifth dimensions of consciousness are quite different from the increasingly unlimited perspectives of the ascended masters on the seventh dimension, the lords of creation on the ninth dimension, the archangels on the eleventh dimension, and the I AM Presence on the thirteenth dimension of consciousness. Consequently, if we are wise, we will approach every channeled message as an exercise in discernment.

A classic example may be found in the channeled information that Sheldon Nidle received from the Sirian Council, which was published in 1994 under the title, You Are Becoming A Galactic Human. According to the Sirians, the pivotal point of our planetary ascension process was going to occur sometime between March of 1995 and December of 1996 as a direct consequence of the entry of our solar system into the Photon Belt, a vast doughnut-shaped field of photon energy surrounding the Pleiades, which was first discovered by Paul Otto Hesse through satellite instrumentation in 1961. This prediction turned out to be incorrect for the simple reason that it was based on the limited perspective of fourth-dimensional consciousness.

In January of 1996, Archangel Gabriel, speaking through his dedicated full-body channel Karen Cook at a public presentation in Albuquerque, confirmed that the pivotal point of our planetary ascension process would occur as a direct consequence of the entry of our solar system into the Photon Belt but then went on to state that this cosmic event was scheduled to occur during a seven-day period sometime in the year 2000. Early in the year 2000, however, an announcement was made by Archangel Gabriel through Karen Cook that the pivotal point of our planetary ascension process was being postponed by Prime Creator in order to allow a larger percentage of humanity to participate in the harvest.

In the meantime, on 6 November 1997, the following item by the Associated Press appeared in newspapers around the world: "A report of a previously unknown gamma-ray halo around the Milky Way has puzzled and excited scientists. The finding by NASA's Compton Observatory, an orbiting satellite that carries a gamma-ray telescope, was presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. 'There is nothing out there that should obviously be making gamma rays,' said Dave Dixon, a researcher at the University of California at Riverside, who reported the halo's existence. 'Some high-energy process is occurring out there'. . . A single gamma-ray photon has about one billion times as much energy as a photon of ordinary visible light . . . Scientists are interested in gamma rays because they may be generated by some of the most fundamentally interesting events in the universe, including the birth of a galaxy and the death throes of a star . . . The halo measures several trillion miles thick and extends deep into outer space from the Milky Way, the galaxy containing Earth."

On 9 February 1998, during a private telephone session with Archangel Gabriel through Karen Cook, I asked the key question: "What is the relation between the Photon Belt which was first discovered in 1961 surrounding the Pleiades within our Milky Way galaxy, the halo of gamma-ray energy which was recently discovered in 1997 surrounding our Milky Way galaxy, and the parallel universe predicted in 1987 by the I AM Presence of the ascended master Saint Germain, who said that it would eventually be perceived by our astronomers as a golden nebula on the horizon of our universe?"

To this, Archangel Gabriel replied: "They are actually one and the same. The rays that your scientists have discovered are a precursor to the major brunt of the Photon Belt."

Although enlightening information is continually being withheld from the American people by the controlled media in the United States, such information is nevertheless available on the Internet for those who know how to access it. An outstanding example may be found in the pioneering research report, Planetophysical State of the Earth and Life, by Dr. Alexey Dmitriev, Professor of Geology at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibursk, Siberia. According to this report, which was published in 1997, shortly before the discovery of the gamma-ray halo surrounding our Milky Way galaxy, the energy fields of our sun and all of the planets in our solar system are currently undergoing an extraordinary process of radical intensification. This suggests that our entire solar system is now in the process of moving into a larger and far more powerful energy field of unknown origin.

The clearest illustration of this is to be found in the energy field of the sun, which is called the heliosphere and which is shaped like a teardrop whose tail always points in the direction opposite to that in which it is traveling through space. Astrophysicists have been studying the glowing plasma energy on the leading edge of the heliosphere and have discovered that, whereas it used to be 4 astronomical units thick (where an astronomical unit is the distance from Planet Earth to the sun, or 93,000,000 miles), its thickness has now grown to approximately 40 astronomical units, which constitutes an increase of approximately 900 percent.

This means that our entire solar system is now moving into a much more powerful energy field in interstellar or intergalactic space, which is having the effect of exciting the plasma in such a way as to radically increase its luminosity or brightness. This, in turn, is having the effect of transforming the energy fields of all the planets within our solar system, including the energy field of our Planet Earth. Thus, for example, Jupiter's magnetic field has already more than doubled, and the atmosphere of Planet Earth is beginning to change.

According to Dr. Dmitriev, the number of significant natural catastrophes of all types occurring on our planet increased 410 percent between 1963 and 1993.

Of particular interest is the following hypothesis which he advanced during the course of his concluding remarks: "Our Planet Earth is now in the process of a dramatic transformation . . . There are reasons favoring or pointing to the fact that a growth in the ethical or spiritual quality of humanity would decrease the number and intensity of complex catastrophes."

Although earthquake activity and volcanic activity on Planet Earth has increased substantially during the past several decades, the Earth changes now being predicted on the basis of the revolutionary findings reported by Dr. Dmitriev are of a far more fundamental nature than this. As its energy field continues to intensify, a sudden shift may occur in the basic harmonic wavelengths that are emitted by the sun as solar radiation. This, in turn, could alter the basic structure of all matter throughout our solar system. The harmonics of the DNA spiral would then be altered, and a quantum leap in the evolutionary process could then result, transforming our entire planet and the forms of life that it will support.

If we wish to understand the real significance of these mind-boggling changes that are now in the process of taking place on Planet Earth, we must turn our attention to the enlightening information from higher consciousness which is currently being made available to us. Two of the most reliable sources of such information presently available are Archangel Gabriel, speaking through his dedicated full-body channel Karen Cook in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the ascended masters Maitreya and Sananda, who are currently speaking to the world through their dedicated conscious channel Eterna in Mount Shasta, California".