The 1986 movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, immerses the viewers into a world of fantasy and wonder. Like many other fantastic tales, the movie conceals within its symbolism an underlying meaning and, in this case, it is rather disturbing. Labyrinth describes the programming of a mind control victim at the hands of a sadistic handler. We will look at the occult meaning of the symbolism found in Labyrinth.

Labyrinth is a quintessential 80s movie that contains everything we love from the 80s: 80s synth music, 80s CGI effects, and an 80s David Bowie in the same 80s hairdo that your aunt Susan had in the 80s. What’s not to love? The movie has, in fact, become a “cult classic” and is still a children’s favorite.

But like many of these delightfully twisted fantasy movies, there is more to Labyrinth than meets the eye. By understanding the occult symbolism and references in Labyrinth, the movie becomes a big allegory for mind control, where each scene refers to a particular aspect of the process. What appears to be a young girl’s quest through a Labyrinth to find her baby brother becomes a metaphor for the internal world of a mind control victim that is being programmed by a handler. The obstacles that Sarah, the hero of the story, must go through relate to real-life ordeals inflicted to mind control slaves to incite dissociation (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read the article entitled Origins and Techniques of Monarch Mind Control). Mind games, torture, drugs, and sexual abuse are all referred to in veiled symbolism during the movie, giving to “those in the know” an entirely different story than what is shown at face value. Labyrinth is therefore constructed like most esoteric works in History: it uses symbolism to conceal from the masses while revealing to the initiates.

Very little prior knowledge is required to understand the underlying meaning of Labyrinth. however. The movie was, in fact, mentioned by a few authors on mind control who described it as one of the most blatant movies on Monarch programming. Fritz Springmeier even states Labyrinth is used by actual mind control handlers as a programming script to train the slaves. This very plausible as the movie bears many similarities to Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz – two movies that are known to be used in mind control programming. The only difference is that Labyrinth was probably specifically constructed to this purpose while, at the same time, exposing the masses to this kind of symbolism.

Since Labyrinth is a blueprint for mind control, it is only fitting that the star of the show is an artist who has served as a blueprint for modern pop stars: David Bowie. Throughout his long and eclectic career, Bowie has touched on many occult and ritualistic themes that are today rehashed by industry-made pop stars. And, for some reason, many of those who touch upon these occult themes also integrate mind control into their works. Maybe it is due to the fact that mind control heavily relies on black magic rituals and Kabbalistic teachings. So, before we look at the symbolism of the movie, let’s take a brief look at some of the symbolism used by David Bowie.

David Bowie: The One They All Imitated

Many articles on this site mention modern pop stars and the occult symbolism embedded in their works. It was only a matter of time before David Bowie was mentioned as he is apparently a major source of inspiration for many of them. David Bowie is indeed the prototype of the pop-star/occult icon whose works incorporated concepts originating from Secret Societies. From strange alter-egos to the occult concept of androgyny, and of course including references to Aleister Crowley and his Thelema, Bowie did decades ago what pop stars are doing now.

The difference between Bowie and today’s pop stars is that he was rather open regarding the occult influence in his act and music. In a 1995 interview, Bowie stated: “My overriding interest was in cabbala and Crowleyism. That whole dark and rather fearsome never-world of the wrong side of the brain.” In his 1971 song Quicksand, Bowie sang:

“I’m closer to the Golden Dawn

Immersed in Crowley’s uniform of imagery”

(Golden Dawn is the name of a Secret Society that had Crowley as a member). These are only some examples of the occult influence on Bowie’s work and an entire book could be written on the subject.

Since the main antagonist of Labyrinth is a sorcerer who also happens to enjoy singing impromptu pop songs, David Bowie was a perfect fit for the role. Did he know that he played the role of a mind control handler?

Labyrinth

Released in 1986, Labyrinth was a collaborative effort between George Lucas, Jim Henson (his last movie) and David Bowie. Using state-of-the-art effects, the movie quickly became a classic in what we can call the “twisted fantasy” genre. The plot of the movie is simple: A teenage girl named Sarah goes through a strange, magical Labyrinth to recover her baby brother who was kidnapped by a sorcerer named Jareth and his army of goblins.

Some critics did not appreciate the random nature of the events of the movie. Robert Ebert stated that these kind of movies “aren’t as suspenseful as they should be because they don’t have to follow any logic. Anything can happen, nothing needs to happen, nothing is as it seems and the rules keep changing.” By describing the movie this way, Ebert unknowingly describes the inner-world of a mind control slave, which is exactly what the Labyrinth represents. Through trauma, the psyche of the slave is reprogrammed by the handler resulting in a situation where anything can happen, nothing needs to happen, nothing is as it seems and the rules keep changing.

Sarah’s quest for her baby brother is, in fact, a quest to recover her innocent core persona (her “real” self) that was taken by the handler. The various events that happen to Sarah are distorted reflections of real mind control trauma – hidden behind a veil of fantasy and imagination.

The Premise

The plot of the movie is very reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, two stories that are incidentally known to be used in mind control programming. A young girl, bored and distraught with her normal life, finds herself in a fantasy land, where everything can happen. In order to go back home, she embarks on a dangerous quest to reach a great castle (not unlike the Emerald city of the Wizard of Oz). Along the way, the assertive girl uses her wits, courage, and strength to go past the obstacles in a world where no rules are established.

Labyrinth is heavily symbolic from beginning to end, starting from the very first scene. Sarah is at a park, dressed as a princess, practicing lines to a play under the watchful eye of an owl that is standing on top of an obelisk.

We quickly learn that the owl is Jareth, the Goblin King (played by David Bowie). The fact that Jareth takes the form of an owl in the “real world” and that he sits at the top of an obelisk is very telling about what he actually represents: The occult elite. The owl is known to be the main symbol of the Bavarian Illuminati and is still used by elite groups such as the Bohemian Grove. It represents “those who act under the cloak of darkness”.

The owl is at top of an obelisk, a monument that is constantly visible throughout the entire movie. The obelisk has been, for centuries, the ultimate symbol of power of the occult elite. It is found standing at the world’s most powerful places and strange occult powers are attributed to them. These tall monuments originate from ancient Egypt and are said to represent the lost phallus of Osiris – in other words, male energy. The obelisk is, therefore, a phallic symbol and the fact that this young girl encounters many of them during her quest might be a reminder of the male handler dominating her mentally and sexually (through abuse).

The owl watches Sarah, who is dressed as a princess and practicing a role for a play, illustrating her natural tendency to dissociate from reality and to take on other personalities, a characteristic that MK handlers seek when scouting for potential slaves. Sarah is, therefore “marked” by the shady Illuminati Mind Control system.

At Sarah’s house, we find several clues relating to her predisposition to mind control. She is surrounded by toys, books, and posters that foretell the dissociative adventure she is about to embark in. Many of Sarah’s toys will be found animated during her adventure, which tells us that everything that will happen will be a result of her own imagination, fuelled by the things that are familiar to her.

Right above Sarah’s bed is Escher’s famous drawing named “Relativity”.

Escher’s mind-boggling images contain confusing features that the mind can never compute. For this reason, they are used in actual mind-control programming. This particular painting will become very important later in the movie.

“If [the child] has artistic brainwaves, then the programmer will use art work in programming. The art work of the european artist M.C. Escher is exceptionally well suited for programming purposes. For instance, in his 1947 drawing “Another World”, the rear plane in the center serves as a wall in relation to the horizon, a floor in connection with the view through the top opening and a ceiling in regards to the view up towards the starry sky. Reversals, mirror images, illusion, and many other qualities appear in Escher’s art work which make all 76 or more of his major works excellent for programming.”

– Fritz Springmeier, The Illuminati Formula to Create a Mind Control Slave

So Sarah is angry at her parents, especially her step-mother, because she has to stay at home and babysit her little brother named Toby while they go out. Confronted with the child’s incessant cries, Sarah wishes for the Goblin King to take him away. An owl then enters the room and turns itself into Jareth, the Goblin King.

Jareth has taken Toby to his world and will turn him into one of his goblins. In mind control terms, baby Toby represents Sarah’s core personality that was taken away by Jareth, her handler. As long as Jareth holds Sarah’s core persona, he will be able to make her go through the Labyrinth – which will represent her programming.

When Sarah asks Jareth to hand back Toby, the Goblin King uses his skills for manipulation and persuasion. He shows Sarah a crystal ball and tells her that it contains “all of her dreams”. He, however, warns that is is “not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby”. In other words, the gift is only for girls who have lost the baby – victims of mind control. Jareth the handler has the power to help Sarah escape the life she loathes but she must allow him to own her core personality – to control her mind. When Sarah refuses Jareth’s offer, which is equivalent to the Faustian theme of selling one’s soul to the Devil, the crystal ball magically turns into a snake and is thrown at her. Jareth then menacingly says: “Don’t defy me”. Seeing that she will not forget about the baby, Jareth tells Sarah that Toby is at his castle and that she has 13 hours to find him. They are both transported into the Labyrinth, which is a big image representing Sarah’s inner-world under the control of a handler.

Inside the Labyrinth

Inside the Labyrinth, Sarah quickly realizes that it does not obey the rules of reality. She finds herself walking never-ending straight paths leading to nowhere.

Sarah then learns that it is only by mentally picturing an entry towards the castle that one will appear. She must make her own path within her own mind.

While trying to advance through the Labyrinth, Sarah realizes that everything keeps changing around her. She meets strange creatures who say confusing riddles that lead to never-ending loops of circular logic. Her catchphrase appears to be “It’s not fair” as she repeats it numerous time during the movie. This phrase does sum up pretty nicely the life of a MK slave. There are no rules and every kind of unfairness can occur.

Meanwhile, Jareth is in the castle with Toby, monitoring Sarah.

The Ordeals

In her path towards the castle, Sarah goes through all kinds of obstacles, many of which symbolically represent actual traumas lived by mind control victims.

In Sarah’s first ordeal, she falls into a pit filled with “helping hands”.

Later, Sarah finds herself in a forest and surrounded by the Fire Gang, who are strange singing creatures that can remove parts of their bodies at will. The concept of dismembered body parts is central to mind control programming.

The Fire Gang’s performance soon turns into a nightmare when they jump on Sarah and try to remove her head.

Upon escaping the Fire Gang, Sarah finds herself in an even worst place, the Pool of Eternal Stench.

Sarah and her friends are forced to go through the nauseating pond in order to continue the quest. This odd scene can refer to the actual mind control technique to induce trauma which consists of immersing the slaves in feces and urine and/or to consume them. Our natural repulsion to excrements and the foul odor we get from them are our body’s way to tell us to stay away from them because they are infested with all kinds of worms and parasites that are toxic to us. Our organisms are so well made that we are instinctively repulsed by the things that are bad for us. The forced consumption of excrements is therefore particularly traumatic as it goes against the human body’s most basic instincts. Sarah’s episode in the Pool of Eternal Stench is an “imaginative” way to describe Sarah’s traumatic experience as an MK slave during programming.

After crossing the pool, Sarah is given a gift – one that is poisoned of course.

When Sarah takes a bite from the peach, she feels woozy and starts hallucinating. Monarch slaves are constantly given drugs to amplify the effects of the programming and to incite fear and terror. Laying on the ground, Sarah sees a crystal ball with a symbolic image representing her.

Sarah is then shown at a strange ball with guests wearing masks of goats, pigs and birds (commonly called an Illuminati ball) and finds Jareth, her handler, waiting for her.

Jareth and Sarah find each other and begin waltzing together, with Jareth giving suggestive looks … to a 15-year-old girl. The scene symbolically portrays the forced Satanic union between the slave (who is said to be the princess of her world) and her handler. The lyrics of David Bowie’s song playing during the ball can be interpretative as a “love song” from a handler to a mind control slave.

“As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill has gone

Wasn’t too much fun at all

But I’ll be there for you

As the world falls down … … It’s falling down”

The ball then quickly turns into a nightmare, where all of the masked guests start running after her (is she “bad-tripping”?). Sarah starts running, shatters a mirror and runs through it, another classic symbol of mind control.

Confronting Jareth

Despite all of those troubles, Sarah finally reaches the castle and enters it. She finds herself lost in a life-size Escher painting with Toby crawling. Jareth magically appears from everywhere in the scene, the same way handlers appear in the inner-world of Monarch slaves.

Then the entire world around Sarah crumbles, leaving only her facing her handler. Sarah asks Jareth to give her back the baby (her innocent core). Jareth gives her a classic double-speak, mind-bending lecture – the kind MK slaves get from their handlers. He says:

“I have reordered time … I have turned the world upside down … I have done it all for you. I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn’t that generous?”

He then offers her the crystal ball again.

He says:

“Look what I’m offering you. Your dreams. I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave”.

This is the classic Faustian “deal with the Devil” proposal, where Jareth says that he “asks for so little” while he is actually asking for Sarah’s everything: Her mind, body, and soul.

Sarah then starts reciting the lines she was practicing at the beginning of the movie and says “You have no power over me”. Everything crumbles again, Sarah leaves her internal world and finds herself back in the external world, the real world, her house. Toby is back in his crib and everything is apparently back to normal.

In her room, sees some of the creatures she has met in the Labyrinth and is apparently happy to see them. She tells them:

“I don’t know why, but … every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you.”

In other words, Sarah has accepted the internal world that was programmed into her by her handler. It now can be triggered by him at any time during her life.

The movie closes with David Bowie’s song “Underground”. The song has a very church-y feel (with a loud a gospel choir accompanying him) and talks about a place with “no pain”. That place is not heaven, but “Underground”, which can be equated to hell, which, in mind-control terms, is the trauma-filled life of an MK slave.

So, in perfect continuation with the movie, Bowie leaves the viewers with one last inversion of good and evil, heaven and hell and pleasure and pain, with this song:

“No one can blame you

For walking away

Too much rejection (na na)

No love injection

Life can be easy

It’s not always swell

Don’t tell me truth hurts, little girl

‘Cause it hurts like hell

But down in the underground

You’ll find someone true

Down in the underground

A land serene

A crystal moon, ah, ah It’s only forever

Not long at all

Lost and lonely

That’s underground

Underground Daddy, daddy, get me out of here

Ha ha I’m underground

Heard about a place today

Nothing ever hurts again

Daddy, daddy, get me out of here

Ah ha I’m underground

Sister sister, please take me down

Ah ah I’m underground

Daddy, daddy, get me out of here“

While most viewers interpret the story of Labyrinth as a tale about “the importance of imagination” or something of the sorts, the symbolism of the movie gives it a deeper meaning. While the story could be interpreted in numerous ways (another article could be written about Sarah’s quest being a metaphor for esoteric initiation) references to mind control are definitely present. Once the imagery and the triggers relating to mind control are understood, the movie becomes a vivid description of the internal world of a Monarch slave during programming. Totally at the mercy of her handler and the twisted world he created in her mind, the slave attempts to return to reality, where things make sense. The task is difficult as the handler controls time (hence the 13-hour clock that keeps popping up during the movie) and space (secret passages in the Labyrinth). During the quest, the slave meets friends who appear to be helping her, but who are, in actuality, leading her to exactly where her handler wants her to be. In fact, Sarah’s entire “quest for liberation” is actually her being manipulated towards the acceptance of her programming. By going through the Labyrinth, Sarah went through all of the trauma necessary to program her. What appears to be the defeat of Jareth is actually a victory as he successfully programmed Sarah’s internal world. It can be used, in her words “every now and again in her life”.

In Conclusion

Like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth is an imaginative fairy tale whose story can be used as a programming script in mind control programming. Unlike the older tales however, Labyrinth might have been specifically constructed for mind control purposes. The story, the symbolism and the music of the movie all form a cohesive sensory-overload, where the viewers are totally immersed in the strange world of mind control. There is however one hitch: like mind-control victims, most viewers are completely duped by the movie and its message. While it appears to be about the triumph of a girl’s mind over evil, its is actually the triumph of evil over a girl’s mind. In the words of Bowie, Don’t tell me truth hurts, little girl, ‘Cause it hurts like hell.