The 16th Path, Vav, The Hierophant

The Triumphal Intelligence

You are silently being carried on a soft current of air, flying east in the night sky brilliantly illuminated with the stars of the heavens. You have no fear, but instead feel awe that your body is made of the same carbon as the stars that surround you.

One in particular hangs low on the horizon and begins to shine brighter than the rest. You find yourself drawn to it as though the current you are riding must lead you to it.

As you come closer, you think of the Magi’s trip through the desrt to find the Christ child, and with this thought your journey transforms. You now stand firmly on Earth, looking up at the heavens, still transfixed on the same eastern star. There is just enough light to see that you are in a desert, on a ridge of red-orange sand. You are still at peace, feeling that you have been guided here for a special purpose.

You make your way down the ridge continuing in a n eastward direction, pacing yourself because you will need endurance to walk the expanse before you. At the tope of another hill, you stop to catch your breath. The desert appears as vast as the sky above, and you wonder just how far you have to go. There are no sources of food or water, but then you think of Moses and the forty years he and the children of Israel spend wandering. Your intuition tells you to trust that you will be provided for just as they had been.

Before you reach the bottom of the hill, you find a rod of highly polished wood. It feels smooth and sleek in your hand and is just the right size to be used as a walking stick. You continue onward, grateful for the cool night air. You have no fear of the sun that is sure to rise or of the heat of the day to come. Your instincts tell you that you will be given what you need.

After a while, you become very hungry. Closing your eyes, you say a short prayer. Deep within, you hear a voice that burns with both the fire of starlight and the breath of the soft wind that has begun to rise from the desert floor.

Break the rod and eat from it.

The rod is solid wood. How could you have the strength to do this? You try anyway. Taking it with both hands, you attempt to snap it. To your amazement, the rod breaks. You put one of the halves to your mouth andd find that it tastes surprising sweet and has transformed into sugar cane, giving you energy to go on.

The other half of the staff is no shorter than it was before you broke it, and so is still useful as a walking stick. You walk a long while until the star you follow is brighter than ever and is finally overhead where you stand in the desert sand.

The earth shakes, and as you brace yourself you have witnessed a phenomenon that takes millenniums in geologic time and wonder if this journey you have been on has taken as long.

The sun crests behind the rocks; its heat blends with the energy of your guiding star. You must have both water and shelter soon or you will perish. You say another prayer and the same voice that you heard earlier answers:

Strike the rock as Moses did.

Excitement rises within you be cause you are now confident that another miracle will occur. You hit the rock with the rod and water streams out. Take long deep draughts, you find the water to be incredibly fresh, quenching your thirst within moments.

But by the time you are done, the sun is much higher. Even with the water that is now forming a pool at your feet, you know that you will not be able to stand the direct rays that will soon hit your body.

For a third time, you pray and for a third time you receive direction:

Reach down into the water and find what you need.

You place the rod on the ground and lie next to it, stretching your arm as far as you can extend it. You first feel the soft silt at the bottom, but then your hand b rushes something metallic. Grabbing this object, you bring it to the surface.

The sun has now risen above the rocks and the shadows have all disappeared, but in your hand are two keys connected together by a small yoke of topaz. One key has been made of silver, the other fashioned out of gold. Behind the pool of water, a door forms in the rock from where the spring outpours.

You wade to the door and use both keys to open the lock; once you do so, the door swings inward, and you step inside to cool darkness. The keys glow softly at first, but then more brightly, casting enough light to see. You are in a large chamber with paintings of animals on the walls. A musk-like smell permeates the cave as though the animals around you are actually living and breathing.

You are particularly attracted to a picture of a bull that is painted in the same red-orange hue as the desert you crossed. You walk up to the picture and touch it.

The bull begins to move. It becomes three-dimensional. You have just enough time to step backwards before it leaps off the wall. You feel the heat of its body and hear its snorting breaths as it exhales.

You have flown among the stars and crossed a desert devoid of life and have been protected. You continue to trust the protection will continue.

The bull kneels and you climb on its back, wrapping your arms around its thick neck. He carries you deeper into the earth, through a labyrinth as complex as the Minotaur’s beneath King Midas’ palace in Crete. You sense the gentleness of this great beast and let yourself drift to sleep as h wanders through the underground tunnels.

When the bull stops, you awake feeling refreshed and slide from his back. He keys are still providing light. Before you a golden throne sits upon a gray platform. You realize you are close to your final destination and climb up the steps to reach the magnificent chair.

You find several nails on its seat. Picking up one of them, you hear the voice again.

These are the nails upon which my Son was hung and which link creation to the Creator.

The bull walks around the platform and pushes at the wall of stone that lies behind the throne. Fresh air rushes in, and you realize that your shelter from the heat is really a tomb. You hug the bull’s neck and kiss its forehead, thanking him for bringing you to this place where you can now emerge reborn.

You step out of the earth-tomb into a wheat field. As you cross through the field, you see friends and loved ones waiting at a table heaped high with food. The smell of freshly baked bread fills the air.

You make your way to them, having traveled the great distance through space and time to find that love has always awaited and will always be with you.