The 25th Path, Samekh, Temperance

The Tentative Intelligence

You are dressed in white standing beneath a full moon and hold onto a bow with a quiver of arrows that hang from a strap down your back. A lion, hidden in the tall grass from which you have just walked, roars once.

You turn to see if he has followed, for you have spent years searching for this powerful beast. The weapons you carry are not for protection from him because you know that you will not be harmed by the lion’s power, only transformed.

Your quest has lasted many years lost in the tangled growth behind you. Now the lion is near, and though you long to see him, he remains elusive. You consider going back into the grassland to resume your search, but you are stop yourself to listen to the echo of barking dogs that suddenly fills the night.

A young woman, dressed in white just as you are, steps from the grassland close to where the lion roared. Three hounds follow at her heels. Her whole being appears spun from moonlight, as do the dogs’ bodies, which now sit obediently at her side.

She calls your name, and speaks with a cold, mysterious voice. I have followed you all the way on your journey. I have protected you from predators who hunted you in the dense grass. You were unprepared to come face to face with the lion that reigns there. Now that you have found your way to a clearing, take an arrow and shoot it toward the west. You will find the path you must follow to prepare yourself to stand before the King.

She and her hounds dissolve into mist, as does the grassland you inhabited for so many years. You turn as you were instructed, reach into your quiver, draw out an arrow, and put it in your bow. There is no discernable target; still you aim the arrow and release it. The feathers on the arrow catch the moonlight; a silver streak arcs high and then descends toward the earth. A light begins to burn where the arrow has landed, and you walk to it as the night fades away. By the time you reach the landing place, dawn has come.

You bend down and pick up the arrow. At the touch of your hand, it turns into a thyrsus, a twined staff with grapevines and leaves and a pinecone head. You feel lightheaded and place the bottom of the thyrsus on the ground to support you.
Heliotrope, thick as the jungle of grass that you were lost in, spring up around you. Their large heads point up to the sun. Their fragrance makes you euphoric. With both hands on your staff to steady yourself and watch a staircase grow out of the flowers. A large building waits at the top of the steps; its stones reflect the sunlight like prisms. Relying on your staff’s support, you begin to climb toward this rainbow structure, counting sixty steps from the base to the door.


Once there, you knock. The door flings open and the brightness that greets you makes you shield your eyes. The angle Michael stands before you in glowing white robes shining with the splendor of the sun.

You are to be commended, he tells you.
Are you ready to cross this threshold to the laboratory of transformation?

Yes, you answer with a trembling heart.

Once inside, you pass many rooms where men and women are engrossed in solitary experiments, sitting or standing at their tables, mixing and sorting various compounds and potions. The hallway is filled with odors both foul and sublime.

You follow Michael for what feels like miles, and just as you are convinced you will follow him forever, he points to a door.

This is your place for purification. You will find the tools and substances you need to do your work.


Michael hands you a key and then begins his return down the long hallway, each of his footprints leaving sparks that dance across the floor. Once he is no longer in sight, you unlock the door and go into the room.

Three chalices stand on the table. One is full of water, another with fire. The third is empty, there for you to mix the elements. You look around the room and find minutiae from your life. Some are object you have possessed. Others seem to be made from the etheric stuff of memories, dreams, and ideas. Other items seems very old, holding onto energy of a distant past you no longer remember. It is the essences of these substances from which you will create your elixir.

Before you begin your work, you lean your thrysus on a table to use later and open the one window in your room. Far below, you see the grasslands where you searched during the dark night that lasted for years. The lion’s roar is carried to you by the wind, and your mind fills with images of a great stone rolling from a tomb.

The window catches a sunbeam, and the shaft bathes the room in sacred light. You kneel down on the stone floor, graceful for its illumination. Chalices sparkle on your worktable. The water of baptism and the fire of the Holy Spirit wait to be combined, creating for you a new life. After you have given your thanks for being guided to this sanctuary, you rise and begin your work.