The 30th Path, Resh, The Sun

The Collecting Intelligence

On a balmy evening under the silver light of a full moon, you stand in a walled garden holding a golden chalice in your hands. The night is so quiet that you hear your heart beating, keeping time with the pulse of the summer night.

Your body is very much a part of the deep grass your feet sink into, the laurel tree that grows by the gray wall, even the clay from which the bricks were fashioned. Moonlight bathes you, and you feel your intuitive powers keenly.

Raising the chalice in your hand, you say this prayer:

Dear Eternal Mother, Lead me on the way to the path of the Sun. Let your great understanding guide me to wisdom and my liberation. Let the child in me be reborn. Amen

You lift the chalice to the sky and liquid moonlight flows into it. A cross of rainbow hues rises from this mixture and hovers over the garden, shining spectral light over your body. You feel a slight shift within and then bring this elixir to your lips.

As you taste the last sweet drops, the moon transforms and the sun bursts brilliantly from it as though breaking through a porcelain shell. The garden comes alive with light, birdsong, and the humming of insects beneath the blue sky that has been newly painted above. Peacocks now roam near you, displaying their full plumage.

At the bottom of the chalice, you see sunflower seeds, the residue of the elixir you have just consumed. Pouring all but one in your hand, you scatter the seeds along the bottom of the wall. Within moments, sunflowers shoot up to the sky, each like a small sun all its own.

Far in the distance, perhaps as far as the wilderness outside the garden, a lion roars. Something in the deep resonance makes you desire to find this creature. The thought of coming face to face with the lion seizes you with joy, not fear, and you know that this will be your quest.

You twirl on the grass to celebrate the miraculous explosion of life that has been born around you and the possibility of an encounter with this mysterious beast. This sunlight has become a part of you, regenerating the core of your being, giving you strength for the destiny you have chosen.

The pungent smell of laurel leavens wafts down. You pick a leaf and put it in the chalice, and decide to explore this magical realm, you own special garden. You find a faint trail through the tall green grass and descend a hill, adding parts of the flowers and plants to the chalice, gathering other herbs that you happen upon.

A blood red flower especially interests you, and so you bend down to study it. The petals are hot when you touch them. You carefully take a few of them and drop them into your chalice with the rest of your collection. The addition of these flowers makes the contents smolder and you set the chalice down.

The mixture bursts into flames much like the moon did when the sun came forth. In the midst of the fire, a baby dragon is born. The dragon stretches its wings, cries quietly, and then waddles over to you. You carefully pick up the little creature and gaze into its amber eyes.

The dragon flaps once or twice on your outstretched palms and then lifts on pearly wings into the sky, circling around your head, and then flying toward the south. The lion roars again in that direction. You follow entranced with this magical realm and the guide you have created.

The dragon leads you deeper into the garden to a grove of what must be a thousand ancient trees. As you enter, your intuition tells you that you have come upon sacred space. Though you experienced joy with the dawning of the sun, you realize that this was only a reflection of the exultation that waits for you.

You walk a long way through the corridor of trees until you see the dragon fly to a golden temple glittering so brightly you must shield your eyes. The dragon disappears into the light, and then, at the top of the steps, the lion appears sitting regally on a large stone. Light permeates the entire temple, radiating out from him and the sacred rock that generates the electric pulse to which the whole garden has been tuned.

The lion transforms into a man and the scent of roses permeates the air. Realizing Whom you are encountering, you fall to your knees. Earlier, you had thought the world and your very essence had been reborn, and though you indeed had undergone a transformation, you understand now it was only in preparation for this encounter.

The Divine Man, God made Flesh, Love opening its heart to the world, has come to meet you in this beautiful garden.

You hear Jesus’ gentle words: I am the Resurrection, the Eternal Body of Light, the Logos made the world. I am the Word, the Light and Life inside of you, the divinity that indwells in your being.

The world breaks open like a rose blooming, petal after petal, a part of the eternal becoming of the universe. At this moment, there is no past or future. There is only always, only the Source: a place of understanding and wisdom, compassion and love, where all things are created.

The next moment you are alone. The King had journeyed into the wilderness just beyond the garden wall. You now wear a crown, amazingly light for something made of the purest gold. When the time comes, you will follow the King into the wilderness, carrying His light with you, for you have been reunited with the essence, the Christos within. For now, though, you begin to dance.