The 31st path, Shin, Judgement

The Perpetual Intelligence

Imagine the letter “shin” above your head taking the shape of a molar on fire, a bright living flame that enters the top of your head and descents like a stream of scarlet fire filling you with Divine Light.

Your inner self expands, and you feel your consciousness stretch beyond your physical body, extending outward through time and space until it seems as though the whole universe is contained within your being.

You take some time to bask in the wonder of this experience, knowing that within your small self lies the vastness of God, that there can be no separation.

With this realization, you feel yourself contract and discover you are in a banquet room, warmed by a huge fire that glows in a hearth built of a circle of stones in the middle of the room.

Along the walls torches burn with the same scarlet light that entered your body. The crackling of their flaming tapers and that of the wood kindling in the hearth are the only sounds you can hear. The temperature of the room is quite warm, and you feel feverish, as though your body is cleansing and becoming purified.

On one side of the hearth, a statue of a lion faces you, and his eyes glow with the brilliance of fire opals. You wonder how these lights have been kindled and sense that this beast is alive and could step easily from its perch if it so desired. You feel no fear, though.

A table materializes, piled high with all of your favorite food. Lamps flicker every few feet illuminating the bounty. The banquet expands with the room as far as you can see in both directions. You know that this room represents the part of you that is eternal and that this feast has been prepared just for you.

You feel as though you have traveled a long way and become ravenously hungry and begin to sample the offerings. As you feel yourself digesting this miraculous cuisine, you sense how nourishing it is and your body responds with newfound strength. You wonder how you have survived in the past without the type of subsistence you are receiving at this moment. What is even more wondrous, you know that this food will sustain you forever and regenerate your body, no matter how little or how much you eat of it.

The lion transforms into a real animal with hair and flesh, stretching and yawning. It looks at you with such sincerity that you find yourself kneeling in its presence.

Follow me, it tells you in a gentle voice, and then disappears into the flames.

Warmed inside and out by this room, and given courage from the food you have eaten, you trust the lion and step into the flames. The smell of burning copal surrounds you, and you feel the dross of your false self melting away. You feel uncomfortable and for a while, the fire burns, but in time this sensation passes and you feel renewed.

You step out of the flames and discover that you are in a field of red poppies. Your body feels lighter than it ever has, almost as though it could take wing and fly away. The sky is scarlet, matching the color of the flowers that surround you. You realize that it is early dawn. In this sphere of existence, the day is always beginning. The sun’s rays always glow on the eastern horizon and are always present to give power for spiritual renewal.

As you study them, the rays form the shape of a serpent. The snake rises above your head and opens its mouth. As with the lion, you feel awe but not fear. A fang hangs from its mouth and you sense the potency of the serpent’s bite and know what it will be like. Because of the feeling of liberation you have already experienced, you prepare yourself, knowing that after the serpent has done what it wants with you, the transformation that you undergo will be even more glorious than the previous one.

The serpent leans closer. Its breath is sharp, but instead of biting it whispers, Rauch Elohim. A great wind comes out of its mouth. You feel the fire of transformative passion: the power held by the banquet room, the power in the lion’s spirit and body, and the power in the fire that did not kill you. Passion passed down through the eons and now extends to you, making you a part of its manifestation.

The serpent fades away, leaving only its fang hanging above you in the air. The tooth becomes a trumpet. The archangel Gabriel appears, with flaming wings and wearing a dark blue robe. The angel brings the trumpet to her lips. The music she plays sounds like a melody made from sparks and flames and the whole world around you glows with intensified radiance.

The sun’s rays descend like tongues of fire, and in your inner ear, you hear the annunciation: You have become a new container, unfolding with new life. Christ Consciousness, the fruit of Holy Fire, lies within you. Listen with your inner ear and converse with the Holy Spirit. Your Holy Guardian Angel is at hand ready to guide and protect you.

Wafts of lavender come up from the ground and you see shoots of this plant growing and intermingling with the poppies. Gabriel’s figure disappears in the clouds that have formed to cool the land from all this intensity, but you feel a new presence descend. Gabriel’s music has prepared the way for your intermediary, made from the fabric of your highest energy, who has come to be a co-creator with you.