The 32nd Path, Tau, The Universe (The World)

The Administrative Intelligence


On a summer evening, you descend a sloping path into a narrow canyon striated with folds of ancient rocks. The walls of the canyon are bare except for their layers of color. By the time you reach the bottom, the sun has set and you walk in twilight to a small temple made purely of onyx, which rests in the middle of a cypress grove.

There is a spring to the left of the temple, which allows for the trees to grow, as well as the nightshade that hems the temple’s perimeter. As the evening grows darker, the fluted white blossoms of these plants are just beginning to open. Compared to the barrenness of the canyon walls, you have found a flourishing oasis.

On either side of the temple’s vestibule stand statues of Demeter holding a shaft of wheat and her daughter, Persephone, with a pomegranate. You walk between them and come to a platform, also made of onyx. The sky is dark now, without stars, but there is a brilliant full moon whose light reflects on the smooth dark surface of the platform and pillars that surround you.

You lie down and let the warm night hold you and listen to the spring bubbling from the ground. This gentle sound relaxes you, so when the platform lowers into the earth, you willingly go with it. You have come to this temple for revelation and are ready to take whatever journey is needed.

You close your eyes and sense yourself sinking into the darkness of your body where you begin to see the atoms spinning, each a small world in the vastness of space. When you open them for just a moment, the moonlight is gone. The only source of light now comes form two spiraling rods supporting the platform, creating an electromagnetic pulse, one rod pulling energy form deep in the cavern and another sending it back to its source. You shut your eyes once again as you continue the descent but open your spirit to allow this energy to flow without resistance.

Finally, the platform stops and you feel as though you have taken a long restful nap. You awaken immersed in complete darkness. The soft splashing of waves and mild motion of the platform feels as though you are floating. The platform, in fact, has transformed into a small barge and is carrying you on an unlit sea.

You float for a long while, and when your eyes have adjusted to the lack of light, emanations appear. You seem surrounded by a swarm of crocodiles, the water full of their rough brown heads, sharp teeth and eyes, but recognize them for what they really are, pure illusion, and so your barge sails among their bodies with ease.

To your surprise, though, a fish with the head of a goat leaps upon the boat, its body lit by a violet luminescence. In its mouth is a key. You take the key and the fish slips out of your hands and jumps back in the water.

In front of your barge, the visage of an angelic young man appears. You look to your left and see a bull, behind you there is a lion, and to your right, an eagle with its wings unfurled. Your barge stops so that if lines were drawn from these images they would intersect where you sit.

Above this invisible cross of energy, you have a vision of Christ healing a blind man and a sick woman. You also feel His healing power, and it is as though a door opens. There is a sudden gust of wind and you take a deep breathe of fresh air.

The sight awes you, and as the vision slowly dissolves, a flaming torch appears in front of the barge. You must step across to reach it. Thinking that with Christ all things are possible, you place a foot on the water to find that the sea has solidified and become earth.

You take the torch and meander though narrow passageways until you enter a spacious crystalline chamber where the light of the torch is reflected and magnified. Touching one of the walls, a white substance comes off on your fingers. Licking them, you discover that the chamber is made of salt. There are three statues of gnomes, also made of salt, guarding doors carved into the wall across the chamber from where you stand. You walk over and, after a moment’s hesitation, choose one of the doors and place the key the goat-fish gave you into its lock.

The door opens easily, swinging into a garden full of fragrant jasmine. Taking the key, you explore this garden until you find a plain lead box lying in the midst of the bushes with a cross that is deeply engraved into the lid. You find that your key unlocks this as it did the door. When you raise the lid, there are some parchments lying at the bottom, brown with age.

Carefully, you pick up the top one and taking care not to rip the paper, open it to find your name written on it. The remaining papers detail the plan of your life. As you read, you see that what has and will unfold is steeped in purpose and meaning. Joy fills you, and your life's path that the papers clarify becomes illuminated inside your heart, an embodied gift that will always be there to guide you.

You feel a gentle tap on your shoulder. When your turn there is Persephone, the temple guardian comes to life. She takes hold of your hand and the two of you dance as your both emerge from the underworld. While spinning with you, she transforms into her mother Demeter, now pregnant with her child. She then becomes a crone with eyes that understand everything about your personal story.

The old woman kisses you and, once again, you are standing in front of the temple in the middle of the cypress grove. The moon shines down on the entire canyon and the path to the top looks like a ribbon of white lace. Before you make your ascent, you turn to the temple and bow, giving thanks for being made ready to walk the other paths that lie before you.