ChRySTAL WORKINGS thru THE ASTRAL MIRROR series of excerpts from the Magickal Record of a

ChRySTAL WORKINGS thru THE ASTRAL MIRROR copyright 1983 by Boleskine House,inc. all rights reserved Boleskine House,inc. West Danby, NY, 14886 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The magickal system used by PVN to achieve the visions noted within these pages is complex and not easily put into words. What is written of the `mechanics' of his rituals are true, insofar as it is possible to convey Truth in linear form. Those who seek the linear truth of reason are warned to avoid any temptation to utilize P.'s system of magick, for it will surely lead to the speedy demise of their linear consciousness. This pamphlet is presented to these linear folks for their mindless entertainment only. Anyone who is serious in his/her pursuit of High Magick should consider these workings as `suggestive' rather than as literally True, for each must develop his/her own system of Magicks which is best suited to unlock the patterns of initiation from within. Study of the systems of other magickians will make the task much easier, but no magickian can produce new and innovative work by following slavishly in the footsteps of another. We each have a unique nervous system; we each bring to our magick a unique set of talents and aspirations; we must each create the future in unique ways. At the moment there is not much in print on PVN's system of magick. He prefers to discuss his magicks face-to-face rather than through the linear & clinical medium of the printed word. But he has begrudgingly conceded that since he has neither the time nor the temperment to put up with chelas, he will do the necessary work to put his magickal system into print. PVN is concerned with neither grammar nor spelling; nor does he place great value on linear organization of material. All items in this series will be but strands within the fabric of the pattern of his magicks. A list of suggested readings will be issued sometime in the future. For information on obtaining other items in this series, please contact the publisher. Love is the law, love under will. Yrs.for the Great Work, PVN [Here begins excerpt from Diary entry dated Friday, 12 November, 1982 e.v.] I did a free-float before taking a nap & utilized the crystal to assist me in regaining entrance to a dream of the night before last (Tuesday night). I was asleep & had forgotten that I was asleep, so the dream was not under my conscious control. For the most part, the dream was forgotten, but there was a section in which I was being bitten & clawed by two small dogs. I awoke from the nap & remembered O-Shinnah's warning about avoiding those parts of the astral which were guided by dogs. According to her, these regions of the astral have temporary rifts between the planes & any who traverse these rifts are in dire peril of being stranded away from their bodies if/when the rifts close. These dogs are most probably the Hounds of Tindalos who guard the angles of the alien dimensions which impinge upon our space/time continuum. These hounds have harried me in dreams ever since I was a small child. I was determined to get back to my dream & deal with these hounds once & for all. Using VIII Degree & my crystal as a focus I was able to get back to the general region of the astral where I had encountered these two small dogs. I met a young woman there {most probabbly a spirit guide} [who had assumed the outward form of M______] who agreed to assist me in my quest for the two dogs. We performed the ritual of XI Degree (el.rub.) & I passed from her temple in trance to another place upon the astral where I saw myself retreating from the two small dogs (I am somewhat used to these convolutions in time, but it is still amusing to watch myself exiting the astral stage just as I am entering from another angle). This time the dogs did not attack me, for they knew that I was consciously dreaming. As I approached them, they disolved into a pool of ichor with glitters. I stretched the web of glittry goo into a triangular archway & peered through the rift. The background of the astral stage (a street scene which looked like any large city in Eastern USA, circa 1982) was totally invisible when viewed thru the archway of astral dog entrails. I moved the archway around & peered through it at various angles. I finally found a rift in the black background. The rift formed a very unusual angle which was very difficult to look at {the angle was too alien to be fully comprehended}. I wedged the archway (which was quite rigid) into the rift in order to hold it open & then I stepped through. On the other side of the rift I saw a hand with seven fingers. On each finger was a ring. Each ring had a precious stone of a different colour. There was one stone for each of the primary colours of light (red, blue, green), one stone for each of the primary colours of pigment (cyan, magenta, and yellow) and one very gaudy clear glass stone which looked to be of very little value. The long slender hand offered me the cheap glass ring, which I accepted. I then felt a quaking & I fell back through the ichor archway into the astral region of New York City clutching the ring. I opened my hand & I saw that the clear glass stone was now jet black. In fact it was so black & so cold that it seemed to draw-in all energy rather than reflect it. It was not the least bit shiny & it seemed to grow & absorb surrounding light the more I looked at it. I purchased a small pouch at one of the many curiousity shops which abound in this region of the astral, & hung the ring (within the pouch) around my neck. I then focused my energies on the web of energy which permeates my crystal & used it to draw me back into my physical body. Back in bed, I lie awake with my crystal resting on my heart & my hand clutched to an invisible pouch which hangs around my neck. I am safely returned to my physical body, but my pretty bauble remains (for now) upon the astral. * * * [Here begins excerpt from entry for Sunday, 14 November, 1982 e.v.] Saturday night I did my evening free-float at bedtime. I found myself upon that portion of the astral which I have identified with New York City. I feel a weight about my neck. It is the pouch containing the gem of night. I open the pouch & the darkness radiates outward -threatening to engulf the maya of the astral. I seal the pouch & seek the company of the priestcraft of the Night. I manage to procure two priestesses & one priest along with a suitable temple. We set-up to perform a modification of the Mass of the Mirror (see Outside the Circles of Time by Kenneth Grant for details) with me as a gynanderous priest/(ess). As I began to drift into the state of neither/neither (from the ministrations of both priestesses and the priest), I open up the pouch & remove the dark crystal ring. The darkness does not envelop the astral temple, but it does cause the mirror above me to turn absolutely black. Meanwhile, I am still aware of my physical vehicle which performs VIIIų magick while clutching the quartz crystal to its heart. As the point of climax threatens to engulf me, I look into the black mirror above me & project through the gateways of sleep visible in the mirror and into the absolute void. Upon waking on Sunday morning, I had a vague memory of being in some sort of public dancehall or brothel. I focused upon the memory & used my crystal to re-gain entrance to the astral. As my focus improved, I utilized VIIIų Karezza to formulate the black crystal of Night within the astral pouch around my neck. [I return to the dream] Upon the stage is a middle aged woman of very powerful charisma. She danced to her own internal music while clad only in myriad crystals. The crystals are woven about her with very thin threads, leaving most of her body exposed. Hanging {suspended in air} about a foot below her crotch-- between her legs-- is a fist-sized herkimer diamond. At first I assumed it was supported by threads from her garment of tiny gems, but then I noticed a single thin thread which linked the huge gem to her vagina. I instinctively know that on the other end of the thread [deep within her womb] I will find a similar sized black gemstone. She becons me closer & I mount the stage. She dances around & over me for a time & I find myself totally entranced. I awake to a sharp pressure at the basal point of my spine. I am within the net of jewels pressed against the priestess while her herkimer diamond is pressed to my coccyx. She draws in her breath & the herkimer is sucked upward into her vagina. I am drawn up by the attraction from the vagina and pressed upward from the force of the herkimer pressing on my tailbone. I momentarily blacked-out. When I again became aware of my surroundings, I am within a black hole {astronomical, not anatomical}. The universe of stars shine all around me, but I know that it would be fruitless to attempt to egress through the Vagina of Nuit, for a black hole absorbs all & allows exit to nothing. There is an alien pathway {through an odd twist in time & space} which leads me deeper into the blackness of the dark star. There is much light behind me, but none shines through the stygian blackness ahead of me. I sense (but cannot see) the three-headed dog at my left side & another (unknown) `presence' at my right side. I travel onward in silence and without thought for quite some time. Eventually I come to a well-lit cave which opens outward into a large open marble palace bathed in yellow light. Picture a marble floor as big as Manhattan island {only round}, surrounded by pillars of inestimable hight, and crowned by a roof as high as the heavens. Through the open archways I can see the cold blue snow & the black night sky which perpetually surrounds this place [how I know this I do not know, for I do not remember being here before]. In the center of the palacial room sits one of the elder gods upon a short pillar of rough (red veined yellow) rock. His(her?) long nose is rimmed in tentacles. The massive trunk of her(his?) body seems oddly incongruous with the small leather-like bat wings perched upon his(her?) shoulders. The hands each have seven fingers. 13 of these fingers are each adorned with a different colored gemstone ring. As he(she?) puts her(his?) fingers together I see the pattern of the colors & perceive the energy fields which surrounded them. On the left hand is six rings, the fingers arranged in a circle such that the colored stones form a color-wheel with red, blue, and green stones separated by magenta, cyan, and yellow. The other hand is the same, only the seventh finger (which bore a black stone) is held within the ring of six. As I look upon these rings, their energy causes my mind to spin. When my mind clears, I know where I have seen this place before. I had caught the slightest glimpse of this place & this being when I had traversed the gateway of Tindalos Hound Ichor which led between the twisted planes (see previous entry). I am even now wearing the 14th ring upon a string around my neck. {My ring is now clearly a brilliant crystal, and not the stygian blackness which it emanated while it was upon the astral}. I now seem to `remember' that I had not been `given' this ring of clear crystal/utter blackness, but had snatched it just as I had dashed back to the astral through my selfcreated gateway. My instinctive reaction to this `memory' is to return the ring with an apology for my un-remembered kleptomania, when I am reminded of the verse from the De Vermis Mysteriis of Ludwig Prinn, which states clearly: "Never accept a gift from a necromancer or demon. Steal it, buy it, earn it; but never accept it as a gift or legacy." Since I am now definitely within the reality which Lovecraft knew far better than I, I put aside my native honesty & seek an escape route. My self-created gateway is not sealed, but it is guarded by beings which hurt my eyes if I try to look at them too closely. I cannot return through the black-hole, for that pathway was most assuredly set-up as a trap for me & is therefore a one-way street. I then remembered that I am not only `here' {which I intuitively feel to be on the Plateau of Leng}, but also back on the astral counterpart of New York City, acting as the priest/(ess) in a Mass of the Mirror. I focus my attention on the reality of my astral sexual being & feel the tug of orgasmic flow. As I began to de-materialize from the plateau of Leng, I reach out & snatch the black ring from the finger of the elder god. I awake in the New York City brothel where I began my meditations 8 hours before. I am stretched out upon the bed/altar, being ministered to by the two priestess-acolytes & the priest. The black stone is around my neck & I hold the clear crystal in my hand. The elder god glares at us through the upper mirror, but he(she?) dares not traverse this gateway un-invited. I take a brief nap upon this altar. All is dark. I have the impression of being in the Scottish highlands (but I see/smell nothing). I overhear a conversation between to men. The first says that a tax must be levied to support the empire. The second responds by saying that these people were freemen & would resist any taxes, for they were not part of the empire & would gain no benefit from the tax. The first sighs & says that an unpopular tax would (of course) result in an up-rising. If the freemen win, the empire would be in their hands; if they lost, they would become slaves to the will of the empire. The voices were again silent as I drift into a light sleep. I awake from my morning crystal free-float. I am back home again. The New York City brothel/temple has been left on the astral. Neither stone which I have thus far won from the elder god has yet managed to materialize into concrete reality on Malkuth. These gems seem to be potent tools upon the astral & beyond, but I have not yet found a way to earth their reality on Malkuth or to fully comprehend their use. They do seem to tie into the two pearls (black & white) which have been used by me for HHH meditation & which appeared to me in my working which involved the riddle of the pyramid & the entombed Masters of the Temple. * * * DREAM WORKING: Recorded 18 Nov.`82; Did my evening VIIIų free-float with quartz after reading several more chapter of Outside the Circles of Time. I project into my temple in astral New York City via my quartz crystal. I am working with a new priestess (professional) within a large round room. Over the bed is positioned a clear crystal mirror angled towards the North wall, which is a huge adamantine black mirror. The priestess climaxes through my oral administrations & my consciousness merges with hers as I am sucked-up through her vagina at the point of her orgasm. United, we look at the clear mirror & project our blank mind onto the clear skrying stone. Within the clear reflection of the mirror of light is contained the image of the black mirror upon the North wall, over our head. Within the blackness, a sigil forms. It is not unlike the sigil of Aossic, but it is distinctly different. It begins to waver -not through lack of focus, but because it has a life of its own. It rotates 120 degrees widdershins & transmutes into a human skull with rams horns -it is UM-UR-`ATWIEL--333, the guardian of the abyss who has been my friend & guide for years. Dangling from each horn & affixed in the cranial suture are the three rings of primary pigment {chroma} [cyan, magenta, yellow] while the three rings of primary light {spectrum} [red, green, blue] are within his mouth & eyesockets. He smiles & I/we are drawn up into the mirror (I having been absorbed within my astral priestess). I am wearing my black & clear crystal rings. I know not if I am on the astral, or up in the `real world'. Usually I am able to use the color of my rings to determine my locus, but since I did not consciously place the rings upon my fore-fingers, I am unable to ascertain whether the rings are glowing with their astral light or with their true colors (as they do glow upon the other side of the abyss). The dis-embodied head of my guide is facing me, but receding quickly down a corridor of uttermost blackness. I follow it as I utilize my rings of power to `see' the walls of the passageway. The tunnel is round & not very straight. Its curvature is very complex (not a simple curve or spiral) & I sense that if I but had some outside reference point I would be able to sense my passage through far more than three dimensions. The walls themselves are convoluted & rugose with waves of texture in both the longitudinal & circumferential dimensions. There are a complex pattern of different textures, each having a different wavelength, a different amplitude, and a different pattern of texture. Where several wave patterns meet or cross, coherant images can be briefly seen. The pattern of these coherant images seem to make up a series of vignettes, similar to the hallway of Tarot Trumps which lies on the causway of initiation under the great pyramid, but these vignettes seem to be living patterns rather than archtypes. They appear to be `snapshots' at (random?) points of time which encapsulate history of life & culture upon the material plane. There are three spirals of vignettes which wind deosil in the direction which I am traveling. I pause to test an hypothesis. I turn around & walk in the direction from whence I came. The three patterns of vignettes dissapear & three other patterns emerge as a widdershins spiral which run the opposite direction in time. All six patterns tell the evolutionary history of the universe. Each pattern tells the same story through the cultural `eyes' of a different race. Three of these races travel `foward' in time, while the other three travels `backwards in time' . I terminate my brief experiment & rush to catch-up to my guide. I use my large quartz crystal as my `movie camera' to record the passing images, since I must focus my attentions on my path rather than on the scenery. The tunnel branches into a complex maze of translucent tunnels (6 of them --one for each strand of the pattern). UM-UR-ATWIEL is nowhere to be found. I search the maze for any sign of his passage. I find a clear place in one of the tunnel walls. It is a window or a mirror (it seems to behave as both & yet neither). My guide is now `outside' the pattern of tunnels, within the `nest' of strands of the pattern. I center myself before the mirror/window (both physically & within the core of my being). I begin the ritual of the Bornless One & make the Sign of the Opening of the Veil. The mirror/window turns to black quicksilver & the rings on my fingers change color [the black stone turns clear & the clear stone turns black]. My quartz (which hangs suspended around my neck on the knot in the end end of my umbilical chord) remains clear & pulsating with a life all its own. I make the Sign of the Enterer as I fall/project through the window which is not a window . I am `outside'. My guide is as large as a small planet. The pattern of colored tubes surround him like glowing worms or writhing eels. At one end of the maze is a black hole, into which the strands of light merge & disappear. At the other end of the maze is a star, out of which a single ray of clear white light fragments into three of the colored tubes. Between these three strands, I am barely able to discern three other strands, which are formulated not from the light of the star, but through the effect which its absence has upon the blackness of space itself. These strands which are formulated from the darkness are the three strands of negative time which emanate from the black hole itself (rather than disappearing into it) & disperse into the blackness of shadow which exists between the quanta of light coming from the star. I approach my guide. As I get closer to him, his size diminishes (or does mine increase?). We are once again face to face & we are once again within the palace which exists upon the stark plane of endless night. Eleven pylons uphold the structure of the palace. We are centered under its roof. The roof is a flat disk, containing all the physical matter in the universe. It is spinning at relativistic velocity [i.e., approaching the speed of light], propelled by the rotating sephira atop each of the pylons. Beneath the center of this disk, the tidal forces create a place outside of time. This is the palace which some (but not I) call DIS. Upon its floor is inscribed the pattern which was given to me over 9 years ago in a ritual to Ithaqa [Ithaca] the Windwalker (who is also known as Hastur) --a ritual which culminated in a blood sacrifice (bloody rabbit) brought to my magic circle by the hands of a non-magical friend who knew not that blood was required for the rite being performed. [See the end of this diary entry for details of that ritual.] I know this palace of my vision {of this waking dream}, even as I recognize the glyph upon the floor --it is my true home. I know that I could choose to fuse with mine angel & the world would cease to be. The disk of matter would cease to spin. The strands of matter would cease their dance. Brahama would once again dream the dreamless sleep. But although I am sometimes very weary of this world & its illusions, I am not yet ready for sleep. My angel and I embrace rather than merge. He kisses me & the ruby ring within his mouth is transferred to my mouth. I flow back through the window which is not a window. I am now a pulsation of energy which traverses the pattern upon the walls of the maze rather than walks within its corridors. I traverse the path which depicts the exploits & history of the race whose spectrum matches the clear red of my newly acquired ruby ring. I sing with the energy which courses through my being. I feel much, but remember no coherent images of my travels. My quartz remembers our travels, but it speaks to me in the language of crystals, not in any human tongue. I fall backwards through the black mirror & am reflected by the clear mirror back into the ajna of my asteral priestess. She convulses & I am expelled from her womb -newly born, yet very old. I rub the slime which covers my body into my quartz crystal, which I use to draw my spirit back into my body by touching my crown, my third eye, my throat, & my heart. I consume the ichor which remains. My newlyacquired ring is now tied to a lock of my hair. I remove the ring from my hair & I see that the clear red ruby ring has transformed to an opalescent aquamarine of mottled cyan color. As I gaze at the ring, I feel a gentle tug from the free-end of my umbilical chord & as I blink my eyes, I am back in my human body sitting at my word processor, putting this tale down in a form which is intelligible to others. I now end this tale in order that I might go back to the start of this tale in order to edit my free-form narrative into intelligible paragraphs, adding details from the memories within my quartz, and appending a more complete description of my ritual to Ithaqa of a nearly a decade ago. Thanks to the magical crystals within my computer & their complimentary allies within my magnetic disk storage system, I will be able to complete my editing without the neccessity of re-typing my narrative or using a scissors & paste to put my text in order. ADDENDUM: some of my rememberances of the ritual of Ithaqa. On the outer, a warmish winter afternoon was transformed into the icey coldness of the innermost ring of Dante's hell. Over the course of 4 hours, the temperature had dropped from 50o (Farenheit) to 10o. By midnight, the temperature had fallen to nearly 30 below zero with high winds, a viscious ice storm & a blizzard of snow. Such weather changes are extreme, even for Ithaca's unpredictable winters! On the inner, I received a ritual and the image of a pattern. I am no artist & I am no painter, yet I labored over a drawing of that pattern for days. Then I photo-copied that pattern and made-up a set of small stickers to be used by me over the years. The Necronomicon ritual was also used by me over the ensuing years as an aid to open-ing the trans-dimensional gateways within me to access that part of me who did channel the Al Azif from beyond the Abyss. The main invokation which I received as a result of that ritual so long ago is as follows: Thou that knowest the Gate, and the Guardian thereof --who is Yog-Sothoth; Thou that knowest the Great Old Ones, & the servitors thereof --among whom are the Voormis, the Gugs, and the Gaunts of the Night; Thou that knowest the Unmapped Lands, & the names thereof --among which are N'Kai, Carcosa, and Far Kadath; Thou do I call forth! Thou that hast seen the Walker on the Wind; Thou that hast heard the Howler in the Dark; Thou that hast spoken the Name of the Unspeakable One; Thou do I call forth! Thou that knowest the Place of Hidden R'yleh; Thou that holdest the Secret of Far Kadath; Thou that keepest the Key to the Door of Yhe; Thou do I call forth! Thou that wast He who did write the Al-Azif; Thou do I call forth from the Shadows! Him that hath came is returned; Him do I call forth again! Him that hath set down the secrets is silenced; Him do I bid speak again! Him that abideth neither in darkness nor in light; HIM DO I CALL FORTH FROM THE SHADOWS! By the Five Pointed Star of Mnar, and those who made it; By the Sign of Kish, and those who obey it; By the Race of Yith, and those who created it; By the Assent of the Elder Gods, By the Command of Nodens -- Lord of the Great Abyss, By the Inneffable Name which cannot be spoken; LET HIM COME FORTH! The pattern which showed itself to me during that ritual so long ago began simply as a series of geometrical arcs which interpenetrated at peculiar angles. Over the weeks it took me to construct & concretize this glyph of the Universe, I began to attribute the Gods and Places of the Lovecraftian mythos to it. Once I had an accurate representation of the glyph which had etched itself onto my mind & once I had worked-out the proper attributions of God-names & Sacred Tunnels (10% inspiration & 90% research via the glossaries of Lin Carter), I reproduced the glyph via photomechanical methods to freeze the actuality of this potent tool. Even today I have copies of this pattern, which is my Seal upon the Inner. The overall pattern of the seal is a complex series of inter-pene- trating threes. All the God-names are written in a slightly modified form of the Enochian alphabet, with letters from the alphabet of the Magi symbolizing attibutes of a particular locus. In the center is a complex pattern composed of the tri-lobed aspects of AZAThOTh interpenetrating YOG-SOThOTh (the two sets of triplicities which, while sometimes appearing chaotic & destructive, actually govern the laws of probability & energy transfer within the Universe -see also the two sets of triple strands in this vision) . NyARLATh-O-TEP & UBU-SAThYA are the Messengers whose tendrils oscillate from this center outward to the next set of triplicities. The only triangle composed of straight lines symbolizes the 3 elements of: Fire:{Cthugha} (RED) Water:{Cthulhu} (GREEN) AIR:{Hastur} (BLUE) Between this triangle & the outer-most curved triangle lie the three sub- elements, each ruled by a pair of deities as follows: Fire/Water: Chaugnar-Faugn & Hydra (MAGENTA) Water/Air: Dagon & Ithaqa (CYAN) Air/Fire: Lloigor & Yig (YELLOW) Between this triangle & the outer 3 circles are three regions ruled as follows {labeling pattern changes from convex to concave at this point}: Fire/Water: `UMR AT-TAWIL Water/Air: Shub-Neggurath Air/Fire: Tsathoggua Surrounding this triangular pattern are the three circles or cycles of Tunnels within the Earth {which are symbolic of the three veils of negative existance, the AIN, the AIN SOPH, and the AIN SOPH AUR} which proceed outward as follows: C`N-YAN (red-litten) YOTH (black-litten) N`CAI [all orthography above is transliterated back to English from the Enochian, so is limited by the letters available in Enochian. For proper use, the names of power should be adjusted to reflect the `flavor' of whatever alphabet with which the Magickian chooses to work.] [end of transcription] DREAM WORKING: Recorded 24 Nov.`82; I have just done some meditating upon the bookshop owner (original dream not reproduced here). I definitely know him from somewhere or somewhen. I now shall use my crystal to re-enter the dream. I am in the coffeeshop & I am looking very hard at the bookshop proprietor. The nimbus which surrounds his head is blinding. I take my black pearl from its pouch around my neck & use it to absorb all the light from the room. All is dark, but the bookseller's face is still brilliantly enshrouded with light. All action freezes. All the actors within the coffeeshop become statues, except for the bookseller & I. He smiles at me & nods his head. He beckons me to approach him. He ex tends his hand. It is incredibly old -not quite human. It triggers memories within me. The hand is very lizard-like, yet very gentle (in a very powerful way). There are no rings on any of the fingers, yet I can perceive a set of rings which somehow `belong' on his fingers. The bookseller does not wear the rings of Power, but he somehow `has access' to them whenever he needs them. The black stone materializes on the thumb of his six fingered hand. It is far blacker & far older than the black stone which I wear about my neck. The universe fades into utter blackness -all is void save his face, which is still luminous, but can now be discerned within the cloud of light which surrounds him. The face is definitely Atlantean. He is one of the Old Race which guided the transition between lizards and humans as the dominant species upon the earth. He is the guardian of forbidden knowledge whose library transcends Time, Space, and Alternity so that it can never be plundered by those who are not yet ready. The name Chozzar comes to my mind, but I lack the certainty to test him with my supposition. The ring evaporates from off his finger. We are back in the coffeeshop. He asks me to put away my black stone. I do so, & the `people' come back to life as the light is no longer being trapped within my ring. I then accompany him to his bookshop, which is empty, but not locked. He goes behind the counter & asks to see my sigil. I show him my card with the OTz PTN sigil engraved upon it. He smiles & says it is very nice, but far too young to gain admittance to his shop. He asks if I have any other sigils. I reach into the pouch wherin I keep my black & clear stones & pull-out the map of the Universe given me during the Ithaqa Working (see page above) & hand it to him. His smile broadens as he fondles & smells the sigil. He tells me that this sigil should be my seal for working upon the inner, for it is older than Time itself. He asks me where I found it & I recounted its history to him. He smiles again as he nods his head & tells me that although the sigil is far beyond my earned grade, he will honor it because he honors `they who did give me the seal'. He then draws a `map' upon the back of the sigil, which I cannot see (for to stare into that dimension makes my stomach turn & my eyesight go all blurry). He tells me that this `map' will guide me to three places which I will undoubtedly find `useful' in my quest. I ask him for details on the places & he smiles broadly at me & begins to laugh. Tears roll down his face as he struggles to compose himself. He shakes his head in wonder as he looks to the heavens. He then becomes very serious & states that if I really know so little of my quest or of the sigil which has been allied to my destiny, then how do I expect to carry out my duties. I reply that I am but a simple pilgrim seeking wonders beyond the edges of the known Universe. He scowls at me & takes me to a large tome. He bids me to read the tome. I look at the pages, but they are total gibberish to me. I strain to `look' at them differently. I remove the clear crystal from my neck pouch & cast a `different' light upon the text. The text is now seen to be composed of diagrams, which seem to twist off their pages & lead me to places which I cannot quite reach. The shopkeeper stares at me in wonder ment. He asks if I have any other gems. I reach deep into the pouch where I thought I had a ruby. It is not there, but I do have a stone which is not quite visible. I take it out of the pouch & show it to him. He smiles & tells me that the ruby is nice, but as yet it useless for it is un-charged. He extends his hand & a ruby ring materializes as my stomach flips with nausea. . In the red light from the Atlantean's ruby, the page changes from mathematical diagrams to a map of a large city. The perimeter of the city forms a large equilateral triange. The center of the city exists on two separate levels, connected by some sort of crystaline astral bridge. Instinctively I know that the center of the city contains the `University' complex which I have visited many times over the years. The Atlantean smiles & points to three buildings which are marked prominantly on the map. Centered upon the south edge of the city is a large archway which leads to the desert of the pyramids. I remember entering this gate in a vision some time ago. I was out in the desert listening to the mumblings of the Masters of the Temple, who had each imprisoned themselves in his/her own unique pyramid of solitude because they feared to recognize the validity of the other Masters who also lived within the City. Again the Atlantean points to the map. The North point of the pyramid contains the transdimensional mirror which leads to places beyond. I recognize the mirror from the same vision as the pyramids. When the black & white jewels are balanced, the aspirant may attempt passage through the mirror. If the aspirant passes the test, he/she is never seen or heard from again, for the gateway is a one-way street; if the aspirant fails, he or she is projected down the Tree to his/her `earned' grade & must begin the climb again. The third building is near the lower University, but not actually within its precincts. I have never seen it before. Outside is a simple wooden sign with a complex design. There is a golden Horus head in profile (facing right) with a barbed violet arrow shooting down out of its eye. Below the Horus head is a blue-black claw clenching a lightning bolt of forked white fire. Between the head & the claw are two crossed Peacock feathers. At their crossing point there is a scale suspended from the feathers. The pans of the scale contain sigils which I cannot see clearly, but they are clearly out of balance. The lighning bolt from below supports the heavy pan on the left, while the arrow from above adds weight to the lighter pan on the right. Through the action of the lightning & the arrow, the pans are effectively balanced. I ask about this shop & he smiles and asks to see my sword. Instinctively I reach for my samuri sword, which is stored always with me, yet rarely visible. I am startled by my actions as I am unable to comprehend how I am able to `reach' through that impossible angle to pluck-forth the sword. He smiles as he looks at the workmanship of the blade. He asks if I have ever met any of the other Shadow Knights. I reply that none whom I have ever met will admit to knowing of the organization. He laughs again & commends me for my fine sense of humor. I am perplexed, but say nothing. He tells me that the `shop' marked upon this map is an `extension' of The Weapons Shop (in one of its many guises) as it can be perceived upon this plane. It is accessable only to those whose Will is in accord with the concept of `dynamic & assisted balance'. It is not run by or for the Shadow Knights, but it is accessable to them, so long as they do not turn too black. The coin which the shopk [my original Easy-Writer-II text file becomes garbled at this point. Garbling was quite common in the primitive days of word processing!]