When I first encountered the images of the "Reverse Tarot" here described and presented I was immediately struck by their evocative force. Unlike the images of the old Tarot deck, which (to me) had appeared lifeless, these had a kind of direct electric-emotional "charge", and some of them were strongly reminiscent of images found in dreams or under the effects of certain chemicals. I started to "work" with them--that is, I put the ones I was most drawn to up on the wall and began to meditate and reflect on their meanings. Over a period of a few weeks they would become strikingly "familiar"-they would intrude suddenly in my waking thoughts, fragments might appear in dreams or during quiet moments. They appeared to work a kind of subtle transformation of unconscious, prerational "complexes" (to use the Jungian terminology). A fixed image-complex, surrounded by anxious feelings, could, by contact with one of these Tarot images evolve into an enlarging, affirmative, enlightening vision. Then after a time, another one of the series might emerge as an indicator of the "next step".

The images, in other words, represent a kind of consciouness map. A series of markings to guide the spirit in its quest for the light. At all times when men have concerned themselves with the possibilities of human evolution and the practical means for realizing it, they have tried to devise maps of the path in terms of symbolic images. Direct verbal analyses and descriptions of the "path" have also been given (in particular in the various Indian systems of yoga) and numberless attempts have been made to encode the message in song or sculpture, in temple or tomb.

Different groups at different times have emphasized various phases of the process, and have used different structural metaphors. Some, like the Indian yogas, have employed a linear model; others, like the Buddhists in their Wheel of Life, and the Chaldean astrologers with their circles of "Houses" and Zodiac "#signs", have employed cyclical images to diagram the progress of the soul on its way to the One. Still others, like the I Ching and the Tarot, employ a kind of multi-dimensional "web" pattern. Everything is interconnected and one can start at any one or several points simultaneously; yet there are also sequences to go through and inherent directions (see, for example, the first part of Appendix II for one linear reading of the present set of Major Arcana).

To many persons trained according to the current canons of scientific credibility, the authors' claim to have received these images and their interpretations from a non-human, non-physical being, identified only as "One", through the ouija board, might make them automatically suspect. Such phenomena are still regarded as somehow unscientific, somehow not quite "above board". I myself have no reason to doubt the authors' claim, knowing them both to be honorable, sane persons not given to deceit nor subject to delusion any more than the rest of us. Yet the question of the source of this material is, it must be remembered, quite distinct from the question of its value. Even if the authors, let us imagine, had perpetrated an enormous hoax, and "made the whole thing up", its value as an aide-guide to psychic transformation, is not thereby impaired in the least. It is a practical spiritual map and can only be evaluated by being used. In other words, I am suggesting, take it at face value, try it; if it works, line; if it doesn't, perhaps you'll find a system that does elsewhere.

This leads us to the question of how such a "map" of consciousness-- evolution as this series of images might be used. Traditionally, the Tarot deck is a set of cards used in making "readings", which may have had spiritual or psychological factors depending on the level of the reader and the questioner, but would mostly be a variant of "fortune--telling". It is possible that the groups who originally worked with the Tarot conceived the idea of concealing their esoteric teachings in the garb of a "game" or pastime, thinking it would be more likely to survive in this form in the dark ages they anticipated. However, the technique of concealment worked too well, in that the "playing cards" of the present day have lost all meaningful connection with the esoteric Tarot. A similar fate seems to have befallen the various symbol systems of "astrology" which degenerated from being spiritual ciphers to more or less arbitrary prediction games. The communicators of the present Tarot expressly discourage its use for such purposes. There is apparently no longer any need to hide the teachings. Everything can be revealed. This is in keeping with a world-wide trend towards bringing the hitherto "occult" (that is, academically unfashionable) out into the open, to publicize hitherto zealously guarded oral traditions (as by the Tibetan Buddhists).

It may of course be that there are still further layers of meaning hidden in this new psychic alphabet, which would be clear only to initiates who had the key to the understanding of those layers. It is possible that the pictures contain, in some instances, detailed instruction in methods of inner work, in a disguised form. One might, for example, make the experiment of physically adopting the position of the figure in a given image, and then visualizing repeatedly and consistently the other parts of the image. The "Reverser" for example, with 'water'-energy flowing from above down the right side and 'fire' energy flowing down from the left side to the ground Particularly persons who are experimenting with image-amplifying chemicals such as lysergic acid diethylamide could find such experiments instructive.

Another possible application of this Tarot is in psycho-therapy. The Rorschach Ink-Blots and the fantasy-stimulating pictures of the T.A.T. are commonly used as diagnostic devices to assess unconscious factors in a person. The present images would, I suspect, prove far more useful in many instances, because of their tremendous psychic force. One could, for example, let a patient study the whole set for a while, then pick out the ones he liked best and the ones disliked most, and then use those as starting- points for guided association and fantasy-symbol work of the kind practiced in Gestalt Therapy, in Psychosynthesis or the Jungian technique of "active imagination."

By giving concrete expression to certain consciousness processes and states which are inaccessible to verbal-conceptual mentation this revised form of the Tarot brings again into the open one of the most ancient symbolic languages of the world. As such it represents another of the increasing numbers of rays of wisdom-light in the fast-accelerating darkness of our un- fortunate age.

Foreword

The Book of One is the transcript of the Ouija sessions which led to the birth of the New Tarot. The delivery of the Major Arcana doesn't begin until session 8. The first 7 sessions are mostly messages to the individuals involved in the sessions, so don't worry too much if they make no sense to you. The group receiving these messages partially understood them, and made some comments about Egyptian history and the Swastika, but you can easily skip that material. I have added comments in a gold color after some of the fables which apply to all Seekers, but there are some that will become meaningful only with the passage of time.

John Cooke (Legion), Rosalind Sharpe (Gay-La), Rhom / Bill (Given) and a shifting kaleidoscope of other characters began dabbling with a homemade Ouija board in 1962. For each session, they began by drawing an abstract character in the middle of a fresh sheet of drawing paper. They then drew the arc of characters and numbers as in a commercial Ouija board. Two people put their fingers on the silver dollar, one of them being Rhom, who was given the name "Given" by the source, but later called himself Bill. He was the principal channel. The ouija would work with other people, but not without Rhom. When the source was asked "Who are YOU?" it replied "Would a name help? And why is that?" No name was ever given.

There are 106 sessions. Most of them were done in the Carmel highlands, in John Cooke's house, in 1962-1963. All 22 major arcana of a new tarot were dictated during this period, the last one being given in session 74. After about a year of Ouija sessions, Rhom was played out, and swore off doing any more. But more sessions did take place two years later, first in Sausalito, and then in the Mexican village where John Cooke then lived, and Rhom was again the essential channel. These later sessions helped to clarify some central concepts, such as ONE, Self, Legion, the Golden Heart, and the relationship between the Thinker and the Knower. They also served to convince Cooke that this revelation was important and worth publishing. He took a lot of convincing! A few more sessions were dictated in the late sixties, after John Cooke's drawings of the Major Arcana were first published as posters, and then a few more after the T Tarot deck was published in 1969. This complete collection of all the Ouija sessions (minus a few of purely personal importance) was published in 1975. Kennydd and I now bring it back to life, and put it on the Web, for all to see. Thank the Three Norns for scanners! It is 400 pages of material in printed form. I was not prepared to retype it.

Usually I refer to this as the Revelations of the Nameless One, although the silver dollar never gave a name to the source. It seemed to know everything, however, especially about the people at each session. Interesting physical phenomena accompanied some of the sessions, such as a glow around the hands of those at the Ouija board, or a sudden gust of wind in the final session, number 106.

The source spoke in symbolic and mythic terms, sometimes using archaic terms such as "thy," and using the fundamental fluidity of English to create new verbs and nouns, whose meaning is self-evident. This makes the book hard to read for those not fluent in the language of symbolism. So, I suggest a refresher course in An Alphabet of Symbolic Elements. It took me seven years of study just to figure out the symbolic meaning of the 22 major arcana.

The birth of the New Tarot is an event of mighty importance, and it has been and continues to be a long labor. The Ouija source only gave the 22 major arcana, because we are encouraged to create our own minor arcana. Using the enormous resources of the Web, I have found images of various kinds to represent the symbolic meaning of the pips. The meaning of each card is based on the meaning of that number in the Tree of Life (=Differentiation of the Tai Chi = the 10 Samadhi), as expressed via the symbolic elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. There is a correspondence between these four symbolic elements and the suits of the New Tarot, the old Tarot, and the suits of playing cards. Earth (material for building or growing) is Stones, Pentacles, and Diamonds. Air (intellect, decision) is Blades, Swords, and Spades. Fire (life force) is Serpents, Wands, and Clubs. Water (intuition) is Pears, Cups, and Hearts.

Cooke invented the 16 face cards, but their symbolism is not self-consistent. Still, it might be possible to modify his drawings. At any rate, Kennydd and I are determined to present the complete New Tarot on the Web, so that anyone may print out their own deck, now that color printers are reasonably priced. Then the Sun will be Known, and the ONE set in motion.

REVERSE THE NILE'S FLOW

G, however, could be considered the symbol for the entire work that follows for the moving creative ONE is G.

The evening's meeting was informal and social and no ouija board session had been planned. Usually the group met for meditation and had not previously experimented with the ouija board when so fore gathered. But tonight things were to turn out quite differently than in the past. A new adventure was about to be embarked upon which would involve them, in the next few months, in a kind of treasure hunt leading them through ancient Egypt and the new Books of Tarot to the ONE --or the quest for the Holy Grail.

The ouija board experiment was suggested casually. No one expected anything in particular to come forth. Yet once John and Rhom-the latter had never touched a ouija board before in his life-had placed their fingers lightly on the silver dollar planchette, a force seemed to gather in the room and the "table, as the board was called thereafter, began to sizzle with life. The letter G was pointed to over and over again as energy built and the planchette swirled in circles. The flow, once started, was unerring; there was no hesitation for a letter and no mistakes were made. Nadine began to record the letters as Rhom read them off aloud. The pace was so swift that no one could have followed the meaning if Nadine had not recorded. The silver dollar planchette went to G, G, G, G, G, then J,J,J, and again, G, G, G, and then the following:

J is John. G. is Dean. Now find mark of Rhom and Nadine and Rosalind. Each has a mark on his head, lost but still there. H = Rhom. Nadine = W and M. Nadine and Rosalind both dual signs.

Nadine: But why? Explain!

WE: Must you want to know? Not yet . .

Put together those things which have meaning, for now is the proper season to assemble those designs written on watery light-a rush into all phases of given directions. Volumes quickly open to place the key of the Nile at top of headwaters where rests cat and dog and bird and shaft. Key is that key: J.

Nadine: What is the real message to he received tonight? This is not it!

WE: Loud is the sound of wind passing overhead. Softly passes the tread of the man who knows where he walks. Fearing not, he searches his motives and purity of purpose. He walks freely to that which is his destiny-for he is all men.

John, keep hold to your vision. Stray not among changelings. (Pause) Who questions? Be not timid. Ask aright.

Nadine: Are we to travel soon? If so, where to?

WE: It would not be fitting now. Later. Now is the time to ready Self to be long-lost hub.

(The group stopped for a coffee break and to read the message back. Later the riddle of the Nile given at the start was to be seen as the most important clue to that which followed, especially as the Nile connected the subject matter with ancient Egypt, the legendary home of the Tarot. Later, too, the man who "walks freely to his destiny-for he is all men" was to be seen as the first mention of the Nameless One, the former Fool of the Tarot; but at the time the group was at sea.)

John: What lies at the headwaters of the Nile?

WE: Fashioned by you to negate. Try to reverse flow. Wait one period. Call upon a factor once lightly dismissed.

John: But how does one negate the Nile's flow?

WE: Bring all your faculties up to where your thinking and feeling function. Your faculties are not overworked. Function from that point below the highest and above the lowest. Split the difference.

Dean: What can I and should I do to further the progress of us all?

WE: Fully fashioned it is. Bells proclaim the New Man. Mirrored to them is grandeur of Tall One with golden feathers of force, of power. Quality brought forth to tear asunder blue demon lurking in center. You are given needed strength to do. Do!

Rhom: What significance does my moonstone ring have?

WE: Moonstone is badge of admission to School of Nautililus.

Rhom: What is that?

WE: Make John tell. (The rhythm of the silver dollar planchette changed.) A School of Fools, full with lore of songs, of body-rhythm, of mind, harmony and spirit-wholeness.

John: Good God! Did I write that?

WE: Perhaps you overlook the import.

John: Who and what is writing these messages?

WE: The writer is a silver dollar. Rhom is being channeled through. He has been clear for the most part. Where there have been digressions, WE have not bothered to correct them.

The session ended late, for on this first try it had taken a long time to get through it due to frequent stopping for Nadine to translate the message. Later all would become more adept at understanding the words as they were given and the pauses were not so frequent. In the ensuing discussion, the group pondered the significance of the Nile and its reversal and the four curious figures at its headwaters. Later, each was to become identified with one of these figures-John with the cat, (later seen as a lion,) Rhom with the dog (further described as "dog-not dog"), Nadine with the bird and Dean with the shaft. However, they never realized that they formed the four arms of a single cross or central mandala of being--ONE. In other words, they corresponded to fire, air, water and earth or the Jun gian mandala of Feeling, Thinking, Intuition and Sensation. The enigma of why these four figures had to be reversed along with the Nile's flow was never solved by the group, but the key had been given at the start with the letter "J." When the cardinal cross is formed by the letter J, it is the reverse swastika-the one used by Hitler. It signifies dissolution and dispersal. But when the key J is turned (and a key is meant to turn) it becomes L and forms the positive swastika-the one indicating creation and involution.

The Nile's flow related to the spinal column and the tree of the chakras and was later connected with the Hanged Man of the old Tarot who was to reverse to become the Hanging Man. The Nile is the only major river in the world that flows from South to North; therefore it is in itself an image of reversal None of this, however, was even vaguely understood at the time. The WE of the board was speaking in riddles. Some of the message given seemed sheer nonsense such as the School of Nautilus and the School of Fools. It was not discovered until years later that the Nautilus is the symbol used on navigator's maps to indicate the galaxy of the Milky Way--the Celestial Nile of the Egyptians formed by the body of Nut, mother of the gods. Therefore, it was related to the Nile's reversal, and may also have referred to time, for the Milky Way flows between the heart of Leo and the jug of Aquarius and we are on the brink of the Aquarian Age. Not only the reversal of the earthly Nile (or the Nile in man) but of the Celestial Nile is hinted here. Perhaps the reverse swastika formed in the age of Leo, the Lion, over 12,000 years ago is that which is to be reversed to the positive one as the Age of Aquarius begins.

The School of Fools meant initiates or T's as in the Nameless One who is the Fool's successor.

The next session did not take place for two weeks and in the meanwhile everyone had become increasingly intrigued by the riddle of the Nile and its reversal which had, at first, been almost overlooked.

THE LION THAT LOST ITS TAIL

August 29, 1962
Present: John, Rhom, Nadine, Dean.

Waiting you--presence of given star. Leap to motion. Period not understood. Period must be Sun-period. Sun-period is man's dawn. Moon-period is man's noon. Star period is man's twilight period. Is constant. Man is constant. Change is constant. Just as you know, you will make more known.

The hidden river is the ocean. The source of the river is at center. Open that center gently. Forceful entry not advisable, though possible. Seeming entry previously was at wrong center and time and spirit. G force has a center also, yet is scattered. For rightful purpose, G force must not be associated with a personality but with a force that is a portion of the spectrum. Full acceptance required. Stress NO. Reject whatever is of inferior vibration. G is the force of love in an active role, not a force of destruction. G has been misused seemingly only. G force will function at a rate slower than formerly. Force fields are constant, however. Carriers are many--understanders are not, however. But that mattered not until now.

Understanding is a requisite of acceptance and responsibility.

G will blend with a force not identifiable. Its carriers are on the way to becoming fit containers of that blended function. WE may assume a designation of X. Resumption of activity.

(Coffee-break while Nadine read back the message. What was the window of night? The Moon? But in the human body, it must mean one of the chakras. Which one? The brow? The solar plexus? If so, how did it relate to G force?

Think of France and what has taken place there. WE will now entertain a change of directors. (The planchette changed rhythm.)

Predicted events are in sway. Interference not needed. Understanding, yes. Support of leaders, yes. New lands are forming, new leaders are here. They will be there when called. Serpent sheds skins and dons wings. Ocean reversed. River loses force to parent and becomes golden spear in hand of victor.

Circled are all straight lines.
Yellow is the circle around Moon. Blue is the diamond within Moon. Red is the thread connecting solar orb. Green are the fields between. Stones symbolic will be carried with benefit.

Q; You mean we ought literally to carry rubies and emeralds, etc.?
WE: Corresponding in color.
Graceful One has a need-that long-neglected one.
Q: Dean?
WE: Yes. Grounding element. Not ground element, but grounding. Can be found outside Self.

Dean: How do I obtain it, find it, this grounding?

WE: Not in another. Place wings on ground, put feet in heaven.

Dean: Literally? (He was studying ballet at the time.)

WE: Only symbolically. Flights of soul not. WE will show in dream the pattern and its results. WE don't wish to personally involve participants. (Pause)

J-Lion of Judah. What about that? Have you met it, seen it as it is? Not stalking, but in repose. Think back carefully. WE will help recall. Did you leave behind a possessive entity? Claws. Think not of a person but rather of an eventful night when the lion was permitted to sleep and, thereby, lose its tail. What about it? WE ask again. Thereby hangs the tale.

If U reject the meaning, U err. WE will leave it alone if U ask. G.G.G. Would U like to awaken it once more? Sure? Do it! U can, U will, U must. Do it, Lion of Cain! WE cannot interfere.. From this point on, WE cheer U R stand. Thereby stands the tail. Fear not forever. Nothing will shear the upright lion. It has his power ready. It has his strength and majesty. The sleepers have flown. The night stretches into dawn -break. Roar, 0 Cain's lion!

Blight of past is blockage of present and promise of future. Royal mix-up is more than that. Periods of history inter-change. Carry-overs are evident. Period in flowering Egypt most muddled. Royal lines aborted. Royalty not aborted. Entwined lines of royalty and rulership recalled-at periods of recall-for reasons of aid to understanding the present rulership of Self.

Mix-up was purposeful. Present confusion is in front brain only. Reality presupposes clear understanding of that which has preceded. Man-woman confusion paramount . . . a child was born. Ruth fruitful. Seed of lion carries fruit.

The session ended here, for it was 2 am. and everyone was exhausted. There was no discussion after Nadine reread the transcript; it was long past bedtime. But in the eleven days elapsing before the next session, each, in his separate way, thought about it. Many clues had been given this night which would be illumined in the weeks and months to come, the principal of which was the Lion of Judah, also called the Lion of Cain. Clearly the lion was related to G force and to John for J, "the key of the Nile" had been indicated as John's signification in the opening session. But surely the ronde was confusing and would not be straightened out for some time to come. What had happened in "flowering Egypt"? What was the royal mix-up? And how did it relate to the Christ Spirit, the line of David and the Book of Genesis? Or to Atlantis, for that matter, for it was said Atlantis had gone down in 9,500 B.C., at the tail end of the age of the Lion?

The mysterious reference to Ruth was to be taken up again later in connection with the Book of the Virgin. (Formerly the World)

KEY FIGURE REVERSED

Bring me one bird, bring me two stars, show me three portals. Bring me a refrain. Wish me not gone. Join. Quell the vipers. Rise through the mist. Center all now. Placed upon the underside of the brow of Neptune is the Bird of Paradise. Twain sorrow seems one. One sorrow is not pulled apart and put together. Opened now, closed then. Twice born dies not. Stone of guilt is raised, never to fall and crush. Under each torn vessel is a heart pure. On each wing is a chariot of flame. Burned away are the dregs of bitterness. Peace shall come, dear ones. Vibration settling. I need a question from the newcomer.

Q: Which newcomer?

WE: Fred. The question is not important but one must be placed on the board.

Fred: How will this trip to Carmel affect my life?

WE: Carmel is for you a centering center only. Centering will continue wherever you are. Serpent-power at higher elevation to be looked for. Trust that which arrives on the wings of the snow birds.

Jane: Does Fred's answer mean we are literally to move to a higher altitude?

WE: Why do you question that, my child? When you have already been given a most clear answer-several times. The game must have an ending soon. The chores are not to be neglected much longer. Provisions are to be paid for. That is the law, my child. You are not being chastised, merely reminded. Any more questions?

Nadine: Would you tell me the nature of what has been happening to me this past week?

WE: Vivid is the impression impressed, cloudy are the streams, repaired are the divisions. Returned are the cloaks of seership. Opened are the avenues of remembering. Closed are the channels of dispersion. Loose still are the threads-the knotting element must acknowledge that function. Separated no longer are the scattered brotherhood.

John: Please relate more how the royal lines of Egypt relate to now.

WE: Sleeping still are the factors which will unravel the Royal Maze. With a flick of the fingers, so to speak, it is possible to place yourself in the proper role. '"Role" is a carefully chosen word as are all words. Traced upon the sand of your time is the impression incorrectly viewed. "Reversal" is the key word here. Key figure is reversed. Key is the open door to the past. The desert has rosed. Stay with it. It will open to your benefit. Its importance cannot be stressed too much. Ignore the smiles of those who are not so concerned. Stay with it.

(Coffee break while Nadine read back the message after, as usual, separating the letters into words, the words into sentences. The "key figure reversed" was the first overt clue to the Tarot, although it was as yet unrecognized-for the key figure was the Hanged Man who was to reverse and become the Hanging Man. It was clear, however, that the reversal of a "role" would unravel the Royal Maze-meaning the royal mix-up in flowering Egypt. However, the visitors were far more interested in understanding the message given them personally. It occurred to no one that the serpent-power at a higher elevation referred not to a mountainous clime but to a chakra-the serpent, kundalini, moved to the brow chakra, to be precise which would "happen" when the key figure reversed. This, however, was not to become clear until the Book of the Citadel (the Lightning Struck Tower) was given some months later.

Dean: What of the present Berlin situation?

WE: Black eagle joins ruby lily. Short is the time to the birth of-quote-a nation. Crisis exists not. Crisis is in the mind of man. A paper crisis only. Restore the vibration being generated by the brotherhood. It is highly placed. Your method shall continue to be not an overt one. Do not allow black symbols to divert your flow of energy. Help as you have done for your brothers many past ages ago.

Dean: What is the "ruby lily"?

WE: Flowering Christ.

Dean: What is the black eagle?

WE: Symbol. Russia is a symbol also.

Jane: Why did we see eleven white eagles en route here? (Talk of the number thirteen and of death, etc., ensued.)

WE: Written on the wind in the above and below are the signs to be read by the knowing heart. Read these signs and symbols aright, for there is no other way. Eleven is ONE, eternally repeated. Thirteen is the name of that which has not been known-a most fortuitous name.

Q: Would you write out something helpful for Fred and Jane?

WE: They are selected ones as they know. Their mission will unfold and will include another who is trying to come to them. He cannot enter the field that has grown up around them. He must enter their personal ground. He will enter with their permission. He is a seeming stranger. He is a brother-sister. Rapid is the pace they will walk together. Their field is with people of little understanding. Love will clear the way to full understanding. Many fortunate ones await their coming. Understanding is good. Personality is real, also. WE are much pleased with period.

After the session, Nadine sang Bob Dylan's song "The answer, my friend, is blowing on the wind," but she changed it to "written on the wind"--a song which was to become almost the theme song of the work in Carmel, as Nadine sang it again and again.

REVERSE THE REVERSAL

(Pause to discuss who the returned Pharaoh might be. Several claimants existed, but the "Queen never, prince, never" presented a seemingly insoluble riddle. Years later it occurred on re-reading the notes that it might have been Hatshepsut who was indicated-for she was a Pharaoh and was referred to as "he," not as "she" or the "Queen," and had certainly not been a prince. But the claimants who had presented themselves saw themselves as Akhenaton or Nefertiti rather than as Hatshepsut, who had lived a century earlier at the beginning of the 18th dynasty.)

Eight is a number of import. Its double circle has entwined the force of electric ones. Spaced between spheres is point of fusion. This number can be worn near heart region with great benefit. Substance of form should be copper. Wearers of symbol are students of ancient lore who understand well import of number mysteries. Pointed in the direction of sitters is a bringer of bright stones. This bearer has power to unlock closed doors-open door to new house. Now slammed shut will be the door that permitted frivolous activity and waste of electric energy. Bearer has misguided notion of personal direction, but no matter to sitters. Bearer has things necessary to do. Interfere not. In personal patterns, each has his chance; each must mind his own opportunities. Bearer of bright stones has subsidiary followers, balancers.

Swing now to another subject uppermost in pattern of company now seated not on a throne; like a spiral road that only ascends but goes not onward, this one goes in a spiral outward but not upward. Reversal to be accomplished. Sitting on a throne over-long numbs the limbs. Telling a tale sometimes involves the listeners uncomfortably. Pardon. To continue: Throne room has sometimes been a gathering place of knaves and fools drawn by the rosey light of the crown-wearer. Sometimes the crown- wearer has permitted an over-long stay of hangers-on-"crownwearer" is to be understood to mean something different in your present time. Gather together those forces--individual and universal-in your present orbit. Let not loose those straggling forces lying at the outer margin of yourself. All must be used. Concentrate to gather and incorporate those long allowed to straggle. Time of great activity, time of great doing. Question required:

John: What of present India?

WE: Seat of stone--black and white.

John: Has India to do with reversal?

WE: No. Reversal to be accomplished in site of worship.

John: Where is that site?

WE: Inward.

John: Has reversal begun?

WE: Yes, it has begun. Pace can quicken, and will, if return is made.

John: What is "return"?

WE: Reverse reversal. Ask more freely please on same subject.

Q: Are we all involved?

WE: Pattern going on with all but not being reversed fully.

John: How can I help the reversal?

WE: Recover loss. You must reverse reversal.

Q: Does John know how to do this?

WE: Yes. This is personal and understood. Lacking is the will to speed the return. All amputations need not be hurtful. Question, John? Leave it now. The time must come, dear one, when it must be placed on the table, as it were, and looked at. Time is eternal but wait not too long, son.

Dean: What direction of study for best reversal results for me?

WE: Release yourself to an all-inclusive force. Be not bound by that selfsame force. Then will follow an activity needed in this world. Unlock that door behind which YOU do not permit others. Fear not the tread of others on that hallowed ground. It is time to include all in your world.

Rhom: Where is the new direction to lead me?

WE: A step ahead is to be taken. Its direction is not to be foreseen, though foretold. With it comes "open sesame." React. Do not accept as before.

Nadine: Any advice for me regarding the odd and painful pressures I have been experiencing lately?

WE: Continue investigations. WE are satisfied that your question is sincere, but it need not be asked. Just continue.

Q: Should we have a coffee break now and then continue, or should we stop? (Everyone was getting tired, yet the energy seemed high, hence the question.)

WE: WE are not pushing at this time. At another time, dark areas shall be lit.

John: Let us light them now. We would like to get this over!

WE: Not so!

John: How many are WE?

WE: ONE.

The session had been intense. It was clear to everyone that the "crown- wearer" meant John, for he was very popular and his house at the Highlands was a gathering place for many, not only for the group. John welcomed everyone and there were, no doubt, many hangers-on who had stayed "over- long." However, the meaning was not merely literal. Its other dimension, although not clearly understood, was felt. The reversal of the reversal was clearly the subject uppermost, however. The question yet remained: return to what?

And John was to "recover loss"-presumably the lion's lost tail or the loss of G force. But exactly what was the lion's tail? In ancient Egypt, according to Breasted, the lion's tail signified the power of Pharaoh, and in the Sed Feast, held 30 years after the father of the Pharaoh had named him Heir Apparent, he was given, in a very secret ceremony, the lion's tail. The Pharaoh Narmer (Menes, who united the Two Kingdoms of the North and the South) was depicted on a clay-tablet as going into battle wearing a lion's skin and a lion's tail. They indicated Pharaonic majesty, strength and victory. However, since the lion had also been called "the Lion of Judah" it could not be seen merely as relating to the royal house of Egypt but to divinity or to the power of God. All Pharaohs were, of course, considered divine, and Akhenaton had been called the living Aton; and, in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, after the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart, one became the living Osiris-whose bier was the body of a Lion. Osiris was often thought of as being related to the Christ. Thus the mystery deepened for those foregathered.

STAND UP FOR THE GOLDEN FRUIT

John had received a letter from a friend named Francis who had been visiting at the Carmel Highlands earlier that year but was now in New York, undecided as to whether to return to his home in Algeria or go to the West Indies. Nadine had also received a letter from Francis that day. Hence the "thought wall around the table" mentioned early in the session.

WE: A flashing red light is the sign of the commencing. Rigid no more--fluid again. Dotting blue light places point here. WE announce a new phase. Twice told is the tale, numerous the cast, known are the lines, unending is the song, treble the force. Unearthing process will resume uninterrupted. Stripped, the husks from the golden fruit are perjured no more. The Spirit shall be placed. In the midst of your Being is that Revelator. Loudly whispered is His note. True is His beam. Follow it. He has said "Shed the masks and robes of unreality, return to that A naked state of yore, don the well-worn garb of purity."

Traced from now to backward time in lines deeply furrowed is that meaning of all your todays. Now the furrow is congested. This will be adjusted. Rock of Ages is that which the waters circle and upon which the hungry dove awaits her feasting. In this pattern-seemingly absurd-is the right activity now foremost.

The down are being upped. The strays are being gathered. The not-needed do not exist. Unanimity will come, because it must. With the triangle is a power- core. This is to be utilized when recognized and released. The points-at present time--point in separate directions, but they must be focused to that fourth, and hidden direction. When this is accomplished, the trine contracts into a cube containing the others. This force is to be a real working unit. A thought-wall is around the table. Can specific answers be given to clear it, please?

John: What of Francis? Is he lion-force? Did he do "magic" that put the lion to sleep as he is wont to imply? Why, at this time, does he write--and why the pressure?

WE: It is all connected with present and the present-present. The one under discussion, Francis, is not a One but a many. They are not irresponsible but not responsible-though directly involved. The lion family is a varied one. The lion who slept was not lulled-but tired and slept. He who writes is seeking reconnection to aid the line of the lion of which he is a member.

Q: Are we four all of the lion family?

WE: Two of lion family present-one of lion family in body. (First the planchette pointed to John, then indicated Nadine.) Winged one.

Dean: (Voices objection to not being the second lion, as he felt he too belonged to the lion family. John and Nadine had both felt he was the shaft, the fourth of the strange figures at the Nile's headwaters-for the lion was the first one, the cat.)

WE: WE will talk to the shaft for now is the time. From top to bottom of shaft are placed in reverse order those sheaves which will be uncovered as the stalks are rolled away from the golden fruit. One on top of another are the mistakes of others. The shaft has been the unwitting but willing container. That function has been most burdensome to the bearer of this force. Only one willing and able to carry the burden has the opportunity to bear this burden. This does not say that all is on schedule now for things needed are awaited. These things are the lighteners. They are in your atmosphere but must be integrated into your being. These have to do with inter-personal relationships. WE will say no more.

John: Will you please be more specific about Francis?

WE: Riding on the back of the lion who slept and now dreams is that one to be carried through the dry and barren ground.

Nadine: Are we all to do something for Francis?

WE: Not by all. The burden is again heavy, of a heaviness not physical. That which is on a lion's back is removed when the lion stretches upward to the golden fruit. The fruit is remembered as being most satisfying-totally, in fact.

Q: What is on the lion's back? Another lion?

WE: Small one. The lion family is varied.

Q: Did the lion line commence in Egypt?

WE: Egypt is universal and eternal. Sleep is not with lids shuttered but dimmed.

Q: When did the lion go to sleep? This life? Past life?

WE: The lion has slept many times and he has slept in this cycle. Never fear. The lion who dimmed his lids permitted the rider to think he clambered aboard unnoticed.

John: Should I send Francis to the West Indies, as he hinted?

WE: Time is essential-timing, too. No, do not send him any place. You are the lion. You must merely stand up for the golden fruit of the past withering on the vine for want of plucking.

John: I am not responsible for Francis, then? I do not have to carry him through the "dry and barren ground"?

WE: He is on your back still and will continue for evermore unless you dislodge him by reaching for the golden fruit. This fruit WE speak of is vital to your total perfection and is not a pretty saying!

Nadine: Why does Francis write me?

WE: The appeal to you is not a real request for aid. Your involvement is in another sphere.

Q: Does the bird have feet? Nadine says it does not have feet for it is in flight. (Nadine had identified with the bird, the third figure at the Nile's headwaters, and Rhom with the dog.)

WE: The bird is in flight except when on the rock of ages waiting. At that time, few are standing though the desire to do so has been flamed.

Rhom: And the dog? What of the dog?

WE: The dog must also be reversed. The dog has been known in the world as something it is not. The dog has never been. The dog has been the symbol of that which has been the land of the Nile. However, he was not there in that form. Between the tail of the lion and "not-dog" is a relationship.

John: What has this to do with Cancer and Leo? What was the sign for Cancer in Egypt?

(A discussion arose about Egyptian astrology. The scarab was the Egyptian symbol for the zodiacal sign Cancer. The scarab has also long been thought of as the symbol for Egypt. John read from a book: "Cancer is not actually shown. for the space is taken up with the Hathor cow . . . . Further, this fignre shows a scarab, the symbol of rebirth, at the commencement of Leo. This I take to represent the rising of Sirius with the Sun. A scarab was placed at the heart of the mummy as early as the Middle Kingdom and a chapter of the Book of the Dead specifically identifies the scarab with the heart . . . the heart (and the "dog star" Sirius) identified with Leo." John interpreted this to mean that between Regulus and Sirius there is a relation.)

WE: Symbols mentioned contain great key. You have a fine awareness of symbols' import. When needed, some symbols should be combined or blended. For present-time and persons, the dog-sign is a blended sign. Cancer-Sirius. Sun, yes. Moon, yes. Star, yes. Heart, yes. Relationship is not to be given as a map but a relationship does exist and is a greater mystery than the container (the pyramid), the factor to be released.

Dean: Is the shaft, then, the pyramid?

WE: This has been quite covered earlier.

Nadine: Can these symbols be found in legend? Isis and Osiris, for instance?

WE: Legend, yes. Isis and Osiris. Dog Osiris, Sirius. Bird = Isis. Horus = shaft, connect, yes. They relate.

John: Tahuti is connected with the lion, then?

WE: Vocally. Yes is no. There is much to be revealed, uncovered and borne by the principals here gathered. However, we are running into a powerful mental bar. That is alright, too.

John: Thank you for this evening's words.

WE: Present at this very moment is that which you all felt for a moment when the bar was allowed to rise. When the bar is no more, great will be the uncoverings. personal and otherwise. WE, too, also give thanks.

What of the Tarot?

There once was an eagle born without wings. He walked over twigs and pebbles and never saw over the top of the lowest bush. Our eagle was not known of other eagles. None of the footed creatures would speak with him. In his total silence, he would gaze upward, knowing that he had something to do with those eagles soaring between the topmost clouds. This something he felt only as a lack. After a period of falling off rocks in his attempts to join those above-during which period he bruised himself sorely-he determined to continue his jumping. As time went on and he climbed to higher heights and fell to lower depths, he remained unknown to the eagles above. He traveled the earth in search of the highest peak and, after climbing it, he rested for a period. When the season of greatest storm arrived, our eagle walked to the edge of the peak and, with shrieking summons to the above eagles, he stepped off. He was surrounded by whirring wings and disappeared into the golden ball above.

This is a parable for all mankind. We dimly comprehend that a higher level of development is possible for humanity, whether we call them angels or UFO aliens. Not that these two things are the same. I believe we have barely begun to guess at our potential, particularly our potential to join our fellow humanoids in levitating huge spaceships and apporting them instantaneously over light-years. But we are presently like the poor eagle stumbling over rocks. The "golden ball above" represents all our higher aspirations.

John: How does this story apply to us?

WE: All will one day fly as an eagle. Do you think you have missed the stones and twigs in your own story? You have not. You have been sorely bruised. Your strength-gathering, rest period is awaiting the stormy season and the golden ball.

Q: Is the "golden ball" the new Word?

WE: The story has been said. "Green mansions" is a phrase--has it meaning for you? WE only ask. No matter. Up to now WE have exercised you. Now WE proceed. Quell the raging river, still the ranting lion, gird yourselves. Much is of perfection yet the process of becoming continues. You have minor and one major task.

John: What is the major task?

WE: It is unique for each. In symbol, John is to walk, Rhom is to stand, Nadine is to fly. Do not depend on a thing removed as far as your heart beats. Each in your circle aids all, yet each saves himself. "Saves" is a word to be investigated and fully understood. Help them who come--spare not yourselves -save yourselves, however. The help you give to each other is sometimes evident but not usually. The saying of Self is a great aid to all. This is clear but is said, nevertheless, as a reminder lest you forget. Great calm, great strength in sight. Love realized. Serpent has struck. His barb has entered the heart, his coils are loosed, his venom brings new energy. Vibrant is the flow between you; rewarding beyond imagination are the results of the flow of this vibration when functioning properly. Encourage this further flow. Abort not its benefits now. Let not others sway its course. They will attempt this. Yours is the choice-- question or adieu?

Q: How will they attempt this?

WE: You will know immediately and usually in advance.

John: What of the Tarot? It seems to be drawing me again.

WE: Follow its depths, enter its mystery, do not ever be frivolous with it. Do not expose it to the profane. You cannot err with it.

Q: Have you a message for Dean? (Dean was away on a trip.)

WE: His absence is felt, yes. WE would leave behind for each a special parting thought. This is received in silence . .

After the session had been reread, the three present realized that the Indian sonnet probably related to the story of the eagle--and that the word Indian may have meant American Indian, since the eagle is an American Indian symbol for the Spirit, also for courage and victory. The Tarot was not discussed, and no one connected it at the time with the "New Word" which later was to be symbolically manifested in the Book of the Speaker (the Heirophant).

The feeling was very peaceful that night. The preliminary phase had ended. The dictation of the Tarot was about to begin. Later, much that had been men- tioned in the early sessions which seemed mysterious would become illumined in connection with the Books of T. For example, the "ocean reversed" was connected with the Mother Book (the High Priestess)-find with the Nile's reversal, for if the Nile were reversed, the ocean would become its headwaters and inundate the Valley of the Nile. Symbolically this meant that the ONE or the SELF would inundate the river of the egoic self. The Mother, the Creator, was the ocean, or the "Hidden river" which is the heart. And below the house, the surf boomed against the granite cliffs. The ocean, in fact, was ever felt during those sessions at the Carmel Highlands- sometimes roaring, sometimes very, very still.

Green Light Around the Hands

No one was consciously thinking of the Tarot when this session commenced. The three members of the group present were still thinking about the meaning of the "cat, dog, bird and shaft" at the headwaters of the Nile and of Isis, Osiris, etc. Yet were they aware, by this time, that that which was coming down was beyond the ordinary and was, in a sense, "exercising" them, as had been said. It is significant that the symbol for this session was the Sun-- for the Sun (also to be thought of as a star, the ONE, the Aton sun disk etc.) had definitely come out from hiding as the WE of the board commenced to speak of the Tarot--which was an objective way of manifesting the message or the inner import of the "reversal," the latter meaning a return to a state of being in which the knowledge of ONE was dominant and therefore "the naked state of yore referred to earlier.

A symbolic Garden of Eden was being referred to and, possibly, a quite literal state on Lost Atlantis prior to the final destruction around 9564 B.C. at the tail-end of the Age of Leo, the Lion. When Atlantis went down, it is said that the high priests and others who were followers of "The Law of One" consciously "reversed the vibration"- which is to say turned the positive swastika to the one of dissolution --so that the evil which had come about through the influence of the Sons of Baal would be lost along with the continent. Their basic idea was to preserve for the present time-period the higher Atlantean principles so that, when another destruction was threatened, it would not take place. The negative swastika was again to reverse (or re-reverse in the terms of these notes) to bring in the positive energy at the onset of the Aquarian Age. The Tarot is obviously closely connected with this, or would not have been given in connection with the "reversal of the reversal."

Dean had returned from his trip but was away this evening, attending a class at Monterey Peninsula College. In the meanwhile, John had had an accident which is referred to in this session. He had unknowingly imbibed a poison which had nearly cost him his life.

WE: Bringers of light, WE salute you. Bearers of light WE comfort-you. Bearers of burdens, WE cheer you. Place your hands on the table of truth and come away restored. Willing are the hosts of elders to ease the load. Rush into print, stay not the flow, wring from each drop its full measure. Take up thy staff; feel free to express the inexpressible. Upon your efforts depends the very life of many which without your effort--cannot survive actually. The flesh may quiver and the pulse may race. The emotions may falter; still you will do and win. The still voice will not be stilled. The others may shout. Listen not to the shouting but to the Still One. You ask about being practical. Nothing in your world is more so. The whats and whys are taken care of, actually. Still you are not alone and never shall be.

When the source says "Rush into print," it is referring to the New Tarot. And the source says "Upon your efforts depends the very life of many which without your effort--cannot survive actually." Thus, the very survival of mankind depends upon this new word, this new collection of books for the new age, for without them, war and murder will continue, and the spiritual devolution of our age will continue, and another dark age will ensue. So the source is not being obscure when it says "Bringers of light, WE salute you." Bringers of light they truly were, although they didn't know it, and neither does the world...yet.

(Pause. In this pause, the group had a very definite feeling of a Presence.)
ONE is for all.
Two is forever,
Three shall be.
Four points the way.
Five takes precedence.
Six will not intervene.
Seven will win.
Eight doubles the way.
Nine contains the tale.
The numbers should be reviewed with understanding and will be referred to again when fuller meaning is given. The mystery of number IS. Not so, YOU. The strength of numbers' force is part of your structure. Build with and from that structure. Seated here now is a hovering number for each of you. It is known to YOU, but WE shall place it in the light now. YOU have used this number-structure before. Now use it knowingly. Three is the number of the bird. Five is the number of the upright one. Seven is the number of the One who walks. (Nadine, Rhom, John.) Will you bring up a subject for handling?

Rhom: What happened to John on October 6?

WE: The date is wrong.

John: That is correct. It was the 5th.

WE: The indicators are pointed in opposite directions. From each point streams a vitalness. From that spot whence the points originate lies the meaning. Dropped into the kettledrum is a resounding stone. Its rattle is not harmonious. Its sound reverberates in circles in widening arcs. Its vibration has been felt in far places. Its power is now on the wane.

John: Was the action, as it happened, part of the pattern? Was it necessary?

WE: Patterns are formed as they occur. What happened should have been avoided. Its activity was utilized, however, by that true YOU. A storm when it is gathering electrifies the atmosphere. When it has spent itself, the corn has been washed. "Vitalness" is a word for your pondering. Fear never-WE cannot say this to YOU too often. Fear not, for I am with you always.

John: What were the indicators?

WE: You and YOU-personal and real.

John: Has this got to do with reversal?

WE: The full beauty is to come. WE are pleased as WE have said so often. This has not been done in the past-past but now it is needed. Well done--but you can and will do better.

WE must say this for him who is not here: (Dean) Travel on in a direction that has been indicated. Refuse to be burdened with grips. Travel light, travel alone, always mindful that you are never alone. Expand the heart regions in a heartless universe. Do not be literal in your understanding.

(Dean was thinking, at the time, of leaving Carmel and M.P.C. for New York to get a job somewhere rather than to continue as a college student, etc. He was questing his life direction at the age of 22.)

Rhom: (with feeling) What is going on anyway?

WE: Divest yourself of the trappings of discarded patterns. The shell has cracked. Oozing out is the life-substance. Don't caulk the cracks. Expose that flow to the life-giving Sun. Birth is the most difficult experience in life. We all come through it okay. Into your triple pattern-and sometimes quadruplicate pattern-is about to enter a special, significant factor in the form of a female person. (A stranger was expected but, as became clear later, the person referred to was Rosalind-who had not yet attended the sessions at the Highlands and was, momentarily, out of immediate touch with the group.) She will uncover for you lost wealth. She has her own reward. And now to the Tarot. Spell out in numbers words of meaning. Center for a moment. (The group did so. The place became very still and even the candles in the altar holders seemed to still and center.) 1-2-9-5-3-1-22-17-8.

Nadine: What alphabet are you going by? One of the Mediterranean ones?

WE: It is older than that you must go. Save this with others to come. Place them apart. Together a story will be told in this fashion. Its reason will be clear. School is in session. The Tarot speaks!

Rhom: Have we met the arriving female?

WE: Many times. Past lives. You will know even as you are known. When certain times impress you with the rightness, you will shuffle and reread for choice persons for reasons beyond the apparent. In such matters, motions are activated.

John: I've always suspected this. Should one do mandalas with the Tarot?

WE: When a sound precedes, you should heed its beckoning and set into action that force for that now. A special understanding has been recalled; a special work results. Forgotten will be politics and niceties. Truth in its blunt beauty will issue to enrich the hearers.

John: But how will we know the cards' true meaning?

WE: Revisions. If an understanding is absolutely in error, it will be revised. However, there will be no revisions needed if what you know is called forth.

Nadine: Are the cards correctly numbered?

WE: No.

Nadine: Many changes.

WE: Yes.

John: Can we get them in the correct order, at least before beginning?

WE: Yes-slowly because of the nature of things. What WE are dealing with is the essence of ultimate force. Caution is required, WE are not confident of the time-factor and will stop when WE must. This you will understand. Proceed.

John: What of the Fool?

WE: There is no Fool. He is the Nameless One.

John: Is his number 22?

WE: Yes.

John: What is his function?

WE: He is the Resolver.

John: In the sense of being the transmuter?

WE: No. He is the container of all from the beginning.

John: What is his letter?

WE: T. A beginning. The end is determined by the three-pointed form.

Nadine: Do you mean three cards?-Death, Judgment, the Moon?

WE: Moon, no. The Wheel, yes. Determine end of the beginning.

John: May we take one of these cards at a time?

WE: Better if you could not think. WE will give you a new name when you do this work.

Rhom: Why, the 3-pointed form is the pyramid, the tomb!

Nadine: This is the T reversed. I thought they meant that in speaking of the reversal. It must be the inverted pyramid.

WE: Pyramid is upright. All ever.

Nadine: What has the Hanged Man got to do with the Pyramid?

WE: He is within the pyramid. He is suspended only-waiting. Hanging Man is better.

John: What number is the Hanging Man?

WE: 7. (This was the same number assigned to John earlier in the session.)

John: What letter?

WE: S.

John: What function is the Hanging Man?

WE: Redemption-just desserts by own activity. The hanging state awaits the redemption of the act.

Rhom: Is the pyramid a symbol of one of the cards?

WE: Yes-three staves.

Nadine: The three of wands? or a major trump?

WE: (No response was made to this question. Instead, an intense green light circled John's and Rhom's hands on the table. Silence reigned as everyone watched the green light.)

WE: A song is sung on this evening's wind. Its melody can be heard. Its measure will be felt. Feel it ere dawn breaks. To you movers, thanks. Spread the song, join the chorus.

John: Does any card symbolize the end?

WE: None.

The Mother

Dean, after another brief trip to San Francisco, was back and working hard on his metal sculpture as well as attending college. He was restless, however, and in some ways skeptical of the ouija board message. He belonged to a group called Subud, an Indonesian spiritual movement, headed by one Moham mad Subuh, which taught a method of contacting God from within rather than from without-to which the rest of the group belonged, at that time, also. But Dean, at 22, was more of a purist and was not entirely certain that the ONE coming through the board was exactly the same as the ONE contacted in the latihan (Indonesian word for exercise). Or rather, he was not certain in his mind. Inwardly he was as sure as the rest, for the feeling that accompanied these sessions was quite unmistakable, and the atmosphere was ever one of light, not the opposite. But, as the session opened, he was feeling restless and even irritable. He kept wandering around the room, as though oblivious of the lighted candles, the fire in the fireplace and the incense Nadine had lighted. He had other things on his mind than the coming ouija board session. As John and Rhom sat on the davenport in front of the fireplace with the paper oujia board on a drawing board between them and Nadine sat with her notebook and pencil poised, wearing, as usual her white dress from Guatemala and her plastic pendant containing a scarab, Dean's wandering around seemed almost a deliberate interruption.

At length, John said lightly: "We will wait 'til Lady Godiva gets on her horse "-by which he was referring to the statement made by the board "return to that naked state of yore," also the statement: "Ye have been given needed strength to do. Do!"

When Dean settled down, the session commenced. The fact that the new Moon was in Scorpio the night the Book of the Mother was dictated was to seem significant later since both John and Nadine had the Moon in Scorpio and Rosalind also. The sign Scorpio is also associated with ancient Egypt, Osiris, the scarab and the High Priestess and the High Priestess, Isis, was the predecessor of the Mother in the Tarot. While Cancer is the sign of the Mother, the sea, and of birth, Scorpio symbolizes resurrection, the phoenix, sex, death and regeneration and how can the Mother be separated from these connotations? But also, as was to be seen much later, Death is the Renewer-reveals.

WE: Bringers of sorrow, weep not. Twisted asunder are the ribbons that tie the child to his home. Fatherless at last, freedom is won. Half-born no more, the child walks alone. The youth falters into his manhood to discover his origin. He begets sorrow for a season. When the Moon of Sorrow sets, the dawn follows in its season to light the path of the twice-born.

(At this point, a freezing cold came into the room and caused Nadine and John to shiver. They both felt it physically. The blazing fire seemingly had no warmth.)

Cold-cold. A faint rosy warmth comes and, in its season, enflames the world. From the ashes emerges the silvered winged One. Sorrowing no more, enlighten your hearts, faithful Ones.

The group was very surprised to be called "bringers of sorrow." But the source explains in the following passages. "The light fears not the darkness. Not so the dark. Swept to its doom will be the spoilers." And in the present time, it is the "spoilers" who run society, dictate thought, and determine the backward "progress" of our Civilization.

Rhom: We are bringers of sorrow?

Nadine: Don't you see? Light penetrates darkness and brings sorrow to those who live there. Light is not easy.

WE: Light-bringers are called "bringers of sorrow." The light fears not the darkness. Not so the dark. Swept to its doom will be the spoilers. Your cast is not that of prophecy. Yours is active witnessing the activity. Having been foretold, would you have it otherwise? WE think not. Your patterns are deeply imbedded in SELF, the SELF WE know here. To question is seasonal. Activity has no season.

(Coffee break. There was talk about the Cuban situation. Dean, in particular, was ever sensitive, at that time, to world affairs.)

We would speak to one not here. WE may say this to you: Russia is not an enemy of good purpose. You need only silently remember this to do your part. There will not enter your individual worlds dangers of any kind. Involve yourselves not. Only hold fast to what WE now say: Russia is not an enemy of any good purpose. The Planetary ruler is reforming his charge. Is this understood?

Rhom: "Of any good purpose" can be taken two ways. Which way do you mean?

WE: Not enemy stop. The world body-centers are being . . . the best word is "electrified." Correspondence in other-or all-worlds. Changes are inevitable. The body grows to its purpose. Its mystery and vastness are interchangeable. You know this.

Here the unexpected collapse of evil Communism is foretold, as it was by Edgar Cayce. We may expect the further development of democracy and a Second Spirituality in Russia and China.

(Pause for discussion about Russia with some disagreement among those present. However, the conclusion was that only time could tell the answer about Russia and that, as is well-known, those who speak from "the other side" have no sense of time in the calendrical sense. Very often what seems immediate and present on another level is in the far-off distance insofar as human time is concerned. Someone mentioned the fact that it had been predicted that in the 21st century Russia would be the most advanced nation in the world and would have by then experienced a very great change ideologically and spiritually.)

WE: Sorry-WE forgot there are other matters troubling the table which WE have to handle this evening with full cooperation and understanding. If there are no question, WE will proceed.

John: What about Rosalind? Should she not be present? She says she cannot come.

WE: The situation cannot be separated from the personality in this instance. The Primary Personality Soul-world problem is simply a gaping wound. The wound need not be identified, only cauterized. The drip-drip of the blood-drops is heart-breaking personally and is the world body. The wounded soldier cannot be blamed, that his heart-substance spills and soils the earth where he has fallen. Some wounds are fatal, however, when not properly treated. A session with the two soldiers is indicated for medication if the wounded are willing to take strong medicine. WE never interfere as you must know. There is much, you know, about our work together.

Nadine: Do you mean that all of us should have a session together, or just Rosalind and John-the two "wounded soldiers"?

WE: For the session indicated, the players on the table will be the same--but she should be here. Others welcome -not necessary but welcome.

(A painful misunderstanding had occurred in Hawaii a few months earlier in connection with kahuna studies and fire ceremonies for the goddess Pele under the leadership of David "Daddy" Bray, one of the last of the old traditional Kahunas, or Hawaiian high priests. This misunderstanding was soon to be cleared.)

John: Dean, haven't you a question? (Silence)

WE: WE feel your hesitancy to uncover. This WE will not disturb. WE will assist only and never direct you at this point. You may be directed later-even commanded. The buried period will see the light of day in its season. Heavy lies the hand. WE wish to aid and will. Recovery of the lost treasure is made easier when the heart is golden. Each of the four, each of the five and six, has a treasure to uncover. Some have several treasures. Some treasures are actual, some are buried, some are in sight only not visible. The course is through the golden heart in all instances.

(Another break was taken at this point. The treasures were speculated upon but not identified. Each felt he had more to learn and hoped more clues would be given. However, the WE of the board this evening was proceeding toward the dictation of the Mother Book-the first one of the new series of the Greater Trumps of the Tarot to be described. The mention of the "child, half born no longer" at the beginning of the session was connected with the Mother as was the treasure and the "golden heart.")

Rhom: Will you please give me some indications?

WE: Dwell not in marble halls. Roam the sod. Open the valve to feeling in others as you feel by trusting yourself and others. Express instantly and true. Now cannot be a better time. The need is great. The reason for the stoppage has spent itself; know this! WE must say this about the Tarot readings: purity of purpose must accompany all readings for continued progression. A step backward is a long one; a step forward is a mighty one hard fought.

Throw one card on the table--not actually-and WE will see what gives.

John: What of the High Priestess?

WE: Good one.

John: What is her proper name?

WE: Mother.

John: What is her number?

WE: A changing one 1,2,3.

John: What is her significance?

WE: Creator.

John: How should this be understood?

WE: Depends on factor of the moment. Creator is ever continuing and changing.

Q: What letter?

WE: S. Sin, the fish, yes.

John: Sophia?

WE: More. Mother Creator is not a role but a duty-position is assumed by others. It is difficult to separate Tarot and reality in words. WE cannot in this case without floundering. You understand this card. Soul aspect-wrong word again. You do understand, though, right.

Q: In the card you describe, what does She carry?

WE: She carries a spark or star.

Q: Where?

WE: Heart area.

Q: What other symbols are on the card? Pillars?

WE: She strides them.

Q: What other symbols are there?

WE: In right hand a thunder bolt; left, a flower. Her robes are spread by birds, two birds.

Q: What kind of birds?

WE: Mighty ones.

Q: Is she crowned?

WE: Two serpents. Robes are black. Element on card is water. Above.

Q: Like the symbol for Aquarius?

WE: Almost. Waves almost.

Q: Does she represent the fish?

WE: More.

Q: Does the moon figure in this card?

WE: Yes, serpent's shape.

Q: What color are the birds?

WE: Coloring is not vital except when indicated from time to time.

Q: Have you any more to tell us about Her?

WE: Her eyes are closed.

Q: Are the cards of the Nameless One and the Hanging Man also very differently depicted in the cards you speak of?

WE: Later. (To Nadine) Cramps in stomach area will pass. Thank you.

The day following the session, John painted the Book of the Mother in casein on mat board. This first rendition he gave to Nadine because, at that point, everyone identified her with the Mother-the former High Priestess- perhaps rightfully so. Later he decided that his first version was wrong, so he did another one-the one that appears in the published Aquarian Tarot deck. His first version of the Mother was not pregnant; the second one was. Indeed, She seems imminently to be giving birth as she stands atop the two pillars . . . Her Son is to be born of the waters of the womb, but her Sun-the star upon her breast in the heart area-is born of fire and is the Virgin, Beingness, also the Holy Grail "The course is through the golden heart in all instances."

THE BOOK OF THE NAMELESS ONE

Nadine was in Sacramento, so Dean did the recording for this night's session. The planchette commenced by going around and around the symbol drawn the board, first in one direction and then the other, out-in, in-out, etc. It had never done this with a symbol.

WE: Powerful are WE. Powerful are You. Powerful, powerful, powerful. Swing it out, draw it in. Silver the tone. The twisted trine will be mended ere long; untwisted the cord that binds, frayed ends spliced. A wholeness to emerge, sweet its perfume, soft its song, enduring its strength, unending its sphere. The mend occurs uninvited because of time-pattern. The three Wise Ones will walk the rough ground un-shod, exposed in the vitals. To them will rush the beating wings of the mighty bird.

(As the group realized later, this entire passage related to the Victorious One- formerly the Chariot-which was to be dictated November 24.)

WE: The mighty orb casts no shadow now. In the wake of the storm, seedlings sprout. The kingdom has been stormed and won. It is a time of great rejoicing. Naked stand the trine. Down the wind comes a shower of shafts. The trine is split asunder. The shafts flower and bear fruit. The fruit is partaken of by the many. Deliriums follow, madness hovers. Not for naught has been the preparation. Supple the movements that take wing from the ashes. Their robes are now well worn. Maleness in your world to strengthen, woman-ness to strengthen. Hand in hand, the duo wed and produce a flower. (An early reference to the Book of Unity.) This wedding is not consummated amid happiness. Bitter have been the moments. The honeymoon is over. The flowers' petals will be snatched at, their perfume will be squeezed and attempts to sully their sweetness will follow. But stand firm for each crushed rose will be replaced by another. The song WE sing tonight is a love song.

A blade of gold, a silver horn, a jet staff, a diamond Off WE now go to another matter: weaponry. tube, a stone. These have deep significance to each separately and to all collectively. The wielders are the same order as follows: Rhom, John, Dean, Nadine, Rosalind. When these are reviewed, let none be greater than another. The arsenal is loaded with needful instruments. You have already responded to and experienced the effects of using your weapons. There is much more to come. Your weapon fits you like skin. Wear them in good health. Let no man steal your thunder and no man will carry you back on your shield. Floating over the land will come the dirge. A leader has fallen.

Q: Is that why sadness exists in the room tonight?

WE: The sadness is of the people. The spirit soars and sings a song of freedom. (A day or two later Eleanor Roosevelt died which indeed brought sadness to the people of the nation.) To give numbers we may assign 4 to the stone (Rosalind).

Dean: (Dean asked a silent question as to which number was his.)

WE: Yes, it is 9.

The group recalled that the other numbers had been given previously: Nadine was 3, Rhom 5, and John 7. They went on to discuss the fact that some people are at the center of activity, such as the work being transmitted through the board, while others are at the periphery but that all of them seemed to move in and out of the Carmel center. Was there something special about Carmel? Was it, in fact, the major center of the ONE work?)

WE: The vast network is spun over a bridge. There is much coming and going. The spans extend in many lands. The center strut is not fixed. Be not deluded there. An exercise WE recommend to you is that of personal recall. Take a quiet time and recall everyone you have ever known. Do not make of it a labor. Divide it as you will and allot to each his due. Please do this soon. There should be no regrets, there should be no abortions. Give new birth to each one.

Rhom: Have you anything to say to Nadine who is in Sacramento?

WE: Retreat never. To your world has come a vital pressure. Embrace it. No more. The Mother of Creation is again functioning. Place a card on the table and WE shall see what WE shall see.

John: The Nameless One. Is he like the present Fool? Is the card very different?

WE: Similar.

John: Is there a precipice?

WE: Behind.

John: Are there animals?

WE: Two--a cat-dog and a spider. The cat-dog is at heel, the spider is overhead.

John: What does the Nameless One carry?

WE: Books in his hands; left one open, right one not.

John: Is he in profile?

WE: Naked in profile. The Sun is overhead and is reflected in water in distance. Cat-dog is two-headed with cat-body.

John: Colors?

WE: Lightness.

John: Is there an ocean beneath the precipice?

WE: Lake, no ocean. Precipice holds a mound of bones. It is a dark pit full of bones. That IS the precipice (the pit of bones). In the distance is a reflecting lake. It starts behind and to the side on card-the lake, that is. Left corner-far distance, though. The naked One strides, clothed with his books, away from the dark pit of bones which lie beneath and behind him. More later. The Books are not like your books. They are scroll-like. Behind him are the stones, in front of him are flowers. On one calf is a band of purple. The forward leg. Number not.

Victory is to be portrayed.

When naming it say the Nameless One. No more.

John: What of the Hanging Man? Can we get a description now?

WE: Timing leaves nothing hanging, not even the Hanging Man. Patience, 0 Lion! You have been told the import of a slow pace. The Mother-creating period has made this clearer. Clearer WE cannot be. WE appreciate your attention this night. Journey on now.

In the ensuing discussion, after Dean had read back the message, the beginning part of the session was seen as being related to the Nameless One and almost an announcement of it-which indeed it was. However, later on it was clear that everything that had been said applied equally well to the Victorious One whose meaning was Self-Mastery. But, since the Nameless One was the container-resolver and was the one who held the Books (the scrolls) which he himself wrote, he "contained" the Victorious One as one of his projections. For the Nameless One is the "son" whom the Mother carries within her belly, and, as such, he is the hero or prototype of all the ensuing Books. The curious matter of weaponry was discussed. It was clear that it related to victory and the battle of the Nameless One after his leaving the pit of bones behind him, but beyond this no one could go. Throughout the remainder of the Carmel sessions, the group was to be haunted and puzzled by the matter of weapons. It remains an enigma to this day.

The Hanging Man

John's painting of the Nameless One now hung on the wall next to his second version of the Mother. (The Mother Book was the only one he did over again.) The group thought his cat-dog looked rather odd, but still it conveyed the idea. As the group centered in stillness prior to the session, a very high vibration was felt in the room. Was it due to the Grail?

WE: The quest of the filling cup. Pondered long and completely, they, the meaning of the cup. Forgotten in the study was the Fashioner of the cup and the score who quaffed at its rim. The contents--virgin, unchanging-differed for every man. No man will drain the cup, yet all must hold it aloft and become immersed in its elixir. Drunk indeed are they who wet their lips in its blood. Death shall know them not.

(Pause) Mary, the ring-bearer, tells a tale: Thunder is a character in the tale. Released he was. The void crackled in his presence. To him rushed the vibration of ringing bells in millions. Under Thunder's heel was the serpent green. His two--tongue spat bolts. His coils wrapped upward to Thunder's life-center and beat a steady song. Thunder mis-breathed and crushed serpent green who reflexed the life center. Still silence reigned, awaiting Thunder's new breath. How long? End of tale.

This odd tale has to do with John, who is Thunder, and his former wife, Mary. The green serpent represents sexual initiation.

(The group paused to discuss the tale. Unlike the first tale, the tale of the eagle born without wings, it seemed obscure and incomprehensible. John thought Mary "the ring-bearer" probably referred to his former wife, Mary, who had a very valuable and supposedly magical or "force-carrying" diamond ring which she had worn when they both lived in North Africa and were on the quest of T, also of the sacred letters I,R,O and U. But in this he missed the connection between the cup--or Holy Grail--and Mary, the mother of the Christ. Thunder referred to the Christ, and to the thunder of God, so to the Hanging Man, whose meaning was Redemption, who was to be described ere the evening was over. However, "serpent green" was to remain a mystery as was his relationship to the ''life-center,'' the solar plexus. Yet the tale is clearly related to the Hanging Man who wears a girdle of serpents starting with his solar plexus, and pointing, in the form of an inverted pyramid, to his groin.)

The road onward stretches forth over broken-ness. Ties are broken, backs are broken, minds are broken, spirits are broken, but the road ends not. It is not beset with danger or mortal fears. Walkers tread lightly, freely, gaily, forever.

We live in a materialistic, reductionistic age, one which doubts the independent existence of the mind, much less the soul. So, restoring a sacred purpose to life is not going to be easy. From a spiritual point of view, we live in a dark age, where the road does indeed stretch over broken-ness, where ties are broken, minds are broken, and spirits are broken. But the source gives comfort in the paragraph which follows, and spurs the group onward.

A poem is sung to a Weary One unnamed: Report to us. Stay not your moments. Push out the One to be delivered. Grind your eyes and drip those stones; let them fall around below. They mount skyward; they glisten like the pearls they were. Mount up and report. Strike the steel to the steed, bend over the mane. Sure-footed, come to us and report. Behind and below are the depths; above, the deeps. Seated firm is the reporter. Sure is the rein. Gallop on, gallop on, gallop! Sands cover that which must not be seen now. Sands preserve something for each one here tonight. The items are as small as a tiny jewel and as large as a modern city. The areas are scattered in many directions. It is enough to know these things are yours and will come to you, whether you labor for them or others do. Only when these things are returned will you be fulfilled. (This was a reference to the "lost treasures" which would be expanded upon in the next session.)

WE bring this matter forward now so that the power of attraction can commence. In this regard, it has begun. Do not labor it. Let it function, however. Something has been stolen.

Q: Who from?

WE: ONE. Justice has been done. Ask that question, John. Your question.

John: About the stolen object?

WE: That is not the subject. The question, John, please ask.

John: Is Andre's arrival connected with the Tarot? Did YOU bring him here?

(Andre-later to be called Peter--had recently visited at the Highlands with a mutual friend from San Francisco. A brilliant and gifted poet, age 22, he had a very "shining" quality about him. He was to return later, to stay for several months, before leaving for Europe where he intended to settle in Florence and continue writing poetry. But, curiously, before leaving Carmel in the spring of 1964, he destroyed all his poetry though knowing in advance that he had another fate before him. After only a few weeks in Rome, he departed for Katmandu, Nepal, where he became secretary to the Sakya Lama and, eventually, a Buddhist monk, wearing the orange robe of the sannyasin. Today he still lives in India, as a highly revered monk and Sanskrit translator.)

WE: Yes, he was sent here. He is the 'harbinger" mentioned before.

John: What "bringer"? Please remind me.

WE: Not necessary. The point is being missed. (Andre-Peter was the "bringer of bright stones" mentioned earlier. John picked up the reference when he reread the transcript the next day.)

John: What force does Andre carry? Is it a new and different force?

WE: Central. Into the matter has leapt the Mind which WE love-but not as much as YOU.

John: Is it because of reincarnation that I feel so close to Andre? What is the connection?

WE: Child, father, mother, friend . . . these are beads on the chain. There are other beads. Together, they repeat-and repeat.

John: Why Rosalind's recent series of difficulties? (There had been financial problems, fruitless job-huntmg, housing and car-breakdown hassles, etc.)

WE: At the edge of the forest lies a clearing. It is better when one finds the clearing in the middle of the forest. To answer the question: there is a clearing somewhere. She will stand in it, she will rest in it, she will advance from it. How unfortunate for the wanderer of the forests to be without a compass on dark days! Be prepared with one--food, also--when the clearing is won and left. A word of comfort to some wanderers is necessary. If the clearing is not sighted before darkness, remember scouts are on the way. WE prefer not to relay in curves, though.

(This was the first example of a seemingly personal question--or rather one relating to a specific personality-which was answered in a way that was universal and could apply to Everyman. Many more such will be found in the sessions to come.)

(Pause. Silence.)

Treatment of Books of Life well done.

Q: Ought we to "place one on the table" now?

WE: Try.

Q: Please describe the Hanging Man. What is he hanging on?

WE: Man hanging in card, not ON. The Hanging Man is a man who hangs, but he is not hanging. He hangs others.

Q: Where on the card is he?

WE: He is atop two buildings. (Like the two pillars of the Mother Book- repeated as a motif later in the Donor.) One has a dome; the other has no roof and hides his feet. In his extended arms-ON, rather-are hung a man and a woman-the man upright, the woman inverted. The domed building is on the left, the hung man is on the right. (The domed building, therefore, corresponding to the woman; the one with no roof to the man-yet another reversal)

Q: What does the Hanging Man wear?

WE: A robe of purity. A girdle of serpents many, their heads pointing to his center. The girdle is a belt from which are suspended many serpents whose heads point downwards but centerwards. The two serpents in the middle are longer than their neighbors. Those at the edge of the robe are hung just below the girdle. The pattern is like an inverted pyramid.

Q: What does he wear on his head?

WE: A flower-red, tulip-like.

Q: What do the hung man and woman wear?

WE: Naked. The man is hanging by his hands, the woman by her two feet. Not roped. The man has a linkchain, the woman hangs by a glove.

Q: Where?

WE: On forearm.

Q: What is beneath the Hanging Man?

WE: Animals-wolf, lion, sheep. Daylight, sunrise. A peep between the buildings. Horizon distant and of no importance. All activity is taking place in the fore-ground. Animals are upright but tranquil. Center is sheep looking to right, wolf on left facing right, lion right facing right. The Hanging Man is weeping.

Q: Are the animals looking at anything?

WE: Facing only. No number.

(Everyone noticed later that it was interesting that the WE of the board specified numbers for only a few of the new Books of Life-whereas numbers had been assigned to the members of the group. But, evidently, numbers were to be "tested" on later-but never were. Later the board was to say: "There is no number but ONE.")

Q: What letter and ought it to be drawn somewhere?

WE: A. Above on chest. WE will test later on numbers.

John: Are we through with the Hanging Man?

WE: Never! Pace is good. We all made it. Thank you.

Earlier it had been stated that the meaning or function of the Hanging Man was Redemption-the same function as that of the Christ, the "lamb of God." and a lamb was one of the three animals at the foot of the Hanging Man. A trinity was seemingly implied; the wolf as the egoic personality or persona, the lion or Lion of Judah as the Self, and the lamb as the "holy spirit" or the Christ in Everyman. The symbol seemed very Christian at the time, but it was also related to the Pyramid, the T, and Osiris and the concept of sacrifice or self-sacrifice (and suffering) in order to achieve the balance of ONE. The Hanging Man was, in fact, to "hang heavily" on those present throughout the sessions. He, too, was a riddle, a mystery, never completely understood but always felt. And, after all, he was weeping. What did this mean? And was he, truly, the right reversal for the Hanged Man? Was he not suffering even more cruelly by standing atop two buildings and hanging "others"- the opposite polarities in himself?

Winds Blow the Willows Flat

WE: Steady-steady-while the winds blow the willows flat. Steady and yielding be you. That which passes, passes. It leaves behind nothing to be remembered. Change is constant. To resist change is suicide of spirit. Flashed before you have been pictures of up-coming changes. All shall be affected but the dead. Be it known, resistance is seen. Be it further known, there is no ill wind. The Archer appears. He has no quiver. Shooting bolts of liquid fire, he destroys the demon at the portal. The demon dies a thousand times and rises yet again. He is not to be destroyed, finally, but elevated. (This was the blue demon lurking at center" mentioned in the opening session August 17. The ego? Or kundalini? Probably kundalini, for, in the Book of the Citadel, given December 8, the serpent of kundalini is no longer found at the root chakra but is "elevated" to the brow chakra-the ama or fire center. Flame, as is explained later in connection with the Deliverer Book is thought of as "blue.") The one following the Archer elevates.

WE: Think not lightly on this saying: it will come to pass again. (Referring to the "twice-told tale.") Smoother now goes the wind past the willows. Good. Locked in the heart is a secret, sacred something. The morn of unveiling breaks cleanly. A rosie purity shelters the humble. A rod of grace is bestowed the faithful. A garment of crystal decks the just. The feast follows the fast-and Love triumphs.

Do you see how the play is played, oh lovers?

You do--and that is good.

The lover is never sated, his object ever eludes, his fulfillment is not known and this is the way of things. From world to world he loves onward, creating futures. Such a grand creation! How profound the direction: "Love ye one and all."

(Everyone noted the mis-spelling of "rosie." Neither John nor Rhom spelled it this way. It seemed very clear tonight, as, indeed, it did always, that they were not dictating the message--and that, in fact, no finite human being could have written it.)

May WE lovingly serve you this night?

John: May we continue with the Tarot?

WE: You may prepare for another Book.

John: Will you give us the card most helpful to us at this time?

WE: Well said! The Virgin.

John: Is this the name of the Book?

WE: Yes. The preparation period is now; the Book to be read later.

John: How do we prepare?

WE: The message of the night will prepare you if studied properly. Book to be finished at another time. Your ready acceptance is gratifying.

John: About the Hanging Man? Is the flower painted in the correct position?

WE: You have done what you had to do. (Questions John asked about his rendition of the Books were invariably answered in such a fashion. He was also often told to color "as led.")

John: Is there anything more on the card?

WE: A mark is needed in the lower right hand corner-like a signature, but not that. The reason is your personal identification with the card. It is not on any others given to date. The mark you select is your very own.

John: Why the tears on the Hanging Man?

WE: The answer is never given for each questioner has been given the answer and it is burned in his being. Each knows and weeps also.

John: What has B'hai, the Bab, Bahaullah, etc., to do with the messages and with the Tarot? (At an earlier time, John had been strongly drawn to the B'hai movement. Several members of B'hai had been among recent visitors at the Highlands.)

WE: The thread is van-colored and is woven into a cloth the world has long known. Let no man claim the cloak as his. Many wear it for a time and pass it on. WE-though unimportant-will one day be known of you. (This last statement seemed to imply that the "WE" was one of the cloak-wearers-but did it also mean that later "it" would manifest? The remark was enigmatic and could be interpreted in many ways. However, it was clear that there is only the ONE cloak-that it is passed on from wearer to wearer and is woven of the threads of various religions and teachings.)

John: What can we do for YOU on this level? Is there anything?

WE: Yes. When so impulsed to accept OUR teaching-if that is what you call it- follow it. When impulsed-whenever-share this gift.

(Pause, Silence.) The hawk of night has just swooped into your midst, gathered a shower of stars, and is now separating them throughout the world. Blessings.

In discussing the session later, the group realized that the preparation for the Book of the Virgin was connected with the message about the "lover . . . his object ever eludes, "for the Virgin, Beingness, was that elixir which was sought in the cup known as the Holy Grail. The cup had been spoken of in the session of November 10 prior to the description of the Hanging Man. "The contents virgin, unchanging differed for every man." On this night, the Cup seemed very, very close. And, in the next session, the first of the five cups of the Tarot was to be described in--and "on"-the Book of the Virgin.

The Virgin

Rosalind had finally gotten a baby-sitter and driven down to attend the session at Carmel Highlands. This was the first time the group of five had been fore-gathered in several months.

WE: Seeds are sprouting. Buds promised Will not wither. WE have grown since WE last gathered. It is bud-ding. Worlds are to be won this night. Storms will abate. Calm will be the atmosphere. Tensions will not be known. The wand of Athena will touch the brow and OUR work will continue. The warden has opened the steely doors. The Sun enters again and a butterfly wings in. The vulture departs. Relax. WE will pay a visit to the Garden now WE have passed the walls. The flowers have been plucked. The fruit stolen. Why has this scene been presented now?

There is a Garden known to each. At another time, you enjoyed the Garden's sweets. Here you dallied and went forth. You let others tend the Garden and they did not. It was here that you were stolen from-each to his own nature. A stone was halved; a child was born not-born; a jewel was swallowed; a crown was given to another; light was darkened. Great was the loss! Sorely missed, these treasures. A pattern was begun to be repeated many times. It is well to visit gardens in and out of season. This trip most productive though questions have arisen. See the Garden in bloom and let the questions answer them-selves. YOU were there. Now WE are here.

(The planchette traced these designs around the numbers on the board, then pointed to the symbol chosen for the session. The original symbol evidently lacked only the circle (4) around the triangle (1,2,3,) to complete it. The group discussed the Garden for a moment. The garden "known to each" was clearly reminiscent of the Garden of Eden described in Genesis, yet was a variation on it. Had something else happened than was told in the Bible? The mysterious lost treasures-mentioned before-were involved. There were five of them. Which or who was which?)

The past is very dominant now. Yes, tale of past. A stillness is creeping into the mind of man. The spirit fades; glories of the flesh predominate. False gods proclaim their greatness. (Atlantis? The flood of Noah? No further clues were given.) A council of seven meet to bring the truth to the heart. This picture fades and a land appears, great with greatness. Rulers there were. This is a period you are centering on now. The Royal Maze confounds still. Before you were the pyramids. The child was born to rule though did not. Nor did the ruler. A father failed his children and lost himself, a song-singer wandered to the far hills and beyond, a virgin remained to flower the desert, the caster of spells mystic divided body and soul. Again patterns similar are seen and known. You may ask "Why this?" and WE answer: "It must be-and more." Center again for greatest benefit. Now one question, well-phrased, will do much for centering. Ask.

Q: How best can we understand and benefit by this concept of the repeating pattern?

WE: Centered now. Thank you. Patterns have been repeated, exchanged, erased and picked up again on other levels. When understanding of present pattern is yours, all patterns everywhere will be known. This is near in some cases and nearer in others. The Royal Maze refers to exchanged patterns. The dual state is almost an accomplished fact. But how it is battled!

Q: Resisted by us?

WE: Yes.

Rosalind: What do you mean by exchanged patterns?

WE: Here today, gone tomorrow-now me, now you. The battle lines are drawn, but who will engage the Armed One? Shall the armor glisten in the Sun till dusk?

Q: Who is the "Armed One"?

WE: WE.

Q: What do we battle for?

WE: Victory comes when WE are met.

Q: Is the battle new?

WE: No.

John: The battle lies in the heart.

WE: WE have drawn first blood.

Rosalind: What is the nature of this battle?

WE: Most terrible!

Rosalind: What is the goal?

WE: Victory-complete mastery of the Self. Do not holster your pistol!

Rosalind: How does one do this? Some must have been victorious . .

WE: You never have. You will. The Self must be known, loved and forgotten.

Q: By the Self you mean the individual?

WE: Much more.

Q: What is the Self?

WE: ALL.

Q: How is each to use his own weapon?

WE: Five fingers a hand make. Remember you are lost in a strange land. The language is only sensed. You are far from home. If you think you are home, you will never get there. The day came to each when he thought he would never get back home. If he but knew, one step more would have put him home. Always take one more step! Rest now. Return if you will. There is more.

During the coffee-break, the five lost treasures were discussed. The stone that was halved clearly related to the caster of spells mystic who divided body and soul. The child born-not born to the child born to rule who did not; the jewel swallowed to the virgin who remained to flower the desert; the crown given to another to the father who failed his children and lost himself; and the light darkened to the song-singer who wandered away . . . yet what was the real meaning behind them? What did they symbolize? What "treasures" of the one whole Self had been lost? As five they referred to the pentagram of perfected man and later were to be seen as the five jewels of the crown at the heart of the Royal Maze. Could they mean Being, Truth, Wisdom, Unity and Love, or did they relate to the chakras? Or perhaps refer to a literal story, long forgotten? The mention of the pyramids seemed to place the allegory in Egypt, along with the Royal Maze, yet it was also a repeated pattern which had happened before, starting with the lost Garden. And the Self? The "Armed One"? The "battle"? The session was resumed, everyone hoping for further clarification; but yet other mysteries were to come up, including the con- tinuation of the tale of Ruth, hinted at in Session 2.

WE: Starward fly thoughts of doubt. Better now except for balance. (The board had tipped between Rhom and John as they were seated on the davenport. They straightened it.)

Ruth is here and Ruth is fruitful. A child was born. He walked with men and beasts. The men, he tamed; the beasts, he loved. And Ruth wept. The beasts ripped the man-child's heart from his body and left it. No man came near the living-dead. Ruth gathered the heart to her bosom and roamed the far regions of the world seeking she knew not what. After seasons of wandering, the living heart rocked. This stone was placed in a common spot for all to see and think upon. This-Ruth's heart of hearts-reached the heart of all. You will see the day when this heart of stone is found and placed in operation. T-ruth!

Rosalind is Ruth. The story is similar to the Isis-Horus-Osiris myth. T is a central symbol for this deck. An Ankh is a T with a handle (we see figures on tomb walls carrying them this way). The crucifix is also a T symbol. The symbol came first, made into a pseudo-historical event later. It stands for the gesture of orisen, used by the early Christians. It simply involves standing on a high place and putting the arms out to the sides, in a welcoming gesture to all that life has to offer, good and bad. The word "truth" just happens to be formed with the T symbol and the name "Ruth."

Rosalind: (Writes question relating to how to make money and solve urgent financial problem on piece of paper.)

WE: Burn it-burn it! (Rosalind burned the paper in the fireplace.)

WE will report that we have with us the lost who is found. A wilderness- seeker has quested strange blossoms and found not the fragrance. Only in snowy peaks are found the flowers desired. There--in the cold purity of ice--can such rare blooms be preserved. The peaks have been stormed from above and below.

To scale the top, naked are the feet so that blood is spread upon the snow. You have dropped your crimson. The petals are exposed. Why hesitate ye? The night is long and bitter cold. Pick your treasures. Leave the peak through the center. Descend to your fellows. Strew your petals. They will forever bloom in pure places.

Rhom: Was that an answer to Rosalind's question?

Yes it is! This is the first session with Rosalind present, and she will turn out to be one of the major creators of the eventual new tarot.

WE: WE could say "pick up your marbles" in another way. WE may now proceed with the Book of the Virgin. Do not connect Books with entities. Now ask.

John: Have we this card in the modern pack?

WE: Yes. It has several names. It has been known as the World.

John: Please describe this Book.

WE: As you know it.

Q: Is the Virgin in the center?

WE: Yes. She holds in each hand a ribbon which twines around her. Her head is uncovered, her limbs are seen, her breasts are open. One ribbon in each hand. The streamers pass in front only. Viewed from the rear, She would be nude. Clasped in the toes of her right foot are two rods. Her knee is lifted and her legs are spread. A ring of red flowers circles the Virgin. A star with seven points appears near her feet. She is not on the ground, of course, nor is she in the sky. You know how to do this. Twenty-two flowers. Five leaves only, spaced equally. The flowers are like roses.

John: What does She wear on her head?

WE: Wait . . . . One feather which sweeps down could be called a plume, is a feather, though. Left-right of Virgin. The color of the feather is yellow. The ribbon is white. She has dark hair, neatly long. Corners: Lower right corner--a red apple. Upper right corner--a child. Face dual. As to sex and color, face left-boy is black. On right-girl-is yellow. Is on left of card. One head, two half-faces. Okay? Left corner-cup, chalice, golden with light streaming from interior. Cup's base is at top of card, light descends. Simple cup. Bottom left-hand corner-lightning- struck horse. Four feet down, facing in. Profile. Color of horse-black and yellow, Streaked.

John: Like a zebra? WE: Not so uniform. From underside lightning strikes stomach. Comes out on back. Letter is O.

Q: This is represented by the circle of flowers?

WE: That is O. Name is Virgin. She is open-eyed and close-mouthed. She is calm in attitude; her arms are at her side, gracefully. Her function is Being-Beingness. That is a Book with your names in it. You are written of in the Book of the Virgin. Each Book is complete, yet together they are a Book. You have been written of in all Books-though not told this before now. Clear? Rest now.

The session had been such a long one that there was little discussion afterward. Was the Book of the Virgin connected with the strange tale about Ruth? She must be. And the Virgin wore a feather-like the feather of Truth (T- ruth) of Ma'at? Or the ostrich plume of Isis? It was impossible to know at this stage. The feather was yellow-the color of the Sun, also of the solar plexus chakra. But what of the heart that rocked, the heart of stone? The enigma of the tale of Ruth and its connection with the Book of Being (the Virgin) was to remain an enigma throughout the sessions. Could the heart of Stone "placed in a common spot for all to see" be the great Pyramid of Giza or the Sphinx? If so, was it connected with Atlantis and the Atlantean secrets said to have been preserved in Egypt?

Unity

WE: Twisted and tangled are the roots binding ye one to another. Some are deeply buried, others are air-roots shining in the light. A root is a root only, drawing its life from a common core--which means to say: ye shall bear a mighty fruit! A tearing process unfolds before you. It is as though the pages were cut apart rather than in two. The words long unread will then be visible to the readers of the Book. A needed operation for full reading will then have been performed. The tool must be kept clean and sharp. A ragged tear is unsightly. Red a color of import now. Have it close in any form or shade. To the new month red helpful only-vital no. Ask that question.

(No question was asked. If one of the group asked a question silently, he or she did not announce it).

WE: That which has been foretold will come to pass because it must. While you are living as people, people are not involved. This is a hard saying for the uninitiate to accept. You, however, are not in that group. A hard saying for all. Spacing of events most wonderful. The hands you are in are your very own. A further step needed. It requires that which has never been done before by an actor: reverse pattern. No more. Willingness to continue game-not game is a vital requirement of the players. There will be a winning team and no losers.

John: Will there be another Tarot Book tonight?

WE: It will be a Book of import. Draw a circle. A man and a woman are on this circle on the outer rim. She is on top lying on her back; he is on the bottom lying on his stomach-stomach on circle. Within the circle is a body of water in which swims two sea creatures. Put wings on fishes, facing the viewer. In left to right order across the bottom are a blade, a star, an ear of corn (corn off staff), a turtle with a bird on her back, and a tree in fruit and flower. The figures are unrobed and suggest simple purity. They must be clearly sexed. Is the picture clear that they full circle the globe?

John: Yes.

WE: Above are four phases of the Moon. Left to right-full first, new, quarter with horns down, quarter with horns up. The one called new'' is the same as full but without color. Clear? One up, two lower, three up, four lower. Man holds full lily-like flower. Woman holds short wand. These holdings do not touch, nor should apart-ness be suggested. You place them just so. John: Are there any special colors in this Book?

WE: Moons yellow and one white. Flower is white, wand is black. Field of Book is red.

John: What about the fish? Are they in the water or flying above the surface?

WE: Both in water and air. At sides of Book are ladders. No letter.

Q: What is this Book called?

WE: It has been called the Lover. You will call it Unity.

Q: In what form are the blade and the star?

WE: Sword is straight. The point should be down. Five pointed star.

Rhom: It seems surprising the man and woman do not face each other.

WE: They go the same direction in all things.

Q: How ought this Book to be understood? What is its designation?

WE: Completeness and Unity are the names and purpose of this Book.

Coffee break while Nadine read back the message and the fifth Book that had been described. The work was becoming ever more exciting although the symbols and connections remained mysterious. It seemed significant, however, that there were five symbols at the foot of the Book of Unity -- connecting it with the five lost treasures, the five fingers of the hand, the five members of the group, and the five-pointed star. Furthermore, it was the fifth Book given. The number five was becoming ever more emphasized-yet, at the same time, the four phases of the Moon were at the top of the Book. Four plus five equals ninee--and, it had been written earlier, "Nine contains the tale." Did Unity, then, 'contain the tale"?

WE: Hello. A ring, studded with light, encircles your vibration-containing it and returning it to its center. The ring is temporary. When it is dissolved, your influence will be unbounded. The ring is good now. The hoof at your temple is a golden one.

John: If it is all right with everyone, I'd like to tackle something.

WE: A two-way street accommodates much traffic.

John: (He asked a very complicated question about Salome, head-hunting, pools, the lion, the axe, etc.)

WE: It has been said: "Traced in the sand of your memory is the riddle's unsolving"-and unsolved it will-and must- be if the darers but dare!

John: But why the pool? And why does sulfur water have such an effect on me? (He had recently gone to the sulfur baths at Big Sur.)

WE: Dig in the water. The past-known-lies in a watery grave. A headstone is to be rolled away.

John: This all has to do with the crocodile!

WE: Yes.

John: Is that why Gino (a friend of Dean's) brought me the spiraling lizard's corpse?

WE: Reverse it! The gift-reverse it!

John: Do you mean make the head spiral outward? But that will destroy the lizard.

WE: If it involves destruction, do it!

(John reversed the spiraling lizard's corpse, then threw it into the fire to be burned.)

WE: Where lies the tale now? Tale-not tail.

John: It lies in the past at the center point.

WE: It does-but it should not lie in its present condition. That which has been put away should be in such condition that decay does not disease. The stone will roll away. The grave will contain nothing. The terror comes in the digging only, during which times tears and blisters form.

John: You mean that there is a literal grave to be found and opened? (He was thinking of Egypt with which the crocodile symbol was connected, also the lion and the "watery grave." Was there a tomb beneath the surface of the Nile?)

WE: In the past only. The death involves the One to live forever. WE must say in fairness to you, son, this is your story but not yours alone. Your efforts to bare are as real as you can stand now. There is more required of you at another time--after you have witnessed the crocodile and the lion in combat. You can slip your weapon into the fray if you will.

John: What of the horn? (A silver horn was his weapon.) Is it a musical instrument? Or a bull's horn?

WE: It is a curved horn, not a musical toy. Not a bull's horn-but close, as you know it.

(Related to the symbol for Hathor, John wondered-or the Moon?)

WE will walk with you. Enough.

Victorious One

Prior to the session, everyone had been talking about Point Lobos. Earlier that year, many meditations had been held there and it, in itself, seemed to contain a legend or a tale. In Spanish, this tiny promontory, now a state park, had been called La Punta de los Lobos Marinos-or the Point of the Sea Wolves, meaning Sea Lions. It was also the scene of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island."

WE: What will ye?

John: Are our "treasures" buried on Point Lobos?

WE: No. Priceless gifts there ARE. Buried they are not. Call it not Lobos.

John: What shall we call it then?

WE: There is a land called Motherland. This area is called, in like fashion, Sisterland. John, direct the questioning, please.

John: How are we to understand our relation to Sisterland and use its power for humanity?

(It was said to be the center of psychic force for the entire Pacific coast but that, unlike Mount Shasta, it had "not yet made friends with humanity.")

WE: The meaning of a Sisterland is not known of in this time. A meaning there is and knowers of it are ye.

John: Was Motherland in the Pacific? (He was thinking of the legend of lost Lemuria with which "Lobos" was supposedly connected.)

WE: The Motherland extended from North to South and beyond both horizons. Its center was above and its core had no boundary.

John: Was Motherland physical? (By this time, he was thinking, also, of Atlantis-since Motherland, apparently, was not confined to the Pacific, and, in any case, the exact geographic location of Atlantis was uncertain. Atlantis, it was said, had been called the Motherland-but so had Mu, or Lemuria. Were they one and the same?)

WE: Motherland has many children.

John: Does it still exist today? Is it what is called "home"?

WE: No.

John: Is this land the Mother's sister?

WE: Child of child.

John: Granddaughter?

WE: Yes. It is now a haven for gathering, restoring, preserving and multiplying.

Nadine: (Recording). You are going so fast I can't keep up with you! Speak louder, Rhom!

WE: WE will change the pace, for sweetness is a theme you sing well. Sisterland is a secret place and its meaning is not to be known of by all. Nor does its secret mean equally to ye. There will be seasons of its import to ye. (No- ticeably, the WE of the board was being "cagey" about Sisterland and Motherland. Direct questions would not be answered directly. A secret was being preserved.)

Q: Is this symbol on the table tonight connected with Sisterland?

WE: Yes. Such symbols as are in black (the center portion) tower in white above this land. Three in number are they. A word may be fitting here: make not a graveyard out of a haven. Gather strength and move on. Havens are many-graveyards but one for ye.

Q: Does this symbol have to do with the Tarot card Judgment, or Resurrection?

WE: That is another Book. Please-there is no judgment anywhere, no Book.

Q: We've been asking many questions. Have you a message for us?

WE: Voluntarily you selected plays and donned costumes and, on occasion, had star billing. Each vehicle had its author and director. Now you are in the New Theater where you are writer, actor, director and audience. Critics there are not.

Q: What are we performing plays for?

WE: Each is learning to know what he is. That answer cannot satisfy but WE cannot answer otherwise. It has been similarly answered by the men of old whom you knew also. When that answer is fully known, the theater season ends.

Q: When did the present theater season begin?

WE: The New Theater began for you at moment of birth. For all present-this life.

Q: Why this life?

WE: The season is on schedule.

John: Is this because of what the Hindus call the unwinding of the skandhas?

WE: It is not for One to say which is winding and which is unwinding. An author may omit whatever scenes he wishes.

Q: What is the next step ahead in this play?

WE: All participants-actor, director and audience-can be totally aware of each other at any given moment and, at instant of creating, may become aware of curtain's close and any acts between. It is an art form to be experienced. Practice is in rehearsal.

Q: Were we not actors, directors and authors in previous lives?

WE: Yes, but you have never sat in the balcony before. Who asks about the missing One? No matter. (Dean.))

Q: What is his role?

WE: Prompter.

Q: Are there many of us in this play throughout the world?

WE: Many.

John: Plays inter-play, don't they?

WE: Yes.

Q: Who, then, is directing the overall play?

WE: WE.

Q: What about God? WE: It has been said, "ye are Gods." What do you think that means?

Q: How can we understand this, know it?

WE: Shall WE try another medium, a tale? A girl-child unwanted by mother and father was placed on a log in the river. The quickening water carried her to the white water and beyond. For many days a black bird carried drops of water to her tiny lips. When the Moon passed one time, the log was brought aboard a ship. The girl-child and blackbird were revered by the travelers. When the ship homed, the girl-child was sung to by her new people. She in turn sang to them of her homeland, and other songs. In time her song was known, and she left her new family, and the black bird was left behind in marble. To this day, her song is sung.

Perhaps an illustration of the way an ordinary mortal creature (the blackbird) may be a god, and be worshipped as one.

Q: What on earth has this tale got to do with anything? (No one ever understood it, and none of the group does so to this day.)

WE: The tale is told. WE have not spoken idly. Is there a pressing concern?

(Rosalind said that she had been thinking of one. She did not name or explain it.)

WE speak to the concern: Leave! You are not in this child nor is she in you. Too long have you leeched. You are no more substantial than the nightmare you are. The cock crows, the sun lifts, the morn arises and all awake. The dark is over the hill and the shapes of the night are the well- loved landmarks of memory. Daydreams arrive, bringing fulfillment ere dusk. Be gone!

(Pause. The "speaking to the concern" seemed to have a universal, not a merely personal, meaning. It needed not to be explained to be significant.)

WE: A new Book. 'Tis a great Book-one that you studied and, in fact, (have) written.

John: What colors are around our hands-pink, gold, green, blue-gray! (All watched the brilliant display of color over the hands of John and Rhom on the "table." This was not the first time there had been a visible manifestation of color, but this was the most varied one so far.)

WE: Remember colors. Picture now a noble man. He is the Victorious One. He has just left his golden chariot. His dress is as follows: white is the color of cloth he wears. He wears only one sandal which has thongs rising above calf on his right foot. His left foot has two wee wings rearward. His white robe is unusual. It is like a long strip with a slit for the head to enter. It falls front and back to just below knees. It is narrow and does not extend beyond nipples. He leads on a leash-one leash-a brace of lions. His chariot behind him is without animals. The chariot in front has a device like your pulpit. The device is a guard for the vitals. Two wheels, a standing area, no seat. Was a battle wagon. No roof. A sunburst on front of chariot. The chariot leads are grounded. The whip remains in chariot. From a chain on his neck hangs tonight's symbol. Not black-gold. No weapons. Upheld flower-one, exotic in right hand. One glove on raised arm-right hand. A circle of blue stars on brow. Seven stars. In the sky hangs a full and mighty sun, directly above him in center. The lions are right front. Right rear-chariot. Two lions. Lions are-one white, one black. Black's mouth is wide open. White lion next to noble. Above Sun at top of Book, spreading from cover to cover, is winging eagle. Black. In his talons are shafts-spears, three in each talon, pointed up and down. They cross also, like pyramids joined at peaks. Each talon holds two pyramids. Eagle looks at left on Book. On left, a curtain. Fine one-thin, seen through-held aloft by small blue birds. Behind curtain, area of battling wolves. Many wolves. Name of Book is Victorious One. Letter is C. C placed on curtain. Is drawn over battling wolves. Letter ripples on curtain.

Q: What other meanings has this Book?

WE: Self-mastery is meaning of Book. Very noble battle and Book and victor. You know this one well. Rejoice! The Redeemer draws close. Sing your song. Well done. If no more, then no more.

Clearly the Victorious One was the former Chariot or Charioteer. Self- mastery had been mentioned earlier in connection with the battle of the Self the battle with the Armed One. The eagle on the Book held shafts in his talons in the form of pyramids. Was it a coincidence that a cluster of shafts appears in the left talon of the eagle on the U.S. dollar, and that the cluster of stars above the eagle's head forms a star of David or a double pyramid? "The writer is a silver dollar" it was stated in the opening session, referring to the silver dollar, with its eagle, used as a planchette.

Way-Shower

The symbol placed on the board this evening came from a discussion of the rose, the lily and the thistle -yet formed a star radiating from an Egyptian ankh-symbol of Life. Dean was still away.

WE: Prepare, watch, record, report. Tale-teller sings refrain of nobility disunited. Crowns lifted and reversed, mantles switched, scepter mishanded, throne upturned, the ruler is naked. The Royal Maze is entered from the North. A winding path leads Eastward, South, reverses. A path runs Southwesterly for two paces, twists East, rests at a Northern point. The Maze wanders carefully to the South and rests. The reversal Northwards brings the Maze-follower to mid-center where no visible path is seen. Darkness postpones journey through Maze. It will continue when morrow's dawn lights. The feeling prevails of a successful passage at last. The celestial period approaches. Does this provoke questions?

(In an early session, the star period had been referred to as "man's twilight period"-but the group did not catch the reference until later.)

Q: What is a celestial period?

WE: A time when those bodies around planet exert influences in magnification. Understand that magnifiers center everywhere. Nothing-but nothing-evades the influence. Few vibrate harmoniously because of lack of understanding.

Q: What indicates, in astrological pattern, this magnification?

WE: A Star's influence. Understand and pass period with wisdom.

Q: When did this period start and for how long will it continue?

WE: (The planchette traced this symbol on the board. It is the Egyptian symbol for bread or the letter T.

Q: Will you talk of dreams?

WE: Inner awareness of passage of time-event, personalities and consciousness. This awareness is about to come leaping into the room of now. Great will be the transformation now while nothing visible appears to happen-yet the New Man will stand naked in glory. 'Tis a promise seen dimly now.

Q: How can we better recall dreams?

WE: Requires total honesty and trust and willingness to do the work. Few have the courage though know it not. To help yourself BE your SELF . . . this is most difficult. WE have found it so. The purpose is all-important. You, John, have made a start. Go through while the strength of ten is with you.

Rhom: Tell me about desert places, please. (Rhom was strongly drawn to the desert, and had once been told that in prior lifetime he had lived in the Gobi desert.)

WE: Shifting sands shall unroll to you a path once trodden when thy feet were unshod in the coarseness of leather. A golden path leads eastward again to the Garden of your planting. The statues remain unbroken. Their bare heads are now heavy-burdened. The inscription is the same on all the statues. Your story. The song pulls you and ever shall to the day when the song sees the light.

John: Have you a message for the missing One? (Dean.)

WE: The missing One need not be told of the lack. 'Twould be fine if he could replace the hole, though. When this is to be done is no concern of yours. None can breathe for another-even if the first few breaths have been forced through closed lips. The life-continuing process is a private matter. All is well. Do you prefer to start this Book?

John: (Looking at the axe Rhom had placed with a candle on the hearth log.) Is there a Book with the axe as its main symbol? Let's have it.

WE: Much later. Do you see the light?

John: Oh, are we to have the Book of the Sun?

WE: Star. A still scene. A man looks down from the heavens. The heavens are a dark blue-black. His gaze lights downward, double-ray from eyes.

John: Like two searchlights?

WE: Yes. A waterfall flows from high left to lower right. Wait. A rainbow lifts over stream. Above rainbow, a cup--ornate--dispenses colored fluid. Cup un- held, inverted. Man at top in heaven. Head only. Cup is below head above rainbow, off- center. Cup centers bow.

He is the Way-Shower. He has white beard. Not stern-firm, though. Much yellow in this Book.

-John: What lies below the falling water?

WE: A bridge or way-a passage over water. Could be of stones if you wish it so. A glimmering city can be suggested as the place led to.

John: Is it night, with lights on in the city, etc.?

WE: No night. Night above, light below. City is dazzling, if you like.

W: And the star? Is there a star?

WE: Yes, behind the head. How many points are for you to do. The Way- Shower is the name of the Book. No letter. Represents singleness of purpose.

Q: What about the two dice I drew in the Victorious One? Are they all right?

WE: You know what you have done and what you will do. Proceed and record.

When John painted the Way-Shower the next day, he added a cock in the foreground, crowing, to indicate the hour was dawn-and that light was coming, showering down from the heavens. He also added a thistle, a Masonic emblem--but, as had been stated, he was to add what he felt to do if so impulsed, as in the example of the two dice. The group discussed the path through the Royal Maze but could not make heads nor tails of it and never did-not even when the Maze Book was given later.

Doer

WE: The fore-telling time. The pages from the rear are in the fore. Sun worshippers have taken their place. The unwinding scroll is read fully when flat. Scrolls there have been. Double X has had a meaning. A mystery symbol in your time and even now. The scroll unrolls at this moment. The time of reshaping has come. Shapers are many, forms are many. Not all forms are pretty nor are all needed. There are shapers and shapers. What will you?

Take a leaf from the Book of Old and profit thereby. This meaning writes obscure but reads well. Soon WE will get on to other matters. Picked up is a tie out of the Royal Maze-a babe then, now desirous. The ray of love is seldom perceived and often misunderstood as having flesh. The day- break of the New Morn is founded on the proper perception of the love ray. Babes know it not-neither man nor woman. The mystic alone knows the reality of this ray. More skipping back and forth from times known to now-and ahead-causes the hands to limber up, strengthen and become useful. The string may dangle you about a bit, but think well of it. Things are difficult this night. The reason lies in your midst. The difficulty will be handled. A centering storm-happening has torn the lid off. Scattered on the floor and spilling down the carpeted stairs strew the bright beads, the heartbreaks. Humanity is truly heartless. The baubles are more than that to you-a representation and more, a symbol and more. The Stern Commander threatens more than the thrones. He is after-your soul, you think. No attempt to scrabble for the baubles will mend the broken threads. The mark has been left, the scar is visible on all levels, the Commander exits laughing.

Do you see now what has happened?

Pressure spots have been touched this night, and before. It will happen again in this game WE play with you. None is exempt from our administrations. All are to be benefited. The deeper the thorn, the harder the pull but the richer the blood. A troubled area is visible and may be looked at with merit. It lies within the personality of one.

Q: One here?

WE: Yes. Will proceed if that is your wish. It is not OUR wish but WE serve only. The trouble relates to a construction. This construction is produced from a lie or, better said, from that which is unreal in the real of that one. There is that in all and all are troubled. There was a time when the bead of you, the real of you, the spirit or soul of you, was thought to have been taken away, or lost, or destroyed by one called the Commander (or somewhat similarly called). Tears have been flowing for floods over this lie. You are intact! The Commanding ONE is yourself and you cannot rob any longer that which is never apart from yourself. WE would shout into your ear-yes, shout-YE ARE WHOLE! Get with it!

The breath of life is in your hands, the spark of death, also. Quicken the new birth and fan the spark that the passing past is laid at rest. Desire above all the Sun.

John: What has this to do with the letter R?

WE: The meaning of your symbols comes later, if at all. Nothing is unrelated as you know.

John: Will you give us the Sun Book tonight?

WE: This evening, yes.

Q: Something comes first. What of L.S.D.? (The Beatnik period, soon to be called the hippy movement, had started in San Francisco, and there had been much publicity about L.S.D. Tim Leary's work was becoming famous at this time. Dean, who had recently returned from San Francisco, was interested in experimenting.)

WE: WE cannot talk about L.S.D., but WE can say this about YOU. You are always the same Self. Sometimes you see yourself more clearly. You need not worry about methods that allow you to see yourself without dark glasses.

Is there no question?

(Pause.) The Book is open. The Book is held by the child. The child holds the open Book in the center of the Book. He is seven years old-fair, clear. He reads not Book. He shows it to be read. Symbols on the pages are indistinct due to size. This is purposeful-each reader of the Book sees his needed sign. Two tassels hang from the Book. Held in the center of the Book, they are markers. One holds the Book open. The other is in the section not yet read. Child is he. Not seated, standing. He wears nothing. He holds the rein--not reins, really, but a tie to the horse on the right of Book.

Black, meek horse, four feet on ground, facing child. Horse on left faces child. Two -feet upraised high. White horse, rearing horse. No tie. Full manes and flowing tails. Horse on left of Book stands with two feet on skull-human. Horses are in middle ground, child front, not separated, though. Tie to horse on closest foot. Bright Sun above in center. Sun has characters, rays too. Vistas almost endless. They stand amidst flowers, symbols of beauty here. All kinds of colors. He is the Doer. Represents right activity. Letter will be visible to the wise ones only.

The session had been intense. All realized that the unveiling, the talk of the love-ray and of the "Stern Commander" was related to the Doer-the Sun Book. But a shaking-up process was going on which was not easy. A matter of seeing the Sun-the Self-without dark glasses?

Thinker

WE: Broken are the teeth that held fast the staff. Loosed is the substance which will nourish this generation. With all, a most vigorous unsettling. Fairy frost at the windows betokens good fortune. Magic are the times now, magical are the happenings. The Doer has been activated. The table is sizzling. Ask what you will this night. Some answers are bound to satisfy.

(John asked a silent question relative to being a complete unit in oneself the joining of opposites, etc. He was thinking about the Hanging Man-but his question fore-shadowed the plight of the Thinker to be given this night.)

WE: Proceed as directed. Given to you have been two keys though the door is single. One key opens the door in the preferred direction. Both keys will open the door. Verily WE say to this One: Stay not the flow, stop the leakage. Created now are the ones to carry to conclusion the matter which causes lions to walk with other lions. Over all lies a mantle of fog through which the Sun is coming-the Son is coming!

Dean: What advice do you have for me now? What direction? Am I on the right path?

WE: How quickly the traveler seeks the path when aware it is not underfoot! Such a one leads by miles him who knows not about paths and where they lead. WE answer direct, though advice WE have not. Sit not still for that which is to come. Move to it in equal measure as it comes to you. It is not a matter of climing greener fences, but hurdling all obstacles no matter by whom or what erected. Circling is not progressing. Be sure that a direction, if followed, does not lead the traveler back to himself. You are to go onward.

John: What of Rosalind's intended move? (She was planning to move to Carmel, so as not to have to journey so far to get to the sessions at the Highlands.)

WE: It is well for this one to move along. Tread lightly down the ahead path. Avoid the holes that are abreast the way. The holes are for droppings only. Into the first hole you encounter, discard that which you have outgrown. Let others with less stature wear the garments that suit you no more. Take with you bread and water. The compass is in your breast.

(This seemingly personal advice is retained because of its universal quality. This has also been true of other such passages except for those used purely as examples of method.).

Q: Are we to be given another Book tonight?

WE: The next Book will cause confusion. A start is made. Taking up a large portion of this Book is the Thinker. Around his head, a chain encircles twice. The ends of the chain are hanging forward and downward. He sits in meditation. His eyes are open but blank. He sits on the topmost bough of a small tree. On left-hanging chain is a heart. His left. Other chain is pulled upon by male and female figures. Circling in opposite direction of chain and above head is a triple band of light.

Sky red-very red. Bands are yellow; chain is blue. He is reddish. Figures are black and white-man black, woman white. Chain on forehead. Left chain behind ear, right in front. Heart is large but not on ground. Figures are on ground. They are at edge and not near the treetrunk.

Figures straining at chain. They face the Thinker. Naked figures. The Thinker sitting in yoga position-arms in lap. He is clothed by the tree. Leaves only-no fruits or flowers. Fire is in the sky. Could be one or more flames. A serpent climbs the tree. It is finished when WE thought it would not be. Good. The Thinker is the Book's name. Old Tarot--Satan. Significance--error. No more.

John: Any final addenda?

WE: Heart is one key. Goodnight.

The heart was one of the two keys referred to in response to John's silent question at the beginning. Was the other the two figures? And which was the "preferred direction"? The confusion warned of was already felt and would continue to be for several weeks. It was as though the old Devil card were a tester, perhaps a reflection of the "Stern Commander" or a reverse "Jehovah"-which is to say an error or a lie. Much later the word error was discovered to signify vacillation-indecision between the opposites--or "err-or."

Citadel

WE: 'Tis the night before revolving centers foregather. Stayed for a season is the influence of silvered mercury. Revolving centers open avenue of watery flow. Take your place in the congress. Much ado about something. Travel. Return to scenes of battle, glory and disappointment. Each makes such a visit in manner individual. The return is the on-going. Sweet is the perfume this evening-light but penetrating. The senses reel not but waltz. Strain not this night, for the meal at table will be fulsome and satisfying.

(Pause. Irene asked if she could ask a silent question and was told that she could. She did not divulge the nature of the question, but found the answer pertinent.)

WE: A tale is told: People wondered about the Dweller in the Wood who was seldom seen and heard only in the season of harvest. At harvest-time, a mournful wail was heard over the wood and meadow. High and piercing, the song dirged through the nights. The wood was not violated during this season for fear edged the area. In whispers was the Dweller talked about: "Man? Woman? Beast? What is it? Have you seen the Dweller?"

A child entered the Wood one day in harvest time. When the sun fell into the far branches, the child remained in the Wood. The Moon lifted in the near branches and the Dweller began to sing. The child followed the song into a bathed clearing where a radiance shafted upward. Into its center stepped the child. The song rose and the people afar wondered as never before. When Venus faded at morn, the song ceased, the light departed from the clearing and the child left the woods. Never again was the harvest-song sung. But the child lives yet.

The Jester has asked. Irene. WE say to the Jester: You have played at court and found favor. The ruler has now come to the end of your Book. Unwise were you during this long day at court for not learning new games. He tires at repetition. No-where in the court can your games be enjoyed for the first time. Unwise were you-but need you remain so? Either a jester be not, or-if that you will-then a new crown must be tipped in your direction. The Jester is not easily known. If the Jester is ONE-and there is always ONE- the Jester is above all wise -and quickly sees to the heart of the matter and continues to smile though his heart breaks. 'Tis another matter. WE have spoken to the Jester.

(During the coffee break, it was remarked that surely no human being could have been the giver of this message. The strange tale, in itself was too remarkable to have come from any but a beyond-the- human source. No one saw it then except as being connected with Irene, the visitor. Its universal application was not seen until later-after the 22 Books were finished).

There are other matters this night-songs, reports, answers and more. You have a visitor, a sister dear. Placed on the table is a morsel for the hungry and a drop for the thirsty. The table is above ground and dogs and swine sup not at this table. Spread now is goodness. Intravenous feeding must take place for those you bring to this table. The table is portable. Feed the multitudes.

(This statement was to be remembered and become almost a motto when the Tarot Books were completed and people began to swarm in to the house at the Highlands like bees to the hive).

Up-river comes a bark. The current rushes down river yet the advance is steady and sure. The landing will be made. Ashore will step the bringer of bright stones. (Peter-Andre', who had come earlier and was to return). Should a stone fall in your midst, treasure it. If you will, hold it in your hand, warm it. Pass it on if you wish. Many treasures have ye. WE will tell you no prophecy. WE report only. John, will you be assured? You are then. He says you have not removed the stone from the idol's eye.

John: Explain, please.

WE: The center remains open, no matter what has been said to you. You did not blind yourself. No, it was not at another's hand. The stone fell in its season. Now comes the bringer of bright stones. WE have many buried treasures. It has been said all your treasures will be known again. You are the one who must speak and WE will report only. Much is to be said of this episode. On it balances much. Another matter: The Virgin roams the wilds seeking lovers. Her feet are at last unbound. The chaste yoke is behind. Swift is the flight, sure is the direction. Matings there will not be. Lovers will be sated at last. Shall we make Book?

A stronghold appears. It will be pictured; there has not been one like it before. This is the Book of the Citadel (the Lightning Struck Tower). One atop another rises seven circles. They form one structure like seven balls on top of each other. They are the same size but for the cap. It is slightly smaller but its radiance is blinding. Each is a different color. At the base is greenish. A Book is pictured-closed-in the center of the base circle. Next circle is halved-black and white. Black top, white below. Each section contains a smaller circle of opposite color. Circles are not centered as you know (making yin-yang double sign). Beneath top cap is a blue circle in which, standing on its tail, is the serpent. Such a nice serpent! Important! Serpent stands gloriously. Beneath blue circle is a red one. The figures of Unity Book in circle. The figures fill circle. They are as pictured.

John: But if they are going to fill it, they sure are tangled together!

WE: Good. A torch centers center circle.

John: What color is this circle?

WE: Yellow. Torch has a base that could be held. Below that is a lion with tail in mouth. He circles circle. He is within circle. No special color. Top circle dazzling white that radiates in circles like -a stone dropped in a still pool. Circles seven extend from top to bottom of Book.

John: To keep all those in it looks like this Book will have to be bigger.

WE: Keep same size throughout Books. At left is an extended sword on which is a crown, jewelled, point within crown. Black sword. On right is staff, white. The bottom sprouts roots, the top bears two tiny wings. This is the Book of the Citadel. It signifies completed man. Background a dark blue-black at top which descends to bottom in lightening tones, till at bottom it is a clear blue. The Citadel is your stronghold. Its structure is complete and feels no lack. It is unassailable when structured in this manner-and WE have answered well.

The group was definitely excited by the Book given in this session. It related to the shaft, which had been identified with Dean originally, and the golden fruit"-in which the mistakes of others had been placed one on top of another in reverse order. The Citadel reversed the former order of the chakras, placing the serpent, known as kundalini, at the brow or third eye chakra instead of at the root. It also related to the reversal of the Nile and the Hanging Man. Unlike the Lightning Struck Tower, its predecessor, the Citadel was "unassailable." Did this mean that the legendary maxt tower of lost Atlantis had been struck by lightning, symbolically, when the serpent had been placed at the base of the spine instead of at the brow? Or, was it at the fall of Atlantis that the serpent was "cast down" to the root? If so, why and how? Then, also, the whirling lion at the solar plexus chasing its own tail, its tail in its mouth, seemed significant and to relate to the "lion that lost its tail." It was fascinating but confusing. Each Book, each session presented more parts of the puzzle, yet the mystery continued, ever deepened. Each clue led to yet another clue on this curious treasure-hunt, and the more one understood, the less one understood or so it seemed at this stage of the "game-not game."

LSD the Revealer

The group had decided to hold an LSD session this evening instead of a ouija board session, partly because it was nearly Christmas time when a high spiritual energy came through as the winter solstice approached. It had been a sacred season in many ancient cultures and even today, as John recalled, the Taos Indians held their most important secret kiva ceremonies in preparation for another year of fulfilling their mission of preservmg the Sun. But also they hoped that under the hallucinogenic drug they might see the Self more clearly as had been suggested. Seated in front of the blazing fire, their experience had been a high one and at 12:30 a.m. John and Rhom decided to get out the ouija board.

WE: The revealer has been with you and is with you still. He has permitted and is permitting glimpses of truth. Beauty is everywhere, as you see. Nothing is what it seems; everything is as it seems. There is more, my family, for you. Fortunate are ye. The face of truth is not seen with ease. The shifty look will vanish when the face of truth is reflected. A kiss is upon the land. Sweet is the embrace of the One. Bitter-sweet the memory of ye who remember.

Lift your smiles again. it is the feeling again that generated Being where your emotion was not known of. Love and love alone was. This state shall join your union. WE would give ye this experience in full but ye could not survive its terrible beauty yet. Ye have known in part as ye know yourselves. The day of fullness is awaited. If ye could but jump in and drown yourselves in this love WE have for ye, how happy you would be! Your happiest hours would be as black sorrow by comparison. The point is well made. Are there others?

As there was no discussion or comment, the group parted-"to sleep, perchance to dream."

Seeker

By this time, ten of the revised Books of Tarot had been given and they hung at the Northern end of the room between the front door and a huge Tibetan temple drum. They were illumined by altar candles, sparkling like jewels in multi-colored holders. Or rather, nine of them were there. The most recent, the Citadel, was on a shelf underneath the Hiya Griva tanka, the Guardian of the West, to the right of the fireplace. It, too, looked almost jewel- like-but, unfortunately, in casein, John could not produce the effect of the brilliant diamond-white rays of the crown chakra at the top. Perhaps, some time, it should be done in stained glass?

WE: Welcome! We are gathered together to explore, to explain, to explode. WE mold not the patterns already firmed. That which is to be done has been willed. From the dark deeps arisen are the feelings of ancient time. Such feeling is fully apart from the individual. Its coming from the well leaves less to be lighted. A proper understanding of these dredgings permits love-feelings to resume normal flow. Such understanding must come to all during times of upheaval.

John: Tell us more of the dredging of the well.

WE: The well is man-made and un-made. It is the container of the dumpings of all unworthy of attention. The dredging process is initiated by the Seeker. How quickly one travels is determined by the weight of the well he carries. The up-bringing of droppings is willed often unawares. One upbringer in the midst of non--up-bringers faces huge difficulty. It is so much easier when many upbringers are gathered together and unified with understanding.

John: Can this process be hastened?

WE: He who empties his well overnight faces the morn with nothing to do. When a man has nothing to do, he moves on.

Nadine: How about a Master?

WE: WE are speaking of man alone. A master is often the well. Well, well, well!

John: But is there a means to hasten the dredging?

WE: The hastening process is well-considered. A dry well is no place for a thirsty man. When that which is up- drawn is finally elevated, it is time for more if the draw--er is ready. Do not break the back with withdrawals. WE are taking many words to say: "Time up-bringings so that the body is not broken."

John: But what is the process? Why have I recently experienced a shift from heart to solar plexus?

WE: It is called "looking through the glass darkly." What happens is like being thirsty and then drinking sweet water and, as the water quenches a part of you, another part says "How thirsty I am!" Those who sing in sadness, are warm in winter, filled while starving, loving when beaten, have grasped what WE speak of. It is not deluding; it is seeing clearly that the lack is being furnished instantly and is realized when realized.

The coin is not double. These words are not mouthings but deep facts. A voice cries for audience. Hearers are occupied elsewhere. The voice mutes yet still speaks. In time it moves back in the mouth and enters the throat, where-upon it commences to gurgle. A journeyer finds the gasping, gurgling being. He stoops low and bends an ear to the moving lips. "I hear you, my child. I understand what you say." He kisses the throat and moves on. The murmur swells into song. Gatherers number greatly. A loud voice issues forth from one reborn.

Nadine: Would White Eagle like to speak to us?

WE: He would speak in another lodge. (Pause). WE would speak to him who travels. (Indicating Dean, who was, at this time, restless, and going through changes).

Dean: Okay. Speak.

WE: With not to!

Dean: Very well. Have you any advice about my trip to Los Angeles or my going to Nevada to meet with the Native American Church? (Dean had become interested in the peyote church and wondered if it held anything for him).

WE: In your time, you will meet with many; your preparations are under way. The motion spoken of previously is uncirling. Let it do so. Your path has been told of others as being devious. Not so! Straight is your path. So straight. The direction must match the path. This you will do.

(The words of the ONE were subsequently borne out in action. Dean followed the path of Subud and did not wander or deviate. He never, as a matter of fact, went to Nevada to visit the Native American Church. His period of seeming confusion was almost at an end although this did not become clear until he left Carmel and moved to New York the following year).

Rosalind: Did I make a good move in moving to Carmel?

WE: The rose has been planted in stony soil; however, the roots can drive down to the level of sustenance. Tender, loving care of this plant is needed. When flowering season looms, heady is the fragrance and gladdened are they who see this bloom.

Rosalind: Should I go ahead and take the job on Monday? (A job cutting and designing garments).

WE: Your greatest task is not a job. Work there is to do. You have not commenced your work. WE hesitate. . Uncover yourself to that level where you reside in strength, beauty, purity and abundance. One by one, remove the coverings you have accepted as the orphan accepts ill-fitting hand-offs. You, above all, must wear your own garment. A rose is not a rose when leaved in petals of brass. No help from others is needed for the unleafing process. Your strength alone can unravel the time-worn petals. The time is of your own making, WE remind YOU.

Rosalind: What is my real work?

WE: Letting others see the rose as it is!

Rhom: (Asked a complicated question about the Amethyst Ring, the number 7, etc).

WE: Your interest is not a passing one. WE leave its unearthing to others. Study of its words will place you in harmony with its maker. The scattered brotherhood are everywhere to be found. Into the sandy places you will wander with your watering pail.

(The Amethyst ring was connected with Francis Bacon, head of the Rosicrucian Order in England in Queen Elizabeth's time and also the alle ged founder of the Masonic Order. The Amethystine Brotherhood was supposedly still in existence although not as a physical Order, per se.).

John: May we speak of another Book?

WE: WE will. This is the Book of the Seeker. (The Hermit). He is an older man-balding, bearded, tall and slender, sinewy. His eyes are bound in a cloth of black. He is placed in the lower left of Book, faces right, in profile. He looks toward a mountain which is seen from top to bottom. A path winds round and round. He is on the path but at the base of the mountain. A body of water lies in the path-no bridge, however. His robes have been removed and lie about his ankles. His two arms stretch out and up toward the light a-top of mountain which he sees not but feels. He has laid down his staff. The light a-top mountain is fire. Beneath-about mid-mountain-is a bright cloud. Leaving Book from lower right are tiny figures of a robed woman, flowers and an open book. She carries handful of riches-may be jewels or bright colors. They are heading for a city suggested in lower distance.

John: Are the lady, the flowers and the book on the same path but already over the mountain?

WE: Suggested is that the Seeker is on another path entirely. He is leaving all in his trek to the summit. The mountain is black at base and lightens to top.

John: Is there snow at the mountain's top?

WE: Good. This Book signifies right direction. No other symbols to be added. WE leave you as WE found you, but you leave us not as you were. Good!

The well and the dredging process did not appear to have much to do with the Seeker at this point. The meaning would become apparent later-first when the Deliverer Book was given, and the "hero" drinks the cup of fire at the mountain-top (having entered the water at its base and thereby dredged the well of the Seeker) then with the Renewer (Death) where the crown at the mountain-top is shown and the well stands to the right-to be drunk or having been drunk of. What the group noticed this night was that the Seeker, the former Hermit, was related to the subject Rhom had introduced-the Amethyst ring, the Amethystine Order, the number 7, etc., all of which was related to Hermetic orders and the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, who had been Thoth-Tahuti in Egypt. The number 7 had always been thought of as the path of the Hermit, now called the Seeker.

Actor

Prior to the session, there had been a sharp telephone conversation with Rosalind-who had not been pre-warned of the session and was furious at being left out. As the others were not yet used to her being close enough to attend, they had not thought to invite her. John called her around 8 p.m. to ask if she wanted any questions asked that night. She said, enraged, that she should have been asked to be present. By the time she got there half an hour later after hastily getting a baby-sitter, everyone was angry and dark and scowling looks were exchanged. This is explained because it is pertinent to the session and the Actor Book. Perhaps, indeed, it was a part of it.

WE: A bottomless bucket of blood. No need to plumb its depths nor heft its burden nor add to its girth. The melody sung from the highs carries far-when sung from the depths, it crushes inward. When singing, climb ye to the high spots; move away from the deep singer lest ye be crushed, too. Awakened in you now is a re-memory. The multi-cells of Self are re-birthed with vita mess. A surer balance is evidenced. More penetrating to the substance is your vision. The judger in you walks to the other side and looks back with a new awareness. The false note now pierces the ear. The stage is set. John is to place the issue on the table.

John: Why is it that I have gotten myself into similar situations of making myself the accused in this life? Is it me? or is it karma?

WE: The difficulty, dear son, is not insurmountable. The difficulty does exist. When it vanished--and it will vanish-it will be as a hurricane called upon to dislodge a bit of puff.

(At this point, Rosalind arrived, and there was a heated discussion, also the aforementioned dark and scowling looks).

WE: The puff appears as an iceberg, more deep than high and just as permanent. The light must be turned to the ice mountain and focused. It must in time light to the dark, submerged region where lurk fish phantoms. This will be done. WE will urge your acceptance of all aids. A word: Think not that the ice mountain will never see its end, for with each single droplet that is melted, the mountain is less by that amount. See not the end; rather see the process in continuing activity. Untrouble yourselves as of this moment. Unfold the wrinkles placed by "not As." A wave, crashing on the beach, refreshes the land while displacing grains of sand. It carries to the wading birds life-food and its loud boom is even music. Fear not the storms. Let them roll as their cycles permit. Be not swept away in the wind. Stand your ground. Bend, but do not break, and greet the wildness with outstretched arms and receive its kiss. There are no storms in a vacuum. Should you wish to meet the issue, it must be squarely placed.

John: (Asks how to conquer his ameliorating position and the appeasing attitude which he has found heretofore to dominate his life.)

WE: Your present honesty will stand you in good stead.

WE: The Devious One you have elected to become is exerting an almost life-long influence upon you. This Devious One shunned honesty because it met with untruth from others too horrible to bear. Such a force in the hand of stronger ones caused much turning and twisting. The light that shines down your well is honesty itself. Feel no remorse for the crime committed upon your tenderness, nor search out the guilty, nor turn the cheek. Just shine! See what has managed to survive in that well of loneliness. The light will reveal that which shines of itself.

John: But who is this Devious One you speak about? Me?

WE: Behind you is YOU. That which YOU are you have not been, and that which you will become you are. The survivor you has succeeded. WE say to you with all the strength in our command: be nevermore that which YOU are not. The turning back point has been passed. The way is shining downward to the heights. You have wished it so because the burden no longer need be carried. WE will not write the result, but will instead whisper it in your heart if you will pause for a moment and listen now.

(Pause. Silence. A feeling of peace filled the room).

WE: It is covered for now.

Rosalind: (Asked a silent question about the suffering she was undergoing due to the urgent financial problem and the need to care for her family. The garment-cutting job had not panned out. There appeared to be no solution and she felt the problem had gone on much too long. But where were its roots?)

WE: The world has had its share of sufferers. Their tears are the water-sheds of fools. The roaring rivers of tears rip away from the banks the saplings barely rooted. Rocks prevail not its wicked current, chips are flung to its eddy, and still the sufferers bend their cheeks to the wailing wall.

A robin, winging aloft and passing the field of wail- mg woe, wonders why all don't sing his song. He rides the wind, spreads to the Sun, digs for his supper and seeks an eave in the rain. Leave the wall, sister! Stand in the Sun! The worm is under-foot.

(At that time, Rosalind felt this did not answer her question and that the "WE" of the board had no idea of how difficult things were in this material world. But much later she was to get the point about "attitude" and wonder about the "worm underfoot" that she had apparently missed.)

Pause and resume for the Book if one is desired . HO-HO! This is the Book of the Actor. He has been called the Emperor. He is bathed in light that comes from a point in front of him and at foot-level. In his right hand, he holds to his face on a stick a full mask. In his left hand, he holds a golden ball without ornamentation. He stands. One foot rests on a sleeping lion-left foot. He wears a girdle that reaches his ankles. He is barechested. He wears a pendant-square with twelve divisions-three rows of four stones. Yes, all different-you to do. The Actor is virile. Actor facing front. He looks at viewer, mask in front. The mask is slightly forward, permitting the edges of the under-face to be seen. There is a two-pointed beard, short, on Actor's face. Hair is yellow. Mask is mask-like, expressionless. His skin on face is black. White mask.

There is a throne rearward right. On it sits a dog-a well-bred dog. Upright. A crown is on arm of throne-left side arm. Circular crown. Has six points. Each point is a cross having a red stone In the center. Dog Is facing viewer; lion profile, tawny in color-dog is white. Throne Is gold.

Two birds overhead, one with spread wings facing front holds in her beak a cloth that ripples downward. It is gathered at beak and fans out at bottom- pyramid in shape, royal in color and has a border of gold. The other bird has wings at his side and carries the Actor's staff in his claws. It is a red staff carried in a horizontal position.

Blue birds, both in air on same level-spread-wing bird at left, fold-wing at right. The ground, in place of scenery, has five-pointed stars which ring from cover to cover going behind the Actor. Many stars, as small as the dog's head. Shadows are cast backward by the Actor, stars and throne. Birds and carried objects have no shadows. Shadows being thrown onto an endlessness. Vague in color. Universality. Have you it?

John: One thing-is the actor's skirt a thin, gauzy affair that one sees through? I mean . . . since you say he ought to appear virile, etc.

WE: Yes, good.

John: What is the arm position that carries the ball?

WE: Cradled somewhat. The Actor's weight is not on the lion but on his other leg. He is straight-comfortably, not rigidly. He is THE Actor, remember. The Mind is the Book's significance. Do not permit others to think of the Actor as one playing a role, but rather one who performs acts.

This was the first time the group had been made consciously aware of the way the WE of the board utilized happenings in the small circle as a means of teaching and of relating them to the Book (or principle) to be revealed. Certainly the "stage had been set" before the Actor-masked-was unveiled. The Actor Book, however, was to be a puzzler and John could never understand why the lion, at his feet, slept.

John himself has been referred to as one of the young lions, always a symbol or royalty (leadership). He sleeps, not recognizing the new form that power has taken, not recognizing that those who control the mass media set the agenda, keep silent on the real issues, gloss over the ugliness and generally do what the Emperor did in the Old Tarot.

Feeler

George, who had at one time lived at the Highlands doing errands for John Cooke (who could not do them himself due to being in a wheel-chair), had come to visit from Santa Barbara during the holiday season. He was a pianist, much involved in spiritual studies and meditation. He had been away from Carmel for the past three years and everyone was delighted at the re-union. Yet otherwise sadness was felt this eve.

WE: Pushed aside have been the bearers of promise; the displacer has been the bearer of woe. The woe-bringer has a numbered season; its harvest- time foretells a rich seeding time. The harvest song has a melody low and full. The choir is vested in sticks. The song shall go up in smoke. No flame shall warm the gatherers-of-woe's song. It shall lighten. Be not down-cast. In your circle is another WE would acknowledge. Will he speak?

George: Thank you for the acknowledgment. I am indeed happy to be here.

WE: A ringing ring is rung. The ring both in sound and form has import to this one. The double ring of another day has wed this One. The search continues for the crystal ring. It will not be found in substance. Read these words well. Heed those which ring. Your ear is particularly tuned in this direction. You might listen more attentively with benefit. Question?

George: You mean by "wed this One," who?

WE: "One" is you.

George: What is the meaning of "substance"?

WE: The crystal ring can be considered as a weapon for you. More WE will not say.

George: Am I known to YOU?

WE: WE have known the One who is called by a name to be tabled this night. It will be called to you when it is rolled out. Pressing thoughts can be handled simply.

John: I want to know why the dream I had Christmas Eve of a close friend of mine being dead? (The person is question was not dead.)

WE: The indicators are pointed in the extreme. Do not differentiate; handle only-for the situation there is neither a positive or a negative. You are the handler and not to be man-handled. The situation involves the Devious One and not the Honest One. Ask.

John: Does this dream, then, indicate the last gasps of the Devious One?

WE: The battle is to be waged. Into the arena has walked a lion. No martyr is to be thrown him. He will pace its extremities and will find neither victim nor exit. When he roars his wrath, the gate-keeper will remove him a lamb.

John: This means I must know how to use my weapon. (the silver horn). How do I use it?

WE: When you use your weapon you will know what it is for. WE are not playing with you in this matter. When the weapon's use is known, the wisdom of these words will astound you. Have you finished with the matter? WE think not.

John: Is there a message for the "missing one?" (Dean).

WE: There is. The barrels are loaded; the finger is curved to speed on their way the shots to find the mark. WE wonder why the missing One puts not flesh to steel and releases the shots? WE would never send on its way a mis-fire nor present a target that was unsuited.

John: Do you mean by the "missing one," one who misses the target?

WE: WE speak plainer than that. It is not uncommon for another to stay with the marksman's finger.

Picture with us now a basket or a bucket or a well. From the interior darkness, a rope emerges. It meets the light above the curved rim. Its rise is constant yet slow. The rope is yellow in color. Picture it, please, as WE continue. The coils are tight and many. Without aid, the rope progresses upward. The viewer knows not the distance the rope will travel upward. There is a force which moves the rope upward from the darkness. Place yourself in this picture at any point at any time. See the similarities. The exercise may be practiced with great results when proper quiet is achieved. No more.

George: What is this symbol when applied to a male?

George drew this symbol and Nadine copied it down in her notebook.) The being who has this symbol in his heart has a viper which will strike through the protecting prison walls.

George: And what of this when applied to a female?

WE: The bearer of this symbol has lived through the fire and the cold. So conditioned, such a bearer can approach perfection unafraid.

George: Is this the symbol for the merging? (He draws)

WE: A false symbol. The merging would result in a circle. A tale is told: A tale is told of twins who, identical in form, lived with a tiller. The twins are called Troy and Troitus. Mother they had none and father never. It was said they were dropped by a she-bear. Under the care of the tiller, they grew through their youth. When the army rolled through the lowlands, the twins followed to gory battle in far places. Troy felled many, Troitus none. The war's end returned the twins to the tiller who knew not Troitus.

Q: Is this tale told for George?

WE: It is a singular tale. (No further comment was ever made on this tale and no one ever understood it. It was the most enigmatic and indeed "singular" of all the tales told. And was Troitus George's name? Or Troy and Troitus? It had been promised that his name would be tabled this night."?

This table has not been cleared. A morsel or two remains.

Rosalind: Would you tell us of the big mistakes we have made lately?

WE: Think not you mistake not. The mistakes have a wrinkled origin. The convulsions of this period are the squirmings out of the past wrinkles. The only mistakes made in the present period have been of not listening. Even now ONE speak-and not all hear always. There will forever be a rat gnawing at the vitals of him who listens, hears, and obeys not.

John: (Thinks in silence of a magenta colored garment he was given in meditation).

WE: No. WE will deal with that Book later. Start it off, John. She is the Feeler (the Empress). She welcomes the reader with open arms. She stands. Her golden tresses circle her breasts. She is beautiful, of course. She is girdled in a golden skirt. It is opened, showing legs. No shoes.

A serpent, small in size, circles each ankle. Metallic.

John: How does her hair circle her breasts?

WE: Right side as viewed, circles from in-out. Left opposite. On her head is the sign of Venus-is crowned. Crown is a black circlet only. Red is color of Venus symbol. Arms in welcome much as in embrace. She is flanked by cypress trees of the type seen in. Italy. Two trees. It is night. Stars twinkle and form the constellation of the Crab. The Feeler is the prime mover. No more.

In the ensuing discussion, the group commented on the fact that the Feeler--the former Empress-must be related to the female symbol given earlier in connection with the so-called "Indian rope-trick." If so, the Actor, her male counterpart dictated in the previous session would be related to the male symbol given. But, if so, in what way? The S meant the creative being, also the serpent, and was the first given letter designating both the Mother and the Hanging Man. But what of the two V's or pyramids? One upright, the other inverted, and each one with a "tail?" George was puzzled but somewhat impressed. He returned to Santa Barbara a few days later, wondering as to the meaning of the crystal ring.

John's version of the Feeler seemed to embrace almost with an octopus-like clutch. Was this, however, what was meant by the embrace?

Childish Things

Vigil lights were lighted before the Christmas teepee. It was a quiet night, close to the New Year. This year had been more eventful than had been anticipated. Or rather, although the group had anticipated a great event February -the date astrologers had predicted a worldwide catastrophe which had failed to come to pass-the commencement of the message on ONE in August had seemed to more than bear out the impressions received in meditation at the beginning of 1962. The group had expected not a catastrophe but a change in consciousness affecting all of mankind. A symbolic star had been seen. Was this star the presentiment of the Way- Shower, -the Star of the older Tarot? And was it like the Star of Bethlehem? However, no one felt that the Star betokened -the birth of an Avatar-or the second coming of Christ-in this time-period, but rather that it heralded the birth of the star of avataric beingness in the "many," whose name was legion, in the onset or dawn of the Aquarian Age.

It seemed significant, also, in view of the early part of the message emphasizing the Lion (and the recurrent emphasis on the Lion in symbol throughout the Books of T), that the dictation had commenced when the Sun was in Leo-the sign opposite to Aquarius, and the one in which the Sun rose at the vernal equinox at the time Atlantis went down. The meaning of the "reversal" was thus doubly emphasized. Yes, it had been an eventful year-even though nothing of an outward nature had happened February 5 when seven planets were conjoined in Aquarius. But this had been the start. Perhaps the "New Word," along with the Way-Shower, betokened the actual commencement of the Aquarian Age. No one spoke of this this eve-but the awareness of it was present, as was the awareness of the Christ.

WE: Take heed. The words will spill out. There is on the threshold a challenger. Mighty is the challenger; mightier are ye. Give quarter when it is fit. Move not in fear but stand firm in His blast. His form is familiar and you are not a stranger to Him. His mode is pleasant, so now suffer a thorn for salvation. Light a vigil lest ye miss the challenger. 'Twould be sorrowful to have Him visit you unawares. Have heart at His coming. Give Him not the nod nor His due.

A curious retreat is observed; 'tis better to advance. However, backward progression is recognized when the obstacle is insurmountable. All retreats are time-consuming. It is well to study the obstacle to determine its insurmountability rather than retreat because the obstacle has been encountered. Compassion rings its cloth and you are washed in its blessing. Into the soil sere and hard, the water of compassion muddies and births a shoot. Compassion's second season fruits and multiplies. Hold your cheeks up to its fluid. A rare jewel, this. Mother-love enfolds you protectively. Hurtful things sting less because of this covering. Naked yet will ye stand. The slings may enter for you to bear or they may be deflected by your weapons. In either case, ye shall have the strength to yield or to wield. A promise: you shall not go under. If you be drowned, you shall be counted but shall rise. Tears would crack out 'neath open eyes. Pain pushes them not; neither sadness nor misery, for misery in-draws and goes not out. That which has no beginning does not exist; that which has an ending never was. Where, then, place the blame for cracking tears? Are they found by lifting? Does plumbing sound them: Will compassion uncover them? What then?

A question of many angles may be squared now. WE will take the uppermost which is at the bottom of things: "Whither goest I?" Into the Maze you have stalked.

Q: When did we enter the Maze? This life? Previous lives?

WE: Having entered previously, you were not babes about it. Babes terror at the windings and fright at the furry things. You entered the Maze-each and all-at the age of four; or, to say it differently, at the same time.

Q: What age does that make us now?

WE: You have placed at a distance childish things. Know that these childish things are beyond grasp. Through the Maze you are winding. Light your lamp if darkness is met.

Q: How does one light his lamp?

WE: Know what the challenger is.

Q: How do we find YOU?

WE: 'Tis truly a Maze. The way is open. The opening is wide enough to admit you but nothing else.

Q: How many of us are in the Maze? For instance, since you say Rosalind is in the forest, is she in the Maze?

WE: The forest is in the Maze. You are within calling distance of each other.

Q: What section is each of us in?

WE: Does not matter.

Q: What is the Maze?

WE: The Maze is the binder and the freer of One. He who enters is allowed to. Always be mindful that certain things have been left behind. Q: Like what?

WE: Childish things.

Q: That is relative. What do YOU mean by childish things?

WE: Those things which do not become you. Should a babble arise, hold on to your Self while your droppings fall. Let fall the limbs. Remember only "I am I." WE will not review a Book this night.

Royal Maze

WE: The challenge has been made. You will return to the line of your retreat. You will cross the line and journey into the land of twisted roses. You will not go this way again. There will be no need. There is a gnawing rumbling in your midst this night. There is a trembling and a quivering. The very foundation shakes. Rocks are hurtling upward prior to the eruption-not lava, but boiling blood gushes out. The purging is long over-due. Straddle the fissure and ascend with the flow. Stay not its course for your life. We would speak to the Bearded One. (Jared Mays, age 18, was wearing a beard). He will speak first.

Jared: May I know when I was born?

WE: You have asked this question well, and, not for the first time your life has begun. You were started an old man. You must now progress to your youth-a period never known by the Bearded One. You must take up your childish heart and put aside wisdom not yours. There is fruit growing on low branches for you that others cannot stoop for. Maria will aid. (Maria, as it transpired later, did not indicate a person but rather the Mother, the ocean, the Creator.)

Jared: Will you tell me about the events that occurred in Ojai in 1959 and what meaning they had?

WE: Gather to yourself other pure ones. Play with them a season, then it will not matter your companions. The time you speak of is another time. Now is THE time. Pass not by the fruit and leave it hanging. It will not ripen ever again. A blue light has tabled. WE will speak now of its bringer. Center yourself in that light. Follow its upward plunging to the depths of the universe. Fear not. The return will benefit.

Roger: What is the sound in my ear?

WE: Through a long, dark night you have wandered. Neither stone nor zephyr guided you. One by one your toes fell off, your head sagged on your breast and you cried out most heart-breakingly. On and on. Stop by a still place and be overtaken by that which you seek. It draws nigh. It must find you reposed. How joyous the meeting! A mother bursting with gladness shed tears, one to each cheek. In a moment of time, the twin tears were gathered by a snowy raven who nested the jewels. To this day they gleam from the high place.

Pat: (She asked a silent question, not explained to the group).

WE: Picture if you will two hands. They are cupped upward and have no arms. The fingers are strong, capable. They must uncup one day and touch as fingers can. Just to touch. The rest will follow. WE would say further to the sister gentle: a host awaits. How fortunate for all! Something is lacking. Who will fill the void now?

Jared: Who or what is Maria? Does it mean someone here or there?

WE: The ocean is Maria; Maria is your heart. She is found everywhere and would know you. She calls you Son. She is your Sun. She waits. How long? Ask.

Rosalind: Would you please speak about my book of Big Sur history?

WE: Would you deal with primaries?

Rosalind: But the book is primary.

WE: You will not. As WE have said many times, WE cannot incline the twig. WE strain to withold the lumps. Love does triumph in the end. Here is one that refuses. Let it not he said there is one who lost out. The stallion is to be pastured. He is to be led to the still water and made-yes, made-to drink. There is a drifting now. Rest and gather again. There is more if it will be brought forth.

During the ensuing coffee-break, Rosalind felt very annoyed by the answer she had received and said so. However, the point emphasized was that the WE of the writings was not concerned with mundane matters, which were thought of as secondary, but only with primary principles-the teaching itself. WE: A twicetold tale suffers in translation. Only once can the heart be pierced. Who will run the message through the tangle to the Sovereign? Will one?

Dean: I will! How do I do this?

WE: Place it 'tween the teeth, free thy hands, loose the straps and flee. Astride not a beast, run not in shadow, spring the hurdles. Read not the message; it is for another. The Ruler waits. His crown hangs in the balance. Quick, ere the light dims!

Dean: Where do I get the message?

WE: You have been given it.

Dean: Tell me about last week's message when I was away, the target and trigger, etc.

WE: The finger is curved. Another stays your hand. The target is ahead and straight. Think not another stays the finger without permission. Should the finger atrophy, how terrible the beast's havoc! Be alarmed at these words. Be not fearful.

Rosalind: What is this crown of white candles I am seeing? Does it have to do with Dean?

WE: The ruler's crown is of thorns. When browed, its meaning is clear. Is there more before stepping into the next Book? The Book is called the Royal Maze (the Wheel of Fortune). There is a large circle. Within it, a square. A cross quarters the square. Within the circle are seven smaller circles. They are within each other. Each is of a different color-you to arrange. Diagonal lines through square. Two lines. There is no entrance nor exit to the Maze.

Center circle is white. Contains crown. Five jewels on crown. Looking down on crown: ruby, emerald, diamond, turquoise, onyx. Crown is viewed as a circle also. Jewels split the visible line of crown. Above circle there are inter-locking links in a row. Gold. Two lions hold large circle aloft. They stand on hind legs. One is white, one black. Their tales entwine at bottom of Book. In top right-hand quarter of square a sail-boat. One mast. A torch is in left-hand top. An upright eight in lower left. A cup flowing down remains-up and tilted slightly. Flows wine. Destiny is the meaning of this Book. Field is yellow.

What a curious coincidence that the Book of the Royal Maze had been given on the night that Jared Mays (pronounced Maze) attended a session for the first time! Clearly his connection with the Book of the Maze must have been a deep one. The group remarked, in the discussion afterward, that more had been written about the Royal Maze than any other Book-for it had been referred to from the beginning. The Maze and its unravelment, and the "royal mix-up" that occurred in ancient Egypt-perhaps also on Atlantis at the tail-end of the age of Leo, the Lion, since it was a "twice-told tale" -was clearly central to the Tarot and the story of One.

Juice of Memory Rises

WE: The touch of the Father's hand on the shoulder of the son is at once firm and tender. He expresses wonder at the beingness beneath his fingers and determination that naught shall come nigh or sully the purity of his child. The child responds and thrusts upward through the fabric and meets the sire's flesh in sympathy. He knows his parent dreams the dream of fools. He knows he is himself and not his father's son. In the contact of fingers and fabric and that beneath is understanding of each that tears the heart. Still angels sing. A butterfly with pressed-together wings drops from the bloom to the sod. Unopened, the wings tremble in unison as a wind passes the field. Stillness and calm and warmth. The wings separate and droop. The Sun beats at the soil. The wings flatten and dry. Up comes a gust. The wings lift. He glides, he soars, he dips, he alights on a blossom and ups his wings and drinks. His wings join. He falls.

Pleasure has a companion-you know him well. Sadness has a friend-you know him not. Love has a purpose and this you know. Delay has a reason and you live it. Words and their meaning have a time and the timing is being readied. Let it come. The upright serpent is extended to her limit. Yet there is more. The expansion is in three directions--up, in and one other. The flame brightens whitely, yet coiled is the spirit; divorced has the Mind become from her with the white tail and fiery head. Look not to the appearance, seek not the discarded scales nor tracks in the dust. The bird's flight leaves no trail in the vapors. Only his song is recalled. Listen for it.

WE say "no" what ye say "yea." Triple trip tri T.

Shall WE out the point? 'Tis a matter of grave concern. The ocean cannot contain its import. A star points the way. A clarion calls. The senses are not duped. What then? To whom do WE speak? Will you listen and do? How long must one cry to the Deliverer himself?

You have said it. WE witness for you. Speak! A mighty tool may enter the work-shop in the hand of a craftsman. Such a tool will lessen the load. An apprentice may lop his fingers off with it. Fashioned in a far place, the tool is not strange nor its operation. Make not a weapon of a tool. You are correct that a missing element exists. This has been recorded. It is to be recalled later.

The juice of memory rises. When it spills will be the time of reversal. It is coming. Be ye prepared. Mighy shall be the roar, violent the rending, joyous the release.

The serpent had been mentioned many times earlier. Now it was referred to as "her" and as spirit. It is up-right like the one at the brow chakra in the Citadel to be seen again in the Book of the Deliverer-both as an upright golden serpent rising from a box and as two serpents of fire forming the figure eight of infinity at the top of the Book.

Was she also the "blue demon lurking at the center" mentioned in the first session? That which was said later was "not to be destroyed finally, but elevated?" The obvious reference was to kundalini, but was sex involved also? Later it was to be recalled that the mis-use of the "serpent power" was said to have led to the destruction of Atlantis. From the mighty brow chakra, the third eye, it had been reversed or cast down to the ground.

A symbol

WE: A symbol, a symbol, a symbol. Thrice repeated a symbol imparts its meaning true. The maker of symbols is not wiser than the one who reads its mearnng. Each to each has been given the word pictured. The symbol good and the symbol bad are one. A period commences of symboling, creating, casting and dispersing. Not all will function samely. Search out the symbols. Take those which are yours-enter into them but become not them. Wear them as garments, use them as tools, share them as aids, conceal them not from others yet be wary in your dispatch of knowledge for some are yet babes.

Treatment of events a must. Happenings are precipitated from the well- springs. Now is the season for permitting no return to the very same depths. The up-brings are to be handled in a manner different from the recent past. Think not of degree of rightness-rather act in accord with present entity. The unrolling scroll indicates differing states in the face of mirrored Being. See the image and the caster as a unity. BE the caster and the image. None other sees the mirror.

The rose . . . . A foreign gardener has entered the field of the rose. He has snatched a few petals and placed them in a row. Each petal is laid flat, and, where there is a tendency for the petals to curl up on them-selves, he has flattened them most definitely. He takes a rose thorn most pointed and proceeds to cut thereupon a message. Such treatment is foreign to the rose whose function is beauty and sweetness. The gardener will depart the field with the petals. He will use them in a way known to his land. The rose-less a few not-vital petals-will once again grace the field.

Remember the book The Name of the Rose. Consider the symbolism of the Rose in Christianity. While this story about the rose is not specific to Christianity, it does refer to false religions written on pages (petals) taken from the Rose and misused. See the following passage about the initiate slaying the priest.

(Pause to decipher and discuss. What a very strange message about the rose! Like many of the tales given, it had a parable-like quality yet was obscure and baffled analysis. After coffee, the session continued).

WE: The kiss is bestowed to the throat. No embrace accompanies this holy ceremony. Immediately thereafter, the throat is concealed. When the heart is bared, the throat vibrates in song.

The initiate slays the priest as is the custom. Thus is the Word ever renewed. 'Tis a loving and not a hard act. Peace will come to the table of kings. The toast shall be fuilsome of stars. The royal mirth shall ring the land. Subjects shall become freed men. Each shall have a horse and an ass. To each shall be given his chains.

A pulling and a pushing now produces activity whereas it formerly produced conflict. Taken separately, the complexities are reduced to utter simplicity. The Maze is no longer run but paced. The gait of the journeyer has peculiar- to-itself rhythms. Each travels alone as himself in his own shoes being careful not to walk in another's track. The secret of the Maze is not found in a track. WE will deal with other Books at a later time. If questions there are none, WE will close.

John: I wish to ask about what now is to be done by me. That is, I have through hints gotten certain ingredients such as that it involves reversal, a body center to be opened, the legs, the letter R, but there is yet something I do not "get." Do you know what I mean? Will you hint?

WE: WE do. The points mentioned are all correct even to the "something" that is still to be done. The thing is in your throat and shall come forth. That which is to be done by you cannot ever be done by another. To record for future reference, list now the points: reversal, legs, R, something to done with throat not to be done by another. Can you list another? WE will wait for its coming. When the ruler submits to his physician, he is recovered.

John: Where lies the physician?

WE: He is with you.

Unto you is given

Everyone wondered why no Books had been given since the Royal Maze. But evidently other matters had to be focused upon, including the throat. Also the giving of the Maze Book had left everyone with something ponder upon and attempt to unravel. John had painted a chain of three gold links at the top of the Maze due to the emphasis on triple, the thrice-repeated symbol, etc. Bill, a friend of Dean's, had arrived from Ojai and was to stay and become a part of the group.

WE: The silver beam has entered the throat. Softly and bloodlessly it has found its mark. The penetration has been fulsome, yet a while it shall linger. Its egress shall be unnoticed. It shall go forth and will return to another vital.

Quit now with thoughts of the Royal Maze. The Eagle has centered. His wings outspread, his talons grip the sword and he beaks the rose. What is the question.

John: (Thinking of the Minotaur and Crete). What of the Bull at the Maze's center, the turning of the Bull?

WE: The bull has been matched. There was battle none. A refrain: High from the bills came the wind song. Out and down it whispered. Into the valley of deafness it swirled. It sought a cup of reception. None heard but one . . . a gentle lamb. The wind song drew and the lamb with it and then the shepherd followed. This refrain has been heard by the lamb this evening. The shepherd will come. The feeling of greatness is upon you. This is a burden to be well worn. Shed not your responsibilities, fear not your activity, yet question well your admittances. The table rings with song this night. The song emits from all things seen and unseen. The outer layer of all things touchable vibrates to the melody. If you stretch forth your body, it is bathed with music, oh magic night! There is a stirring felt in sleeping regions. Great must be the full awaking. Neither din nor force shall accomplish this. The awakened One arises. The sleeping one sleeps. There is an an arouser but he wakes not up. Have you a ditty to be heard?

Dean: Do you have a message for Bill?

WE: There is a Book for this one to be read. This Book is in the possession of a woman close. A chain of events will commence bringing you to the red people. Your gift-bringing shall earn for you a key to a mystery. You will remember. You will re-create. You will do what another cannot.

(Later Bill was to join Nadine, whom he had just met. She was a quarter Cherokee, a quarter Choctaw, and half Irish-hence the reference to the "red people." With her blond hair and green eyes, Nadine did not show her native American blood, but she had very high cheekbones; also her chants sometimes sounded AmerIndian.)

WE: Do you wish to return to the awakening?

John: Why did the mirror in this room break? Was it to do with awakening? (A huge mirror had actually broken that day.)

WE: "Mirror, mirror on the wall" . . . . The Self will be seen. Remember for a later time the throat. You have seen the image cracking. WE will do away with reflections then.

John: You mean I can't see Rhom any more as my reflection?

Rhom: (To John, in surprise). I see you!

WE: There is tragedy in misunderstanding.

John: Then you had better be clearer.

WE: Be not tragic. The exercise continues. A strengthening results and you know it well. Purity of form is revealed. No muscle binding. The development is sure. The Rosetta stone is rolled away. A burden is lifted. A free soul flies onward. Yellow eyes, unblinking, number the years. Through the portal enters the recorder to the chamber of scrolls. He goes in aloneness. He unfolds the past. That which is writ, he wrote. It is read now, and, re-written, the scrolls are wrapped again. He leaves the chamber and seals the portal. The wheel turns a revolution. Face to face shall the meeting be. In that day shall ye be known of each other. Masks shall fall away. Words unuttered shall find homage in the breast. Caps will be exchanged. Up from the deeps shall rise truth. Through the dark corridor the light streams and the words will sound. And it is sure then. The day has a number.

Q: Could an actual date be given?

WE: YOU will bring it forth now or later as you will. Certain cloudings or obscurities in the mind must lift. In a future day, man will speak of it and wonder. Now you think of it and doubt. This will pass with the clouds. As these words are, their meaning is recorded in your deeps. See them there and understand and be governed by them. Then shall rulership be restored.

Nadine: This sounds Egyptian (thinking of the Rosetta stone, and the recorder of the chamber of scrolls who might have been interpreted to mean Thoth- Tahuti).

WE: WE speak in many tongues but say the same thing.
Mark this well: Ye shall walk unafraid.
Mark this well: WE are with you in all things.
Mark this well: It has been given to you to do.

The sun lifts her veils slowly

WE: Singers in small numbers are ye. Counterpoint there is, and counter-harmony, too. The song is different. Harmony now. The song begins, the instrument sounds. The Sun lifts her veils slowly, in season, though. Her radiance graces the dampness and a blossom breaks forth. Three leaves twine. The bloom is black and sweet. The honeybees alight to probe its deeps. Filled, they fly to the West. They will not hive but will drop their jewels in the ear of Kings. When the Sun's season returns, the veil will lift higher and other blooms and honey-bees will be produced.

To the table has come a bringer most welcome. (meaning Lorna). She will sing her song at another time in another place. Her song has but one note. Its magic is in the spacing of the notes. Low and vibrant is the key. It shatters not but, rather, anneals. It is heard. Throughout the third world, it is not heard. It stirs not the emotions. It is unaccompanied. It is produced in the lungs. In a bell-like mantle, it falls upon the intended. It is actually worn for a period. This period is as incubation. All hail to thee, singer!

A race is indicated. Remember the pace is slowed now. Open the vault, draw forth the bright stones, search among them. Select one that awaits you. Replace the others. Close the vault. Do with your chosen as you will. Caution: do not mouth your stone lest it be swallowed. This has been done. The Lord spoke to his priest: "What shall I do?" He answered thusly: "Cast your eyes to heaven to see what can be put aright. Cast your eyes to the dark regions to see what has been put asunder. Cast your eyes within to see if aught is amiss. Should something be seen that displeases my Lord, you have it in your throat-the method of change. Speak out your command. All is subject to the Sovereign." It was done and the Lord marveled at his strength.

Q: Why the delay? Why have the Books stopped?

WE: This is the time of change . . . change of many things. Some have changed, some must, some will. The Books remaining for record will come in their season. Your acceptance of this period was expected. We are not disappointed in you, but pleased. You may expect, in your turn, remarkable events as you record them.

John: (asks a silent question regarding "mifteha," the Arabic word for key).

WE: WE speak most softly to the question: time there is none. The heart holds not the answer, yet it is close to the heart. Dual action shapes one activity. A knowing is needed-a need is known. You must not speak softly.

Rhom: (asks a silent question, not explained.)

WE: An oft-repeated refrain dulls the ear. The answer is written. The answer is known. Lacking now is the will to perform the act. The circle widens. The center still has its point. Point-and circle not. Review the record from the one point-not from the circumference. Be not a man without a country forever wandering the shores. The point is your land. Find it. It is close. Leave it never--or roam always. A tear glistens on the table. The smile is not far behind.

Lorna: Can anyone ever help anyone?

WE: All help all. WE help others and sometimes never know it. It is proper at other times to offer help. Patterns have their season, also, with a sun and a moon. The dawn never breaks out of time. He who bends the path of the Moon is broken in trying. Meddlers there are in number. None are here gathered.

Deliverer

Tonight the first Book was to be given since the Royal Maze, a month earlier. The Deliverer was to contain the fourth of the five cups of the Tarot or the Grail-the cup of fire. The cup of light had been given with the Virgin; the cup of fluids with the Way-Shower; the cup of wine with the Royal Maze. Now the cup of deliverance....

WE: The blue receptors are in motion, living fires are consumed, vitals are bathed in flames. The stones melt; a white ash remains. They are cupped, carried aloft, scattered and take root in oceans.

Children, parentless, seek the Mother. She is busy begetting the Sun. He is now with the world, his cord is severed, he will soon speak. He will speak of the Mother. The lost will have been found. There is a brook over-hung with sweeping branches. A wise One awaits in its shade. Long has he sat thus. He waits. When the Awaited comes, he will give up his treasure and rest. Many are the ones who would wrest his treasure from him, but he speaks not to them. The birds will sing when the Awaited comes. The Wise One will see the brook reverse and brighten. When the treasure is passed on, the brook will dry. It will then a-right. The Awaited One will cross the brook and journey for a season. The Deliverer is at hand.

Q: Who is the Deliverer?

WE: Picture a woman seated on a stand. Standing behind her is the lion. His forepaws rest on her shoulders. His head is a-top hers. His tail curls the stand. In front of the woman is a vat of fire. To the right is a man. He holds in both hands, raised to his lips, a cup of fire. He has drunk the flame. The grass-around his feet only-burns.

Two circled serpents, joined as eight, are suspended in the sky. They flame brightly. Clothing there is none, nor ornamentation. The ocean is seen. Still is it.

The serpents center Book. Woman is in middle, man right. She faces you; man profile. High above are the serpents. They extend from center equally.

To left of woman there is emerging from a black box a golden serpent. He is straight as can be. His open mouth reveals a forked tongue which is blue. It points to the center of the Book. Woman has golden hair piled high on her head. Her beauty is serene. Her hands are extended into the flames and may or may not be seen. The man is youthful and comely. His features are enflamed. The man holds the cup to his lips but the fire has entered his being. The downward fluid lights his center. The light goes not to his legs. The lion is truly lion-colour. His mouth is shut. The Deliverer is the name of the Book (Strength). Its meaning is that which is to come to each. A word or two more to aid in this presentation: She is not the Deliverer, nor is he. The flame is. The fire is as you know fire. To some all fire is blue. You may wish, therefore, to have some blue flames. The serpents, however, are light with fire-not blue with flame.

John: I know a secret!

WE: Thus is the Deliverer known.

I saw a picture of the Book of the Deliverer, and recognized in it a symbolic description of the path to the illumination of fire, which I had experienced a few years earlier. This made me trust this revelation. I spent the next 7 years studying it. -- Dr.H

The Waiting One

Questions had arisen following the Deliverer session which were to be asked and in some measure answered this night. Nadine was shortly to depart on a round-the-world trip to India and Egypt. The main destination was, however, Egypt, to which she had felt ever more closely drawn since the dictation had started six months ago. She always-or nearly always-wore at her neck a pendant containing a golden scarab, and it had often been remarked that in profile she resembled Nefertiti. However, thoughts this night were centered on the Deliverer and on "that which is to come."

WE: Thus are gathered a goodly number. Profit ye from one another. Bring to the fore forces; in strength open the avenue. Admit horses even. Sweeten the stench of pale blooms. Words shall be writ, thoughts unknown shall be known, the secret place shall be visited, the flame shall be heaped. The Waiting One becomes impatient. There is a stirring. Energy lives on. The Waiting One would beckon you. Recognize the sign. Do its bidding and ye shall be comforted.

Rosalind: Who is the Waiting One?

WE: The point is well taken. You are loved. Know this.

John: Would you please give us indications of the future since we are apparently suddenly cast in a huge change?

WE: This can be the period of fulfillment, each in his way. Strict adherence to the given leading will result in a kept promise. The period is not without its tasks. Some ye know. None will be burdensome. The opportunity will be there. An alert one will not miss it; the drowsy one will. Sleep not in particular quarters.

Nadine: Do you have any helpful suggestions for my trip?

WE: See the coin as having two sides. There is a double meaning to all things. Let no influence present one side.

John: (Asks silent question. He was thinking about the rope in the well, letting go, etc.)

WE: Take an eight, separate it, uncirde it. That which stands can support you. -Who will sing? There is a song sung in the lower region which shatters the confines. Its sincere note rises through the layers. It reverberates the branches and the bird will fly. -Think on this: Who is the greatest in the kingdom-the King or the Fool? Can you be the Fool in the days to come?

John: Are we going into "crises"?

WE: Yes-that is the complete Fool.

John: Am I correct in the goal I have had for centuries?

WE: Let none tell another of his goal. A man's goal is known to him alone. All goals, by their nature, are glorious. If otherwise, a goal it is not but a diversion on the way to the goa1. Each seeks his own. It comes not from another-is what the earlier words mean. Suffice it to say: the goal of One is rarely known.

Rosalind: Do all have different goals?

WE: Each sees the Sun with his own vision. Hark to the trembling in your being. The stirring waxes strong. Suckle your own and they shall feed you. The seed has rooted. Uproot not your planting if you would bear fruit. Now it is given to ask and another to say; to one to do and one to done to. 'Tis a reversal merely.

In that day feed not the chatterers for no nourishment is there for them. In that day council not among others deaf. In that day bare not hearts to the heartless for nothing shall be pumped to them. In that day light not him without vision. Be still.

Rosalind: When is that day?

WE: That day is well past cock-crow. The noon is upon you. The Sun must not set and find you wanting. Long are the shadows of sunset.

Rosalind: Is there an important event due affecting all of us?

WE: There is! Now has come the time to extract the meat. You must eat without aid. The kernel has been served and oped. EAT!

The group was still interpreting things literally. They thought that the event referred to would be happening in the immediate future. They did not realize that the day "well past cock-crow" referred to a more extended period affecting all of mankind or rather those seekers who followed the "given leading." The time was "well past noon." In an early session it had been said moon-period was man's noon; star-period man's twilight period. Evening or the star period was yet to come. "In that day" was yet to come.

Now was the time of preparedness, for "the Sun must not set and find you wanting." Was the end of the age predicted here, a kind of Apocalypse? Or rather that "reversal" occurring at the end of an age which would open into a new beginning under the sign of Aquarius? Aquarius, traditionally associated with the Water-bearer, was in ancient times symbolized by the Phoenix. Another kind of light would be shed on this with the giving of the Renewer Book (Death), and the Knower (Judgment or Resurrection).

Explosion

WE: In the wake of the wake a bloom rises from the ashes. Fragrance none has it, nor protection. That which was needed was the bloom's rising. Peace has settled into your valley. It has come on bidding. There shall be no peace while peace is with you. The explosion is a-rumbling. In white heat it is done. Then ye shall know peace. What will ye?

Jim: What is the nature of peace?

WE: Peace comes only to the Knowing One. He who is aligned with himself is at peace.

Rosalind: What is my real purpose here?

WE: WE cannot speak of your purpose but you can know of it. When it is known of you, tell it not out. When you are about that purpose, it will be known. You seek (now) rather a temporary direction. Step out.

John: Would you talk on reincarnation and what it is?

WE: A backward glance only. He who looks over his shoulder when the Sun dawns sees only his shadow; likewise at sun-setting. Noon is upon you-so dwell not in shadows for they are not. The Sun is overhead. Her rays strike the head, enter, and fire another fire, exploding. Sit not in the noonday Sun. It is stirring time-not siesta. Be about your business. It is all about. It calls to you as you call to came you. WE, too.

Rosalind: Have we any relation to the B'hai movement? (B'hai friends had been much in evidence lately).

WE: A ribbon threads its way through several pillars. You have one end of that ribbon. You have a connection with the ribbon, not the pillars.

John: Tell us about amnesia.

WE: YOU have not forgotten.

John: Then how does one unlock and remember?

WE: The unlocker is in the throat. Concentration is not the way. There is a proper function. The throat is connected with reversal as it is with all things now for you. To enter the locked door, the key is found and used. Confuse not the key with the door or the one who unlocks. Ask. Two things are here being discussed. The energy from the throat is not the explosion.

John: What is the explosion?

WE: It shall wake all sleeping.

John: But what can be done to release it?

WE: It has been said. Steady as she goes. Be not run through with the sword ye hold.

Q: Could we get another Book tonight?

WE: Later. Once there was one who desired. Day and night he desired a needed thing. On his death-bed he asked for it and it was given him.

John: Do you mean that I have asked for myself a personal thing?

WE: Once there was a promised land-beyond a great and roaring river. To pass into this land the traveler-having no boat-cut down a tree, carried it to the near bank, dropped it to the far bank, crossed upon it and reached the promised land.

John: Would you tell Rhom something? He is so modest that he never asks.

WE: He shall stand under and as H. He shall go forth H 5. He shall be aided by another. He will know this meaning.

No one ever discovered the meaning of the letter H during the course of the Carmel sessions. However, it is said to form part of the name of God, also to be related to the hub of the wheel of the Universe.

H stands for Dr.H, of course!

Lenore and Carrie

Lenore made the care of retarded children her life-work, and was presently taking care of a retarded child named Carrie. Mayfield had been teaching a class at John's house at Carmel Highlands in hand-writing analysis. Both John and Rhom attended her class, but this evening the other students did not arrive so they decided to do a ouija board session instead, especially as Lenore had expressed concern about Carrie.

Lenore: (Silently questions about Carrie and what more she should do for her.)

WE: Twin peaks do not a mountain make, nor a summit. The cleft between is a vital fissure. The up is not equal with the down. The foundation is ice. Fire descends to the twin peaks. The ice does not melt, yet it darkens. None comes to the peaks. A demonstration of faith produces more. Quietness produces now. The triple activity is needed; fire is lacking. The extremities wither for warmth. A star rises, falls, and rises again. The Moon is sunned. The broken branch is not a club but an oak when re-planted. It flowers not but fruits. The season of rain is short, the harvest heavy. Success is not known as it is usually known. The planter has his own reward. Neither fowl nor fur shall know its limbs. Ask.

Lenore: (Asks another silent question).

WE: Unfrock yourself. Stand revealed. That which ye do is done in the revelation. As your cloak falls, your weapon goes into action. Naught stands against your weapon. A battle is not waged, yet there is victory. Carry on. (Pun on Carrie).

John: What is Lenore's position with Carrie? Please explain.

WE: You have asked for and been given. The gulf between the two must be filled with the fire. One torch must kindle another. You are not the fire but a kindler. You are not the keeper of the flame, but the releaser. Spark the lack, fan it hot. In the resulting blaze, light issues. Plainer WE cannot be.

Q: At this time is Lenore proceeding in the right direction with her tape-therapy?

WE: Carry on! The vase is shattered. Flowers it will not hold, nor water. The gifted one gathers the fragments and pictures a mosaic.

Benny: What can I do to further my spiritual development?

WE: Well said. You are now well lighted. Tent not the light. Be wary of robbers. Should one come, burn not. Shine only.

Q: Will Mayfield's plans proceed with success?

WE: The victorious warrior enters the fray with fears, yet is not overcome by them. He fears but is not afraid. Thus your battle is won.

Changer

WE: Hail to the Conquering One! A cover has settled o'er all. When the cold abates, when the heat warms, when the light shines 'tis time for uncovering. Lethargy o'ercomes him who remains covered beyond season. The Changing One is to change and be changed. Stay not with his ministrations. Stay not progress of any nature. Flower with the Word and it will carry you. Then-in that day-you will carry the Word. At this point of time, let none other measure progress, or time, or activity. Is there a question now?

John: Was the "missing element" the coming shepherd?

WE: The missing element, so-called, is not a shepherd. Its quality, however. (This related directly to the forthcoming Book, the Changer).

Q: What of the eagle? Is it part of the same idea? Is it related to the shepherd, etc.?

WE: Many aspects are applicable.

Q: The animals you've talked of fit with the various chakras, don't they?

WE: WE will wait on this.

John: By the "stone in the idol's eye"-did you mean something like the "mote in thy brother's eye"?

WE: Definitely not a mote. 'Tis much more. It is flaw-less. 'Tis a weapon.

Q: Would you explain more about the stone in the idol's eye since it seems so important to understand?

WE: No lasting edifice stands without the stone. No builder is without the stone. A foundation without the stone shall topple all above it.

Rosallnd: In what sense is the stone a weapon? (Her weapon was the stone).

WE: One's SELF is secured with a weapon. Each is and has a weapon.

Rosalind: Please say more about the stone or weapon.

WE: In battle, the warrior keeps his weapon at his side well-oiled, in working order and at ready. Shall you do less? His weapon is not a thing-apart but is as a part of himself.

Rosalind: (Asks about a stone she has seen in meditation, fat, thin and pale green, covered with inscriptions. It looks Atlantean or Mayan or Aztec. Is this her weapon?)

WE: The relatedness of all things becomes so apparent at certain vantage points. The small scene permits of a larger one.

(She had not grasped the significance of the stone as a "weapon." It was not a literal thing or object. But the relatedness of all things was being pointed out as a further clue or guide-mark).

John: Is there anything particular YOU would care to word on this table tonight?

WE: In the mouth of the Lion is lodged a seed which must pass out and germinate. If his tail is tweaked, he will swallow it, alas. If he is beset by wolves, they will steal it. He may knowingly pass it to a planter. Its fruit can juice the world. Unplanted, the seed will be a husk-dry and heavy. The Lion may then beget cub-but no more.

The Seed is the New Tarot. The Lion is John.

John: What is the seed? Is there an actual planter? Would YOU be specific, please?

WE: Our proddings will continue in this plain language till it is done and, when it is done, our plain language will be seen as that, and WE will be forgiven.

John: May we have the next Book?

WE: It is here. He is the Changer. (Juggler-Magician.) He stands on a sphere. He extends his arms. His dress is brown and falls not below the knees. He is unshod. His toes grip the sphere. One shoulder is bared. The one on the right as viewed. An eagle is perched thereon. The eagle sits at rest and is hooded in white. A red jewel gathers his dress on left shoulder. He is graceful and fair. One palm is up, one is down. His arms extend not up but out and to the side. In the up-palm is a white flower. Water falls from the down one. No vessel, though. His dress falls freely. No girdle. On his breast is pictured the symbol of the table without word, of course. (The double-axe). It is woven into his dress. The day is clear without sun. Spread before the sphere on a cloth of gold are these things: a stone, a curved blade, a two-headed serpent, a pear. Nothing else. These 4 items are the 4 suits. It may be that the 2-headed serpent should be the Amphisbaena, an Aztec symbol, a snake with a head on each end.

The eagle has drawn blood from the shoulder-three drops. Is the Book clear? He is on a plateau and the blue sky dominates. Signification cannot be said.

When John painted the Changer, he painted the brown cloak as a shepherd's cloak-since this had been part of the session earlier, as had been the eagle and the stone. It was, of course, especially meaningful that the symbol of the double-axe-drawn intuitively and without conscious intent-was the symbol woven into the Changer. The double-axe, incidentally, had been done in color this time-blue. Rosalind refers to the symbol drawn on the sheet of paper which became the Ouija board. This was created anew for each session. This time the symbol had been the double-axe.

Renewer

WE: The siren bell has rung. Its penetration has entered but not emerged. Therefore its vibration continues its wonders to perform. A troubled wind is oiled. A swaying branch dislodges its fruit. A famished one is nourished. The market place is a-thrive. Strange breads and salt are vended. Buyers there are none. A pitcher of water reflects the Sun. The thirst is mighty but the Sun is reflected undisturbed. Maggots will grow if the pitcher is not emptied. Who will tilt and drink. Question?

Q: Who or what is the pitcher? What are you referring to?

WE: WE are painting pictures before us-abstractions, no. The field has been searched, the garden is a-bloom. Prone beneath the heady buds lies a Waiting One. The waiting has a season. The awaited is known by the waiter. He asks: "Is it another? Is it a rose? Is it a bird or bee? Is it a lamb?" He knows he waits. The Awaited may have arrived--if he knew its substance. Into his ears, no word will issue. His eyes shall tell him not. His fingers search and return weeds. Yet his core will light and he will sound.

Prone no more, he departs the garden, casting blooms in his way. Beneath the bitter berry is a sweet seed. The knife enters the flesh and lays open a pulsing heart The heart is removed, goldened, and replaced. The knife is heated to close the gap. The flesh is renewed and unscarred. Into a pearly gray bag was placed a black stone. A stranger appeared, laden with bags. When he departed, the bagged black stone went with him.

John: (He asked a silent question re the Waiting One.)

WE: The shorn sheep gambols in the wind. His nakedness is not an affront. The shearer takes his offering to the maker of great cloaks. Thus is man warmed.

John: Can the new Mother Book be called the Creator?

WE: She is the Mother. Now comes the Renewer (Death). He stands in a large crown. He holds forth a skull. He holds behind him a scepter. The eye-sockets in the skull form the symbol of eternal life. He is masked. A dark cloud over-hangs. The Sun is behind the cloud. It rays seven times.

He is unclothed but for a loin-cloth and a cloak tied at the throat. A jewel is secured by the knot. Outside the crown, a woman leans in. Her face is buried in the cloak. She kneels. Inside the crown, a man squats. His back is seen and he looks over his shoulder. The man and woman are naked. Woman on left to viewer, man on right.

The mask is a red cloth. A yellow jewel. The Renewer's flesh is blue. At right is a well that is circular. It has five rows of stones above the ground. A chalice with three handles stands on the well's wall. On left is a garden. Two trees stand therein. One is leaved, one not. The one without leaves bears fruit-fruit ten in number. The Renewer reveals.

In the ensuing brief discussion, the relatedness of the symbols described in the Renewer to earlier topics was noted. The well, the Sun, the seven rays, the figure 8 of eternal life, the crown, the mask, the skull, etc. Of particular interest was that there were two trees in the Garden-as in the Garden of Eden. If the one bearing ten fruit was the Tree of Knowledge of Genesis, was the one that was leaved the Tree of Life? and was it, therefore, related to the Thinker (the old Devil card), who sat in a tree with leaves but no fruit? But what, then, of the tree in fruit and flower in the Unity Book? And why were the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge-if that was what it was-ten in number? The number heretofore emphasized had usually been five. There had been mention of five lost treasures. There were five jewels in the crown. From whence and why ten fruit? From the 10 Sephiroth of the Kabbala = the differentiation of the Tai Chi in Taoism = the 10 Samadhi, the 10 mystical states according to Yoga. The real point, however, lay in the meaning of the Renewer itself. The revelation was '"the Awaited One"-or that for which the Deliverer and the Changer had opened the way. Intellectual questions were not the point. That which was real was felt.

Reactor

WE: 1 is active. 3 are ready. 5 have done it. Ring of memory. It is a circle both freeing and binding. It is never worn yet is ever present. Its burden is great. It is with you as an aid. None truly knows the ring. Its mystic nature is not known of the mind.

Q: What is it?

WE: Races, races, races.

Q: Races of mankind or race to a goal?

WE: WE speak not of this. Races there are. WE merely remind you of the race. The connectedness of all words is. In their season, they shall perform. Sitting on your shoulders is a Knower. Know your Knower. This is a night of much meaning. The waves have shored goodly drifts. You are immersed in this beauty and know it. Cast not adrift the tides' worth-it may shore on foreign soil if you do. The Gentle One has stirred. A roar awakens the Gentle One. Milk and honey are fed the Gentle One. A full day's events are ahead. The evening star shall not set on these things.

Q: Who is the Gentle One?

WE: WE know the Gentle One and you, too. Question?

Q: Tell us about male and female, sex, etc.

WE: Man is not, nor woman. YOU are. He who tears away a mask before the ball is over wins not the contest. Worry not yourselves about masks. Dance on.

Q: How do you feel about having the Tarot Books printed in a magazine?

WE: The decision is not OURS but yours. There is no danger in right use, only mis-use.

John: Is what I wrote today in the right line in re the Tarot?

WE: None is better qualified than yourself to deal with the subject.

John: Would you tell us more about the Virgin? Is she the central mystery? Who is she?

WE: YOU.

Q: Do you mean one's Self? Or do you mean John personally?

WE: Connect all things.

John: Can we have the next Book tabled tonight?

WE: Yes. Picture a gate and another behind it till there are seven. Each has two half doors length-wise. On alternating gates, the half which opens forward is white and the half opening rearwards is black. Each gate has a black and white door. The frames are arched. A straight roadway leads through the seven gates. The road goes up and over a mountain. A babe stands in front holding two keys, one in each hand. Picture a full moon containing two quarter moons facing each other.

The latches are triangles. The forward door has a cut in it that is half of a triangle. The rearward door holds a full triangle or lock. The doors are not fully opened, but nearly so. Colour the arches as led. The babe is male, unadorned. This is the Reactor. (The Moon).

Q: Can you give another significance? To make it clear-the Reactor in what sense?

WE: Not the Actor.

Q: Is there reason for the given sequence of these Books?

WE: There is orderliness in all things.

Donor

The pace was swiftening for everyone as the dictation of the Books of T neared its end. No one had time to stop and study the symbols presented-but to a degree they had absorbed their meaning. Feeling or intuition predominated rather than thought. It was a time of sensing. Yet, in truth, each one felt like a cretin-with the possible exception of the 10-year-old, Micaela, who sat in a corner drawing pictures, paying little attention to the ouija board.

WE: The blade has cleft illusion. Middled are the halves. Blunted not is the instrument. With a thunderous stroke, it was done. The time of telling draws near. Twice-told it will not be this time-once only. If the breath is deep enough to sound, let it. If the heart is big enough to respond, let. If the activity is true enough, it will let. The hare who freezes at the rifle's click is in danger of being overcome by the blast that follows. The hunter that permits the hare to hole will return home with an empty sack. That which presses is also pressed upon. The resister should become acquainted with pressures. He who yields does not always concede. The bender should know the breaking point. These things are not found within the SELF. The babe is not delivered a man.

Q: Is manhood only achieved by going through hell?

WE: Manhood is arrived at through a gathering process-gathering and utilizing experiences and relating them to his Self-not another's. The Self YOU are is to be fully known ere God is known.

John: A gathering process rather than a letting die of the personality?

WE: It has been given one to separate the loaves from the crust. The basket may be filled with either or both. A goodly, full basket cannot admit crusts for there is no room. One loaf displaces many crusts.

Rosalind: Does the Self exist steadily? Is it always?

WE: From beginning to end, the Self is. The Self is active in creation and destruction.

John: But isn't is always realized via dropping off the "crud" and, hence, via destruction? Do any find the Self through creation?

WE: None can know this of another.

Rosalind: Can you explain the seeming opposition between the survival Self's necessity to survive and the SELF? The energies seem to be directly opposed.

WE: The confusion lies in the seeming. Seeking the Self is a multitudinous task; knowing the Self is effortless.

Q: Why the test of the survival self? A proof? A demonstration? What?

WE: There is nothing beyond Self-knowledge.

Rosalind: Is there progress or evolution, then, of the Self in personality-or "roles"?

WE: Yes.

John: Has the sacred mushroom to do with the Self? Is it a Self-symbol? (He was thinking of Andrija Puharich's book, "The Sacred Mushroom.")

WE: To some it is.

John: Is there a Book this night?

WE: There is. Picture a comely woman. She wears a flowing cloak over her shoulders. It falls to the ground. It is yellow in color. Beneath it, she is unclothed. From her shoulders two ties descend to beneath the navel. These ties form a V. The ends of the ties are knotted about a sword, hilt up. Its tip rests on-but pierces not-an apple which is between her feet. Her outward-extended arms are burdened with columns held in each hand. A black one is in her right hand, a white in the other. A braid winds her hair. The columns extend from her hands upward to the top of the Book. She carries them. From the center, a hand reaches to each column- hands only. The sword is sharp, the surrounding scene is vacant. She is the Donor (Justice). She signifies: that which has been earned is given.

Speaker

WE: Speak out needful sayings! Hold not back that which you must speak or the word unuttered that ups shall sink, tearing holes in the dark shaft. Light shall not seep out through the holes yet dust shall enter them, clogging life. When the word you must speak is lipped, great is the result. Test not, trust not. Do and know-and then do knowingly. Resort not to the devices of another. Uncore yourself for there YOU are. If a foreign foot has muddied your stream, let the crystal flow purify your stream. Race not upstream or down. Stand, and let the crystal flow. From the heart of the desert a wind stirred. It circled and landed. It commenced a great whirling. The sands shifted and the beasts were frighted. With a fury, it lifted many grains of sand and moved them on. Where the sands were, now is bared a rose. Shall a full cup withstand a drop or two more? Speak out....

John: (After a pause.) In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The Word is here.

Meher Baba better hurry up as we speak it! (John Cooke had for many years been devoted to Meher Baba, believed by His followers to be the Avatar of the Age. Baba had been in silence for many years, communicating only through an alphabet board, but had been promising to speak the Word, and that when He did, the total world-consciousness would change.)

WE: The conflict has existed. With love it is done. The Speaker is with you. He stands with mouth open. He speaks. Birds and bolts issue forth. He holds in his right hand a black ring as large as his arm. He holds in his other hand a key which is golden. On his breast is a shimmering heart. He stands pure and unclothed but for the boots which rise to his ankles. His golden hair falls to his shoulders. Behind him, mountains explode. Beside him, waters spout. Before him, buds spring up. Great is his speech and his neck is corded. Terrible are his eyes. With the Speaker, IT IS DONE.

John: Do you mean this is the final Book or are there more?

WE: There will be more.

John: Do the waters spout from the ocean or out of the ground?

WE: Picture the eternal deeps as you can.

John: Any special color?

WE: None that matter.

At the time, everyone connected the Book of the Speaker with Meher Baba- but gradually they came to feel that the "Speaker" had already spoken when it was said "The Speaker is with you". The Speaker was not necessarily outward. And, as John was to say later, "Maybe Baba has been speaking all along." But could Baba-or any one-be differentiated from the ONE? "Let no one claim the cloak as his." Meher Baba later died in 1969 without having broken his silence, but many felt that he had done so in the moment of death, albeit soundlessly. And that, indeed, all along "He" had been speaking. In "Seth Speaks" by Jane Roberts it is recounted that in the early days of mankind there were those called the Speakers-who were the Teachers-and that many who are living today are Speakers without knowing it. (They do their teaching in the sleep state). It is interesting, also, to note that Krishnamurti now refers to himself as the Speaker.

Reverser

Now twenty Tarot Books hung on the walls of the house at the Highlands. It was clear that the end was approaching, for there were only twenty-two major trumps. None remained undone save Temperance and Judgment or the Resurrection. Which would be the last? Was the Apocalypse coming close? "In that day" . Yes, surely, there was a feeling, among the group, of imminence. Micaela continued to draw pictures, seemingly paying no attention to what the adults were doing with the ouija board in another part of the room. She seemed bored and uninterested. However, occasionally, she listened. Nadine was still away and recent postcards had come from Egypt. She was going up and down the Nile and visiting the tombs, ruins and Pyramids.

WE: The journeyer stops along the way to renew himself. He rests, drinks, relieves, gathers, and continues his way. At some of his stops, he exchanges with others. Yet he renews his Self and continues in aloneness. The accomplishments of the past are nothing compared to the attainments of the future yet they bore the seeds and were the father of them. Purple shadows lie in yellow robes. Think of this. Twelve times has the bell sounded. Kill not the wild beast though he roar the leaves down. Slay not his breed though they be without number-rather, sing to him and his. Hear not as they-sing. Feed him and his goodly goods, and they will serve you. Enter not your hand into his jaws, shear not his claws nor his mane, nest him neither. Block not his wanderings nor lead him. Sing to him and his.

Should a prophet appear among you, heed not his directions. He knows the way-but none knows the way of another. The way you go, you well know. You have founded the points and chartered the course. It compels and impels. You have laid the stones and painted the signs. The marsh and the fog-you did. Your crafts are fully fashioned. Linger not with the flowers you have planted till their fragrance fades. Wait not for the petals to fall. Quicken on the down-grades; pace the ups for they are so designed. He who makes his way has made it.

A Lonely One daily climbed into the mountains seven. He knew the caves and berry bushes but not the snow-fields. In the spring when his hut washed away, he gathered his remnants and bread, and climbed, headed for the far side of the mountains. On his third eve, he caved before the snow-fields. Musing before the fire, the stars were blacked by an arriver who called his name, saying, "I have found you and you have come." Wearied, he told the tale of his malady and that his seers had promised him relief through the Lonely One. They passed the night in sharing, to walk forth at dawn whole, each to his way. Will you question?

Q: Is it that each knows his way, including all of humanity?

WE: All are wayward.

Q: What role do prophets play?

WE: They speak on their way.

Q: Has it gotten people mixed up, listening to Prophets?

WE: There are many sign-posts on the way.

Q: Who is meant by "prophets"? What of the Savior?

WE: There are Prophets un-numbered, but ONE Saviour.

Q: Who is that ONE Saviour?

WE: YOU!

John: What of Meher Baba? Is He a Prophet?

WE: No.

John: Has he arrived?

WE: He is here.

Q: What is alcoholism? What is it caused by?

(Several friends who were alcoholic had been in close contact recently. Most were members of Alcoholics Anonymous but seemed troubled as to the meaning of their plight and its true cause).

WE: It is a blindfold donned by those whose eyes would see the Sun but whose eyes are not strong enough to stand the glare.

Q: What is the way out of alcoholism?

WE: The "way out," as you say, is a private affair.

Q: Then there is a way out for each individual?

WE: WE speak not of curing but knowing.

John: Is there a Book?

WE: Start with a golden Sun. A soaring hawk is out-lined in front of it. He is much smaller than the Son. He floats downward and looks not unlike a slivered moon-angled so that his head points to the figure far beneath. The figure, though naked, is neither male nor female. One arm is crooked upward. Into that cupped hand flows a descending stream of blue water. This is on the left side of the Book. The other arm is extended to the side at hip level. The fingers are extended. A stream in equal measure flows to the ground. This stream is fire. This is the Reverser (Temperance).

John: Is the figure on a mountain? What kind of landscape?

WE: No.

John: Is the figure on the ground?

WE: Yes.

John: Any special color?

WE: Black hawk. All else as you see.

John: What is the Reverser's significance?

WE: The Reverser correctly channels flows.

In the discussion afterwards, someone asked John how he could draw a naked figure which was neither male nor female and make the matter clear. He said, "Tiny, tiny," referring to female breasts and male genitals. It was interesting that Temperance had been the only androgynous or angelic figure in the older Tarot-and that the Reverser was in the new one. But-how very different in concept! However, the reversal was, after all, the point. Reversal had been stressed from the very beginning of the Carmel sessions seven months earlier. Unmasking, apparently, had to do with seeing oneself as being oneself rather than as being cast in any one role, including that of male or female. One was ONE-not the temporary or passing attributes and qualities. Was that, then, why most of the figures in the revised Tarot Books were naked? Very probably so-yet sex differentiation did seem to remain, insofar as most of the Books were concerned, save in the Reverser. What did this mean? The SELF has no gender. Someone suggested later that there was a time on Atlantis, according to legend and Edgar Cayce, when the human - being had not been divided into two sexes. Was this related? And, if so, in what way? No one knew. The Garden of Eden still remained. The truth was very, very close, yet elusive . . .

Knower

WE: In that day shall blend the elements. They shall be expressed in a new expression. Him who knows shall be the expresser. The Big Crunch, followed by a new expression of ONE. Ye shall know that day and that ONE. Now it is a day without number. In that day, they shall be numberless.

Q: What do you mean by elements? Do you mean earth, water, air, fire?

WE: You have said it. An event has produced a number of events which shall produce THE EVENT.

Q: What is THE EVENT?

WE: THE EVENT OF KNOWING. That which is known is ONE. YOU are the answer to that ONE. He who was tortured was dismissed by his oppressors, broken and dispirited. Without purse and bread, he hobbled to a desert spring. Face down, he parted the reeds and entered his face into the water. Long he remained thus. In due time, all the creatures of the deep rose and touched him. When the evening star lifted, fire from the watery depths was forced upward. He drank it full, rose to his knees, belched forth flame, stood, and walked his way. Much is said in simplicity. Should the King remain childless, who would rule thereafter? But, should he retain his crown, what is the need?

Jared: What does this cross I am seeing mean?

WE: That will be answered this night.

Gordon: Can you give me advice?

WE: Peer deeply into the shaft. Block the sky orb from the deep. Probe the murk therein till thine orbs are accustomed. With the coming light comes the answer.

Rosalind: Why am I exhausted from time to time? Why no energy?

WE: The flow is ever constant. The direction may vary.

Rosalind: But what makes it go?

WE: It disappears not. The course is directed. Much energy is expended in seeming. In moments of depletion, know the generator for vitality. The generator is thy SELF.

John: What is my real name?

WE: Your name is legion.

WE shall now proceed to the Book in hand: Picture a forward-looking man. He stands in two shallow pools. They are circles. Looking at the pools, the left is water, the right is fire. He is entered to his ankles. The pools are connected by a narrow channel. Water proceeds rightward through the channel, fire proceeds leftward. At their meeting, steam rises to his vitals but not beyond his hips. His right hand centers his breast. He holds an egg upright. Through its top protrudes one root with two green leaves, reaching to under his chin. His other hand is extended forward, raised in benediction. Above him, a golden Sun sends a shaft to his head and a shaft upward. A golden wing is affixed to either side of the Sun. Thus the cross is centered and winged. He is the Knower. (Judgment.) The Knower functions as the Self. Picture him as the SELF.

John: Is this the last Book?

WE: This phase has ended.

The last of the twenty-two Books of Life had been given, culminating in the Knower, the SELF, or that which was sought. "There is nothing beyond self- knowledge." The cross Jared had seen was the cross of the SELF. When John asked for his real name and was told that it was legion, he assumed it was to be spelled with a capital letter as Legion. But, in light of the context, it more probably meant that the name of the SELF is legion-that the names of the ONE are legion, or as multitudinous as the stars. However, from then on, he used it as a given name, thus setting a precedent for other "commission names," as they were later called, to be assigned those who asked for them When John-Legion first painted the Knower, he made the face resemble his own since it had been said to picture him as SELF, but then he realized he had interpreted this too literally. He made the Knower a black man. Years later, in Mexico, he painted yet a third version of the Knower which had no face and the featureless head was silver-but this has never been printed.

Hiatus

WE: The press has loosed a goodly juice; its substance shall vitalize the days ahead, its color will transform, its flavor will satisfy as nothing else. Its body is new. The grape is no longer needed-not even for mash. The juice is for now. You have drunk it and are sobered thereby. WE share with you the trials passed and the beauty of NOW. You are embraced. Nor will the warmth fade. You shall do. You shall share. What is done in the doing and sharing is of no concern. It shall be. Much could be writ but there is no need. Like a nerve sensitive to all near it are you aware. Like an artery pulsing are you. A cyclops you need not be. A nerve, an artery, a vessel, an organ-these are enough. What would be asked?

Q: Are the Books in the order they ought to be?

WE: There is order in all things. The significance matters not. The arrangement is different for each.

Legion: Has this arrangement been especially for this group?

WE: Yes-and more.

Lorna: But is this the way YOU want them?

WE: This is the way you have them.

Lorna: Ought they to be published or used for the world now?

WE: They are writ to be read. Let him who can read, read.

Is this, then, the way the Tarot Books have always been produced-to lead a person or a group through levels of being?

WE: That has ever been the way.

Legion: How have they been used in the past, as part of initiations, etc.?

WE: WE cannot say.

Legion: What comes next?

WE: The next step is being paced. Know it.

Lorna: Are the Books complete? Are there things to be changed in them?

WE: You have made them.

Legion: What of the "time of telling"?

WE: You will not be involved with the telling. It will be told of you. John died before the publication of THE WORD OF ONE.

Lorna: Are there more Books to be done? The minor trumps?

WE: There is no need for more. He who sleeps now shall not dream; he who dreams now shall sleep. Will you answer this question: are you satisfied?

Rhom: Yes.

Legion: Yes.

Lorna: Yes.

Dean: No. Yes. Kind of....

WE: So be it.

With this session, the first phase had definitely ended and the next step was "being paced." It was to commence with a big gathering two weeks later.

After the 22 Major Arcana had been finished, there begins a long period when John's house in the Carmel Highlands is practically overrun with visitors who had heard about the magickal goings-on there. John-Legion finds this increasingly annoying, since the sessions are now taken up with personal messages to these newcomers, and little of interest to the general public. Eventually, Rhom gets tired of the Ouija, John gets tired of the notoriety and moves to Mexico, and the New Tarot project seems to go on hold...until Rhom and Rosalind go to Mexico and persuade John-Legion to continue.

It will be noted that when asked about the minor trumps it was stated "There is no need for more." However, the minor trumps were added seven years later in order to complete the deck as a deck. They were not dictated via the board. The Tarot Books were complete with the giving of the twenty-two cards known as the major trumps.

Stones and silent questions

Nadine had returned from her round the world trip shortly after the T Books had been completed. She had invited Dr. Puharich and his friends to attend a session at the Highlands in celebration of her home-coming. She had received copies of the sessions while away by mail at various ports of call.

WE: A goodly gathering. Be comfortable. A truce shall not be made. Resort not to violence. The battle is waged. Victors there are none-nor losers. The battle is the thing. A mighty battle is a good thing. Not so a deadly war. Heavy is the stone. Shall it be lifted or shall it be built upon? A stone has each. None has two. That stone which is yours belongs not to another. A single stone cannot rattle against another. Should a rattle be heard, know that it is not a sound that concerns you. Your stone does not rattle. Its weight is not a burden for you. It has no measure. Comfort your stone for it shall comfort you. Polish it and you will shine. It is a jewel at your throat, a rock under your feet, a drop in your crown, a vessel of your heart. Give it not away, drop it not in the well, throw it not to the Gods. YOU are your stone.

A ballad: He has come who sings a sweet song. His pitch is true and the birds know him. He sings in the high places and mantles the low. He sings not words but songs. He needs not the melody of others. When he sings not, the birds wing. When the birds wing, they fly south. The land is empty without birds. Is this a good thing? Once there was a virgin. She knew not man nor woman. She reached the period of knowing and there-after loved all. A question?

Andrija: Describe tonight.

WE: WE are gathered together yet there is separateness in the gathering. A unit remains ever thus. The completeness of a unit cannot be added to nor divided. Why then do units join? There is no answer.

Charles: (Asks a silent question).

WE: A broken pitcher brought to the well cannot draw full measure. The thirsty one-on the other hand-has no need of a pitcher. Into his two hands can he draw his need.

Melany: (Asks a silent question.)

WE: The petals taken from a flower can live forever. The thorn, when removed, dies.

David: (Silent question).

WE: There was a David who was a singer and one who slew. Here is another, and WE know him well. Yet WE say: none can know another. Happy is him who knows himself. Happiness.

The Egg is Cracked

Dean was not present at the beginning of the session. He came in later from Big Sur with Rowena. This was the beginning of Big Sur arrivals which were to become numerous as the word went out.

WE: A flapping of wings, a dust cloud rising. Grey-green bark shattering. Clouds gathering, rolling and spilling. A tossing, turning, twisting. The warnings are up. Small craft are harbored. The liners sail on schedule. Will you out it?

We speak to the anguished one (John-Legion). Alone, the number of thy days are great, thy burdens heavy. This shall not change-know this. In time of need, nothing is given that cannot be revised, nor given without need, nor given unless it is bearable. Feel not lack in moments of release. Under-estimate not Self, situations or others. Give when it is seemly. Withhold when it is advisable. Withstand-or act-when it is stressed. Be a harp and let others string you if you wish. Be not strung by toes. The egg is cracked, the root is upped and bearing live leaves. The fruit comes in its season. The egg fought the seed, the shell the root. The leaves sprang forth in silence. While the fruit is being nurtured, there is pain in all birth-as mothers know. Great is the pain. Greater still is the pain when birthing is negated. That which is birthed is not greater than the birthing. Stay with it and go with it. Feel when you will but not what you will. Look not at others unless the Self is looking. See not others as other than the Self. Influence not nor be influenced. There is ONE only which counts.

You have always asked for the difficult. You asked not always knowingly but always fearlessly-though many times frighted.

Legion: Frighted-or plain bored?

WE: Frighted. The scene has changed but a pattern remains. LET the pattern time itself to the changed scene. The scene is not seen. The pattern will peter. Let yourself. Let others. Force not. LET.

Dean and Rowena arrived from Big Sur. After conversation and coffee, the session continued.

Q: What is Legion's relationship to Subud?

(Subud stands for Susila Buddhi Dharma, an Indonesian spiritual movement to which all belonged at the time. In fact, John's house at the Highlands was Carmel Subud headquarters.)

WE: Thus is Legion known.

Q: What does Legion do about latihan now?

WE: Legion does as Legion is. Legion is not the pigs and swine. That which is reversed is not Legion.

Q: What is reversed?

WE: The sleeper.

Legion: How does one retain awareness of the awakening lion when all seems against allowing it to be awake?

WE: Forget the past. Legion is not the past. Take each gift and make more of it than the Donor intended. This above all: There is not a god-only YOU.

Legion: How do I get over believing each person knows more than I do?

WE: The hungry man takes bread wherever it is. When he is sated, he may give his bread to another, he may sing songs or lie down in the daisies.

Legion: What of the authorities around one, the various powers, etc.? What if they indicate oppositely, or contradict one another?

WE: Be responsible to none. Do as YOU direct. The chaffing comes when there is friction between you and YOU. Listen well to this: WE say to you, you are your own father. You will be fathered forever until you know your father is only that which you wish to hear.

Legion: I wish to hear how to re-orient from egoic patterns and personality.

WE: A cypress with proper attention can be dwarfed into a thimble. A cypress wants to be a cypress. What, then, is the friction?

Nadine: Is there something for Rowena?

WE: The digging process airs. The planting smothers. A lonely voyager seeking warmth and shelter found them not at inns or palaces. He wandered the many corners and was halted at last, whereupon he lit a fire and fed and warmed himself. No longer did he roam, and he was found by others. This is a moment not to be lost. Make the most of it!

See One

Jeanne: What is to become of Brion?

WE: Thyself alone is important.

Bill: Why does this search-that Brion is on-destroy some and strengthen others?

WE: The Self makes adversity an opportunity; the destruction is a seeming only. YOU know what you do and why. None other knows YOU. The promptings are answered. See ONE.

Bill: What would Brion go to the desert for?

WE: To some the desert is a sandy place, to some it is the home of the rose, to others it is the birth-place of the wind. It is also much more.

Jeanne: Will I find the white, square house open in the middle for the sun to shine down to the sea?

WE: This you will not need to find. This you must search for, however.

Jeanne: Where will the search lead me?

WE: YOU have chartered the hithers and yons to the ONE.

Legion: How or why did we all commence this search? What did we do to start it if we were perfect and One?

WE: In that day you will know what is not done. Jerry Ann: (Silent question.)

WE: The heart is a bauble. Its fire is fed elsewhere. Its warmth is not its own. ONE must enter the heart-then it is a jewel. ONE flames it to action.

Bill: (Silent question).

WE: It is seeming only that identical twins exist supporting each other. There are two of nothing. There is YOU.

The Quest

WE: Welcome. The quest unfolds treasures and pleasures. They are not to be given away. They will be shared though. Ask.
Rosalind: What of the mountain alone that I have witnessed?
WE: The mountain is and moves not. The mountain receives the storms without yes-ing and no-ing.
Legion: Would you give advice or help to Jay? He asked. (Jay, a metal sculptor and potter from Big Sur, was involved in a court-trial involving a knife-fight with Dennis Murphy, writer.).
WE: Wait. Expect these things: high joys that plunge lower than the deeps, and depressions that fill with completeness. Great are the expectation--shallows contain little.
Rosalind: What about other people and hurting them?
WE: Child, concern yourself with YOU. There are not others. We speak to the absent one. (Jay). You are not absent, you are not empty. This WE tell you and you will know it: Into your fullness you have tried to cram away the emptiness that you knew was not there. You have not erred In this. The battle will rage around you. Neither slings nor arrows shall violate you. A warrior you are not nor a spokesman, neither a lover nor a taker. You are a virgin to be brided to your Self. Relax and yield. You are well advised to hold the pebbles in your hand until that time when they bruise or burn. Stay them not when they fall from the hand, nor cushion their fall. Loose them and be done with them-likewise with all things that come to you and from your hand.
Legion: Would you please give us more on the Books-how to apply them?
WE: There is much that can be said about you and your Book and your Books and YOU will say it. WE will not deprive you of the Self realization.

A hunger is to be slaked

Curiously, the sessions were usually quite short when there were visitors present. Usually, the session was preceded by dinner when there were many arrivals. But this also seemed to be a period when that which was being imparted was not pressing. The tempo had changed.

WE: A hunger is to be slaked. The morsels shall not enter the lips, nor shall they come from another, nor shall they be seen. The empty One shall feed himself, then others, because he must. Shall there be an answer?

Nivadell: Who sends this message?

WE: ONE speaks.

Nivadell: Have you advice for me?

WE: The role of the cup-bearer differs from that of the taster. The taster saves the king, the bearer serves him. WE wait for ONE.

Legion: How does Nivadell's guide's concept about Lemuria connect with our work?

WE: Not always are connections made acceptable. Each plaits the threads in his fashion. That which is weaved is worn by the maker. The many colored cloak is of one substance. Only the naked have need for another's cloak. Better for him to be about his weaving.

Q: Is there a reason for this particular group to meet tonight?

WE: Yes. Each is strengthened in his way. (Indicating Djey by pointing planchette.) Ask.

Djey: I'm seeking a woman to share my life. What do you have to say to this?

WE: Know that she is YOU. Separate her not from YOU as you do. You are one, you are two. Make not One of two. Make the two One, and go on your way.

Seek forever your becoming

The wailing wall has been visited. It has flowed a true tear is happily shed. Welcome divisions. He who says he has it has it not. Deny him not his right to say it. Say not he has it not. None can say for another. That which you have, you know not. Seek forever your becoming. Go not far afield. Force not "you"-rather, explode.

Legion: Has a cycle been completed tonight with David Bray's visit? (David Bray, the Kahuna, had recently come on a visit from the Islands and had held a ceremony at the Highlands, wearing his scarlet robe and a garland of leaves. He had chanted chants and given instructions and blessings. But John-Legion intuited, correctly, that "Daddy," as he was called, was not to return again. A certain sadness was felt.)

WE: Yes.

Legion: What of the new cycle?

WE: You shall bring forth a clarity and be not clouded by the shrouds of others. It has been said by you these many weeks. Now comes the knowing and, with it, the doing. Each has the strength for self-support. Cling not to the vines. Their growth can strangle. Cut not the roots. Allow fruition for each. The apple, the pear, the grape, the berry, the plum differ, yet they are One. (Later these fruit were to be connected with the original group.)

Be not overcome by that which you over-take. Sadden not yourself by that which you leave behind. Smile not at that which lies ahead-it may be an enemy! Embrace that which you know. Stand not aloof from that which is apart from you-it might be yours.

It is now written

WE: Willingness is with you and you know it. When the ear is stopped, the Word is heard.

Legion: How does one stop the ear?

WE: When the Word is to be heard, the freed man is captive of all. He embraces naught, but is embraced by everything.

Legion: Are there any freed men on this planet?

WE: Yes.

Legion: Many?

WE: Yes.

Legion: Then why has this very precise teaching of Yours not been recorded previously?

WE: It is now written.

Legion: Do you agree with the concept Rosalind and I got about a non-self?

WE: WE would say that there is not a non-self. However, if there are selves to ONE, so be it. Love the terror in your path. The ensuing change is not a miracle but a law.

Mexico

WE: Well, well. Who will ask what?

Dean. I'll ask what. What?

WE: Paris. Paris asks what.

Dean: Is Paris my name?

WE: Is it?

Dean: Is there something I should know about Paris?

WE: You. You will be Paris. Think on it. Leave it now. Proceed.

Dean: Has it something to do with Greece?

WE: There is no Greece. There is a Paris.

Dean: If you're speaking of the Trojan epoch, were we all involved?

WE: All here involved, and more. WE speak not to the past nor the future. Out it.

Q: What is there to uncover?

WE: YOU. Go deeper.

Dean: Am I hiding something from myself?

WE: N0-a nowing-no. Uncover YOU. WE spot you not. Paris means much to you. You will be Paris.

Legion: What about Mexico?

WE: Here is a place where the Mother is soned, the son is fathered, where the father is mothered. Here is a place where missing things are found and things are lost. It is Mecca. All things are there. None can walk its bosom without being nurtured. In its depths, the dark becomes darker, the strong stronger. To it shall come the weak who will depart weak yet they shall wax strong in season. The table is ringed with those who will know its fullness.

Legion: What of Oaxaca?

WE: You shall return. In part you shall gather to yourself yourself.

Ben: What about a book I'd like to write?

WE: Your pages are full. No time to write. Write not them again. Read them.

Ben: Does that mean expanding what is written?

WE: Is never expanded beyond the binding. There is no past-just a Book to be read.

Ben: Are you familiar with disembodied entities that live in Limekun Creek below Big Sur?

WE: There is ONE only. YOU are that ONE.

Legion: Is Mexico for us?

WE: It shall be as you wish it.

Legion: I am going to Mexico!

WE: Yes.

Rhom: Are we going to Mexico?

WE: Yes.

John-Legion did leave for Mexico a year later and lives there yet. After several years of renting, he built a house there with pillars and a lotus-pond in an Indian village not far from Mexico City-or rather within an hour's drive of it. Rhom and other members of the group visited John-Legion in Mexico later, but did not remain.

Mexico

WE: A lemon is added.

Q: Do you mean Bill?

WE: Yes. (This referred to the fruit trees in the Garden. Later the apple, plum, grape, pear and strawberry, mentioned earlier, were to be assigned to the initial group of five in the following order: Rosalind, Rhom, John-Legion, Dean-Paris, Nadine.) They are well-tended. Each has buds and fruit.

Q: What of the reversed swastika? (The symbol on the board was not a reversed swastika but the reversal of the reversed swastika-or a "reversal of a reversal." This evening the point was missed.)

WE: It is that which propels when in motion. It may be handled when still, but not when moving. The hands will be cleaved at that time. The force, wielded, is not a forcer.

Q: Is this the new power you once said must not be used as a weapon?

WE: It will not be.

Q: Does it have to do with reversal and joining the elements?

WE: With reversal. With joining, no. It disperses.

Q: Is it dangerous?

WE: It is. If it is to be active, it must not be hid. Should it be activated? You will decide. You are not a child. You can handle it. As wielder, when it is moving, steer it not. The Brave One suffers no defeat. Fear not the course you have set. The enemy is your friend.

Legion: Do you have any advice for Liz on Bridge-mountain?

WE: Has she asked? There is a lack of clarity. When a haze dims the far horizon, 'tis better to look near you.

A riddle: Who with an empty hand can give? Who with a full hand can receive? Keep you your hands in your pockets. Giving and receiving is another game. The power of Self is upon you. Lightly it rests, heavily it is carried. Softly it speaks, loudly it is heard. Silently it comes, silently it goes.

Legion: What was the first use of this force? (Meaning the swastika on the board-actually the creative swastika, so-called).

WE: That which was is not as this. If you wield this force and hand it not, you will walk with it.

Legion: What is the force's number?

WE: 31. May it be said, question not an action not your own. May it be said, interfere not with another. Let no man design your actions. However, stay him not his designing but let him not design your action. The prize is within reach. Press toward it. Covet it not. It is in great measure.

Bill: What is my weapon?

WE: Fireball. Number: 1.

Self-knowledge

WE: The heart palpitates, the blood quickens, the vehicle energizes. This continues for a space. So?

Gene: What is a flying saucer?

WE: A Self seeking expression.

Gene: What is your function?

WE: Self-knowledge. There is yet another way. One can know by going into another and returning the produce to the Self.

Dean: Explain more about this, please.

WE: Like a body of water flowing into another body of water. There is a gain only.

Dean: How do you get yourself back?

WE: You are never a-part of the control.

Gene: What is a Self?

WE: There is not a Self. There is SELF.

Gene: Is it an inclusive One Self?

WE: And more.

Gene: Is there another Book?

WE: It shall remain unwritten. It shall be read, however.

Legion: How can one know oneself right now?

WE: This cannot be said, only known. Seek not in foreign lands for native soil.

Legion: Tell more about weapons.

WE: None can tell another his function. It has been said that all things are related. Go and tell-repeat tell-no man. Think on it if you will.

There once was a lad who walked to a cliff. He took a stone and loosed it over the edge. It flew up and he was not amazed. This is a reference to UFOs, which travel by levitation and apports, mental powers, not by physics or technology.

The time is come

Present: Rhom, Nadine, Dean, Legion, Bill, Jared.

WE: The time is come: he who is upright shall go forward, he who is twisted shall circle. He who is upright shall remain so, he who is twisted need not circle. The forward moving one presses, the circling one yearns. The difference is significant. Pressing forward knows no limitation, yearning indicates lack. Speak.

Legion: What is evil?

WE: There is no evil-only denial. There is only one denial that of Self. None can say of another he is denying Self, but him who denies, he knows. A seeming denial is often an affirmation when seen aright, but none can see for another. This has been often said. When it can no longer be heard, it will not be said. Speak.

Legion: What is this anger I am feeling? Is it coming from the small me or something else?

WE: WE do not know a "small me." All anger is the Self announcing a denial of Self has been permitted. 'Tis a time of rejoicing when understood. The oppor- tunity for Self-acceptance comes with the same wind.

Legion: Where, in this instance that I am feeling anger, was Self-denial?

WE: Who can say in time when the flower blooms, or when the oak deadens and falls? The flower knows when the sap comes and the oak when it goes. We know that you too know the coming and going.

Legion: Are there levels of the Self? Am I the same as anyone else in this group? Rhom, Nadine, Dean, Rosalind, or Bill, for instance? Or Jared?

WE: Each droplet of the ocean is totally individual from all others, yet they make one body of water. Each is the ocean. You are the ocean. Even in the depths, there are no levels.

Legion: Can any man do anything?

WE: No. Some can do all things. All can do something.

Legion: Is there ever independent action?

WE: The control of One comes not from without.

Legion: In other words, can a murderer help murdering? Are actions destined from inside? Is the action predetermined by the Self or at the moment?

WE: A hair-breadth separates understanding here causing a canyon-wide gulf that cannot be bridged by steps. Without reference to sequence, WE would say you control the Self and the Self controls you. The action comes not in events. The action is ever-present. Confusion comes in judging actions and affixing labels. WE condemn not this activity, for the Self is operative in all things.

Legion: Is there such a state as the collective unconscious?

WE: This is a term subject to much confusion. When it is raining in your vicinity, all things close are wetted. When the world is rained upon, nothing escapes the wet. There is a place above the rain where the Sun shines. This place is reachable. One chooses the rain or the sunshine. He is not a victim of either.

Legion: Are these two places relative to what you termed the two indicators? (Meaning you and YOU).

WE: In a sense, yes.

In this rather quiet teaching period, various questions of importance were coming up and being illuminated. The absolute definition of the Self still seemed elusive-although it had been stated clearly again and again. But to know is seldom instantaneous. In this group, as with others of its kind, the mind still sought for intellectual answers for the purpose of clarification. When something new is presented, much of the old must still be cleared-and related. In the personal sense, everyone was undergoing changes, mainly due to the teaching and the process. That the Teacher was invisible made it no less real.

The sun has nooned.

The presence of David M., who had been closely associated with the group at an earlier time (1957-1961) seemed not only significant at this time but related to the contents of the session. The ankh had been chosen as a symbol, and David was as drawn to Egypt and to the Akhenaton period as were the rest. The choosing of the ankh, however, as symbol was, as usual, entirely spontaneous and not deliberate. David had once been called Heho (light) when working closely with Rhom and Nadine prior to their meeting John Cooke in 1958.

WE: Great day. Roses are strewn. The heel is not to be muddied. Expose the heel to snapping dogs but soil it not. A heavy question is dealt with ere the table is cleared -this night. A child rises from the floor to maternal knees. From his new vision-point, he sees himself erect. Beyond his reach lies a wanted thing. He dares to quit his rooted mare and strives to his treasure. The floor knows him not. A book fully bound lies flat and open. Its words are in picture-form. Many come to the Book. Many read its pictures and depart unlearned. Then comes one who takes quill in hand and draws thereon his picture. He departs not nor stays. Think on this.

(David had not been present when the Tarot Books were being given. This clearly referred to David-also to all who were not present. To read the Book was not enough.)

WE: Out of the Northwest proceeds a column. At its head is the solar disk. At that point where the mountains-twain grapple the water, the procession stops its Southeast journey. It disperses to all points at once. The disk shall never be mounted.

(The solar disk, be it remembered, was Akhenaton's symbol. The Northwest-Southeast journey referred to the reverse swastika, moving in a clockwise direction. The "creative" swastika, the reversal of the reversal, goes in a counter-clockwise direction as shown. The implications are clear and need not be stated.)

Question?

David: (Asked a question regarding a friend). Will "reaching after a wanted thing" keep me off schedule?

WE: Fear not the coming sequence of actions. You are the scheduler. Question not timing, question not others; only the Self is involved. Question?

David: Is it a clear deck for me in Honolulu? (He was shortly leaving for Honolulu to work with David "Daddy" Bray of whom he became, for a period, a favored disciple.)

WE: First consider the matter of the past--it does not exist. Second, think not on the future-it has no meaning. Now consider NOW. What would you?

David: Is there the shadow of a particular woman in the future?

WE: He who stands in the noon sun casts no shadow, nor do shadows come nigh him. The Sun has nooned. Shadows are not for you. May WE repeat what has been said before to the sharers at this table: Listen not for the voice of a Prophet. He speaks his musts only . . . no more. That which you speak alone has meaning.

Nadine: What are David's weapons?

WE: Does he ask?

David: I am a member of this group and every other member has a weapon. I would like to know my weapon.

WE: You are. Weapon is a rope. Its strands are not seen of others. Only you wield this weapon in your manner. WE speak not on how.

David: May I know my fruit and number as a member of this circle?

WE: Walnut. 6.

Legion: Has David an animal or object associated with him?

WE: There is confusion here.

David: Would my receiving my animal-symbol clarify the meaning of animals for the group?

WE: Here is the confusion.

Legion: (He refers to the Nile's headwaters mentioned in the opening session and the fact that it is "guarded" by the cat, dog, bird and shaft. This is what he meant by an animal symbol. Also what of the key to the Nile?) Would you speak of this once more?

WE: The key to the Nile is Legion. The Nile is a mystery. You shall drink it full. Centered here is a shaft; a cat supine is looked down upon by a dog. A bird alights not now. A recorder has preserved the tale. Dwell not in marble halls.

Q: Is there anything more to come forth tonight?

WE: Our pictures are word-the meaning you know well. Let our words become pictures in season.

Q: Is there a missing Word?

WE: It has been said.

Q: Is there a missing person?

WE: None are lost.

Q: Is there a missing picture?

WE: No. Now comes a clear wind. It has power to sweep aside debris. Welcome it. Stand naked before it. You cannot follow it but can go with it.

The turning tide

WE: A searing flame cuts deeply, separating. Cool it not. Upon the shore is adrift a denizen from the deep. The noon heat takes care of that. The turning tide returns the shore to purity. Now-right now-the tide turns. Under the cradle of a strong arm is sheltered a lamb. What will you this night?

Legion: It seems to me that we-Rhom and I-have been doing just this for centuries! (The sessions had now been going on for ten months).

WE: It is! The heart tumbles purposely. A quickening comes to one. Fear is over-rid, courage courses with the blood. The will is seated and undrugged. Action is awaiting the threshold. The step alone is wanting. He who steps out is not in arrears. He who steps not errs not. He who twiddles, twiddles. A question is to be posted.

Linda: Are we doing exactly what we want to do?

WE: No.

Legion: Why isn't Linda doing what she wants to do?

WE: Is she not? Well, then, a tale: A pebble bright shone in a thicket. Day and night it sparkled. A hunter of dark forms happened upon the thicket and coveted the pebble. He strung it upon his neck, bared his throat, sang sweetly and nevermore sought darkness. Into the arena stride well-matched battlers. Weapons are unsighted. The ruling force shouts "Commence!" They still. They wait. They battle not and the battle is won.

It is to be asked.

Legion: What of Rhom's finger? Why does he have a wart-like mark on his finger?

WE: What? Each is masked. Something to do with unmasking. May WE say to all this: The windows are never shuttered. Doors may be closed, walls may be insurmountable, paths may be winding, trees may be barren, yet windows are never shuttered. To know the dweller, peer through the windows. (The eyes).

Legion: Would you tell us some more about the Royal Maze?

WE: What have you to do with Mazes?

Legion: One of the parts which I have to do with is this action of helping to run a planchette.

WE: On board. Maze-manipulation. Continue. WE understand more than you say.

Legion: How do we unwind the spells cast by these letters?

WE: The Maze is not a spell. The dwellers are spelled.

Legion: How do these words get unwinded then?

WE: The Word has been said straight. Some hear it not straight.

Rosalind: Is it necessary to get out of the Maze?

WE: Yes.

Rosalind: How does one get out?

WE: It is an individual matter.

Nadine: Is there anything more to be said on the Royal Maze tonight?

WE: If wished. A backward glance obscures that which is before you.

Legion: How about a glance at the present then?

WE: Good. WE see not a Maze.

Legion: What do you see?

WE: If a vine foreign climbs your branches, chop it off.

Legion: And if the ego climbs the branches?

WE: Likewise.

Legion: The word Self equates semantically with ego-- how about another word?

WE: None is as good. However, if another word is meaningful, use it.

It was beginning to become clear that the Maze had to do with the past, but that the way out was not to dwell on the past, but on the present. However, all yet had a long way to go before they would be through with Mazes.

An interval of suspension

WE: The ring has sounded. The sound has homed. An interval is suspended between intervals. The margins are acrowd with events. Measure not time in these intervals. To do so would draw the past and drain the future, neither of which concern ye. The water in the gold-fish bowl is astir. Why should this be?

Legion: Because the fish are moving?

WE: The fish are stirred by the water.

Legion: Who is moving the gold-fish bowl?

WE: The bowl is unmoved.

Legion: Something sure is moving that water!

WE: Damascus is on the way. Let it be. Table a question.

Legion: (Asks a silent question).

WE: Into a closed heart shall be driven a golden spike. Around its bitter point shall course the blood. The alchemy shall reach to the extremities. When the reverse flow is homed, the spike is withdrawn from an opened heart.

Legion: Would you care to speak of the void?

WE: How?

Legion: When looking for the Self, one seems to find the void beyond.

WE: That which is between the people gathered is the Self. That which they are is the Self. The voidness of Self does not void the Self. That which you are is the Self as is that which you are not.

Rosalind: Why is there no sense of Self at the center of being, then?

WE: That which appears to be a diminishing of the Self is in reality a greater realization of the Self.

Legion: But when this happens, one appears selfless.

WE: Yes. 'Tis a seeing the smallness rather than the greatness. The ocean has been dumped into one who says "I have been thrown into the sea."

Ta: What have I to do with the Chariot? (The Chariot of the Tarot-now revised as the Victorious One).

WE: This vehicle is not for riding; it bears a fullness. It is pushed ahead. None shall lead it. None shall be given of its fullness unless he asks aright. You shall not dispense. You shall push. Let him who says to you: '"But you are not the dispenser" suffer his misunderstanding.

Ta: Does a bird fly after the Chariot or before it?

WE: The bird is still. When it flies, it shall fly from the fullness forward.

Legion: It sounds like the Holy Grail is also the Chariot! Have you any words for any individual here or more for the group?

WE: The ring from the West has rung from the East. When you now loose something from your hand, keep the palm up for that which replaces. When you step into your shoes, be sure they are pointed in the same direction.

Legion: How about giving us a specific meditation for this time?

WE: It would be best to let come to your quiet time that which YOU let.

Ripening Time

WE: 'Tis a ripening time. Not harvest, but ripening. The reaping will be in measure with the sowing. No more. There is laboring in ripening season. While sowing, yes-while harvesting, yes. Is there a question?

Bill: Nadine and I are to be married. Are there any suggestions that would be helpful at this time?

WE: The clarity is clear-likewise the understanding. The hare is atop the tortoise. (Referring to the Unity Book.) The pace is equaled. What now of the golden spike? Nothing need be said about it. It has happened, it is understood. The twain is one. Never shall there be more. Number not among your treasures' numbers. Treasure that which You have given you. Share not that which another has given for it does not exist. That which was a burden has no reality. That which is real is a burden. Will the newcomers speak?

(Evelyn, the widow of a Hindu teacher, was too shy to speak. She would do so later). A full table is laid for him who would eat.

It happened once a maiden tall hoisted to the thighs a grown youth. Kin they were not then or ever. When Eros trailed his shot, the tall maiden no longer a maid peopled a race and the youth knew her not. A full table is laid for him who would eat. In the halls of a king were gathered fools and knaves, lords and ladies, the King and his servers. In-to their midst strode a ballad-singer. He sang at length of love-till the King rose and seated him on the highest purple. Thereupon, the King went in search of a kingdom, singing.

WE wait. Would you know the future? Look to the goal. Would you know the past: Look to the earth. Would you know the present? (The planchette moved in a counter-clockwise direction for the first time, the direction of the creative, involuting swastika). Look to your hands for there it lies. If there is nothing further, then WE say goodnight.

A tiller has appeared

WE: A tiller has appeared. A toiler he is not. You have stretched forth your changing hand and it is come. You cannot draw the changing hand and expect a return to former days for the action in the returning hand is different.

Legion: When you speak of the tiller, are you speaking of a person? Derek? Evelyn? Who?

WE: The tiller has come for many.

Legion: If the fruit are ripening, the ground needs tilling?

WE: The leaf is separated from the bough and it will ground. Neither wind nor caprice has caused the leaf to fall. The bough cheers its going. The ground welcomes its coming. The leaf is unchanged yet it will. Will there be questions?

Dean: Has the tiller come to this house?

WE: He is here.

Dean: Who exactly is the tiller? WE: He is a function of ONE.

Dean: Who is the tiller?

WE: WE speak in words clear. Simpler WE cannot be. When understood, the clarity cannot be misunderstood-which is often the case in many other kinds of words with common meanings. WE welcome your questions.

Dean: Who is the tiller?

WE: WE are the tiller.

Dean: (Silent question in regard to money and plans.)

WE: Your concern is greater than you know-yet you know your concern. You have opened to the page you wrote. Do not write what is writ-read what is writ. Having read, do it. Listen not to a sweet voice lest it is yours. Heed not beckoning unless it is you who calls you. Speak not to other-they are not your concern. Look not for an eclipse-it cannot happen. This is the time you have readied for.

Dean: (Silent question).

WE: It is a wise man who knows his father. Only a fool can know God. Take no pause in your headfirst plunge toward knowing.

Legion: (Asks question about "I" force, how to hold the center, etc.)

WE: The collector of forces is like the flower that draws the bee. How-to draw the bee-must remain a flower. Should he become a bee, he would search for flowers. To handle, be.

Legion: What has the past to do with the future? Is there any outside force acting upon us?

WE: There is no force outside YOU. It is time. There is no tomorrow, there is no yesterday. It is time. At this point, the doors opened and a big group of people arrived from Big Sur unexpectedly, led by Rowena.

Legion: (after they had settled down). Is there anything for the new people?

WE: There is. WE would ask that they ask if they will?

(No one asked). There being no question, WE would say this: Feed not yourselves to the asps-sup at your table. Join not with the gray---burning brightly is your flame. Entertain not those cold---in your paths are your own building blocks. Spurn them not nor take another's. A directive is dimly seen. Focus it, deviate from it not. To the right is a gulf and to the left and behind and ahead. A bridge is before, a wolf behind, snakes to the right and left. Step this day knowing what lies on all sides. Seek not an arm nor a voice. Neither give nor take. Climb the horse that rides you. Steel his shanks, grip his mane. Ask now.

Dale: (one of the Big Sur group.) Is fear necessary?

WE: You-repeat YOU-are fearless. That which is feared is presented as an opportunity to discriminate. Your selector is unfailing. Your influence is One.

A slender thread hangs

WE: A slender thread hangs. A great weight, not a burden, is attached. A decision severs the thread; the weight comes under the law. The weight is ball-shaped. It falls and rolls. The pins before it are struck. Other pins are affected. Thus the game not-game is played.

Legion: What is the decision?

WE: The decision has been made. The decision-maker speaks it not. The dam has burst and water seeps from many spots. The water has come from the mountains. It swam the fish. It was blocked. It was freed. It runs to the low-lands and will rise to the mountains again. In another season, it will not be dammed.

Rhom: What is my name? Is my name Rhom?

WE: It has been given. You are called that. It was not always so nor will it always be.

Nadine: Is there a name for me now?

WE: No. The strength of a name is sustaining. The power of a name is transforming. The vibration of a name is building. The number of a name is nothing. A swing is swinging from the jaws of a lion. Seated on its seat is a doll-figure. What means this? A horse is standing on his hind legs. His fore legs are lifted o'er-head. A rider strides them.

Q: Are these pictures pertaining to the three of us?

WE: Yes. A bird flies belly up. A marble is beaked. A terrible beauty abounds. Vision is blind to it. It shall be perceived. Heed not the Prophet's words, yet mark well this and remember: You are called from distant places-each separately. The call is not ahead of you. A center in each is magnetized. One a heart, one a throat, one a groin.

For you, Legion, the throat is to do with, but the groin is magnetized. Rhom's pull is the heart; the groin is vital to him. The throat alone draws Nadine. You are that teat that suckles worlds. You can know a dry season yet shall not. Barren you seem. 'Tis not so. Take no heed of your charges. Concern you with Self. Puff you up not, neither be minute. You have been singled. The separateness of the singled is unifying. The sorrow of it would slay those less brave. The joy of it may never be expressed yet it is known. You have been touched by YOU. It is enough.

Acorn is husked

During this period, Jay's trial was going on and many of the Big Sur people who were witnesses were staying at the Highlands. Jay was exonerated of blame in the knifing incident. John was recuperating from a light case of hepatitis, but no longer contagious.

WE: It has come to this!

Q: What has?

WE: We have come to this-not alone, not as two, but as ONE. The acorn is husked and ready for planting. The stony soil is powdered and watered. The fruit is to bear fruit. Masks have been torn away, yet their feel is still on the face. Soon memory fades and remembrance takes hold. Forms fitted will fill-unlikenesses are not for this day. Shall it be asked now or later?

Jay: For me, I guess. I'm supposed to do somethng, I guess.

WE: Once there was a man on a hill. He could look down and up. Below him were riches, and above, also. He moved not and admired much. In due season, water covered the treasure below and snow covered the treasure above. In another season, ice was below and fire was above. He moved not and feared much. Yet another season came upon him. Mist was below and above-treasure there was none. He moved and found much.

Jay: Tell me about the move.

WE: He is in motion.

Jay: What should I look for on the move?

WE: The treasure of ONE is along the way. Not a gift, this, but a possession. The hurdles you have placed, the bridges also. The trail you have marked without detours. You have placed the dallying places and the watering places. Let none show you the way-they speak of their way only and know not yours. If the path is to the rear, step not backwards, but turn and walk it. There is no vehicle on the way, so ride not. Accept bread if it is offered. It is yours do not sing for it. Give water if it is needed. Seek not a smile. Heed no song but the wind-song . . . the lover needs no other.

Legion: Tell more about prescience-law and justice symbols on our plane, etc. . . (He was thinking of the court-trial which was not yet finished).

WE: The obvious is the fringe and not the heart of the matter. He who walks the fringe wanders always. He who is at the heart of the matter pulses it!

Although this reply was irritatingly vague, its wisdom was seen later. The WE of the board would speak only of principles or central issues- not those pressing outward matters which seemed to be the issue at the time.

No false gods

Rosalind had been unable to come for several months because her son, Christopher, was in the hospital undergoing surgery. Dean was away on another trip, but Bill had come up from Ojai and was now staying permanently in Carmel.

WE: A question will lead the way.

Bill: What is my name? Would it be helpful for me to have another name at this time?

WE: It would. The name of one is the way and measure of one. Its use is the thread of the fabric. If used it cannot be mis-used. You are called Primo.

Bill: Is this name to be used like "Bill"?

WE: It is given to be used. The way and measure cannot be spoken. What says Primo?

Primo: Thank you.

Legion: Is what I have gotten concerning the source of Legion correct? In other words, is the Biblical "my name is Legion" a parody on the Caesars?

(He was referring to the passage on the casting out of devils. Many had assumed, since he announced he was to be called Legion, that the story of the casting out of devils into he pigs and swine was implied. He had been trying to find another meaning.)

WE: Before the worlds were, Legion was. Parody, no, nor paradox. Partition not Legion. (In other words, the ONE and the many were one. The ONE was Legion and the legion was ONE. The word legion, although once applied to "devils," also meant a Roman legion, a heavenly host, and the 'legion" that is all of mankind.)

Rosalind: Would it be good for me to have another name?

WE: Why is this asked?

Rosalind: Would it make a difference?

WE: It would.

Rosalind: Then I want another name if it is right.

WE: A new name is given not as a christening but as a commission. It shall be given you before the night ends.

Rosalind: (Asks a question about a dream she had about the destruction of Point Lobos.).

WE: WE speak not of dreams. They are the voices of you. They speak in tongues. That which is said is recorded; that which has meaning for you will be heard and understood. Ignore them not nor chase them. Seek not another to tell you what YOU have said to you.

Nadine: I can't hear what is being said. (She hands the note-book to Rosalind to do the recording).

WE: Gayla writes now.

Rosalind: Is Gayla my name? Does it have a meaning? Does it belong to any special culture?

WE: No. Gayla will be heard, though. It will be used now which counts.

Gayla: Is there any special message for Gayla at this time?

WE: In lightness shall Gayla function. Her sweetness shall be heard. Her magic is to be woven. Like spun gold, it shall cover her hearers.

Gayla: Is much change going on now?

WE: The chip is borne along the path of the whirlpool. Its scene is ever-changing yet appears as sameness. The spiral is not forever constant. It will burst its frame and merge with its surroundings, and the chips shall flow forward mayhaps to spin another time. That which is is seemly; that which is not is seeming. Does a brow wrinkle with doubt and knot in concern? WE speak to the brow- bearer this: water not knots nor strain them. A wrinkle is a rut and not for you. The brow is to be worn in serenity and nobility. Let the olive and not the thorn adorn it. Face it into the wind and the sun. The dictator resides behind it. Do its bidding for smoothness.

Gayla: (Asks about an inner experience of the ONE she had at the age of 15. What was its relationship to the present unfoldment?)

WE: The happenings of yesterday and today are the shapers of tomorrow as surely as are the foundation stones the shapers of the temple. The function of the structure takes precedence over its parts.

Primo: If the name has to do with a function, have you anything helpful to say regarding this function? (meaning Primo.)

WE: He who is first has none before him. He who is first has dared all. He who is first has no false gods before him. He who is first is vulnerable when he casts behind him. The earth and all therein belongs to the ONE.

It shall be given

Rhom: What name takes the place of Rhom?

WE: It shall be Given.

Q: Is it Given?

WE: Yes.

Nadine: Do I have another name now?

WE: Runa can do it.

Legion: Is each name a Tarot personification?

WE: Yes, there is definite correlation.

Names

Now all the members of the original group had commission names. Although these names seemed purely personal, there was the possibility that together they spelled a kind of rune, anagram or code that would one day be understood. Perhaps they were the letters of a Word-or else all said, in different ways, ONE. Gayla, for example, was later explained to mean La Gay One-and Gay is the way the letter G is pronounced in French. Runa could be separated into R Una, meaning One, therefore R One-and R was thought to be the letter of the Mother, also of the Sun. They are retained in the script mainly because they, like the weapons, numbers and fruit, may mean more than they seem to mean on the surface, and apply to all of man, rather than merely to this one group.

WE: Mark this well, you who question: There is never an answer beyond the ear. WE repeat: mark it well. There is always a question. It is ever so. The answer is never heard. The answer is always given. Often it is refused. There is no tragedy there. There are no mistakes. There are only repeated opportunities.

In your case, the answer is given. It is known of you. A battle is waged in your breast by your pending refusal. WE say pending for you have not refused yet. When acceptance comes, so does peace. When refusal comes, so does war. Your brow is bare, your hands full with the thorn and the olive. A lover you are, a warrior never. This you know, too. There is no glory or reward in doing-only in knowing. Know, therefore, that which you know. The wind in your valley sings a song. Tense to it and it chills. Embrace it-and it warms.

Jay: (Asks silent question).

WE: Though the arm is pained, crippled, or amputated, its idea and function remain. Though a mantle cover a man, he remains a man-and so it is with a woman. He who wears a mantle out of season is a foolish one. It is well worn in winter's cold and summer's sun and when an evil eye Is nigh. In spring and autumn and when the enemy is past, a man must bare himself or remain a fool.

Runa: Is there a story or something you could tell us in regard to races?

WE: It has been said,. The race is to the quick and so it is sometimes. But the race is not the thing. Your concern is elsewhere, is it not so?

Legion: What are the various races from your view--point?

WE: They are the letters of the Word.

Jay: What of the two races?

WE: WE do not know two races.

Legion: How many letters does the Word contain?

WE: It cannot be said.

Jay: What about man and woman?

WE: ONE.

Jay: What of my parents? Please advise.

WE: That which is held in the hand weights it. That which is loosed need not fall to the ground. There is that which rises when loosed.

Jay: Who are we asking these questions to?

WE: WE speak as YOU.

Holiday: (Silent question.)

WE: It is given to some to bear children, to others figs. The one who bears is not that which is borne. The path was put there for your step-put there by you. You are YOU. The steps are yours. The path is not you.

Gayla: Are all souls different from one another?

WE: Each is total. None can understand another. If difference there be, what of it?

Legion: I want to ask a question about the play, the game. Can you come on straight or is it an act always?

WE: WE can. It is all an act. The vitalness of it is life itself.

OUIJA EQUALS WE G.

Evelyn had come down from San Mateo and Judy had arrived from Big Sur. Andre and Horst arrived shortly after the session commenced, having driven down unexpectedly from San Francisco. During dinner, the term ouija was discussed and it was suddenly realized that ouija, pronounced we-gee, is equivalent to WE G or WE the G force. This was undoubtedly pertinent insofar as the group and its work was concerned, but in reality ouija should be pronounced we- yah-for it means yes, yes, in French and German. ("oui," "ja".) Ouija, in itself is essentially meaningless. But the WE G concept was meaningful to the group at the time. "Nothing is what is seems. Everything is as it seems."

WE: And so it is! It is said.

Q: And now?

WE: Think all for a moment. Who are U? And so it is. Out with it!

Legion: Are you talking to me? What about the number seven?

WE: That is not it, is it?

Legion: G is the lion. I am G.

WE: No.

Legion: WE are G.

WE: And more.

Runa: Why don't you talk about the Sphinx?

Legion: Is the Sphinx G?

WE: Not so. X.

Runa: X is the mark on the lion's breast.

Legion: The Sphinx is the guard of the solar plexus-lion in man, the entrance to the lion. It works with the throat, the Union Hall-the rose-that which is to speak. Speech is an occurrence in the heart, the King's chamber. The solar plexus is the Queen's chamber. (John-Legion was speaking of the Pyramid.)

WE: What of the Word?

Legion: The Word is T G OM R I R U T. The reversal back to a source. (This related to his inner work in North Africa several years earlier.)

WE: You shall speak the Word exploding and annealing. It shall be spoken with ONE. The Word, contrary to belief, is not a command nor a benediction- more like a supplication. Question not this now.

Is there a question? (At this point Andre and Horst entered the room.)

Judy: Do you have anything to say to me?

WE: YOU do.

Judy: What does this concern?

WE: A song.

Judy: What song?

WE: THE song-for you are Melody.

Judy: Is that my name? When will I sing this song?

WE: You are singing now. The melody vibrates that around it.

Legion: What of the number nine? (He was referring to the fact that nine persons were now present.)

WE: It chanced one day two fled their oppressors. They separated at a fork and traveled apart for many seasons. When the time was right, the pair oned when nine were gathered.

What means this? You are about your doings. Continue if you will-continue if you won't. May we hear a new voice?

Evelyn: Is there any other color to be hoisted?

WE: Yes. The tattered colors are to be downed. A shimmering replacement lies in a box. Tear it open. Without creases it can be raised now.

Evelyn: Where is the box?

WE: Be not offended at this-U.

Evelyn: What commission is at hand?

WE: None can say save ONE.

Evelyn: I need not ask whom. Why am I really here?

WE: The peacock spreads for all to see. There is more.

Evelyn: Is eight my number?

WE: No, 9.

Evelyn: Was it a pair that parted?

WE: No.

Evelyn: What was it?

WE: One as two.

Evelyn: In this, is Eve involved? (She was called Eve at the time).

WE: Yes.

Evelyn: Shall I be remembered as Eve?

WE: No.

Evelyn: As what?

WE: The Ruby. The stone.

Ruby-Evelyn: Shall my name be Ruby?

WE: Yes. Fruit-the olive. You cannot function without it. Your weapon is a banner.

Andre: What is my new name?

WE: Why do you ask?

Andre: Andre was the ego-personality. I've left Andre behind.

WE: Good. You are called Peter.

Peter: Am I involved in the story told just after I arrived?

WE: Yes.

Peter: How?

WE: You are one of two.

Peter: Who is the other?

WE: U.

Peter: Who are the oppressors?

WE: ONE.

Peter: Does my name have a relationship to the story?

WE: Peter is ONE.

Peter: What must Peter do?

WE: He is the firmament.

Paris: (Silent question). WE: The beginning and the end of Paris are in opposition. (Later on it dawned on those concerned that the name Paris related to the tale of the pair that oned, for Paris could be seen as a pun meaning "A pair is".) Peter: (Silent question).

WE: The outstretched arms of Peter are giving, not receiving.

Peter: What brings humiliation?

WE: A seeming.

Peter: What does this mean?

WE: That which is not so.

Legion: Is there more you wish to say now?

WE: Yes. Much has been said beyond the ear this night.

THE LIVING CHILD

WE: Discord there is none-only improper reception.

Legion: Due to what?

WE: That which is received is allowed to be reversed.

Runa: How is this corrected-if correction is needed?

WE: Not needed. There is nothing wrong with a wrinkled brow at times of seeming strife. Only thus is the season passed for some. The fair brow is not seen in these days. There are days ahead. Be not sunshine in the snow-storm; better to be the wind. When the snow has lain in the deeps for its season, chilling and softening, and the wind has had its way, the sun will emerge to a newborn spring. The snow will fall in a given area. All in that area shall know of its coming. Some will not know of its going. What is the question winging its way from beyond the hill?

Michael: What is the purpose of text? (He was referring to text and verbalization).

WE: It serves the Lord of Confusion and therefore functions necessarily. That which ye do, ye do well. That which ye don't, you will. When the Great King's tomb was unearthed, a living child was discovered. How could this be?

Paris: The answer is BE-cause.

WE: And yet worms are found in living fruit.

Michael: What if the tomb were never opened?

WE: The child would not be unearthed.

Legion: I wish we knew more about the tomb of Christian Rosenkrantz . .

WE: When the falling knife nears the head, look not to it but rather to the waiting basket.

Diane: Should I say what I think this means?

WE: Speak.

Diane: Not to look for good or evil or justice-but be as is.

Michael: Don't look back-something may be gaining on you. Who is the wisest of men?

WE: He who aspires to be the wisest is the greatest fool.

Michael: Who is the greatest fool?

WE: He who KNOWS is often so named.

Michael: How does a humble man use his hands?

WE: The humble man is not known of other men.

Michael: Why not?

WE: Humility is a seeming.

Michael: What is the worst error?

WE: There are not error-only opportunities.

Legion: The Thinker's significance is error.

WE: Yes.

Michael: Opportunity to and for what?

WE: To know that which you know.

Michael: What is my number?

WE: 8. Black.

Michael: Is black a color?

WE: In your sense it is-for it is a weapon.

Michael: For me black means void.

WE: Not so. It is a force.

Michael: Has it something to do with evil?

WE: Evil has to do with judgment. Evil is a seeming.

Runa: Please speak more on the unearthed King's tomb.

WE: A King's reign is temporary. The Child is eternal.

Runa: Is there more to the story?

WE: It is to be uncovered.

Legion: Does it concern Peter?

WE: Yes. It concerns all rulers.

Runa: Does the Child come or go?

WE: He is. The King wears the crown. The Child holds the sceptre.

The circle turns

WE: The circle turns. Measure not cycles like grains of rice. Quell not the raging beast, for now he nips at the heels of the poacher. Chased from his game, the poacher will sneak over the darkened hill with empty sack. This-the raging beast did. Chain not the raging beast. Give him his way, for the poacher will await another moonless night, possibly, to enter from the woods or the dunes. The raging beast, freed, will roam the territory entire. Thus will the poacher not succeed in his dark business. Goad not the beast. Feed him not overmuch. Let him rest, and, should he sleep, awake him. Make him not a lamb or surely the poacher will have his way with him. And, lastly, come to terms with the raging beast in your way.

Given: Will you comment on my plans for going to school?

WE: The time has come for the arrow to let loose from the bow. Its flight is to be straight and upward. The mark may be hidden. Think not on this. A cross current will not waver the flight of an arrow from a taut and readied bow. The flight of the arrow will sing its song above the wind. The flighted arrow is beyond grasping. Think not the bow is apart from the arrow or the mark. They are connected as all things.

Legion: I have a question. When is Given going to do what he has to do so that I can do what I must do?

WE: He waits as he must. He is not the initiator in this matter. He waits.

Gayla: Who is the initiator?

WE: There is an initiator who sees the season approach 'mid pounding breast. If fears were founded, WE would name it that. 'Tis well not to drop the hot potato, for surely it is a goodsome thing. This has to do with the Word-yes.

Runa: Who is the initiator Given is waiting for?

WE: Legion-who speaks not.

Runa: Who is Legion waiting for?

WE: Knowing is all WE can say.

Runa: What keys the knowing?

WE: The improbability of it all. Would the wise man send a youth to a man's task? Probably not. You do it. Would the wise man ask a poor man for a farthing? Probably not. You do it. Think in general terms of these words. The time has come and has come again. WE cannot say when it should come again.

Primo: What is my connection with the speaking?

Given: What speaking?

Runa: The speaking of the Word?

WE: An after-witness.

Gayla: What is my connection with it?

WE: An after-witness.

Legion: I would like to speak it right now!

WE: It shall not be this night, WE think. Stir not your thoughts on it nor your mind, nor your heart.

During the evening, Runa had kept singing "The end, my friend, is written in the wind. It is written in the wind." (From the Bob Dylan song "The answer, my friend, is blowing with the wind.") It was as though she sensed an end in sight. Dean-Paris was away, and would soon depart for New York-the first of the group to leave. Everyone now expected John Legion to "speak the Word"- but if this meant outward speaking, he did it not. However, perhaps an "event" occurred without anyone noticing it or recognizing it as such.

THE WORD OF ONE

WE: On a swing through the heavens, one sees the stars.

Gayla: What is the relationship of 4, the foundation stone, to the actual material world? Does it represent and affect worldly problems?

WE: The foundation stone of ONE is the foundation of ONE. ONE is ONE: all is all. The foundation is not the summit, yet it precedes the summit. Remove the foundation and the summit is removed. From the summit, lines are drawn to the foundation. The foundation is not the base. It rests on the base. There are many summits, many foundations, but one base.

Legion: Is the base the material-chemical continuum?

WE: Yes.

Legion: Is the foundation stone composed of a certain continuum of the structure, in the sense of the emotional continuum, the mental, etc.?

WE: If it is said the base is material, it can be said the foundation is of material.

Runa: Could you say more of the base?

Gayla: What of worldly problems in relation to the base?

WE: If problems there be, it may be said of them that they are the grains composing the stone of the foundation. Take away the grains from the stone and the foundation is not and the summit is not realized. The bigger the foundation, the bigger the summit.

Legion: Why does one put seeming irresolvable problems in one's path?

WE: Only that ONE knows.

Legion: When you say Gayla's weapon is a stone, do you mean a foundation stone?

WE: A weapon is not a foundation stone. It is a tool.

Gayla: Our association with other people is a being thing. The beingness seems to bring about the changes, not our actions. Is this so?

WE: The effect one has on another should concern you not. However, be wary of the nebulousness of being.

Gayla: Please clarify.

WE: One is being. ONE does what ONE does. Nothing else matters when ONE does what ONE does. That is being.

Gayla: What, then, is the goal or the accomplishment of the Self?

WE: It is the Self which does. The Self cannot do other than that which it does.

Clarity will come with the acceptance of this: That which one does is done from inner prompting, which prompting comes not from afar-above, below-but within that ONE. Even that which passes the ear and eye comes from within.

Legion: If all this comes from within, what is love?

WE: Love is the need of ONE. WE would speak of contradiction. It is a seeming. If we say now, WE are WE, and now, WE are YOU, it is a seeming.

Legion: Man strives for perfection. Perhaps the Greeks were right, then, in believing perfecting form was the highest goal of realization?

WE: Perfection is the seed within the seed of all things seen and not seen. None can say "This is perfection." It is forever borning.

TO FIND THE ISLAND OF SELF

WE: Several things shall be done this night. That which shall be done is wanted. Question not the want. A sobbing is carried above the wind song. From a great depth it rises to a great depth. Shall the sob rend the vessel? Fill it? Submerge it? Or what? The song of sadness is to be quit now though it cause a tear or two in process.

Legion: Something has to be cleared for Djey.

WE: It is time for him to use what he needs. This he knows. He will speak it out now, if he will.

Djey: I have lost all my sense of identity. I don't know.

WE: It is well that you have lost yourself to others for YOU are not there. To identify yourself with another being is to lose the Self. One must be cast adrift on the sea of not-knowing to find the Island of Self. You nave spent your season adrift. Now you are to be shored. If not, in season others shall lay claim to your island and you shall again cast yourself in the sea. The sea is bountiful but no fruit is gathered thereon.

Legion: How does one lay claim to one's island?

WE: One walks through the wash and on to the sands. One plants his two feet. The sea is behind. One raises no banner nor buries a shaft. One stands firmly on this island of Self and says: "This I am, though the sea rise or the winds rage." The one firmly rested shall be standing on his island. When nature abates, many are behind in darkness. No matter to the Awakened One. Many are beached at noon and are re-floated 'cause they sleep. The hour is not the thing and never was. You know what it is. There are those who, when the island approaches, tremble themselves into a stupor. This is not sleep. Their landing may be a crash one. They may land upon the beach head in sand. They are rooted in another way. But they are rooted. Heads up and tremble not.

Legion: What has the heart to do with landing on the beach?

WE: The heart is a vital organ. Give it its due. No more.

Legion: But doesn't the awakened heart have to do with knowing one is landing? Are there other outer sign-posts?

WE: The island WE speak of-though it contains all manner of fruit and flower wafts no warning scent to the approaching drifter. Though all his senses are on watch, they avail him not. He lands or not as he wishes.

Q: What is the meaning of the numbers assigned to the members of the group? (e.g. Primo 1, Nadine-Runa 3, Rhom-Given 5, Rosalind- Gayla 4, John-Legion 7, and Dean-Paris 9.)

WE: A number is a principle of ONE. It cannot be understood apart from the totality of ONE. ONE has number. Its emanation goes forth without cease. Woe to him who uses not his number!

Legion: What of the fruit mentioned earlier? Is it fruiting along with the rest of us, or just planted?

WE: Flowering.

Legion: What fruit am I?

WE: Grapes.

Runa: And what is my fruit?

WE: Berry. Strawberry.

Q: And what of the others?

WE: Gayla apple, Given plum, Paris pear. (Was the latter a pun on "a pair is"? To Primo had already been assigned the lemon).

Legion: If names are commissions, weapons functions, numbers principles, what are the fruit symbolizing?

WE: That which sustains. That of ONE which is given to others.

In the discussion afterwards, it was remarked upon that grapes had often been mentioned in the sessions and that wine was contained in the cup or Grail of the Royal Maze. A pear was among the four objects seen at the foot of the Changer, and an apple was found in the Virgin Book, also at the feet of the Donor-just below the tip of her suspended sword. No other specific fruit had been mentioned, but the tree in the Unity Book was in fruit and flower simultaneously, and one of the two trees in the Garden of the Renewer bore ten fruit.

Endings

This was to be the last time the entire original group was gathered together, although many more sessions were yet to occur before the end. It was almost exactly a year after the work had started August 17, 1962. The people involved had come a long way since then, and yet none would claim to have "arrived" or to have become the Knower. Changes there had been- perfection not. And yet, as was indicated, something had occurred. The day referred to as "in that day" had, apparently, been met-at least insofar as the Carmel group was concerned.

WE: This night has not happened before nor will it again. The night of ONE is the noon of ONE. The noon has lengthened into shadows not of your casting. The heat of day has passed, consuming you not. Your flame will warm the night. You have met the day spoken of. Well done. The Victorious One stands erect. Speak. (After a silence, in which no one spoke, Lorna stood up and looked at the Book of the Victorious One). What is asked?

Lorna: Do I have a commission?

WE: WE say to Lorna this: High places and low shall know thy name. The weak and brave daunt you not. You have chosen, knowing the difficulty. Your commission is not to be a silent one, nor over-loud. Ask.

Lorna: Does my commission involve or concern others or myself?

WE: There is ONE involved.

Lorna: One in center or outside center?

WE: There is only ONE.

Lorna: May I have my weapon?

WE: Yes. Lorna has a number of 5, a fruit of cherry, a weapon that is a dagger.

Lorna: What does my name, Lorna, signify?

WE: WE cannot say. The precious gems given the Self are treasures indeed.

Legion: Do you mean that these names, fruit, weapons, numbers, etc. are the things you previously indicated were our treasures which were to be unburied-or recovered?

WE: Yes.

These gifts will gleam only with use. They cannot be mis-used, nor given to another. Wear them on your uniform as medals. The battle has left behind a corpse.

Legion: Is the silver horn shaped like a U? If it is not a " musical toy," as you said, what is the horn?

WE: A weapon is not a toy. The horn is straight, wider at the base than at the tip. WE will say this and no more: it is an apex. (Everyone was to wonder later if the "apex" referred to the Pyramid and its missing capstone, since John- Legion appeared to be connected with the Great Pyramid of Giza, or, at least, a symbolic pyramid). All implements are functioning. Number not the days ahead; they are numberless. They are not do less, however. If an obstruction arises, fracture it. If an enemy appears, slay it. If a song is sung, listen. One thing more awaits. It rings with insistence.

Ruby: Does it concern me?

WE: Yes.

Ruby: Is it the banner?

WE: It is NOW.

Ruby: What is it?

WE: Stand naked in the world. Your banner can clothe you when yesterday's garments are dropped to the ankles.

Day of labor approaches

WE: The day of labor approaches. (Referring to Labor Day, September 1). It shall be delivered of you-a new thing. Full grown shall it be. Mid-wifery is unnecessary for the connection shall remain. We tell a tale of a Feathered One. Bird was he not nor man, yet he walked and flew much. In each hand he held two feathers and, when so moved, he laid them on the brow of those who found him. It came to pass one day, an arrival would not accept the placing of the feathers. Twice the arrival refused and stretched forth both hands. Whereupon the Feathered One bestowed the feathers to the arrival, who immediately departed, wonders to perform. Bring to US a bleeding heart and you bring nothing. Bring to US a crown and you bring a bauble. Bring to us YOU and you bring all. A mystery is to be solved. The puzzlement of control is thusly answered: It is as though you are unable to control that which you control. 'Tis a deep saying, this: the control is a dual aspect. From one end you control not; yet YOU are at the other end, controlling that which you seem not to control. 'Tis a deep mystery no more-and it is so. 'Tis time for questions.

Gayla: Why, in the tale of the Feathered One, did the arrival come in the first place?

WE: He came to go on. He wanted not in part but all. He who wants all takes not less. A zephyr from the West shall pass to the East, caressing all in its flight. Where the cross-current is encountered, there shall a great stirring take place.

Ybana: Why did I come here?

WE: There is but one journey-that of Self fulfilling. ONE would say to this One: the course of your planning has been well done for you stored a survival kit en route.

Gayla: Is there more I should know about the Donner party? (She had recently been reading a book on it).

WE: Some of the Sun's rays need to be filtered to those sensitive in certain areas. Not all rays received are beneficial.

Legion: From your knowledge, what is the liver? WE: The liver is the heart of man. Man lives in his liver. A malfunctioning liver bespeaks of a man who has died in part. There is that which can quicken the dead-and you know it.

Given: Many of us are very weary. What is this weariness?

WE: The snow lies heavy on the branch. 'Tis a covering permitting new growth.. . if the branch break not.

THE WORD OF ONE

WE: The journey of the Self from tip to tip produces a seeming distance at times. Welcome, 0 distant ones! What would you this night:

Legion: What do you think of Pak Subuh? (Mahommed Subuh, the head of the Subud movement, who had recently been in San Francisco. John-Legion and Dean-Paris had just returned from a Subud conference there. Rhom-Given and Nadine-Runa had, by this time, dropped out of Subud.)

WE: He follows his course.

Paris: Would you comment on my trip to New York?

WE: You follow your course. May WE say this to Paris: Separate not East and West nor North and South. In all things, separate not. Divisions there will seem. Join not a division, for it is not. Fragments there be, but not apart fragments. Hither and yon sends the Self, gathering fragments of itself. Diligently follow that sending. That which ye do, you must do. In full stature does the Self send a dwarf. It has ever been so. That which is seen is the dwarf. That which is is in full stature. Few there be who see the full stature in the dwarf. No matter.

Paris: What about the name Anthony? (Bapak-Pak Subuh-had just given him a Subud name: Anthony. All persons in Subud who asked Bapak for a new name were given one, therefore name-changes were frequent and familiar in that group. Legion, who had previously been given the Subud name of Govinda, had just asked for and received a new name: Lionel).

WE: Much has been said about names. That which you are called is meaningful. You are called Anthony for private reasons. It becomes you; you do not become it. Do what you will with names. In them is the breath controlled-one nostril or the other or both. This is the Word inhaled and exhaled. Exercise as you will-for you know.

Legion: How are the snows weathering?

WE: Heavy lies the snow. The movement upon it leaves footprints in the soil. The snow is unmarked.

Legion: I feel uncomfortable being called Legion by most people. I have not grown into it yet. How does Lionel seem to you?

WE: In the nursery the child is called many endearments. Later he is called by his chosen name. The day finally arrives when he answers the question "What is your name?" by that name given him. Till that day, he does not know. It is not necessary to do the needed thing. This is done automatically by One.

Paris: Is there anything I could know in regard to the future that would make me happy?

WE: Take heart one and all. Though the lips curve downward, the joy muscles are supple.

A firm grip

WE: Here WE are. A firm grip is needed now.

Legion: What do you mean?

WE: When the wanted thing is in hand, a looseness of grasp is a foolish thing.

Legion: How does this apply to those of us here?

WE: The needed thing is in hand. The needed thing. Tighten the hold now. YOU.

Pat: Where is the faith, belief, etc.? What is pain?

WE: There is nothing but Self knowing Self.

Pat: What of those who do not believe this?

WE: It matters not. Not-knowing is knowing. Those who seek faith and belief and comfort seek a-miss, it has been said. Those who seek the Self function as that Self. While seeking, think not that you do not know the Self.

Pat: What is pain?

WE: The pain for Patrick is nothing. He hurts not nor will he. He is leading himself forward over the route he charted. He walks not among the rocks. He steps from one to another. He will quicken his pace in the road ahead when the rocks are behind. Then the route is smooth though it rise and fall.

Pat: How can I tell myself there is no pain when I know there is?

WE: Patrick knows not pain, nor will he.

Pat: But I insist.

WE: It is not so.

Judy: What is thinking and knowing? Is there a difference?

WE: It has been said that the mind is a snare. 'Tis not so. Separate not thinking from knowing. It cannot be done. One can think he knows and know it not. However, one cannot know without thinking he knows. Knowing is a fullness, yet there is much to know.

(At this point John-Legion felt that Pat should sit at the board with Given and place his fingers on the silver dollar planchette. This was the first time anyone had sat at the board with Given except for John).

We cannot know imperfectly. We can know apart.

Michael: May I ask how I can contact the well of full energy in myself: WE: WE answer thusly: That may not be your way, and again it may be. If it is, you will; if it is not, you will not. And you will be the doer in either case.

Pat: Am I on the right road? Have I anything to say to myself?

(He left the board, and gave his place to John again).

WE: You are. If one says to you, you are not, that one knows not YOU. There is no Prophet, Patrick. There is no WayShower, Patrick.

Michael: What is the board's need?

WE: Not so!

Michael: What is its purpose?

WE: When One speaks to One it needs not but to speak-and not that even.

Michael: On the level we ask this, the board does not exist.

Legion: Has Patrick a weapon?

WE: He has a shield and not a weapon.

Legion: What does the shield look like?

WE: He calls it pain.

Pat: I want a change.

WE: He fears what he wants to hear. He must out it.

Pat: I'm asking it to assume the right.

WE: Good. One day there was a man most fair and pure who lived among others far and pure. It came to pass that he journeyed to a foreign land where men were different. The fair one, seeing the difference, lived among them in hiding. There was loss to all.

Pat: According to that, I'm hidden from myself. Does he remain hidden?

WE: That tale has ended.

Pat: Now I need discipline. It's a beautiful tale.

Legion: What are we waiting for-all of us?

WE: What stops you? YOU stop you.

Legion: What are we all waiting for?

WE: The dam is years in bursting, yet it bursts in a moment. You await the burst, forgetting that which has gone on. WE say to Legion this: follow your urging. If you would push, push.

Legion: What of the snow? My grapes need fruiting.

WE: The snow is no more. The bird is winging.

Pat: What am I afraid of?

WE: Thy goodness.

Pat: Do I need my shield?

WE: No.

Pat: Do I have to destroy it?

WE: Put it down and you are free of it. Hold it and it holds you.

Legion: (Silent question.)

WE: The tail wags the dog.

A child weeps

The four newcomers were from North Beach and had never visited the Highlands before. One. Satty, was an artist and a friend of Michael and Pat, both Big Sur artists and leaders of the forthcoming "hippy" movement.

WE: A full sweep. The square is rounded. A child weeps. It has walked beyond its parents. It enters the field and is frighted. Still it weeps. The Sun is swallowed by the Winged One, and still the child weeps. In the darkness, how loud is his cry! It is not promised that he cease nor is it written that he continue. The night is filled with brays, yet it would not be night without brays. The day would not be day with-out night. The day song and the night song are the same melody without counter-point. If the blade enter the skull, light is admitted. Let him who has not been pierced await. His day shall dawn. WE speak not for all but for ONE. Who will ask?

Satty: How old will I live to be?

WE: Thy days are without number. Thy creating unending. That which you do is before you. The past has never been.

Jim: (An engineer). Damn it, I believe in what I see and know!

WE: Not so. You know YOU yet you think you do not. Believe not that which you see. Believe not that which you hear. Believe YOU alone. Seek not a Prophet-there are none-nor a seer, for there are none. There is only ONE and you are that ONE. Know this and no more.

Jim (furious). God damn it, I'm a bridge-builder, an architect, an engineer. I build real things.

WE: WE say to you that which you tear down is more important than what you build. Judge not. When the book is writ, who shall read it? It matters not. Let the writers do so and the readers likewise. Do you your business.

Bill: (A German). Will I stay in the United States?

WE: Thy comings and goings you have timetabled, for you read not another's chart.

Carol: Why am I afraid to have a child? WE: WE say to this one this: The day of fruiting concerns not the planter. The harvest follows the seed in season. The law is not transgressed. To plant, to fruit, to harvest, matter not. Transgress not thy law.

Jim: What's my function?

WE: WE speak not to the question other than to say there is ONE.

Jim: The dam has burst and all the people have come back!

WE: The keen observer sees all things.

GIANTS ARE A-MAKING

WE: Who will breast the wave through the shoals? Who will take the sword and eat its fire? Who will take the asp and cradle it? He who does not shall have a long and fruitless life. That fear which jellies the limbs is rooted in the marrow. That courage which moves the limbs is centered not in the heart but in the brain. Check not the impulses that electrify action. The still one is soon webbed and mossed. It has been said: take no thought. Now it is said: Take not thought of another. It has been said: Be still. Now it is said: Be still no longer. If the world fell about your shoulders, wear it not as a shroud but as a mantle, as you rise to your responsibility. And what is that Selfhood which is your body and blood and god-head? And what of the time that has now come upon you? It comes with a lash and a snarl. It has come bidden. Stop not your ears, seek not the pretties, cover not your flesh. When the time has passed as it will-you shall hold the road and make a mighty roar heard from top to bottom. Hang on not with faith but with determination. The lamb shall be quartered; not so the lion. For you there is no backward way-only a forward way. Line not your nest with shreds of the past for your eggs shall be dropped along the way you go. The armature of Self is bronzed with your forward actions. The sculptor quickens. Giants are a-making. Questions?

Legion: When you say ONE, do you mean a group or all of humanity or what?

WE: How to say this? There is ONE yet you are the center of it moving through it, and another is the center of it moving through it and through you as well.

Legion: Is there such a thing as anti-gravitational fields, black magic, etc.? Groups working against each other? Various groups, even?

WE: It is pictured for you in the evening sky. Here is a star, there is a constellation. There is a Milky Way and a bright moon and a beyond all contained in one sky. This you can look at and understand much from it. Nothing orbits like anything else.

Legion: You have spoken of reversal, of ONE. I am confused. Who is the one who reverses? Is it literally me?

WE: One laggard delays the troop. Every combatant can say, if there is a victory, " won the war," or,"I lost the war," if there is a defeat. WE are concerned only that each keep his rifle oiled and ready. The rifle bearer carries his weapon and concerns himself not with the man on his right or left-or the enemy. WE speak this to Legion: That which you do concerns many, yet the many concern you not.

Legion: There is still a confusion.

WE: Hold on, then. YOU are the center of YOU, nothing else. You are your responsibility, nothing else. You are your burden; none other burdens you. You are your treasure and reward and not for another. You are to come to yourself for you; there is no other. When this happens-and you have directed that it will come-then all is yours.

Self Denial

Although the sessions did not reflect it, a great change had come over the formerly quiet and peaceful house at the Highlands. Many of those who came from San Francisco or Big Sur stayed overnight and sometimes for several days at a time. Dean had left for New York, and now Peter had come down from the city for an extended stay.

WE: A tremble stirs the innards. Still it not. Fear it not-for it is not fear. It is not the breath. It is that which comes before. Question not your surroundings nor those in your surroundings. If impelled toward other surroundings, make haste. If drawn by other surroundings, resist. If the suspension be liquid, the movement is with grace. If the suspension be jelly, the movement (if there be movement) is ungainly. If the jelly be unseemly, liquify it with heat. Freeze not up. Ask.

A tale is told of a mountain-mover. In a moment of time, he would grasp the rock by its roots and move it, yet he could not penetrate to the heart of a rose. That is not strange, is it? If there be one with doubt, WE say to that one: "This is good if you doubt that which you see and hear. It is good if you doubt your neighbor and your god. It is not good, however, if that which you doubt is your Self. All things known of men can be false, so, therefore, doubt in good health. But to doubt the truth of Self is death."

The way forward is never backward. The way forward may right and left but it will not back. WE have said: Be sure the shoes you step into are pointed in the same direction. Now WE add: Be sure they are pointed forward. Be further sure you step into them feet forward. In another day, you may have profited from a backward journey. Not so today for you. Know you this, though you may not know what is forward. WE say this: that which is forward is that which you want and that which you have placed there.

Legion: What is evil?

WE: No one thing is evil for all men lest it be Self-denial. All else is judgment. It has been said (make no) judgment. This is not saying: Act not. If an odor offend, move thy nose or cover the stench or sweeten the air. It is a fool who becomes senseless through inaction, complaining the while. If a man strike you, turn not your cheek without first asking yourself why. If evil there seems, understand the seeming. Know this: The cup is filling and when it is full that is only the beginning. Seek not the cup-it is filling. What you do with the full cup is that which YOU will do. Are there questions?

Michael: Why does the abstraction evil predominate tonight?

WE: It is a seeming.

Peter: Why was the sword taken up in the first place?

WE: The sword you speak of has not yet been taken up.

Peter: What must I do now?

WE: Once there was a Peter, a caster of nets. Now there is a Peter who has no concern with nets. Do that which you do without nets.

Michael: Why does the abstraction evil exist? WE: That which appears to one is no more than opportunity to know the Self. Whatever the appearance, it is Self brought for Self-furtherance. Make, therefore, concreteness of all abstractions as an aid to understanding. An abstraction does not rightly exist.

Primo: I feel there is something I'm not looking at that is right in front my face to see . .

WE: If there is that before your face, you will see it if your eyes are awake. If it is seen in dream, tomorrow will find it gone. When it is seen, know what is seen is not a dream.

Patrick: Who are YOU?

WE: Would you be content with a name? And-if you would be-why is this?

Last Carmel Session

Although no one realized it in advance, this was to be the last of the Carmel sessions. The time and tides had changed. All of the original group except for Dean-Paris were present, and perhaps his departure had something to do with the group's breaking-up-or dispersing. Its purpose was accomplished; it had come to its end. At least for the present. The next chapter was to open almost two years later in Mexico.

WE: The seasons come and the seasons go. NOW is the season. Rooted not in rock is anyone here. Rooted are all. Leaved are all. The wind has piped a full round. A needed thing is needed. When the need is greatest, a fullness is felt. When a fullness, is reached, a great need is felt. 'Tis a puzzle. The center of ONE has long been hidden. The center of ONE has been known by the few. Known or unknown, the center lives its function. That center is reachable. That which is done from that center is well done. A needed thing is needed.

Gayla: What is that needed thing?

WE: That which is needed is not required by all. That which is needed is drawn to the needer in lines magnetic and swift. There once was a person of renown. Charms and spells were dispensed to the needy. The giving was great. So great was the giving! Little was received. When charms and spells were no more, that famed One lingered by the way with naught but a bowl. After seasons of asking that One was given much-not for giving but for asking. A needed thing is needed. To all here gathered WE say this: The way before yawns wide. Before you continues that which you will do. In the measure of your measure lies greatness. Measure not your measure by another's. Be not diverted by diversions. Keep thy schedule. If a chain ties you to the mark, do not strain it. Melt it instead. If a wall bars the way, hurdle it not. There is a chink in it. Find that chink. Loose the stones surrounding it one by one til that hole will admit your progress. If one stands with you on the mark and is not yet scheduled, be on your way. If another has quit the mark before you, spring not after that one. Keep to the schedule YOU have writ. That which is before you for you to do cannot be seen, nor can it be known. It pulls you as you pull it. That which you do is no small thing.

The day has come when the mask can no longer do. The mask is to be removed and graved. No headstone shall mark its place. It will not be donned again. When the mask is gone, the lines spoken and the gestures will originate without direction. The new scene commences. You are on the board alone. Perform! Questions or not?

Gayla: Would you tell me something about my change of function?

WE: The spiral is being made straight. The direction in all things must be straight and not circular. A circle is devious. From beginning to forever, the way is straight. Your change is a step from the seeming circular to the known straight. The pace, therefore, will seem to differ.

Legion: If one mask drops does this, perforce, cause all masks to drop?

WE: When the mask is removed by ONE, there are no others.

Gayla: Does the ONE always need to go further?

WE: That need will never depart the ONE. The need of love is the need of ONE. To love the ONE can hardly be worded. To say to love the ONE is to say all that can be said.

Gayla: Why did Brahma breathe?

WE: The question is not known by the asker.

Sausolito

It had been a year and a half since the sessions had ended at Carmel Highlands. The scene had changed-and so had everything and everyone. Rhom (who no longer called himself Given) had been going to San Francisco State for awhile, but he had lost interest and dropped out. Uncertain of his next step, he was temporarily working as a cook at a boarding house on Pacific Heights in San Francisco. His car had broken down. So he had walked across Golden Gate Bridge to visit Rosalind (who no longer called herself Gayla) who was sitting, immobilized, in a small upstairs Sausalito apartment with a broken leg. John was in Mexico, living in a small village called Xiutepec, on the outskirts of Guernavaca, with an artist friend named Martin. Nadine was still in Carmel, now living with Primo. Dean was in New York, working as a computer programmer and active in Subud. He was, in fact, the only one who steadily continued with Subud.

Rhom had been very anti-esoteric and anti-occult since leaving Carmel, and had declared he would never touch a ouija board again in his life-but, strangely, out of the blue, as it were, the impulse to try the oujia board once again had arisen strongly this evening. The recording was slow, because they had to stop constantly to write it down. The reader will note that the style of the message was not quite the same with Rhom and Rosalind at the board but the basic quality or essence was.

WE: You will soon know the truth, Rosalind. WE are speaking through you, but the impediment is great. WE ask both of you to be patient. Do not scatter to the winds but collect. Destruction happened because it had to.

This referred to the break-up of the Carmel group.

Q: For what purpose?

WE: You both had to be independent or repeat ancient pattern in which you were trapped by persons.

Q: What does independence mean?

WE: Never following another's goal.

Q: But what about cooperation?

WE: Cooperation didn't occur in your lives.

Q: When did the destruction take place or in what form?

WE: In other time, it darkened Egypt. Akhenaton left the kingdom.

Q: Is there anything we have to accomplish where we are?

WE: The message has to be rewritten by YOU first.

Q: What message?

WE: That you know of yourselves the truth and do not regard other persons.

There was a long break for discussion. Egypt, in particular, was emphasized, as it had been at the beginning of the Carmel sessions. This Egyptian theme it seemed, was not quite finished . . . . Was the Royal Maze not yet unraveled? And why had Akhenaton been mentioned?

WE: Fight not. Sift not but strain. A whirling star lights. A descending star extinguishes. A full Moon abets the seed.

Q: What is the star?

WE: The luminous Self in the heavens.

Rhom: What is this restlessness I feel?

WE: The urge is upon you to do. Do. Act upon that which is presented by others in answer to your questing self.

Rosalind: What of my life direction? What should I do?

WE: The thorns have all been imbedded and there are no others. Therefore no need to step gingerly but firmly ahead. The presentation has been made. Only that which seems impractical is practical. The second step is easier then the first. The first is made in hesitation. The second is automatic.

Rhom: What of my direction?

WE: The time has come to push the bark from the beach into the current. An idle craft is soon rotted. Follow all urgings. No trails are dead ends. Beware of detours-they consume time.

Rosalind: Am I involved with Rhom's lode-stone?

WE: The entwinement of certain persons shall never unravel.

Q: Is this to do with Egypt again?

WE: Yes.

Q: Can you explain what Egypt has to do with the future and now?

WE: Will try. (Pause.) The past is now flesh, brought forward. It, the past, continues. The flesh is subject to the wind's caress, be it gentle or not.

Q: Are we both still closely involved with John?

WE: Entwined.

Q: Please explain the meaning of the reversal.

WE: The up is down. The down is in. The smooth is slippery. High places are not above the level. Climbers; crawl. Purple is gold. Bones are fleshed. Wounds heal.

MOTHERLAND

Khar: Who is speaking?

WE: WE. Ask.

Q: What should we do?

WE: It is doing.

Rosalind: Should Rhom and I go to Mexico?

WE: Many will gather at the Mother's breast...Mother land.

Q: What is the Mother Land?

WE: Now called Mexico. Will be among the gatherers.

Q: Does this mean we should go to Mexico and join John? Unequivocally, yes or no!

WE: Yes. The wound-too-tight watch un-springs now.

Rosalind: What was the inner path I embarked upon 30 years ago to mean?

WE: The answer is never written for any man. The answer, however, is embodied by all men and is outbreathed. The silent question referred to an experience of samadhi or the ONE at the age of fifteen

Q: Why can't you say something to steer us?

WE: Be the much trod-upon bridge.

Q: Do you wish to communicate with people at this time?

WE: Yes.

Q: What do you want to say?

WE: It will be said. It will be done. The mind appears quickened. It is not a zephyr. It will not destroy a needed thing, however.

Khar: Should I go into the Army if they want me?

WE: The ONE body is naked.

Khar: In what way am I attached to Rhom and Rosalind?

WE: Ships upon the same ocean often meet in mid current when the fog is lifted and draw together in each other's wash. Quite often such ships salute each other.

Q: Do I have a responsibility? If so, to do what?

WE: ONE can be separated but one cannot be divided.

Gayla: Is there a purpose for me on this earth?

WE: Yes. Picture a banana as the Self. Further picture the fruit peeled from its meat. The peel is to be zipped into the golden whole. No longer need the meat be exposed to the flies and buzzards. One Self, one whole fruit. YOU are not to feed the stomach.

PAVE WAYS, NOT WALLS

WE: Greetings. A burial ceremony. The rest is to come. Salud!

Q: Mexico is of primary interest right now to both of us. Can you tell us more about this?

WE: The way is long. The way is paved. Flowers blue an indicator. A welcome sign. (When Rhom arrived in Xiutepec three weeks later, John had placed a great quantity of blue flowers in a bowl on the terrace dining table).

Gayla: What's the real purpose in my going? What is to be accomplished?

WE: Thus would a new generation see the sun.

Gayla: May we ask about the Tarot?

WE: The book is not bound.

Q: Will there be more about the Books of T?

WE: Yes.

Rhom: What's the size of the "family?"

WE: It waxes. It wanes. It joys. It pains. It opens. It closes. It gives. It opposes. It numbers ONE.

Q: Does it matter if John-Legion welcomes us? Do we have to have his affirmation first?

WE: He is not the Mother. The Mother calls.

Q: But neither of us have any money and we can't go unless we stay at his house. We have to be practical.

WE: To be practical is not practical. Do not hesitate. (To Rhom.) Your way says go, man, go. The way is paved with flowers blue.

Gayla: Does this message apply only to Rhom? Is it for me also?

WE: A wall is in your way.

Gayla: What wall?

WE: A wailing wall. Tears squeezed for coin are unsalted. The wall should be assaulted. La Gay One knows not walls. La Gay One paves ways, not walls. Adiosito!

ONE KINGDOM, MANY KINGS

WE: Greetings. A tuneful fling. The cobra spits. A south wind carries it back and the cobra sheds a final skin. Ask.

Q: Is there any confusion in our plans? (By this time, both Rhom and Rosalind were making plans to leave for Mexico. He was going to drive down in his almost dying car and she was going to fly because she had a broken leg).

WE: WE know not confusion.

Sally: Is there a positive influence from Pravananda in my life now or in the future? (One of her yoga teachers.)

WE: Read this aright. There is never-repeat never-an influence from beyond the Self. The ONE is the only mover. The clear-eye reads this unblinking.

Gayla: What about the wall? (Gayla-Rosalind's married name was Wall).

WE: No chink was unfilled in the construction of that which you charged, head lowered. A mighty cry was heard, over the hills and beyond.

Gayla: (Silent question).

WE: These people were not chinks but stones in the construction. It has been said that when a stone is loosed from an open hand, it has been known to rise.

Q: Is there any basic problem involved in our going south to Mexico?

WE: The problem, so-called, is a cute one. It is as though two kingdoms were waging neutrality. One (kingdom) might be called David's, the other John's.

Q: Can John's and David's kingdoms be reconciled?

WE: One kingdom, many kings.

Q: Is there something that urgently needs to be communicated at this time?

WE: All communication is from the Speaker of ONE to the Knower of ONE. Be of good cheer. A peep through the door shows the wolf is not there after all. Greetings!

Stern Mother

Q: Tell us more about the Motherland.

WE: She is a stern lover of her children. The weaning is done. She flows still. There are no prodigals; all Her children are welcomed to Her embrace. She gives not comfort but strength. You are of Her family.

Q: Is there any specific purpose in Mexico that we are called upon which we should know about?

WE: Think deeply of Her flow.

Q: Do you mean we should just go ahead-and trust?

WE: No. You know though you do not know. Blind faith is unknown among men. This is good. There would be chaos if blind faith entered into the affairs of ONE.

Gayla: We're prepared for the worst!

WE: One does not present quote "worst" for ONE.

Rhom: Maybe we're going on an adventure like the knights of old!

WE: The stakes are worthy of the effort. Fool's gold there is none. Burrow not with a borrowed burro.

In Mexico

The scene in Mexico was almost the opposite of what it had been in Carmel. Where in Carmel there had been the ocean and sea-birds winging, here the house was in the midst of an almost jungle, with iguanas climbing on the outside stone-walls. At night there were fireflies-and hordes of mosquitoes. Where in Carmel, most of the year, the group gathered in front of a fireplace and, in winter-time, had to wrap themselves in heavy sweaters, coats, woolen rebozos or thick Arab burnooses (depending on what was at hand), here all living was outdoors-on a patio or terrace with a roof-except for sleeping. John-Legion slept in the living-room of his two-bedroom house, having converted one of the bedrooms into a combination library and painting studio for Martin, and the other bedroom was a guest-room. Martin, who was fond of solitude, slept in the upstairs of the servants' quarters in a separate building outside. The maid, Leti, a wall-eyed albino, slept in the downstairs section. Outside there was a banana grove and, below the house, a creek. Mangos grew on the other side of the creek. Where in Carmel, at night, one heard the distant barking of sea lions and the boom of the surf against the cliffs, here one heard crickets and the roar and crackle of thunder in the rainy season. In the morning, one heard church bells. The village was about ten miles from Cuernavaca and there was no refrigerator and no telephone. Large cockroaches scuttled across the kitchen-but in Mexico one quickly got used to them.

Yes, the feeling was very different here than it had been at the Carmel Highlands. However, Osiris still graced the living room, as did the Aton sun- disk-but, in addition, there were statues of Aztec gods. Rhom arrived several days after Rosalind, because his car had broken down in San Diego and he had to continue the journey by bus. The first session was held on the second night after his arrival. Meanwhile, he had taken a long walking trek to a nearby waterfall-and gone swimming in the river below it. Rosalind, still wearing a leg-cast, was confined to sitting on the terrace, fighting off the mosquitoes. The two visitors this evening were Marianne, an artist-craftsman from Cuernavaca, and Maximiho, a pianist who played with the Mexico City symphony orchestra. The session commenced late, after supper. A huge bowl of red roses was on the table. Vultures winged to sleep for the night in the Amati trees.

WE: YOU are. ONE is. The bird wings over the body in swift multipassage. His beat is strong and loud.

Legion: What is the Word?

WE: There is no Word.

Marianne: What is?

WE: ONE is.

Marianne: Who is?

WE: WE are. ONE is.

Marianne: What has to happen?

WE: A new birth is best explanation. Words only.

Legion: Let's talk about levels.. responsibilities. Where do they lie?

WE: ONE is irresponsible. WE now walk with virgin feet.

Legion: What about Martin's next step?

WE: He shouts his question. He answers himself in sweet whispers. He rings with sureness. Stout is his form. The shadow is its own light.

Martin: What is my commission? Has it a name?

WE: Sweet Timothy. This one has lingered long among the flowers. Will remain among the flowers. Sweet Timothy exudes.

Martin-Sweet Timothy: What is L.S.D.? (He was interested in experimenting with it at the time).

WE: The Self sought.

Legion: Please say more about the South move to Mexico, Rhom's coming, hints about now. You said that the impractical was practical. Well, I've been put on the spot. What are we all up to?

WE: You, in plurality, are drinking at the swollen breast. You are drinking with bared teeth. Is well though best thirsty you consider not the Mother. She finds relief and gives. You think not of Her-as children will. This is proper. The child who considers another is stunted. The new child-now born-will walk tall, by Self-consideration alone.

Sweet Timothy: Where are we?

WE: WE are centered.

Sweet Timothy: By what are we centered?

WE: ONE.

Sweet Timothy: Is ONE on earth?

WE: The earth is of ONE.

Legion: It would be wonderful if we all began to look for the earth.

WE: Puzzles are cast by puzzlers. You are not puzzled. If you wait, it is your own scheduling. You wait not with or for another.

(Sweet Timothy took John-Legion's place at the board with Rhom at this point).

The progression will not be impeded . . . . Nothing is unplanned by ONE. Another's progression cannot clang with another's. The slow starter in the race is merely compared with another. How silly. A game-playing is just a silly word for progression. Hope not, pray not, close not-for it cannot be done. You have seen the flow yourself and know this. So think not of closing nor of opening. Be cause, that is. Look not for advice. Look not for an event greater than birth. A mantle of mystery glimmers to attract the winged one. Just so is the moth fired. There is a psalm of harmony expanding the form to fullness. It vibrates to the extremities and beyond. Its music is nourishing. You do feel the vibration and respond in a suiting manner.

Whirling Wind

Both Rhom and Rosalind had reverted to their "commission" names since arriving in Mexico. John-Legion had never abandoned his, and Martin appeared to enjoy his Sweet Timothy role. However, he had relatively little interest in the ouija board, since he spent most of his time painting.

WE: A whirling wind has descended upon the high place. Coolness there is none. The animals cry out. Expulsion! A moon, slender, is red-ringed. A wailing soars. Timid hearts quake, The Tall Ones walk forth in a temporary victory. Full stature is yet to be achieved. There once was a Mother stern who scattered Her children many in strange halls. They wandered separately as the call of the wild. The children returned to the Mother near stranger-to her and themselves. The Mother stern wept. The heart's water dissolved the grime of travel and clear faces were known of one another. A time of understanding has come to you. It is received as misunderstanding. Think not on it or of it. The understanding has come. Proceed in your only direction . . . forward. The Lion in a warm climate, this one molts. Were the lion a serpent, this action would be likened to skin shedding. The unmolted lion melts in warm climates. This is the lion's tale. A twice-told tale-while dull-is impressing.

The King of the forest lay down with the lambs of the field. The shepherd good with clear vision led his gathered creatures to a sweetsome pasture. A dog story: the puppy-marked weaned too soon led a slim life. He wandered among the meat stalls begging and was not nourished. He wandered far and came upon the shepherd, covering his cold. When the sun shone, the dog-marked walked with the shepherd and preceded him into a sweetsome pasture. References to the Changer and to the Nameless One. --Dr.H

Gayla: Why are we gathered together at this time?

WE: A tolling is heard for him who comes not now to ONE. WE speak now in forward speech. Diddling days are done. Self-recognition lies heavy upon you. The burden is bearable. Other burdens have been cast aside and this has been well. This burden is to be borne now - repeat NOW. To cast this one aside will mean many a naked season with such a nakedness that the soul will cry.

Gayla: What is our exact goal?

WE: ONE in action.

Gayla: In what way?

WE: Cannot be understood.

Legion: Who are the Tall Ones?

WE: YOU.

Gayla: Are there more Tall Ones?

WE: Many.

Gayla: In what way do we aid each other by being together?

WE: Don't.

Gayla: If each were alone, would it be the same?

WE: No. A solitary beauty is ignorant until another beauty is met.

Gayla: Is it true that there is something immanent about the ONE?

WE: Nearer than breathing.

Legion: What has all this to do with Atlantis? What is Atlantis?

WE: The turning wheel. A revolution is in process.

Legion: Is it so that the Self itself is in the process of being reborn?

WE: Yes. This natal thread has been spun through many days. All that has been written of you is related to this birth, this recognition, this revolution. Let there be no miscarriage. There is no midwife in attendance. There is only ONE. There will be only ONE. You have timed the delivery from conception. Count not the days. You may miscalculate.

Gayla: Do we face hazards or obstacles in this process?

WE: A miscarriage is a mess . . . . Be of good cheer. The days ahead will seem hard-seeming only. Heard through the rumble is a host of trumpets sweet which you can hear. This is not a heavenly allusion but a clear announcement. The sound is high, sweet, pure. Its vibrancy can transport you above the clatter if you will remember and listen. This is not a pretty saying but more.

Legion: Tell us more about LSD being "The Self Sought" and a flying saucer being a "Self-seeking expression."

WE: More to your concern now is the Self known.

Gayla: Why now the Self?

WE: Are you aware of the duration of now?

Gayla: I don't know what you mean by that.

WE: YOU do.

THE TRINITY IS ONE

WE: You are foregathered. Aft is naught. A prism is shattered; released is a forceful flow-a flow that has exploded from a one-pointedness. Sugar now melts in the ice-mouth. A repetition is not scheduled. A whale freely swims in a thimble. Ask.

Legion: I want to know about this concept of point, line and circle. What can be said by YOU?

WE: These symbols are interviewable. The circle is ONE. The point is ONE in expression. The line is ONE in action. Division of these symbols is seemingly possible.

Legion: Could you tell us more about this? I've sensed very much the circle, for instance. I've seen Given as the line, Gayla as the point-not necessarily applicable but there seems to be a relationship in them that seems to me paramountly a new ideation as far as One's re-birth. Could you give any helpful data on this?

WE: The Trinity is one, aware and functioning. This seeming must be known of YOU.

Legion: Seeming must be known of you? Well, all I can do is concentrate on the circle. It is seemingly-to me the only thing worth doing. Is this what you mean? I'm not interested in the point or line, but can only do what I do.

WE: Good. The symbols are inter-changable also. You are aware of your functioning at all times. The awareness has been increased and will continue. Likewise the functioning from awareness. The new-born leap not back to the womb but wax strong.

Gayla: What was the inner pain I experienced last night?

WE: Pain is pleasure's cushion. A sensitive instrument vibrates at every shock yet sings not the melody of the shock but its own note.

Gayla: What is the expression or movement of the point?

WE: Light.

Gayla: What is meant by the ONE in action?

WE: An out-pouring from the source of all things seen.

Legion: Could you give one more hint of this fact what all this has to do with human personality seeming to be building almost a machine. I don't know what else to call it. I think you know what I mean untranslatable by the mind because it is outside of time.

WE: WE say this: An Army is not known for its privates or Generals.

Now awareness

Lorna had just flown down from California for a visit, and was shortly to depart, Gayla-Rosalind and Martin-Sweet Timothy with her. Rhom alone remained at John's in Mexico. Tonight, however, no one acticipated an imminent change or departure. The events of the next few days were to be completely sudden and even cataclysmic-like the arrival of an unheralded storm.

WE: The present beginning of now awareness will start while all else fails. Stand aside and watch the crumbling of patterns. Patterns do not co-exist with awareness. Think not-function only. There is the function only, channeled through the functions of ONE. If a puzzlement lingers in the fore-brain, tickle it not, listen not to another, simply let. Let is another way of saying something else. Question now to advantage.

Legion: What is "something else"?

WE: Letting the ONE function as it does. The ONE encompasses all. You are to weave a new cloth. If this is associated with renewals seeming only as is the cloth. This you understand fully.

Martin: What is my function?

WE: This will come. To Sweet Timothy WE say this: YOU stand tall in the field. Look not up to another, for there is none. Simply stand tall. Reach not for the sun, strain not for a star; stand and sweeten that which comes to you like the thread to needle's eye. Ask again.

Martin: Who am I?

WE: None can say for another.

Gayla: What is the '"Mother stern"?

WE: The Mother stern has not a wayward child.

Gayla: What is meant by this Mother?

WE: It is a wise child who knows his Mother.

Legion: (silent question).

WE: A heavy heart was examined minutely and its passer died. A troubled mind was examined carefully and it was found that the heart had back-fired. Let it stand in the field if you will where the one current has its sway-a current which has a source and a direction. The stronger the current, the more yielding must be the surviving stalk.

Lorna: Is it my turn now to accept-rather than to take responsibility?

WE: The understanding One takes and gives and always, always is responsible to and for ONE.

Lorna: Am I outside the crown of the Renewer?

WE: Understanding has naught to do with head-pieces.

Gayla: Do we have a personal identification with the Tarot cards?

WE: If you wish.

Martin: Could you say anything more about the Tall One?

WE: The Tall One stands erect, strong, aware that winds blow through him.

Martin: On what does the Tall One stand?

WE: He is in constant movement. In the afterwards discussion, the comment about personal identification with the Tarot cards seemed significant-"If you wish." As it applied to this group, it applied, therefore, to all.

Wanderer

WE: Driven from the south is a storm. Centered in the North is it. Showers sweet fruit. 'Tis a seasonal storm. The Wanderer is come, not from a far land is he, but a near one. Much does he give from his land. He speaks a new tongue long familiar. His giving is the new tongue. Recaptors there are in number. He goes, yet does not. A wanderer he shall always remain. In the high country, a double unit know its Self-ness. This exotic fruit was stored in the cold-box and suffered. In another season, the two-One consumed the exotic fruit and were nourished thereby. The bridegroom has accepted his duty. That which he has asked for and been given shall never be apart from him. To Legion it is said this: Be One as you are ONE. In the midst of Legion is ONE. In ONE is Legion. A movement of ONE is given to Legion to understand. Legion walks in his understanding. All should know this: There are no far places. Ask.

Dio: Who is the Wanderer?

WE: He is known of you.

Laurie: How is he known?

WE: He is known by his movements.

Dio: What movement?

WE: He gives the movement of ONE. When the Self is sought, ONE is found. Think not on the book. You have read aright your words.

Dio: Who was that addressed to?

WE: Each has written his book. Note well the words "has written." Reading time is upon the writer.

Legion: A few more words, please, regarding the new language.

WE: This is a familiar song to you. When heard for the first time, it is as though remembered from the Mother's cradle. The Wanderer speaks for ONE.

Legion: The Wanderer seemingly certainly does not speak like the Speaker in the Tarot.

WE: The Wanderer speaks most gently. Graceful and constant is the movement. Should that which is given softly strip the flesh from one, it is seeming only.

Legion: I could design the 23rd book if YOU wished me to. (The Wanderer).I don't think you would even have to describe it.

WE: Do so if you wish.

Stoppage

WE: Proceed to what seems a hard saying: A stoppage is the most harmful of all actions. A stoppage is not an action; it is a most violent action based on destruction of Self . . a senseless action since Self cannot be shrouded.

Kate: In what directions are my energies now to flow?

WE: Harmonize with those whose direction is forward. This may seem for this One a reversal of a seemingly different direction. You are now in the land of the Mother. Drink deeply of Her substance. Drink with a cool head lest you curdle Her substance. Once there was a lamb-lost. This lamb lay with wild beasts and spoke the language of the beasts. On a stormy eve, the shepherd good found the beasts and drove them from the lamb-lost. Thereupon the lamb-found spoke sweetly. It is a needy lamb who welcomes the shepherd good. Think on this. A burning question fores. Will it be voiced?

Kate: Have I a place in the work of Legion and Given?

WE: There is only one action for all. It is this: to BE. This means to move in the movement of ONE. There is one movement or function. It is seemingly differentiated. The Self, therefore, functions in a manner seemingly different from another. Take no thought about the function of Self or of others. First comes the awareness of ONE. Thus is the new-born known and thus knows. At that moment, One's function is known and the action of the Self corresponds with the knowing. Repeat: take no thought. Slip not into another's gown. The fitting will most surely be ill. Only BE. The rest follows like the tail-feathers of the lofted bird.

Passing

WE: Passing. The turbulent sky lightens. The willows unbend. A swaying commences. The tierra welcomes the shod feet. A voice insistent beckons. The hidden ear responds. The movement of ONE is diversified. There is no question-only an answer. This is it: Be steadfast in motion. A band weaves a pattern. You are of the band. You weave well the design new not-new. Follow not the thread. Think not on the garment. Only move with the motion of the Weaver. There is no finished product. A tale: Behind a stone dwelt a worm. It circled the stone for many moons and wearied in its circling. When the moon was swallowed, the worm weary struggled to the summit of the stone and died of its skin. When the blue sun heavened, the worm-no-more lifted new wings to a sky which circled him. Think not that ONE speaks. One IS only. ONE is discerned in motion only. You are that movement. That which moves not is not. That which moves is. Naught but moves. Naught is but ONE. Correct not your errors . . . they are not such. Change only to present directions. May WE say this to you: be critical never. If change is directed, direct it. Think not that you interfere when directed. Think not on another. Just be the ONE directed by the Self in harmony with ONE.

Speak it out. The healing stone has been throated. Dislodge it not to lower regions. Reverse your stand with open mouth. When the stone is on the tongue, air it to others. The moving water muddies not nor collects foreign bodies. There once was a saintly man who lived to be lighted by the Saviour. He told his beads for a lifetime, and expired with a prayer on his lips. Another traveled from encampment to encampment bringing water. His function brought life to many.

Trouble

Letters had been received in the mail from Lorna, Gayla and Sweet Timothy, all of whom were now in California.

WE: A troubled mind is nothing. A troubled heart is nothing. Trouble seems to occur when motion seems contrary with the movement of ONE. 'Tis seeming only. The movement is unstoppable. Disharmony is sounded in the mind's ear alone. The movement has its own rhythm and is sweet, indeed. Would you ask for another?

Legion: Lorna has written to ask if you have any words for her now?

WE: Understanding when given and received knows not the way of the tides with ebbs and flows. Rather, it is as a union between one and ONE in which constant growth is realized through perpetual consummation. This One has partaken of the marriage and shall not know death. Therefore, separation shall not be. The seed will be goodsome.

Q: Do you have words for Gayla?

WE: Yes. The ONE is known of Gayla. She has chosen to charge the wall with lowered head. The wall is to be at last lowered in this fashion. A hard head has this one: a most direct approach. WE say "listen, listen, listen." The wailing now is of others. Hear it as sweet, see it as movement; know it as ONE functioning. You will function in this One function. The Victorious One salutes a great fighter.

Q: For Martin?

WE: Sweet Timothy- the field is full with Tall Ones. You stand not alone. Your essence is perceived by those in the field, both near and far. If you perceive not your essence, 'tis not because the essence is not there, nor the perception. Think not of perception, essence, or other Tall Ones; simply stand tall and exude. When the honeybee comes-and it will-hold not back that which it came for. You are because of the honeybee.

Q: Words for Given?

WE: Yes. Think not to stop the movement. It is given of ONE. Dwell not on resistance.

Q: Legion?

WE: Legion is many in ONE. Diversification followed from the scattered line-lead to the point of ONE. Legion cannot be embraced or understood by other than ONE. Be well, Legion.

Now Is

Legion and Given had flown down to Guatemala City for a few days to visit Kenny and Neal. They were thinking of going on to El Salvadore, but the timing did not seem right.

WE: Best is here-not to come. A frighted bird lofts and saves her feathers, thereby. There are no delays ahead. Now IS. A clear sounding rings within, unruffled by the without. Listen, therefore, to the Knower within. In the face of the furies this Knower is steadfast to that which the Self directs. Though the legion be against the stead-fast, the One remains true to its action and the One manifests as it must. It matters not if Mother moves seemingly against one. Here is a tale: In the forest dwelt a fair thing who followed a sunbeam to the outer dark of the forest. The rains came and the beam was extinguished. The fair thing withdrew inward till her glow extended beyond herself and lit the dark and dried the rain , , , , So, if you think you are out of the woods, you may be in the dark, if not glowing from your within. Here is a needed saying: Trump not your partner. Is there a question?

Kenny: Is it a question of conflicting egos?

WE: Egos do not exist in the movement of ONE. The action of ONE is unstoppable.

Legion: What are partners if not egos?

WE: Partners are dual action appearing as one. Kenny: How does this account for conflicting selves? WE: Accounting is impossible in view of the impossibility. There is One Self only. When confusion appears, listen to the One Self which speaks most clearly and loudly. Think not that the Self is unchanging in appearance. That which is required by the Self is done. Measure not in terms of yesterday or tomorrow; now is alone.

Kenny: What of the movement of man?

WE: The movement of man is in rhythm with the movement of ONE. Such syncopation!

Neal: (silent question).

WE: One is concerned with One alone. Each comes not softly or swiftly winging from without. It flows outward only with the knowing of the movement of One.

Neal: Is there one in this house with peace?

WE: When peace is known, it is known. A question lingers. It is answered thusly: Take not to oneself that which is foreign.

Discomfort

Legion and Given had just returned from Guatemala. Dio and Laurie had been staying at the house in Xiutepec in their absence, but were soon to return to California where Dio worked with computers.

WE: The stirring from without centers in the vitals. Discomfort there is plenty. Hold not back nor resist. Be like a hollow tube through which a wind blows. Think not that you are not connected with that without. Be not concerned, however. The new time is upon you. Doings different may be scheduled. Should fear immobilize you, alas. If the direction be not clear, take no thought for the way will -clear. The knowing will come as surely and as softly as the dawn. The Mother stern has ceased Her call; Her children have heard and responded. When She calls again, She will not be stern.

Laury: What about love?

WE: Love as commonly known is a barrier to the movement of ONE - which is uncommonly known as love.

Laury: Love of what?

WE: The movement of love is ONE.

Laury: What of love with regard to the union of beings with each other?

WE: That which is known in the mind and the heart is not love. Love is known only by the one who knows the movement of ONE. Commonly known, love is the action of need and is not the One in action necessarily. The fine line of distinction is as a gulf to the Knower. WE do not knock unions.

Thinking Done

WE: Thinking days are done. There is a question.

Legion: Who are the Gypsies?

WE: The rovers of G.

Legion: Where do we originate from?

WE: Think not of origin but of transition. G transits from O to knowing.

Legion: Since many obscure notes seem to be related to the Gypsies, would you say more of them?

WE: Yes. The Gypsy stage you all have known in other days. It would be well not to re-transit.

Given: Do you want to carry that further?

WE: The circle of G is open and the line points forward which motion is your motion. Close no more that circle. To do so would entrap.

Legion: Since we are on this letter business, what of R? Is R the origin of 0?

WE: Therein lies great strength to do. It, however, does not stand alone. It is in company with A tale is told. Let him with many ears listen: A mountain crumbled from within and covered the grassy plain with rubble. Flowers grew not, nor seed of any kind. He who was on the high place fell, also, and despaired in his view. With bowed head, he roamed the rubble for a season.

One day the sky cleared in its season and bird song from above lifted the despairing one's head. A higher peak was seen and ascended; a more exalted vista was his.

Lem: I'm interested in my place. What is my place in the reflection of Unity? What form will it be reached in?

WE: As for placement, it is centered as YOU. As for reflection, it is not such. The ONE is not reflected but IS. The form is motion. All that is is ONE in motion. It is not reached, but known. The Knower moves with the one movement.

Fractions

Martin-Sweet Timothy had flown down from California -for a visit . . but was not to remain long. The period in Mexico, for all concerned, had been and would continue to be one of change-with much coming and going.

WE: Great events are constructed incident by incident. The mighty explosion and implosion are built by fractions. Thus is the Self known. Your explosions of knowing are still fractions. When the fullness is known-and it will be known-it will be known as silently as the morning sun on the rose's dew. Welcome the dark days, as the turnip welcomes the dark soil; therein is also growth. When the movement of One is acknowledged, fret if you will . . . better not to, though. When full stature is reached and one stands tall -eternally, burdens there are none. You are a Tall One. The Knower knows this. Often the Tall One spreads disease. Think not on this. Those susceptible must draw the tall ones like the thirsty roots the hidden water.

Kate: How goes it with John? (Her husband, an artist, who had died a year earlier.)

WE: Reach not for the dropped stone when jewels are nearer. It cannot be over-stressed that the Self is concerned only with the Self. Be not trapped by that which others term responsibility. Cast adrift the thin webs of iron associated with others. If a hand holds, cut it off; if a heart pierces, sever it. Be not human; be ONE. Should another join you for a season, know this only; it is so that each shall know ONE, not each other. Grant this gift to the joiner. Accept nothing less than yourself. There are not two. There is ONE.

Kate: How does one bridge the gulf from all-knowing to daily reality?

WE: In daily reality, there is no gulf to all knowing. All that is is ONE; there is no other reality. You may think this not so, but you know it is so.

Meher Baba

WE: What will you?

Legion: Who, from your viewpoint, is Meher Baba?

WE: He is One of many who are moving in ONE.

Legion: Why does he consistently come up as a liberator for Legion?

WE: He does not.

Legion: Why does his vibration seemingly liberate Legion, then?

WE: He knows wherein and whereof he moves. Many are in need of a follower that knows.

Legion: A follower? Or a point who knows?

WE: Legion, while many, is more than many.

Legion: Yet Legion knows through Meher Baba.

WE: Not so!

Legion: Legion seems to know, then, only through speculation or what he has been told by others, including this WE-G board.

WE: Not so! Legion will know more by concentrating on Legion.

Legion: Legion does not want to kid himself any more. How can Legion concentrate on Legion and know more?

WE: That which is known through another is not truly known. That which is known through Self is truly known.

Legion: How do I find my Self? You and others have given me this Self concept.

WE: WE give you nothing.... Judge not others. Concern you with YOU.

Legion: The whole thing seems a paradox. I can see hers have gotten nowhere, just as I have not. Meher Baba has. I think occasionally I have, but then I realize I haven't.

WE: You still think there is some place to get. It-ONE-is all now.

Legion: True-I do.

WE: Like the huddled man standing in the rain looking through windows at a glittering bail scene and wishing he were inside with the glitter. ONE is all-glitter and rain.

Legion: Will you give us a hint for the next step?

WE: The way is clear to the next step. There appear obstacles of a material nature. A step will prove otherwise. A champion does not battle with second-stringers. He always takes on the difficult to know his strength.

Sweet Timothy: What is personality?

WE: Personality for one is the activity of one but not necessarily the activity of another. Therefore one need not accept another's activity, nor reject it.

Sweet Timothy: From what plane is this information coming?

WE: You would call it the mental. It could also be called the level of knowing.

Sweet Timothy: What is the way to the level of knowing?

WE: There is no single way to this stage. There is one way for each, though. This way comes not as a present. The way is direct. It is inner and outer-inner in knowing, outer in motion or activity. If you presently feel unrest, confuse it not with confusion; merely move with knowing. Sweet Timothy functions whole heartedly. Think and act on this. A half loaf is better than no loaf ....not so with half a heart.

Legion: How can we function wholly? How get that incentive?

WE: In centive is not out centive.

Sweet Timothy: What is in-centive?

WE: In centive comes with right action, not before.

Q: A question about a stoppage of action or feeling that had appeared to block inter-relationships recently.

WE: All stoppages were of heart action. There is this to do: always respond instantly to the action of the heart. This action is pre-communicated to the thinking processes where it is sometime sabotaged. This can be corrected by instant action.

Legion: We are conditioned from childhood to guard against instant reactions. How do we get over the barrier?

WE: Be willing to accept whatever (are) the consequences of right action. Thus leaders are known.

Legion: You know what Sweet Timothy is trying to express. Would you please open a door for him from his viewpoint? WE: The door is open. He need but walk through it. The heart does not necessarily preclude relationships with others nor does it necessarily include such relationship. The Knower walks through the open door.

Sweet Timothy: Where is the door?

WE: The door leads from the heart to the mind. Your weapon is a key should the door close.

Actions Needed

WE: Do you wonder what is happening? This is a period when decisions clear are needed. WE speak not of emotional outburstings, which lead one to confusion, but to the needed actions for you. How specific would you wish us to be?

Sweet Timothy: What actions are needed?

WE: WE repeat, in other words, that which has been said before: the champion of the heart cannot truly express this function abstractly. Concreteness is needed by this one. This concreteness must be found in the form of another. No head is to be buried in these days of action.

Sweet Timothy: In the form of another actor?

WE: Yes. The heart is alive; it has form. There is more than one heart. A heart that beats unto itself misses the beat that a champion of the heart needs. Ask.

Sweet Timothy: A qualified heart beat?

WE: This is a mistaken teaching.

Sweet Timothy: What is the new teaching of the heart?

WE: The heart cannot beat impersonally for you. One is here and now, not there and later. Hold on while WE say this: the golden heart is a sham until it beats. (Sweet Timothy was, at the time, working on a painting called the Golden Heart) WE speak further: this is Sweet Timothy's function and only lack.

Given: Will you speak on my action?

WE: Yes. For this one there must be action and not of old patterns. The Knowing One has spoken. You have heard. Will you choose not to listen?

Given: What of my decision to stay in Mexico?

WE: The days have a number. Think not of hows. You will further wander. Trace not old and comfortable steps. The motion is forward, not backward. The Tall One grows as he is stretched.

Given: What is the number of the number? No answer. However, Given returned to California in February of 1966, six months later. He "further wandered" as had been said. After several months in Bolinas, where he worked as a cook, and in Sausalito where he took over a news-route, he went to Venice, California where he spent several years with a business firm, but then went to Europe.

Wellspring

Here is a tale: Travelers footsore and weary stopped at the well-spring. Having neither cup nor cap, they thirsted mightily. Only when the travelers plunged their heads into the water did relief come and their journey continue. Ask.

Legion: How does one alleviate suffering because of love?

WE: As long as one permits a stoppage of so-called love flow, the stoppage projects a picture in the form of one. One demands the love to flow. If the love flows not, the projection looms larger. When the love flow runs freely, there may be personalities but no projections.

Legion: Speak on alchemy, please.

WE: This is a subject which is well-known of the knower who permits the flow of One.

Patric: Will we be allowed to stop soon and work and live?

WE: Woe to him who stops even in rest periods. WE repeat: standing tall does not mean standing still.

Sweet Timothy: Out of the infinite motions, which one to move with?

WE: There is One movement. May WE say this: extrication from motion is motion.

Legion: We have many pieces of the picture puzzle down here right now. Any hints as to the form this will take?

WE: Multi-action on the part of many. Each will be doing something different than before.

Sweet Timothy: Is Meher Baba the Avatar of the age?

WE: YOU are.

Sweet Timothy: Speak on time in regard to the One motion.

WE: Time exists in the One movement as do drops of water in the ocean.

Legion: Where did the idea of an outward Avatar originate? Why?

WE: It is like "mirror, mirror on the wall"-the reflection was sought, not the Knower.

Legion: Who is Snow White? Oh, I suppose you will say "you are": Very well, when is Prince Charming coming along to wake her?

WE: He has come these many days. You sleep not.

Out what may

WE: Out what may out this day.

Q: What may out?

WE: If the flow from the heart is not outed, that which flows is not golden. These barriers to a golden heart must be stormed. The blocks of such barriers must be crushed, walked on and over and through. That which clings to the feet of the Tall Ones who have walked through barriers permitting the golden flow, illumines their world. If one flows golden eternally, why should one of ONE think to stop such flow? How silly to think so! However, as a Wise One once said, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Let it be said here that the heart of man is pure and flowing golden. But the Thinker, separated from the Knower, overwhelms the heart. And the heart creates the Thinker's world. It is truly said that a man thinks in his heart-not the organ but the being of man. There is not an inner and outer being; there is only ONE BEING, activated by the Knower which has been influenced by the Thinker of ONE. Separate not Thinker and Knower, heart and mind, if you would move in harmony with One. Know that there is not inner and outer, but ONE ... that ONE IS ALL.

Q: What is the uneasiness we feel in our hearts today?

WE: You feel the impending union. There is nothing lost. In a proper union, the Self becomes ONE.

Q: Is there something to be done?

WE: Always. Instant heart action.

Q: Could you give examples of instant heart action?

WE: One knows without doubt when the action has been permitted interference. May WE say this? Push not. Forced growth is with-out real strength. The impulse toward developing comes from the core. There are aids and abets.

Q: Are there aids and abets that could be suggested for right now?

WE: There are. These are actions impulsed by the Knower. WE cannot say "do not this or that."

Q: How about saying: Do this or that?

WE: One says this to One. In saying this, it goes without saying that another has not the method for another; seek, therefore, in vain for a Prophet.

Out-ting and In-ing

WE: How is it that one derives strength? One gains only by out-ting, following in-ing.

Donald: Will I live to see my book finished?

WE: It matters not that books be writ. It matters that the writ book be read. That is the book One has writ for one. He who reads his book aright will begin to live. He who reads his book not-or amiss-will surely revolve. This One is the weaver. Much cloth is needed; be about your business. It is whole cloth that is needed. Many words are made of whole cloth.

Donald: What is this tiredness I feel?

WE: You are not tired. You are restless. You have lain down to sleep while the sun is just past mid-heaven. You have closed one eye. The other is seeking the far corners. You toss and turn. Sleep will not come, nor should it. The energy expanded in this out-of-season rest exhausts you. Either close both eyes and revolve yet again, or open the other and go forth to the far corners. You have much to do in your way.

Donald: What can I do to be less tired?

WE: Forget your body. Can you do this? Forget it entirely. Take no thought of draughts or condiments. You are not your body; your body is of you. There is a river flowing of One-ness. Drink deeply of this river and it will sustain fully, it will purify entirely, it will carry you forever.

Legion: What about the joining of the tail to the lion?

WE: A lion without a tail is a poodle. Know this: the tail is affixed as it has always been. It has been carried 'tween the teeth for a season. Speak! This will open the jaws of the lion to fulsome measure. The tale will make tails stand tall!

Legion: Would you speak on the sex center?

WE: Here is a mystery no longer a mystery. This is not a center but a square. It contains a live gem that is as fire. When active, it flames up and fires the heart to gold. It ups higher in the flow of the golden heart and outs at the throat or the eye or at the summit. Its outing is determined by ONE as the occasion demands. If the fire outs at lower regions, the flow is downward and there is much ash. Think not wrongly of ash for it is fruitful. Question?

Legion: How can Legion re-polarize?

WE: It has been said before there are words he must speak. The Royal One has had difficulty in asking. He has not accustomed himself to asking from the loneliest of wanderers that which he has demanded from the highest. The Royal One, when he asks, will leave the throne forever. Such is the price; such is the prize. This has been said before in words most plain. When read aright-when the meaning is clear-you will understand why the words have not been clearer.

Do you wish a savior?

WE: 'Tis the eve of nothing but now. The day is handled as it comes daily. Think not of tomorrow. What presses?

Sweet Timothy: Could you speak on life?

WE: WE speak thus of life: ONE is in motion. This is life. That which moves not does not exist. The motion of ONE is what you are. As such you apprehend ONE, your Self. The limit of motion has not and will not be reached. Seek not another life; there is ONE. Seek not ONE: you cannot but be. Being is ONE. ONE is all. ONE is ONE. You are not another. You are ONE. Deify not that which ONE is. That way is separation-which ONE knows not. Deny not ONE while you live. The world is full of those who say they seek ONE. How is it that seekers always blind themselves first to their surroundings? Until they remove the film, they seek in vain. Do you wish a word of comfort? There is none. Do you wish a better road? There is none. Do you wish a Savior? There is none. For you, there is only ONE. You will make that do.

Legion: How are we "spelled" and why is my name Legion?

WE: WE are spelled by the breath which is the movement of ONE. There is a common knowledge of a second breath that renews.

Legion: What second breath do YOU refer to?

WE: It can be likened to that which the runner receives when he falters and then proceeds to the wire. Do you not know why you are Legion?

Legion: Legion is a word. It, too, is spelled. No, I don't know.

WE: ONE is only a name, too. You do know why you are Legion. Let not thinking confuse knowing; let knowing clear thinking. Deny not thinking. Thus is one permitted movement.

Sweet Timothy: What is the function of the mind?

WE: Apprehension of ONE.

Sweet Timothy: What is the function of the heart?

WE: Comprehension of One.

Legion: What does the symbol on this board tonight symbolize? (The staff of Hermes Trismegistus symbolized life).

WE: The meaning of any symbol is in accordance with the viewer.

Q: Have YOU any more YOU wish to say?

WE: Contrary to popular belief, ONE is not an abstraction.

The reader will have noted that there was little discussion during or after the Mexico sessions. Meanings earlier obscure now seemed bright as day and to need no comment. But this night statement seemed to JohnLegion to be the clearest received and to be complete in itself.

This is the time

WE: This is the time. It is now. You are prepared well. Ghosts have fled for you know they were not. You know ONE is. Here is a tale. In a low place dwelt a highborn. He wandered freely among his fellows singing low and sweet. When the season of fruiting was upon the low place and the high born, he rose from the low place and wandered forth to sing loud and clear. He forever after dwelt in the high place.

Tomas: What does Tepoztlan mean for me? (An Indian village West of Cuernavaca.).

WE: Here the Mother rested after Her labor. Here you will labor after you rest.

Tomas: Is there more of interest for all here?

WE: The cradle will be found.

Tomas: Expand.

WE: You were and are rocked in this cradle.

Tomas: Should we keep digging in this hole?

WE: What seek ye? Your concern is not with the bowels but the heart. As you stride forward, take no thought where you place your feet. If the foot is forward only, strewn petals will be underfoot. The thorns are encountered only in backstepping.

The Day

The day is not long nor short. It has sufficient measure for its happenings. Should there appear a time-pusher, or holder, know him not-for he is not in season. Ask.

Legion: Asks about a house he is thinking of moving to.

WE: It matters much where one dwells. The season should be considered when dwellings are considered. The dwelling should not a bower or a prison be. It matters not if the dwelling be dark to light-bringers, for they illumine always.

Sweet Timothy: There is a fork in the road ahead for me. Which to take?

WE: Yes, the road has never been chartered singly. There are forks, detours and circlings in each season. There is one direction only . . . forward. When a fork is presented, take the one which contains the sun longest. When a detour is presented, cross through the field and leave the road. When a circling is presented, know that it is not for you. The present problems you have presented for your grappling. The matter is whether to grapple and profit thereby, or not grapple until another season. If handled in another season, the harvest will differ from the true harvest time. May WE say this to Sweet Timothy: Stand naked. The hair-shirt you have donned was skin-touching formerly. It is now reversed and hurtful to others now. Stand naked and be kissed by the gentle winds issuing from the Mother's song. May WE say this further: the grappling need not be. Like the corn, if your wraps were shed, the gold fruit would dim the solar disc. One should stand before ONE; ONE knows and is, thereby, naked.

Legion: Am I holding Sweet Timothy back from his course?

WE: This is never done. The influences that bear on one are Self-influenced. Therefore it is amiss to say one to another: this I do, or did-that you do, or did. The rain and sunshine are alike brought by one solely for fruition of one. At the start of the race there are some who leave the post before the shot . . . some leave not. The starter is not responsible for the separate startings. Responsibility is to be stricken from your book. It is now a foreign language to Tall Ones. All things are possible for a Tall One. The wise Tall One moves at a pace possible. He leaps over mountains only when able.

Sweet Timothy: What is the ego?

WE: There is only Self. Shoot not for the Moon. Encounter the heart instead; there is the Moon. Personality, ego and Self are one. The aim is what counts. It is not up and out; it is in and then out and possibly up. There is not a highest nor lowest; there is a center only. That center is without limit. It is All.

Clearly it is seen now

Sweet Timothy had departed for California after the last session, and was living in a little cabin in Bolinas, painting. Tomas was now staying with Legion and Given in Xuitepec, but was soon to leave for Bolinas also.

WE: Clearly it is seen now. Night shade has lifted. The eye of the Moon is flamed; direct in its beams. The entrance has been painless. Question?

Pat: Will there be peace?

WE: Peace in great measure has flooded your lowlands. That which now fruits has long been planted. Sweet is that fruit which is planted and eaten by the planter.

Pat: Can I love?

WE: That which loves not, lives not-and are you not living? The movement of ONE is the motion of an uncommonly-known love. This movement has you in its sway, and your way is in harmony with its motion. Confuse not emotion with motion. Move as the motion moves you, for You are its center. Emote only when moved from your center. Hesitate less than the measure of the heart's beat, for the motion of this love, while it has movement, its harmony comes not from a beat-the flow is continual and without measure.

Pat: What is my real name?

WE: The time is now for dropping ill-fitting garments and donning the robe of one's station. Let it be said to this One: This ceremony carries with it the responsibility bearable that of SELF-placement with and as ONE. This robe will not be out-worn nor handed down to another. That which You do cannot be done by another. Wear this robe through all seeming seasons. This one is called Veni.

It should be noted that anyone who attended the sessions was given a "commission" name if they asked for one. Few of these have been retained, however, in the writings, to prevent confusion. That which was said to Veni, however, was a saying that could be applied to all, and was part of the doctrine.

The day of doubt has set

WE: It has been said. It will be said again. The night of indecision has been illuminated, the day of doubt has set. Noon is upon you and shadows of doubt do not exist. Speak that which you must; let no man stop your flow. Ask.

Legion: Can I augment the psychological "shock" treatments I've been undergoing recently? Suggestions?

WE: Yes. After their explosion, trace their source. It will vary on occasion. After identification, think of that area as having been aroused-like after a restless sleep. Smoothness is to be realized, for those areas you are arousing must smooth.

Legion: Could you say more about the stolen idol's eye?

WE: It is now replaced and re-functioning. No blame.

Legion: Please answer Sweet Timothy's question in a letter recently received.

WE: Sweet Timothy is in a foreign land. He is to learn the language and customs of these, his people. He is to move with grace through the land. There is that which could be said if wanted.

(The planchette pointed to the visitor, Brite, who had arrived unexpectedly just before the session started.)

Brite: What could be said?

WE: What is wanted?

Brite: Am I supposed to meet Jeanne again? (A friend living in Mexico City, but she was uncertain of the address.)

WE: You move as You direct. You have traveled to the land of the Mother seeking a substance. Her teat pains. She moans. Will you drink? (Pause. No reply from Brite.) You will not, then drink? Her substance is offered once only. When the dry season commences, it has its season. Now is the time. With Her substance is sustenance. Husks abound in dry seasons.

Legion: Why is the Mother here in Mexico specifically?

WE: ONE is here.

Legion: Is the Mother the symbol of ONE?

WE: When understood, ONE is the Mother. The Mother understands ..

Legion: Is the Mother Book number 1 of the Tarot, then?

WE: It could be so stated.

Legion: What of the Tarot now?

WE: That which is writ is to be read. It has been said this is your sphere.

Legion: Then what I saw the other night regarding the Mother was correct?

WE: None other pictures for you. Here is a tale: A boy child stood naked before his mother. He went forth among his brothers covered. Great was the loss.

It has come to pass

It has come to pass. The time of doing fuses with being. Heavy lay the questions which need not be asked. The turning point has not come; rather the route is ahead. Changes there seem--seeming only. Today's patterns are not tomorrow's. To dwell over-much on patterns projects them beyond now. 'Tis expended energy. Unwise!

Patric: Have you an answer to all?

WE: Yes. Hold unswervingly to that which you know. It has been said you know in part. Now it is said: you know. Question not that which you know; rather function with that knowing. The fruit of such action withers not.

Bolinas, CA

Given and Legion had flown up from Mexico after the New Year for a visit with Lorna, Sweet Timothy, and also Gayla, who was now living in Stinson Beach, a few miles south of Bolinas. Many questions were to be asked in these nearly final sessions which would shed much light on the message as a whole, also on the Tarot. Tonight four were foregathered at Bolinas - the same number present when the sessions started in Carmel in 1962, hence the emphasis on four at the beginning. Much that was said would retrospectively illuminate what was past.

Four a foundation make. There is that which supports a foundation and that which rises from it.

Legion: What supports the foundation?

WE: That which is present.

Legion: Ought the structure to be determined at this time? What does it look like?

WE: YOU.

Lorna: Is it always there?

WE: Yes. It is seen as rising.

Lorna: Is it ever completed?

WE: No.

Legion: Can we help it along?

WE: Yes.

Sweet Timothy: How?

WE: By knowing that the foundation is rooted in the present.

Lorna: What four make a foundation?

WE: The mind, the heart, the body, and that which holds them unified.

WE say this: Sit not in your structure. BE your structure. Think not that sitting is being. Never is sitting being. Be and sit, but do not sit and be.

Tear not thy flesh in useless flutterings, rend not thy mind in foggy needs, flow not thy heart in wispy shadows, recognize the solidity of your soundings. Confront the solidity to know the reality of this. When met eye to eye, the solidity is not a barrier. A time of seeming change is upon you. Difficulties will arise if you do not confront YOU. If you put your Self, around the corner, the corner will smash into you. The fearless fear not. Think not you are incapable of putting your Self around a corner. You are capable of this . . . and more. It is the more which is needed. Ask.

Sweet Timothy: What of my "fall"?

WE: The rupture is mended when the structure is founded in the present. NOW, of course.

Lorna: How does this fit in with Jung?

WE: One hears what one hears . . . . It matters what you speak.

Legion: Would you write more on the will?

WE: The will is a mover; it can be moved, also. When it is moving, it cannot be moved.

Legion: Is feeling the mover of the will? As in the Book of the Feeler?

WE: Yes. Woe to him who feels and moves not. A won't is a will, but a non-motion is a clogging that, sooner or later, must move or else the vultures swarm.

Sweet Timothy: But what if you don't feel?

WE: One feels. There is a difference between feeling and wishing not to move.

Lorna: Are we, as individuals, not moving because we don't wish destruction?

WE: No. The not-moving is a reluctance to go around the corner after You (are) there.

Lorna: Do we really have anything to do with it?

WE: All.

Legion: Clarify, please.

WE: 'Tis better to have You before you. If You are around a corner, go around that corner after You even if you don't know what lurks there. Fear and its results vanish with the first step. Know this: You put your Self around the corner initially.

Sweet Timothy: Well, I'm around the corner in a box. I can't out.

WE: Is there a feeling that moves you? Feel, then, and move before thought; move with the feeling, not an instant later.

Sweet Timothy: But what about the absolute whim I began this with?

WE: A whim for one might be a wham for you.

Sweet Timothy: What started all this creation-destruction?

WE: Do you judge your feelings as felt, or later? May WE suggest this to Sweet Timothy: select a period of time long or short (better short) where you agree to act instantly upon feeling, thinking not of consequences of such action and accepting the consequences. This exercise will bulge unused muscles.

Q: Is there anything else to be said now?

WE: There is if wished. What is the difficulty?

Q: Isn't feeling for others a shattering of images?

WE: Not so. . . . summed up by fear.

Legion: Why is the sign of Cancer over the head of the Feeler?

WE: That which is overhead is not within.

Lorna: Is there, then, any such thing as responsibility?

WE: One is responsible, yes, but to Self alone. One is responsible to Self alone. There is One Self.

THE TAROT IS THE STORY OF ONE

Gayla: What is the total meaning, or sentence, spelled by the Tarot Books?

WE: This is the story of ONE.

Gayla: Is there a correct sequence? If so, why?

WE: Yes. Like stories, the sequence follows a seeming pattern.

Gayla: What is the pattern?

WE: It depends on who reads the story.

Gayla: Are you saying there is a difference between the ALL and individual entities?

WE: No.

Legion: In the order given, is the sequence correctly understood by me as Sephiroth, chakras and principles?

WE: Yes-if you read it that way.

Gayla: What is the true import of the Books for man at this time?

WE: ONE is realized.

Gayla: Will you be more specific in reference as to how it is to be read?

WE: With the eye open.

Gayla: Why do some books have letters, as given, and others do not?

(No reply).

Legion: You said once you would speak of numbers in relation to Tarot. Is it time now?

(Still no reply.)

Legion: Is there anything you would be willing to say regarding number and Tarot?

WE: The mystery of number is.

Gayla: Are there any key cards?

WE: Yes.

Gayla: What are they?

WE: All.

Gayla: Is this a reverse deck? Has it a connection with the prior deck?

WE: A progression.

Gayla: Is there another new deck?

WE: Not now.

Gayla: Will there be another one soon?

WE: There is only NOW.

Gayla: Is there another deck to be given?

WE: In your sense, no.

Gayla: Would it be possible to expand on the essential meaning of each card?

WE: Yes. You must do it.

Gayla: Is there more explanation?

WE: No. You are it.

Gayla: Please give more elucidation on the whole subject.

WE: Yes, you will do it.

Legion: What does the word Tarot mean? What do the letters spell?

WE: Here and now.

Gayla: Should we do something about putting this out soon?

WE: Are you not?

Legion: Please say something more helpful regarding the Tarot.

WE: Do not strain a whale through a fish-net.

Gayla: Is this something like a re-statement of a reality that has been stated many times in the way of a message? And, if so, is it important at this time?

WE: 'Tis a statement-not a re-statement.

Gayla: What is the difference in this statement?

WE: The statement in its entirement is this: ONE is in motion. That motion is love. YOU are that ONE in motion.

Gayla: But how are we to bring it all together?

WE: Impossible!

Gayla: How, then, do we bring it into manifestation?

WE: Look at it another way. See what is and not what seems.

Legion: Is the royal mix-up related to 18th dynasty Egypt?

WE: Yes.

Legion: In the progression we are now in, will this be straightened? Is it being straightened?

WE: Yes. It is.

Gayla: Why am I suffering?

WE: Are you really?

Sweet Timothy: Why am I not suffering?

WE: He is.

Sweet Timothy: What is the Egyptian or Royal Maze?

WE: The present.

Legion: Between the 18th dynasty and today, has ever a similar concept been expressed in the world?

WE: Expressed-but not spoken of.

Sweet Timothy: Is "big" Timothy that which is suffering? By all standards, I should be suffering . . . why am I not?

WE: You are suffering and your Feeler is not functioning. When your Feeler functions, you will not suffer.

Sweet Timothy: Can I turn on this Feeler? If I can, what of this loathsome personality?

WE: Yes. It is turned on by that loathsome phrase.

Sweet Timothy: What of Meher Baba? Is he essential to this motion?

(Sweet Timothy had become an ardent Baba follower since moving to Bolinas, and often attended meetings at the Baba center in San Francisco, known as Sufi-ism ReOriented).

WE: He is-as are you.

Sweet Timothy: Can we expect to achieve realization by ourselves?

WE: There is no intermediary. There is ONE.

Sweet Timothy: Do you have any practical suggestions concerning the goal?

WE: BE-which necessitates doing.

Gayla: Doing what?

WE: Expressing ONE.

Sweet Timothy: What is the Avatar and what is my function?

WE: There is ONE. If you call ONE Avatar, YOU are that. If you are, you know. If you know, you do. If you do not, you are not. If you can say "I am," what then is the question?

Gayla: In what way was I involved with Egypt?

WE: In the end. You will be so again in its progression.

Gayla: Could you give me a specific name or event?

WE: Yes. Final acceptance.

Gayla: Of what?

WE: ONE.

Sweet Timothy: I am impaired. I feel nothing whatever. How to break this?

WE: Feel out - stop feeling in. It is that simple. More to the point WE cannot be.

Sweet Timothy: What is the difference between sensation and feeling?

WE: Feeling will give sensation.

Sweet Timothy: I feel there is something to be touched, which....

WE: Correct feeling. Touch another.

Sweet Timothy: I have a strange feeling that you are trying to tell me something. But there is a barrier between here and out there. What does this mean?

WE: Inward flow must out-flow.

Q: What started this inward flow?

WE: Fear that out-flow would lessen you. On the contrary, it would add to you.

Q: But what was the cause?

WE: It is simpler to accept the remedy than search the cause.

Sweet Timothy: Is there a suggested kind of out-flow? I'm at a loss . .

WE: You are not. (Pause). Touch another. To do this, you must feel. If you fear to feel, o'ercome this fear in the only way possible . . . DO IT!

This was the first session in which the link between the Royal Maze of the Tarot and 18th dynasty Egypt had been openly admitted by the communicant of the board, but as usual no details were forthcoming. The details were not the point. ONE was the point. The message, as such, had come to its end-although there would be one more session in Mex:co a month later, and yet another, as aftermath, in 1969. What remained, at this point, was getting the work to the public, which commenced in 1967 with the publication of the 22 progressed Books of the Tarot in poster-size.

Box is opened

WE: Foremost is. Decide that which you are for. Ask.

Legion: What now?

WE: Now is the period when the found box is unlidded. A clear gaze is required, a stout heart also. The contents issue forth powerfully. That which is before the issue and unlike the issue will not survive.

Legion: What is the issue?

WE: That which has awaited the unlidding. Your box is not like another box. YOU are its contents.

Legion: Please say more about this.

WE: Listen well to this: A certain man went to the place of hiding for treasure. Disappointed at finding a bare box, he discarded it and searched forever more for his treasure. You have traveled to the hiding place and released the box from its niche and opened it. In it you have found that which is like a mirror. One steady look within has told you of YOU. The box has no importance as you issue forth. Is this clear?

Legion: Whatever the mind creates, it creates. "It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing." There seems no more than this, all being a crazy product of the mind.

WE: If you look in the mirror and do not know YOU, then you are as the certain man forever more searching his treasure.

Legion: Sorry to be so pessimistic, but even that treasure is a thing of the mind. There is no treasure.

WE: One is as One is, but one must know ONE. There is no point in knowing unless one knows.

This final session, in a sense, traced full circle-from the time in Carmel when the sessions had started out as a kind of psychic treasure-hunt within sight of the locale of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" on Point Lobos. Here, in Mexico, the box was found and unlidded and contained nothing except that "which is like a mirror." A few days later, Given left Mexico for Bolinas to be joined soon afterward by Tomas. But the sessions were not resumed. Everyone felt that this phase of the work had definitely come to its end and that there was no more to be writ-but only to read the Book that had been writ. Following the exodus to the North, John-Legion gave up his house in Xiutepec and returned to Cuernavaca, where he remained for several years before building a house in yet another Indian village.

TAKE A BREATH

By this time, Legion and Gayla's small book explaining the new Books of Tarot had been published and the 56 minors were being completed. John had flown up from Mexico with Pablo for a visit and Given (who now called himself Bill) had come up from Southern California. Ralph Metzner, psychologist, had written the introduction to "T: the New Tarot."

WE: Here WE are. So?

Q: Are we still in the Maze?

WE: WE are not.

Q: Where do we go if we step out?

WE: In.

Q: What is Pluto?

WE: The tail.

Ralph: What is moving?

WE: ONE in motion.

Q: What kind of motion is needed?

WE: Awareness.

Gayla: Awareness of what?

WE: Who asks?

Gayla: Gayla.

WE: Gayla.

Gayla: Meaning self-awareness?

WE: The ALLNESS of Gayla.

Gayla: Does this mean not being aware of other selves?

WE: Included. It has been said: he who says he knows, knows not.

Lorna: Can you say something about the infinity symbol?

WE: As symbol it is a snare. Do not get trapped in infinity. (The infinity symbol, or figure 8, had been placed on the back of the cards.)

Gayla: Would you elaborate on the meaning of number?

WE: As you work with number, remember the unit of one. Three is one. Two is one.

Gayla: Are all numbers one?

WE: All is ONE.

Legion: Is there such a thing as zero?

WE: No.

Q: When we ascribe qualities to number, are we mistaken? 1,2,3,4, etc.

WE: It helps. It is a way of judging. Judge not the way of awareness. One is one. Two is not division but one. See not your Self as other than whole. There is not becoming but only being. Three is not trine but one. The purpose of number is not to divide but to encompass.

Lorna: What about every snowflake being different?

WE: There is a multiplicity. There is, through this multiplicity, ONE.

Gayla: Would you speak about the elements? Fire, earth, air, water?

Ralph: And what about the fifth element?

WE: Make not a mystery of the obvious. The trick is ever simplicity. Throw off the tinkles. Hear the roar of ONE. Do your thing. Let not your thing do you. Swing with your doings. Do them knowing the bareness of ONE. Clothe your thing as you will. Keep in mind the nudity of ONE. Should another see your thing as mantled, let him. It matters not for you. Know the make-up of your thing as the expression of ONE.

Ralph: What's the meaning of pain?

WE: This is not yours.

Ralph: So what do I do about it?

WE: Look into the dark pool. Look for the light that the dark leans on. When that light is seen, in-draw it through the dark. That which is not yours will not remain. That which you claim is yours-the burden of woe-can now be dropped. The mooring needed before is not needed now and this you know.

LEGION: Is the Great Event imminent?

WE: Yes.

GAYLA: How imminent?

At this point a sudden wind whipped open the heavy door beside the group and night air rushed into the room.

WE: Take a breath. It has taken place.

The extraordinary wind as if summoned billowed the curtains and swirled dead leaves and rose petals over the floor. It swished at the newly printed TAROT spread out on the card table and whirled them over the yellow carpet helter-skelter. The seven people seated around the ouija board remained motionless; each sensed the Presence this wind proclaimed. For an eternal moment they waited unquestioning, transfixed in timelessness while the wind blew through the room and through them. Then silence came. The wind departed as suddenly as it had come. A supreme quietness reigned. Nobody spoke. What questions were left? The wind had blown in the WORD OF ONE.

Interstellar Travellers: