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Air Temple

Wednesday 3rd January 1996 (9:30 pm)

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Barry: Steps are positioned close to a window. I climb and look out. Around us is a vast city, that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Rob: It looks biblical like Jerusalem.

Barry: Ten roads radiate towards the Tower, which is more of a pyramid when looked at from above.

Rob: Our view of it is distorted from where we are. The walls of the building are white. The roads are quite wide. Everywhere is clean.

Barry: I feel that the roads were once canals carrying water to the central square below. The tower was once an island.

Rob: We climb out and down. There are plenty of hand-holds. We reach the bottom. We are in a marketplace among the stalls. It feels Middle Eastern. One stall sells costume jewellery, others carpets, lamps, books, and fans. At the back one sells peacock feathers and fine gold. There is a sense of unreality. No one tries to sell me anything. I feel this is just scene setting.

Barry: One of the stalls has a small octagonal box which is being offered as a gift.

Rob: Now we have climbed down from the temple, it seems to be a large rectangular building. What is the box like?

Barry: Ebony inlaid with diamond patterns. The lid twists off. There are four coins inside. One of the coins which I find strange has a reversed swastika with a hole in the middle.

Rob: I have entered the temple through one of the side doors, and found within a huge sphinx, its massive.

Barry: Stairs lead down from its feet.

Rob: Although made of stone, it is aware and looks at us.

Barry: Priests approach us dressed in simple white. They ask if we have a tithe.

Rob: We have only those coins.

Barry: One of the priests places the coins in a small brazier close to the steps. They burn and emit a pungent fume which drifts towards the sphinx. It�s eyes glitter black.

The priest tells us that we are to journey to the underworld. We should recognise that which we seek. It will be shown to us in different forms. He hands us two amulets. On the front is the rune Kano <. On the reverse just a golden glow. The priest advises that we follow a path that goes straight on and not to deviate left or right.

I notice perched in the rafters of the temple the kestrel. The steps down are well trodden and smooth, difficult to climb down. The priest asks if we wish to follow the path.

Rob: We do.

Barry: The stairs lead down to a vast swamp, a causeway of octagonal stones leads off into mist.

Rob: I sense a vast space, an empty area. I walk to the centre of the space. As I reach it I feel a connection made. I feel energy rise through me.

The vast space is not silent. It is filled with the sound of a heartbeat. At first regular and relaxed, but the sound is changing and becomes a fast drumbeat. My body twitches. The sound races on then dies away.

Now I hear a flute and can feel spiralling energy, like water draining down a plughole.

Barry: I am standing on the causeway, which is now a narrow precipice. The swamp stretches around me. There are grey figures half submerged in the swamp.

Rob: One of the lessons of air is to become aware of life�s vast possibilities, to see further, to experience things more deeply.

Barry: Ahead is an island shining gold. On it is a four pillared dome. I sit cross legged and gaze at the dome. What is it we seek on this path?

Rob: To understand and to bring into harmony with the other parts, that part of us that is air. To become balanced. To learn our strengths and weaknesses.

Barry: I see a group of figures. They stand around the steps of the dome. The front is the figure I saw superimposed on the kestrel. He wears a feathered cloak and a beaked mask.

Rob: I see a woman crucified. I see the figure of an angel.

Barry: The angelic being stands above the dome. The figures around it, it peels away and puts them back into itself. I can see many figures spread out around.

Rob: I return to the temple, through the window we first backed out of.

Barry: Me too.

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