Cancer 23. A man thanking all his books for the wisdom they have imparted to him.
For him the contents of books were architecture through which he loved to wander. This architecture, though, had no need to respect gravity, so that a wall, for instance, might be built paper thin and stretch far into the sky, fallen columns might hover above the ground, and free-standing stairways carry him to nowhere other than a magnificent vista where they suddenly stopped. What he knew (and also knew that so many didn’t realize), was that all this was wisdom, not the kind that is parceled out neatly in essays or statements of fact, but wisdom all-pervading, like water, flowing everywhere and creating, unexpectedly, as it went.
Thank you, he said.
Azoth Oracle
There are many people who visit the Temple of Asopus, god of messages. Most of them say that soon after their visit they are inspired with new ideas and new solutions to problems.
A few of them who are more open to spirit realms hear thousands of voices all speaking at once, and find that even after leaving the temple they are haunted by these voices, which they hear continually, sometimes for months, and which disturb their sleep and cause all manner of confusing dreams.
Most of these unfortunate few are directed to visit the far off shrine of the goddess Suposa, lying to the north along the upper reaches of the Iridar River.
Goddess Suposa is known as the Untangler of the Threads. Here beneath her shrine they are led into a deep cave and placed on a bed of lotus leaves where they fall into a dreamless sleep while a priestess performs a ritual which takes the voices from them, and then through her acute listening explores their vocal labyrinth, findsingwithin it the one voice they most need.
After they are awakened they are given this single message which the priestess has bestowed on them, and, leaving the shrine, find themselves once again at peace.
Participants in this ritual are advised to not visit the temple of Asopus again, and usually are not inclined to do so. Irnad says this is because they have been implanted through their experience with what he calls the Seed Voice, which, if they listen for carefully will come to them and answer all their questions.
This rite is known as “The Finding of the Golden thread.”