Barbelith Underground > Temple > Let's Talk About Dreams

Hmmm, odd one last night.

I was about eight years old and me and my friends were trying to get somewhere for which we were underage. To do this we came up with the idea of standing on each others shoulders and putting on a long coat (When this happened, I was just me, not a combination of others).

We got to the place, which was a dark, nasty, massive underground room. I stood at the entrance on a raised platform that ran along the middle of one wall. The rest of the room was a pit full of scorpions, the black walls were inscribed with indeciferable writing. Lamps shaped like skulls, dripping with wax from the candles they held, were spaced across the wall. Real Indiana Jones shit.

The platform was like a queue. The exit was at the other end and many other people who had made their way here were standing in procession as they made their way along. I was outfitted with a long, red robe.

In the middle of the scorpions were several groups of people; rings of adepts surrounding groups of newbies like myself undergoing an initiation. The adepts were in an ecstatic state, dancing around mostly naked except for their red nappy things, certainly barefoot. The scorpions were held at bay just through this state of mind.

I was pretty aprehensive about all of this, but was told that because I'd turned up, I now had to do the initiation too.

I looked back out at the rings. The adepts were now coated in wax which protected from scorpion stings. The newbies were raised up in the centre of the adepts, I couldn't tell if they were floating there or just held but they were in a trance state that was tied in with the elevation. As they reached the peak, they fell again. One of them at the edges fell out towards the scorpions, but was easily caught by the adepts. He freaked a bit, but it was clear that this was all part of the adepts' ritual.

I made it along to the exit, where I was led into a normal room with couches where other would-be initiates were waiting. They were all normal people like artists and buisnessmen/women. I got talking to two of them nearby me, I think about why they were here, though I can't really remember. I was now feeling confident about the whole ritual, invoking my own empowering rituals and trusting in the skill and experience of the adepts, who were doing all the real work here.

I was led outside, into a normal back garden. I wondered what all the neighbours must think seeing hordes of red robed people taking part in dark rituals every night. I wandered back in but went in the wrong door into a classy Chinese resteraunt. The woman that run it didn't seem to like it one bit. She asked my what would happen if she took me inside and phoned my mother. Would she approve? I asked her what would happen if she took me inside her house against my will and I phoned the police on her. Would they approve? She let me go.

Back in the scorpion room, I was a little late and had to quickly find my way into a group getting ready to move out into the pit.

Unfotunately and rather anti-climactically. I don't remember the actual ritual. Aftwards though, I drove one of the women I met home. I thought it was fascinating that places like this existed right in the middle of everything else going on around them, without everyone else noticing. She agreed. As she got out of the car, I split back into eight year olds, the others sitting in the back. I tried to drive the car out into heavy traffic. I had no idea what I was doing.