Man is essentially pure spirit, termed the nagal, but at birth he takes to himself a physical vehicle termed the tonal.

The nagal, on the other hand, is pure spirit or pure being, meaning thereby the spirit unmanifest. The tonal is Some-Thing, whereas the nagal is No-Thing.

The nagal or that ineffable Presence which permeates the entire manifested universe, but which also exists beyond it; the Unspeakable or that great void in which the manifested universe is contained during any one of its periodic appearances.

'Together we now will manifest the Temple of the Spirit!' cried the seventh Son, the Dragon. Thus the seven great Sons of Beingness, who are the enthroned Three, moved four-square to their places in the East, the North, the West and the South to commence their mighty task.

The doors of the Temple were barred and guarded. Inside it was dark for not yet could the Light shine forth. Thus was no part of the Temple visible. Not a sound disturbed the utter silence, for the sacred Word too could not yet be sounded. The Seven showed not their colour nor resonated their vibration, only a silent communication passed between them marking the progress of the work. Aeons passed until at last there came the sounds of life from outside the Temple and a lesser son of Spirit knocked upon the Temple door. Briefly the Temple doors were opened to admit this son of man, and as he entered into the Temple so he too added his power to that which was within. So came the sons of earth one by one, and as they in turn were admitted into the Temple, so the light within began to flare ever brighter.

The sons of men traversed the Temple from North to South and from West to East. In the centre they came to stand before the Rose, and there they found the heart, the knowledge and the power to work. They pushed aside the veil to the inner shrine and stood bathed in pure White Light.

Time continued to pass, in which the Temple became ever more beautiful, as slowly its architecture, proportions, detail and finishes took form in the growing light. Then came forth a call from the East: 'Open now the doors to all the sons of earth, so that they may seek the Light and find the Temple of the Spirit. Remove the veil to the inner shrine so that all may enter into Light. Let the Warriors of the Spirit, who have for so long concealed their labours, now precipitate upon the plains of earth the Temple of Life. Let the Light shine forth, let the Word too sound forth, let the work of transmutation begin.

'Thus it is that the Temple of Light shall be transferred to earth, to illumine there the dream of the dreamer. Thus will man awaken in the East, and by confronting his fear meet his challenges in the West. Thus shall man be guided to find respect in the South and gather his strength in the North. Then shall man seek the only true light and learn the secret of the orange-red Light which shines ever in the East.'

'Why are we to allow all this?' demand the Seven, the enthroned Three.

'For now the time has come, the Warriors are ready, and the Spirit has already moved in the light, so revealing the sacred colour and sounding the creative vibration. Now all the sons of men are able to seek power and to engage in the battle for freedom. Naught else remains to be done.' 'Then so be it,' answer the Seven, the enthroned Three. 'So will all the sons of earth go forth to do battle.'

We have one life, which is primarily undifferentiated consciousness, but which, through observation, we know also to be potential intelligence. About the origin of life itself we know nothing, so we simply acknowledge the fact that It Is, and term It the Unspeakable. This is Life Unmanifest. In other words, It Is as yet No-Thing - nothing - the Void which Toltecs have termed the nagal.

Since the nagal is No-Thing, we refer to it as spirit, and because the tonal is Every-Thing, we acknowledge it as matter.

Now since the nagal gives rise to the tonal, it is only reasonable to refer to the nagal as being the cause of that effect we term the tonal. For the sake of clarity, we therefore refer to the nagal as being positive, and to the tonal as being negative. These terms, though, are purely arbitrary, and as such have absolutely nothing to do with any of the moral values that have become attached to them.

Continuing still with terminology, and in the same sense as before, we also call the tonal the female, since all of life manifests through the medium of matter, and matter is associated with the mother aspect of life. In fact, the word 'mother' originates from this very association, as the Latin words for mother and matter, 'mater' and 'materia' respectively, originate from the same root. By contrast, the nagal is termed the male. From this terminology, we arrive at one of the very basic tenets of the Toltec tradition, namely, that the cause is always positive in relation to the effect, irrespective of the level of manifestation.

Although the tonal is the actual physical manifestation of the nagal, the intelligent appraisal of its own inherent awareness is the first true expression of the nagal as Some-Thing. This primal expression, which comes into existence prior to the manifestation of the tonal, is what enables the nagal not only to sense the need for expanding its awareness, but also to define the purpose of manifestation. This is a most abstract concept which is both difficult to grasp and difficult to verbalise. It is therefore best to think of it in the following way:

First of all there is that great void which is No-Thing, called the nagal. This is a state of being of which we cannot conceive, and therefore we simply term it the Unspeakable. Since it is ineffable, it has no descriptions, no labels, no attributes, no manifestation, no colour, no sound, no movement, no-thing whatsoever, and therefore we say it is the state of pure beingness. But then within this void Some-Thing has stirred, and where before there was No-Thing to indicate any form of existence, this movement now shows that the void is indeed There. This Some-Thing which moves within the void is what we term inherent awareness; itself intangible, incomprehensible, and utterly impossible to verbalise. The only thing we can say about inherent awareness, is that It Moves. However, this movement, termed active intelligence, is tangible enough, and it is this which we term the tonal or, quite simply, the manifested universe.

However, a word of caution is called for at this point; namely, that the reader should not fall into the trap of trying to equate the face value of the concept of God with the nagal.

We have that great void we term the nagal, which in essence contains within it the potential of a triplicity. This triplicity is not difficult to grasp if we remember that awareness itself has two polarities, namely intent and mind. Note, however, that at this level we are referring to inherent awareness, which is in itself intangible. From our human point of view the only thing we can say of inherent awareness, is that It Moves. It is only the movement of inherent awareness; that is, active intelligence, or the tonal, which the human mind can conceive of as manifestation in the true sense of the word. This is an important point to keep in mind if we are going to comprehend exactly what is meant by the term the nagal, or the Unspeakable.

Consequently there is firstly No-Thing. This is that state of beingness referred to as It Is, and which can only be expressed in the words 'I Am'. This is the state of pure undifferentiated consciousness. Secondly, there is that Existence which marks the point at which the nagal is aware of itself as a duality; namely, It and Its Awareness. This Existence is expressed in the words 'I am That'. Here, it is important to keep in mind that the purpose of awareness is both to separate and to unite.

From what we already know about awareness, it is therefore clear that this Existence is one of the polarities of inherent awareness; namely, the thinking principle which separates - mind. Thirdly, we have that Existence at which the nagal knows itself to be one with its awareness - an Existence characterised by the words 'I Am That I Am'. This third Existence is clearly the feeling principle which unites; that is, intent.

In order to understand this concept fully, let us revert to our previous consideration of the Unspeakable; that is, the godhead. Here, we start off with the basic duality of the nagal and its awareness. However, in considering the two polarities of awareness, it is important that we should come to grips with the deeper implications of these two poles. Realise that it is only because of awareness that the nagal can define its purpose. The nagal expresses this purpose as intent, which is defined as the will-to-manifest. However, since intent is the principle which unites, it implies that the purpose of the nagal is to manifest, so as to experience that about itself which is as yet the unknown. In other words, the nagal desires to unite the known and the unknown.

Understand that in order to unite the known and the unknown, the nagal must obviously first separate the known from the unknown, and since it is the nature of mind to separate, it is not difficult to grasp the fact that mind is the cause of that multiplicity we term the tonal. We can therefore say that mind equates with the tonal. Intent, on the other hand, is the expression of the nagal's will-to-manifest, and as such not only signifies unity, but is also the cause of mind; what Christianity has termed the Holy Ghost. In 1 John 5:7 it is said, 'For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one'.

It is not difficult to see from this wording that the Holy Ghost refers to the third aspect of the godhead; that is, the mind principle, or the Limitless Light of Qabalism. Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the Word, confirms this, for in John 14:26 he says, 'But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you'.

Notice that Christ says 'in my name', hinting at the fact that when the thinking principle, mind, is active in conjunction with the feeling principle, intent, full awareness becomes possible, and consequently the purpose of all must stand revealed.

We can therefore define the quality of inclusiveness as the manifestation of the nagal's purpose. However, this is about as much as we can say about inclusiveness, for although we know it to be the purpose of the nagal, we have no way of being able to ascertain what may or may not underly such a purpose. We must never forget that we know precious little about the Unspeakable, other than the fact that it wishes to map out the unknown. In this respect we can safely assume that this means that the Unspeakable wants to know its full potential, but what exactly this entails, and what could possibly have engendered this desire in the first place, lies securely within realm of the unknowable.

It is only the spirit of man that holds out the light and truly leads; every

individual being but a tiny fragment of that greater whole, termed the Spirit.

There is but one life, one Spirit, manifesting through myriads of different forms.

Everything in this universe is the sole property of life, of the Spirit.

We cannot impose conditions upon the Spirit; we either follow unconditionally as an act of survival, or we stay where we are.

This trinity of forces of course comprises specific configurations of energy fields and, when perceived by the seer, results in an experience never to be forgotten. They are exquisitely beautiful in their utter simplicity and absolute purity, whilst the unbelievable potency of their vibration is at once breathtaking and truly formidable. Consequently we term this triangle the superlative trinity, a state of beingness which can only be described as sheer excellence. It is also this trinity which is referred to as the spirit* in all references to life manifest, for this trinity is indeed the Unspeakable made manifest.

* The term 'the spirit' is normally only used in connection with the Unspeakable made manifest, but it should be noted that the void which is the Unspeakable is the true spirit, which pervades all of the manifested universe as well as transcending it.

From our human point of view this is in a certain sense correct, but remember that man is alive, and that the life-force is that incomprehensible No-Thing we term the spirit of man; the nagal.

This then brings us to the two most fundamental questions of mankind, firstly, what is life; and secondly, what is the purpose of life? There is no easy way in which to answer these questions, for doing so takes us into the realm of the Unspeakable, or the Ineffable, which the Toltecs have simply termed the unknowable. Here it is important to remember that the unknowable is a relative term, and does not mean that life can never be understood, but rather that it cannot be rendered comprehensible in terms of words.

However, in working with the definition of life, it is vital to bear in mind that this definition is based upon our experience of the process of life, and not on life itself. In other words, we are describing life within manifestation. Of life unmanifest; that is, the origin of life, we can observe nothing. Therefore we simply call it the Unspeakable. All that we can safely say about the origin of life is that It Is, and that It apparently contains within Itself the potential to manifest in a manner which we recognise as intelligence. In other words, the origin of life is potential intelligence.

As a result we do not live in a fixed universe of absolute values, but are quite literally contained within a state of relativity which is prescribed by that void termed the Unspeakable.

Consequently Toltecs have come to understand the four occurrences of matter, energy, space and time as being the manifestation of the fourfold purpose of the Unspeakable, kept intact by the power of its focused intent.

The manifested universe is not open-ended, for at the core of all existence is the primal urge of life to know itself in its entirety. This urge defines an ultimate radius of a predetermined length, fixed by the intent of the unspeakable for the duration of this manifestation. Therefore even the grand spiral of all states of awareness is curved back upon itself to define that vast circle of beingness which we recognise as the outer parameters of the manifested universe.

All life-forms, including man, are but units of that great life we term the Unspeakable.

We therefore have that great void of No-Thing, which manifests three distinct trinities, the Superlative, the dreamer, and the dreamed, and each of these trinities is an expression of the three potential aspects of the Unspeakable. The Superlative Trinity, being the first expression of all subsequent manifestation, equates with the nagal. The dreamer, being essentially an expression of the will-to-manifest, equates with intent, whilst the dreamed, that state of beingness in which the dreamer now knows its own innate nature, equates with the known, and therefore with mind. It is these three trinities that are known as the three great bands of energy fields.

Let it therefore suffice for now to say that there are four stages of manifestation which are superimposed one on the other, in a manner which can best be described as a fourfold existence. The closest analogy I can think of is to liken these four stages to four tiers above one another. These four tiers, or stages, are what Toltecs refer to as the fourfold purpose of the Unspeakable, and are what mankind recognises as matter, energy, space and time (MEST).

Being the fourfold purpose of the Unspeakable, and therefore being the product of the different expressions of inherent awareness, MEST, the fourth dimension, is obviously completely pervaded, or in-dwelled, by that presence of the nagal which we can only refer to as the life-force. This then is life made manifest - a stupidly simplistic statement which can never ever truly convey the astronomical implications of life or of manifestation.

In conclusion, realise that in all of what we have looked at so very briefly here the Unspeakable, the first aspect of which is termed the nagal, is the source of all life. Is the Unspeakable itself perhaps but the manifestation of something beyond it? We simply do not know, but from what Toltec seers have been able to glean of the Unspeakable, it is apparently not alone. In other words, it appears as if there is not only one Eagle, but many - whatever this may mean or imply! No doubt one day we must and will enter the great unknowable, but until then we must concentrate upon that vastness of our own beingness which we can fathom, but which we still do not fully grasp.

The Unspeakable manifests as that incomprehensible duality termed the nagal and the tonal - the two rings of power. Standing between these two rings is man - that universal point at which the perception of nagal and tonal are assembled. At first the intent of man is so vague and so insubstantial as to be no more than a nebulous mist interacting with the two outer rings, but as he continues to focus his intent, it becomes a third ring binding the other two together. These three rings form the totality of the self, a coalition of forces based upon the lore of the dragon.

Man is essentially a spirit being of the universe, termed the spirit of man, or the nagal. Great care must be taken that this statement is grasped properly, for apprentices all too often make the mistake of assuming that the phrase the spirit of man means that every man and woman has his or her own nagal. In a sense the assumption made by the average apprentice is true enough, but strictly speaking it is not entirely correct, for there is only one life, evolving one awareness, through the medium of one material universe. In other words, there is only one nagal, one spirit, which has many different facets to its awareness, one of which is that creature we term man.

At the level of the nagal, that is, the spirit of man, there is absolutely no sense of separateness nor, for that matter, of group-consciousness, for even group-consciousness still has about it the implications of separativeness. The only way in which I can express the sense of individuality at this level is to liken it to what might be termed the group-mind.

There is only that one-ness termed the spirit of man, the nagal, manifesting as millions upon millions of individual units. At first, the manifestation of this one-ness does not know itself (themselves) to be a whole, and as a result, each unit sees itself in isolation to all other units. Consequently, each unit develops an individual identity based upon the sense of separativeness, so that from the angle of the manifestation of the one-ness, (not the one-ness itself), there is no sense of unified purpose, but only apparent chaos. But then, in the fullness of time, one unit after the other begins to realise that there is only one true purpose which is common to all, and that that purpose is the purpose of the one-ness.

Eventually, once all units are responding to that one purpose, it can rightfully be said that the manifestation of the one-ness now knows itself (themselves) to be at-one with that one-ness we term man or, more precisely, the spirit of man. In other words, from our human angle, the manifestation of the one-ness is at first so unaware that it does not know that all of its parts belong together to form one whole. This is analogous to someone not knowing that his limbs, or his organs, belong to him. But as the evolution of awareness proceeds, the manifestation of the one-ness gradually becomes aware of the fact that its arms and legs, as well as its organs, do actually belong to it as one coherent whole, forming the totality of the self. However, this gradual unfoldment of awareness within the manifestation of the one-ness can obviously only take place as one unit after the other becomes aware of the totality of the self.

Materialisation, that is, materialisation of the nagal's desire to incorporate the unknown within the known, is the overall purpose of manifestation, and since this must of necessity arise through practical experience, it stands to reason that this materialisation can only be accomplished within the context of life within manifestation. If this were not so, then there would be no need for the Unspeakable to manifest in the first place. Materialisation is therefore central to the nagal's purpose, and can therefore rightfully be termed the centre of the sphere of beingness, something which is not at all surprising considering that the manifested universe, as we have already noted, is indeed the innermost core of the cosmic tonal.

In our consideration of the dreamer, realise that the energy fields that constitute the spirit of man all have their own specific rate of vibration, which is determined by their inherent awareness. These energy fields are clustered in the same sequences as the energy fields of the manifested universe, but because they have their own rate of vibration prior to clustering, the original rate of vibration colours the vibration brought about by the clustering. Within the spirit of man there are seven colours produced in this way, each colour consisting of a vast range of shades. These colours, which exist as a result of the clustering, each denote a specific overall vibration in the nature of a chord of resonance, and each chord is composed of a huge spectrum of allied frequencies which are in the nature of sympathetic tones, or 'shades' of colour. It is these seven colours that determine the seven types of dreamers, and it is the sympathetic resonance of each shade that determines the destiny, and ultimately also the actions of the individual.

At the centre of the wheel of life rages an almighty wind against which the warrior's only defence is his unbending intent to achieve and hold the totality of the self, for the driving force of the wheel is the spirit of man.

From the above it is immediately clear that to try to do justice to jewel 0 in this book is well-nigh impossible, for if the truth be told, many volumes can be devoted to just this one jewel alone, and still the reader will more than likely feel none the wiser, for how does one explain that which by its very nature is no-thing? Therefore let it suffice for our present purposes merely to say that jewel 0, because it is no-thing, is the origin of all the jewels, as well as permeating them all. Like its progenitor, the spirit of man, the nagal, jewel 0 is the void containing every-thing, for as paradoxical as it may sound, the void is the ultimate in awareness, for within that void the nature, the meaning, and the purpose of all, stands revealed in the eternal now. From within the void, that is, from within that aspect of awareness to which no number is assigned, there are no questions, for there is no-thing to under-stand. Likewise, from within the void, there is no freedom, for there is no-thing from which to be free, and hence is it referred to as absolute freedom. Yet care should be taken not to take these statements at face value, for no-thing does not imply emptiness. The fact that the void is no-thing simply implies that it is not that which we can verbalise, for in essence it is the ineffable, the Unspeakable.