ground of her cage. A man entered the vineyard. His clothing was more modern than that of the woman, outdoor clothing, what one might wear to go hiking or gardening. He approached the cage and opened it and gently helped the woman to her feet. He gave her water to drink. Slowly he led her through the vineyard. Her steps were halting at first, as if she had been crippled. But as she walked, she began changing, the dust coming off her robe until it was pure white, and the scars disappearing from her face until she was beautiful and radiant. The two kept walking until they came to a white canopy. They stepped inside. At that the vineyard was transformed. The vines began putting forth leaves and fruit. The vineyard was alive.”
THE MAN IN THE WHITE TURBAN
“In the last vision I saw a man on horseback with a long, drooping mustache in a red cloak and a white turban. He held a red flag in one hand and a curved sword in the other. Behind him was a vast army of similarly dressed soldiers. They swept through the land until arriving on a mountain. On top of the mountain was a city. The man in the white turban dismounted his horse and walked through the city gate. Inside the gate he came to a stone platform, into which he drove the pole with the red flag. The platform began turning red, and then streets around it, and then the city, and then the entire land.”
“That was the last of the visions within the vision.”
“So you were back in the original vision, with the ram.”
“I never really left it. The ram resumed its journey. Finally it arrived at a walled city of golden stone set on a mountain, similar to the city I had just seen in the last vision. The ram entered its gate. I entered behind it. As it walked through the cobblestone streets, the bag on its back began leaking. Seeds were pouring out into the cracks between the cobblestones and in the city walls and buildings. The ram then left the city through a gate on the side of the city opposite the gate through which it had entered. Not long after that I noticed the seeds coming into fruition, sprouting plants, blossoms, and flowers everywhere. And then I heard the sound of a faint rumbling, stones shifting against stones. It was subtle. Few noticed it. But a shifting had begun. And then the vision ended.”
“And what did it all mean?”
“I had no idea. But I wrote everything down so I wouldn’t forget. I would ask the Oracle.”
Chapter 8
THE YEAR OF THE ZERAH
THE NEXT DAY I returned to the mountaintop to find the Oracle. He was standing by a ledge, gazing out into the vast desert landscape. We sat down. I shared the vision.”
“In my vision what was the meaning of the ram?” I asked.
“The Jubilee,” he said. “The ram’s horn is what ushers it in. As Moses sent the ram down the desert mountain, so the Jubilean mysteries begin on a desert mountain with Moses . . . on Mount Sinai where the law of Jubilees was given.”
“So the ram represents all Jubilees?”
“No, just one Jubilee, one year of Jubilee, and the mysteries thereof.”
“And the symbol on the ram’s neck and on the first door?”
The Oracle took out the piece of paper I had given him with the seven symbols I had seen in my first vision, the vision of seven doors.
“This is the first symbol you wrote down. Is this what you saw on the first door and on the ram?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“It’s the Hebrew letter zayin. Zayin begins the word zerah. Zerah means seed. You saw the Jubilee of seeds, of origins, beginnings, the sowing of purposes. It’s the key to everything else you saw, all the other mysteries of the first door.”
“And what was the city?”
“Jerusalem.”
“At the end of the vision the seeds came to fruition, and there was a rumbling in the city, and the stones began to shift. What did that signify?”
“It signified that what had been planted in the Jubilee of seeds would in time shake the city . . . and in time the entire earth.”
“Did the Oracle tell you the meaning of the other things you saw, the man with the measuring line, the woman in the vineyard . . . ”
“Not then. But he would. Each mystery would be revealed in its time.”
“Starting with . .