After the windstorm, the sun shone bright that cold morning. Bundled inside, I watched the tops of trees and buildings like eastern temples illuminated in gold.

I’d seen the jewelled turban decorations of the eastern potentates now held in private collections, put on display to the world in a museum. Did the jewels hold any power or value anymore?

Is a museum just a great public shared wunderkabinett? Do the objects selected for safekeeping and display hold any of their original significance, or have they become mere symbols of themselves – reminders in physical form of days gone by? When ritual objects are in the common cupboard their magnetism must naturally seep away until they are nothing more than uninhabited shells.

Yet we can see them now. Our eyes project our queries, and receive through their response a hint of their former use and splendour. They become, in a way, like words – markers or indicators of something, but not the thing itself. In truth the ritual object (and regalia) are also markers and indicators even when they are still actively used. However this is on a much higher level of intercommunication with the unseen.

May feel that rituals and objects are a canard, distracting us form the true timeless path beyond. We see them as aids or focus points for human activity and concentration. Expressions of the people who have ceremonially connected to the other side of life in that particular way.

Anything that penetrates the veil between worlds or that pierces this everyday reality can be seen, known, or used as a ceremonial object. Of course just having it or putting it into a scenario or format is only one step in this divine work. The worker must also purify herself to ensure there is no possibility of misunderstanding as the forces are activated. Since a perfect realization has no need of such ritual action, even in the worship of God, there is a conundrum here.

My cabinet is home to these transformed symbols but I do not work them yet – and I may never do so. I step back from the ritual fire to take stock of my own awareness. Surely it is here that I must find my way.

If not, the symbolic store of significant energy clusters will become meaningless empty forms – beautiful and worldly. Referring to the magnificence of realization but actually representing only the glory and power of the world, like a finely-wrought jewelled turban decoration. Admired in its own right, not as a gateway to infinite treasures.