In the exploration of my wunderkabinett, each aspect of my study reveals a new approach to understanding it. I see it now before me. What does it mean? Is it simply a magician’s storage unit?

All those books and substances and tools of the trade have to be placed somewhere – they can’t just stay on the work table. On open shelves they lose magnetism fast, even when wrapped, so the cabinet with doors is the best way to keep it all available for the work as required. I wonder if the doors are somehow enchanted to retain magnetism.

There is a tray with soil in it from a place where an outdoor ceremony had been done. This is a place where ceremonies had been performed down through the ages. This high-sided tray was divided into three sections: one long rectangle, two smaller rectangles of unequal size. They could have been the beginning of the golden mean. The soil is sandy-coloured but is not sand, it is dirt from holy ground, dusty from all the dancing.

Sacred and blessed objects can be placed on this ground and worked in microcosm. The action done on this tray of ground using objects of power, symbolism and meaning is also simultaneously occurring on the ground in the sacred location where the soil came from. And because this ritual action takes place out of time, it remains in the vibration of this location for as along as that place exists on the earth. The ritual performed with sacred objects draws energy from that place to amplify the power of the activity. But the energy goes both ways, as I have said, and it returns to the timeless place of ceremony, to enhance and expand its meaning.

In places where the people have died away or been conquered or religiously converted to abandon old ways. These places have a very faint glow and are inactive sites that may have lost their magnetism entirely. They become outer places – tourist spots. Drawn by interest in ancient power but disappointed by the crowds and commercialism, people can easily turn away, saying, “This is nothing. What’s the big deal?”

Yet there is a magnetism that still draws, even though the active human communication and collaboration has been lost. Some go there anyways, try to replicate what they think may have happened there, but it is ultimately empty if the spark of truth has gone into a latent aspect.

The book said: “No exhausted symbol can be revived with artificial respiration. A symbol comes alive as a true connection with the world of the wise. When overused or commercialized it returns to the unknown to revivify itself until it is ready to return to the world through contact with sincere seekers.”

“Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful.” These wise words of the great Sufi Inayat Khan reveal a tremendous esoteric secret. There is more than meets the eye. While looking to return to sacred places of great magnetism we may forget that we have everything that is necessary right here and now for us to achieve realization.

So I am able to place in my wunderkabinett a small tray of dirt from just outside my apartment. It has been trucked in from somewhere else about 20 years ago, when the courtyard garden was first established. The soil has been enriched and distressed by many years of gardeners adding fertilizer and compost. A hedge surrounds the plants and bushes that hide rat traps. I take my soil from there, because everywhere else is paved and covered. The earth is suffocated beneath sidewalks and roadways. Even the magnificent trees emerge straight from the ground, with metal grates skirting their roots. So much dog piss and human piss over the years have soaked the soil in which these living tree saints stand and grow.

The soil I place on my tray has also been compromised. It has never been part of a sacred ceremony. And yet it holds infinite potential. For that, I keep it. Some day, when the cabinet is complete, I will activate this tray.