Meditation | Listen Now |
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1-1a Opening the Book | Close your eyes and breathe out. There is a book in front of you. Notice all the details of the book. Reach out to the book. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-1b Engraving the Paths | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a stone. Breathe out and open your eyes. 1:2 |
1-2a The Void | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are facing a cosmic void. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-2b Foundations | Close your eyes and breathe out. Become aware of your body. Feel the nourishing energy that comes through the roots into your body. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-3a A Single Covenant | Close your eyes and breathe out. See before you the Creator however you understand the Creator. The Creator’s mouth The Creator’s hands The Creator’s genitals See that these three creations are one. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-3b Five Opposite Five | Close your eyes and breathe out. Your palms face one another. The five fingers of one hand touch the five fingers of the other hand. See that each hand See that these two powers are opposite. See that each hand is equally strong. The ten fingers, As these two irresistible forces, these two immovable objects, meet, Feel the balance reverberate throughout your body. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-4a Stand Each Thing On Its Absence | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are standing on a clear surface, like a frozen lake, or a sheet of glass. Beneath you, Look down into your reflection. See that within it is a void, a nothingness. Feel into this hollowness beneath you. Feel into the place where you are no-thing. How does this feel? How does this feel? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-4b Returning the Creator to the Place | Close your eyes and breathe out. Focus on a central place in your body: mind, heart or belly. See that a creative power dwells in this place. Feel this creative power radiating outward through all the limbs of your body. As creative power fills you, observe what happens What will you do with this creative power? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-5a Stop Your Heart From Murmuring | Before beginning, set a timer for 10 minutes. Choose a focus. It can be an image (like a circle or Hebrew letter) or a repetitive sound (like a word, phrase, or song that you repeat) or the sensation of your breath. It could even be the sound of the ocean. Close your eyes and breathe out. Bring your attention to the focus. Try to keep your attention there. When you find that you have other thoughts, gently return to the focus. You don’t need to chase the thoughts away: just try not to pay attention to them. If feelings come up, allow the feelings. Return to the focus. When the timer goes off, breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-5b Return to the Place | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are on a journey Move closer and closer to your destination. When you arrive at the place, someone comes out to greet you— someone known or unknown to you. They say to you: Welcome back. How wonderful that you have returned. Notice what you feel Look down at yourself Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-6a A Flame in a Fiery Coal | Close your eyes and breathe out. See that a burning coal is before you. A flame rises out of the coal. Perceive that the flame and the coal are inseparable. See within this fiery coal the mystery of oneness. If you feel able, reach out to take the coal. Feel its heat, without being burned. Bring it to your mouth. Hear the truth Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-6b Before One | Close your eyes and breathe out. Count backward slowly from ten to one. As you do so, perceive the world shifting from multiplicity When you get to one, count backward one last time, to whatever is before one. What do you see, hear, or feel when you encounter what is before one? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-7a The Depths | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are looking down into a well. This well contains all space and time and all beings that have ever been. Look into the well Look into the well and see what is above you. Look into the well and see what is below you. Look into the well and see the good in your life. Look into the well and see the sacred center. Look into the well and see yourself at the center. What do you feel and know at the center of all things? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-7b Until Eternity | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are in a tunnel. Look down the tunnel in one direction. What do you see or feel? Now, look down the tunnel in the opposite direction. What do you see or feel? Now, bring your attention to the center of the tunnel, the midpoint. What do you find here Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-8a The Flash of Lightning | Close your eyes and breathe out. Lightning flashes before you. As you observe, the lightning becomes ten creatures: the sefirot. The lightning creatures move in a circle. They bow toward its center. As the lightning flashes again, it reveals what is at the center of the circle. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-8b A Reed in a Whirlwind | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are a hollow reed among other reeds. A strong wind blows. You bend in the wind. Feel the power of the wind as it moves you Let yourself surrender as you bow in the wind. What do you feel When the wind stops, return to your place among the other reeds. See what the wind has left in the hollow within you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-9a Holy Breath | Close your eyes and breathe out. As you breathe out, your breath becomes a being. As you breathe again, The being breathes in what you breathe out. You breathe out what the being breathes in. Feel the love and trust If you wish, Or, you can simply breathe in silence, feeling the connection between you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-9b Holy Wind | Close your eyes and breathe out. A wind begins all around you. It starts as a gentle breeze and builds to a strong gust. Let the wind enter your body and move through you. Within you and all around you, the wind whispers. Accept what the wind whispers as a truth, Breathe out and open your eyes. This practice can be undertaken outside on a windy day. |
1-10a Breath from Breath | Close your eyes and breathe out. See, hear, and feel before you the ruach hakodesh, This divine wind divides Each of the four winds has a face. Now, the four winds become one divine wind again. The divine wind now also has a face. Encounter this face Feel what happens Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-10b The Four Winds | Close your eyes and breathe out. See that the four winds carry your breath Mammals, insects, birds, fish, trees You are breathing the breath of all life on earth. When they breathe out, you breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-11a Like a Kind of Garden | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you, a drop of water condenses and hangs in the air. The inside Inside the drop of water, Each time you breathe on the drop, the image clarifies. Reach out and take this drop, this infinite blessing, What do you feel and understand as you hold this garden of life in your hand? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-11b Water from Breath | Close your eyes and breathe out. Your breath becomes a mist. The mist surrounds you. The mist becomes a stream of water. The stream flows around you, cleansing and renewing, washing away any detritus When all has been cleansed, the stream becomes a mist again. The mist dissolves. You feel clear and new Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-12a Divine Throne | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a fire. Out of the fire The Creator arrives to sit upon the throne. The Creator invites you Step down off the throne. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-12b Firelight | Close your eyes and breathe out. Find in your body See and feel within this place a bright and powerful flame. Feel the warmth of this flame as it spreads through your body. What feeling arises Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-12c Fire from Water | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are plunging your hands into a pool. From the pool, you draw out a handful of water. In your cupped hands, the water becomes a jewel. The jewel bursts into flame. The flame does not burn you. You hold it up This flame reignites all the light in the world that has gone out. See and feel the hope that has been reignited Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-13a Sealing the Directions | Before you engage this meditation, you will need to learn the six combinations of letters for the six directions in 1:13 or, alternatively, decide on a single letter or symbol you will use to seal each of the directions. Close your eyes and breathe out. There is a cube around you. A writing implement appears in your hand. Reach up to the ceiling. Reach down to the floor. Feel the depths of what is below. Inscribe the seal for the Below. Reach ahead of you to the eastern wall. Feel the brightness of the east. Inscribe the seal for the East. Reach behind you to the western wall. Feel the glow of the west. Inscribe the seal for the West. Reach left to the northern wall. Feel the power of the north. Inscribe the seal for the North. Reach right to the southern wall. Feel the power of the south. Inscribe the seal for the South. Return to the center. Look around at the cube. Look down at yourself. What is different? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-13b God Sealed Above, God Sealed Below | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are a channel between heaven and earth. If you reach upward, you touch the Above and feel its vibration. If you reach downward you touch the Below and feel its vibration. Let the two vibrations mingle inside you and become one. What happens within What happens in the world around you as the two vibrations merge? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
1-14 Temple of Elements | Close your eyes and breathe out. See that you are surrounded by four walls: one of wind, one of water, Turn to each wall. Receive the messages that the elements offer. Now, inspired by these messages, call wind, water, and holy breath to fill the space within the walls. Wind, water, breath and fire meet one another and begin to create. What do the elements create as they join with one another? Observe how this creation enriches you and the world. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-1a Scribing Letters | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a page. You write another letter. It becomes a creation and flies to its proper place. Perceive with wonder When you are finished forming letters, look up and see the world that you have made. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-1b Tapestry | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a tapestry. Reach out to one of the threads and let it vibrate between your fingers. What is the power of this thread? Let its power enter you. Reach out to another thread. Let it vibrate between your fingers. What is the power of this thread? Let its power enter you. Reach out to another thread. Let it vibrate between your fingers. What is the power of this thread? Let its power enter you. Now feel within. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-2a Engraved in the Voice | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are at the mouth of a cave. You hear a voice within the cave: a song, or hum, or words, Descend into the cave. You come to the innermost chamber. Here, the voice surrounds you, penetrates your being. You find Still singing or sounding, you climb out of the cave into the light. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-2b Hewn in the Breath | Close your eyes and breathe out. A hollow ball spins before you, engraved with shapes and designs. The ball makes a sound. This single sound emerges from all the openings Allow the sound to fill you, awaken you, As you heal and awaken, Know in this moment what the ball’s design communicates to you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-3a Cycling the Wheel | Close your eyes and breathe out slowly. You are standing at the center The ring of stones Look through the gateway. See the world’s greatest good, and the world’s greatest injury. See that the good reaches out to heal the harm. See your own greatest good, your own greatest injury. See that the good reaches out to heal the harm. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-3b Higher than Delight, Deeper than Sorrow | Close your eyes and breathe out. Three glowing globes hang in the air, just within reach. Now the globes rearrange themselves. In this configuration, Reach out and rearrange the globes into a third configuration Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-4a All Creation and All Speech Emerges from One Name | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are transported to a realm where angels are singing. You hear the angels pronounce the Divine Name. However you hear this Name is the right way. As the angels sing or speak or dance the Name, a universe comes into being. You are a witness to this new universe, this moment of beginning. See your own life beginning anew as you hear the Divine Name. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-4b The Wheel of Letters | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are at the center of a double circle of stones Two stones begin to shine, sounding their letters together. As they do so, Now two other letters glow and sound, then two others. What do you hear, see, or feel The lights dim Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-5a Working in Fire | Close your eyes and breathe out slowly. A fire is before you. As the fire burns, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
2-5b Pillars of Breath | Close your eyes and breathe out. Each breath you take Reach out to one of these pillars. As you breathe, the pillars multiply. Observe the structure they form. This form, whatever it is, Know that you yourself are the Holy Temple, connecting sky and earth. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-1a A Palmful of Merit, a Palmful of Guilt | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are holding all of your merits in one hand. Look at them and feel their weight. Notice their size, texture, color. You are holding all of your guilts in the other hand. Look at them and feel their weight. Breathe. Allow merit and guilt Open your cupped hands. What do you see What has become Breathe out and open your eyes. This is a version of a meditation created by Dr. Catherine Shainberg, used by permission. |
3-1b Balancing Between | Close your eyes and breathe out. You see two of yourself. One of you is completely constrained: One of you is completely free, As you observe, What is the nature of this self/that is both free and unfree? Know this as your true nature. Let this self step into you and become you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-2a Six Rings | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are holding a many-petaled rose of any color you imagine. A petal falls off, then another, until six layers of the rose fall away. At the center of the rose is the secret Perceive and know the secret as it manifests to you within the rose Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-2b Enveloped in Male and Female | Close your eyes and breathe out. Woven in a cloak of light around you are the energies of male and female. Feel the power Feel how they are similar and different. Feel their profound and equal power. The energies Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-3a Fire Above, Water Below | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are at a point Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-3b Three Mothers | Close your eyes and breathe out. The Shin, Mem, and Aleph arise before you Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-3c Three Worlds | Close your eyes and breathe out. It is night. You are standing on a beach with your feet in the ocean. You breathe in the cool air. Above you are the stars. You hear and feel the waves. You are standing in all three worlds at once, touching the sky, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-4a Mem Hums, Shin Hisses | Close your eyes and breathe out. Sound the Mem Sound the Shin Sound the Aleph Now, come to silence. What happens Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-4b Elemental Sounds | Close your eyes and breathe out. As you sound the Mem, As you sound the Shin, As you sound the Aleph, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-5 Three Fathers | Close your eyes and breathe out. Air, water, and fire, the three mothers, are before you. Perceive them fully As you observe, Take note of the three entities born to the three mothers. How do you envision them? Observe as these three newly born entities find their right place in the world. Breathe out and open your eyes. ‘ |
3-9a Three Breaths | Close your eyes and breathe out. Breathe into your chest. This is the Aleph breath. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-9b Two Beings | Close your eyes and breathe out. Two wind-beings face you, Two water-beings face you, Two fire-beings face you, Envision the six beings in a circle around you, offering you their blessing. Notice which being among these six draws you, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-10a Aleph | Close your eyes and breathe out. See the Aleph before you: As you breathe, Sound the sound of Aleph: Let this sound hold a blessing: Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-10b Rule over Wind | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are sitting in a high windy place, wearing the Aleph as a ring. The ring allows you to summon the power of wind. Ask the wind to rise all around you. Use the wind to shape your world. How does your world transform as you release the wind? Let the wind die down. Look all around you. Discover what is new and different in the world Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-11a Mem | Close your eyes and breathe out. See the Mem before you: מ As you breathe, Sound the sound of Mem: Let this sound hold a blessing: Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-11b Rule over Water | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are sitting by the edge of a body of water, wearing the Mem as a ring. The ring allows you to summon the power of water. Ask the water to flow all around you. Use the water to shape your world. How does your world transform as you release the water? Let the water return to its place. Look all around you. Discover what is new and different in the world Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-12a Shin | Close your eyes and breathe out. The Shin is before you: As you breathe, Let this sound hold a blessing: Breathe out and open your eyes. |
3-12b Rule Over Fire | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are sitting in the sunlight or under a bright moon, wearing the Shin as a ring. The ring allows you to summon the power of fire. Ask the fire to flow all around you. Use the fire to shape your world. How does your world transform as you release the fire? Let the fire subside. Look all around you. Discover what is new and different in the world Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-1a Seven Gifts | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a tree. Approach the tree The seven gifts are: life Observe the seven blossoms. As you do so, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-1b Seven Transformations | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you are seven archways. Each archway leads to two opposing truths: life and death Look through one of the archways. See one half of the truth it reveals. Then see the other half of that truth. Now, look through the archway and see that truth integrated into a whole. What happens in your heart as you witness the whole truth? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-2a Holy Temple | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are in a cube-shaped chamber. Each wall has a window. What do you see, hear, and feel as you look through the windows? Now come to stillness at the center of the room. At this moment, |
4-2b The Holy Temple Bears Them All | Close your eyes and breathe out. From a place outside yourself, see yourself. See your town, Now see the holy temple, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-3a The Seven Days | Close your eyes and breathe out. Think back to a week ago. Recall the past seven days, one at a time. See if you can summon a memory from each of the seven days. When you get to the present moment, notice how these seven memories have led you to this time and place. Notice also Rest in this moment without attachment to the past or concern about the future. |
4-3b The Seven Gates | Close your eyes and breathe out. Bring your attention to your eyes. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-4a The Stones Multiply | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are holding a stone in your hand. See and/or feel the stone: Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-4b What The Mouth Cannot Say | Close your eyes and breathe out. Envision a shining circle Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-4c Seven Stones | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a pond. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-6a The Gate of Bet | Close your eyes and breathe out. See the letter Bet ב before you. See Bet as a mouth. See Bet as a womb. See Bet as Shabbat. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-6b The Gate of Dalet | Close your eyes and breathe out. See the letter Dalet ד before you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-6c The Gate of Reish | Close your eyes and breathe out. See the letter Reish ר before you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-6d The Gate of Tav | Close your eyes and breathe out. See Tav ת before you. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
4-7 Three Witnesses | Close your eyes and breathe out. Call to mind where you are in space: in your house or under a tree, Call to mind where you are in time: morning or night, summer or winter, a workday or a moment of leisure, in youth or old age or in the middle. Let the layers of when you are unfold in your perception. Call to mind the sensations of your body: ease or discomfort, excitement or calm, energy or fatigue, fullness or hunger. Let the layers of your body experience unfold in your perception. Now, try to hold these three dimensions in your consciousness at the same time. You exist Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-1a The Twelve Faculties | This practice offers gratitude for the twelve faculties. If any of these faculties are absent for you, or impaired, you can skip them, or contemplate any ways in which they have mattered to you. Or, you can substitute a sense; for example, touch instead of sight, or vibration instead of hearing. Close your eyes and breathe out. Remember a moment when… the gift of sight has mattered to you. Offer gratitude for all these moments. |
5-1b The Circle | Close your eyes and breathe out. Visualize a circle. Within this shape, contentment or anger, grief or joy, pain, discomfort, pleasure, sleepiness, love, excitement, or terror. Watch the feeling you’ve summoned move within the circle. Observe whether the feeling strengthens or dissipates or stays the same. What do you learn Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-2a Twelve Diagonal Lines | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are holding a rod or twig or feather— Form an intention With your implement, draw a vertical line. Visualize the impact of your intention on this person or entity. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-2b Twelve Diagonal Lines with the Hebrew Letters | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are holding a rod or twig or feather— You are about to sketch a cube of energy (an illustration appears on the following page). Facing east, draw a letter heh ה at eye level to your left. This creates a vertical line, like a column. Sketch vav ו at eye level to your right. Write a zayin ז above you Continue to hold your intention. Now, turning to your left (north), sketch yud י to your left. This forms a new vertical line. Sketch a lamed ל above you Continue to hold your intention. Turn left once again so you are facing west. Draw a samech ס to your left. Sketch a nun נ near the ground Continue to hold your intention. Turn left once more to face south. When the cube is complete, From your place within the cube, Now, bring into the cube, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-2c Setting the Borders | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are sitting on a beach. No matter how many waves come, they do not cross the line. Feel the open space that surrounds you. Now release the line, Feel the surrender Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-3a The Star | Close your eyes and breathe out slowly. You are lying beneath a night sky. Perhaps one particular part The star recedes Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-3b Circle of Twelve | Close your eyes and breathe out. Around you are twelve figures. Perhaps they are the twelve simple letters, the signs of the Zodiac, One of the figures comes to life Turn in a circle Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-4a Letter of Healing | Before you begin, you can choose a letter from among the twelve simple letters, corresponding to a body part that wants healing. The example below will use the letter nun, but you can use any of the simple letters. Close your eyes and breathe out. The nun appears before you. Allow the nun to dissolve and become part of you. Breathe out and open your eyes. Repeat with as many letters as you wish. |
5-4b Blessings of the Months: Nisan | Before you begin, note the Hebrew month and the letter of that month, according to 5:4. The examples below will use the month of Nisan, the spring month of Passover, and Tishrei, the fall month of Rosh haShanah, but you can use any month and letter. Nisan Close your eyes and breathe out. Allow Nisan, Visualize heh, the letter Keep this blessing with you in the days ahead. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
5-4c Blessings of the Months: Tishrei | Before you begin, note the Hebrew month and the letter of that month, according to 5:4. The examples below will use the month of Nisan, the spring month of Passover, and Tishrei, the fall month of Rosh haShanah, but you can use any month and letter. Tishrei Close your eyes and breathe out. Allow Tishrei, Visualize lamed, the letter Keep this blessing with you in the days ahead. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-1a The Engraver | Close your eyes and breathe out. Maybe this is God, or another creator-being, or maybe it is you or someone you know. It is not easy to see what is being engraved. Go closer until you are able to see Engraved into the stone Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-1b Dwelling in Eternity | Close your eyes and breathe out. Rays of light extend from the universe into your body: twenty-two rays of light. Through these lines, you feel a potent energy— the power of eternity— come into your body. Allow yourself to fill with the energy of the rays. Allow yourself to know what you must do with the energy that fills you. Let the answer come Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-1c Twenty-Two Letters | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are in a place of treasures: All around you are precious things. Among the treasures, Pick up one of the letters. This letter has been given to you Promise it that you will do your best to use the letter well. Now, with the letter’s help, see the beginning of your task. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-2a Faithful Witnesses | Close your eyes and breathe out. Three angels appear before you: the angel of space, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-2b Three, Seven, Twelve | Close your eyes and breathe out. Facing you are three ancestors. Behind them are the generations. Where is your place Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-3a Throne of the Dragon | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are gazing up at a vast sky of stars. Above you, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-3b The Wheel of Time | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a revolving wheel. As the wheel revolves, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-3c The Heart at War | Close your eyes and breathe out. Listen carefully to your heart. Perceive the war that your heart is fighting. Let your heart know As you listen, Let the transformation happen. Let peace unfold. Sit in the peace of your heart. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-4a Good Opposite Evil | Close your eyes and breathe out. On one side of you is good. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-4b Treasury of Good | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are in a place where good is hidden. You know where it is hidden Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-5a One Opposite the Other | Close your eyes and breathe out. See before you a conflict in your life. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-5b Each is Joined to the Other | Close your eyes and breathe out. Become aware of the conflicts in yourself, your immediate circle, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-7a Power in the Hand | Close your eyes and breathe out. Before you is a teacher, Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-7b God’s Friend | Close your eyes and breath out. You are journeying along a path. Open the Book of Creation to the page meant for you. On that page, you see yourself becoming God’s friend. Allow this truth to arise from the page and weave itself into your life. Breathe out and open your eyes. |
6-7c Sealing the Three Books | Close your eyes and breathe out. You are journeying on a path. You come to a crossroad Pass through the first gate: the gate of space. Pass through the second gate: the gate of time. Pass through the third gate: the gate of the body and soul. As you pass through the third gate, you find the path Look back through the three gates and see that the same inscription is carved above each one. What is the inscription? Breathe out and open your eyes. |
Two-Hundred Thirty One Gates |