"Why does the madman in the desert fail to mention the thirteenth house? Did he not know of the serpent, or did he obscure that final threshold for fear of his work being used for ill? While his own work speaks of exile, there is no corroboration of such an event in the work of his contemporaries or of historians that follow. This calumny is of his own design. He went into the desert of his own will; he obfuscates as to whether it was to escape his demons or to find his soul, and some have argued there is no difference between those two extremes.

"But, one cannot enter into the World of Dream without passing through the Hollow Gate. This was the madman's own argument: twelve thresholds in twelve houses prepare the Seeker to stand before the final portal—the thirteenth threshold. And yet, he does not delineate this gate in his list of the houses. He does not speak of the house of the serpent.

"Had he not Ascended that far? Had he Dreamed of all of it, without actually transporting himself through the numinous barriers? Was he truly mad: imagining worlds beyond his comprehension, and struggling to find the language to speak of them? Was his Tongue cleft by his Vision?

"Or was his Obfuscation a test in and of itself? Those who would follow him to the Vale of the Houses must find their own way, find their own course through the Confusion of his Vision and their own Experience. The Seeker must trust himself, regardless of what Learning he has poured into his vessel. Ultimately, it is his hand that opens the doors, that confounds the locks, and that breaches the veils.

"The Thirteenth House may not be that of the serpent. Such a designation may be my experience, as the final house may be built from the Seeker's fears and desires. The Thirteenth House may be an empty structure that waits to be filled by the light of the Seeker. His Lamp will illuminate its walls. His Light will find a way through the maze.

"Regardless of the manner in which the Thirteenth House manifests itself, inside its walls is the Hollow Gate: that final threshold the Seeker must cross."

(from Frater Croix-I-lux's monogram, De Matrimonium Mortis et Somni)