In the 12th Tunnel of Baratchial, the mocking Ape of Thoth has deposed The Magus of Power of Dayside Tarots, instinctually manipulating the Elements of Formation—not elements of solar consciousness, but those of the Dark Sciences of the Void—to dissolve ego, alter consciousness, and to see beyond the veil that separates the Worlds.

The first element of Fire here takes the form of Amanita Muscaria—"Fly Agaric" sprung from lightning, Flesh of the gods, which was a divinely given means of traveling with Them, used since ancient times by witches, sorcerers, and shamans.

The element of Water appears in the guise of Bufo Marinus, whose toxic properties—bufo genin, bufotoxin, and bufotenine—which are extracted by boiling in oil, are 150 times more powerful a heart stimulant than curare. This sea toad extract, known to the Chinese as "Ch'an su"—"toad venom"—was used as an hallucinogenic snuff by the Amazon Indians of the Upper Orinoco. Remains of this toxic substance were found at Cozumel, where the Mayan priesthood used this hallucinogen's ingestion to worship their fierce rain-god Tlaloc.

The element of Air  is represented by the Crapaud de Mer,  the "puffer fish" known for its ability to puff its body up with air. The puffer fish, also known as the blow fish, sea squab, or "fugu," yields tetrodotoxin, a deadly neurotoxin 160,000 times more potent than cocaine. This chemical has been known to create a living death, imprisoning the active and aware intelligence and consciousness in a physically unresponsive body. Prepared as the Japanese culinary delicacy sushi , it imparts to the gourmet diner the added intoxication of a (usually!) successful brush with death. The uses of the puffer fish in ritual zombification can be easily understood, and is very ancient, remains having been found in Egyptian tombs of the Ti (5th) Dynasty.

The element of Earth is imparted by a human skull and tibia shavings, both traditional ingredients of dark  preparations. The cauldron, which is the womb in which all these elements combine into a hell-broth, is of a design of the ancient Anasazi people of the American Southwest, who entered our dimensional world through the first kiva's sipapu, climbing into Time, only to mysteriously disappearing once more into the transdimensional Void.

The fifth element of Spirit  is represented by Witches and Wizards, who appear as smoke illusions born of this hellish brew. They are drawn upward by the transcosmic forces sweeping from the pathways of the Great Inane, and are sucked at last into the Void, the Ain, the Unwinking Eye that is the ultimate OBLIVION.

MEDITATION:

Baratchial is the Tunnel of Dark Science, where witch doctors search for bioactive preparations to subtly affect the human psyche, where pharmacologists search for new drugs deep in Amazonian forests, where scientists search for new elements which may be stably combined only via the weightlessness of interstellar space, and where lies the constant search for new ways to chemically manipulate the environment and ourselves, for peace, and for war.

The need to work with the energies of Baratchial may be signaled by experiencing feelings of inordinate investment in the individual ego and its products, such as are mirrored in the idee fixeι that "Man is the Crown of Creation." Here too, we encounter those who cling to solar consciousness, being absolutely horrified at the thought of any suggestion of experimentation with altered realities, either by others or themselves.

For in this Tunnel is power of the Psychonaut extraordinaire. Here is the power to realize consciousness and ego as by-products of biochemistry, affected by the individual subconscious mind, affected by the collective unconscious, and affected by the animal nature, the "little self." Here we find the power to willfully manipulate consciousness through biochemical means, in order to explore unknown worlds within. In this way we seek our evolution into far unknown future selves, deliberately mutating consciousness by absorbing cosmic rays of "infinitely corroding light" into the unshielded, yielding psyche.

Danger to the undeveloped ego is Zombification into an unthinking slave of Science, of mass-culture, and mass-consciousness.