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since he is the main link between you and the world. In antiquity, he was
     represented by Mercury and by Hermes Trismegistus, the messenger of the gods. His arena is
     only on the material plane. He is present in the gold of the Church, because the gold from
     the earth, and the earth is your devil. He is present in our work and in our ways of
     dealing with money. When we let him loose, his tendency is to disperse himself. When we
     exorcise him, we lose all of the good things that he has to teach us; he knows a great
     deal about the world and about human beings. When we become fascinated by his power, he
     owns us and keeps us from fighting the good fight.
    So the only way to deal with our messenger is to accept him as a friend by listening to
     his advice and asking for his help when necessary, but never allowing him to dictate the
     rules of the game. Like you did with the boy. To keep the messenger from dictating the
     rules of the game, it is necessary first that you know what you want and then that you
     know his face and his name.
    How can I know them? I asked. And then Petrus taught me the Messenger Ritual. Wait until
     night to perform it, when it is easier,
    Petrus said. Today, at your first meeting, he will tell you his name. This name is secret
     and should never be told to anyone, not even me. Whoever knows the name of your messenger
     can destroy you.
    Petrus got up, and we began to walk. Shortly, we reached the field where the farmers were
     working. We said Buenos d’as to them and went on down the road.
    If I had to use a metaphor, I would say that your angel is your armor, and your messenger
     is your sword. Armor protects you under any set or circumstances, but a sword can fall to
     the ground in the midst of a battle, or it can kill a friend, or be turned against its
     owner. A sword can be used for almost anything ... except as something to sit on, he said,
     laughing.
    We stopped in a town for lunch, and the young waiter who served us was clearly in a bad
     mood. He didnt answer any of our questions, he served the meal sloppily, and he even
     succeeded in spilling coffee on Petruss shorts. I watched my guide go through a
     transformation:
    furious, he went to find the owner and complained loudly about the waiters rudeness. He
     wound up going to the mens room and taking off his shorts; the owner cleaned them and
     spread them out to dry.
    As we waited for the two oclock sun to dry Petruss shorts, I was thinking about everything
     we had talked about that morning. It was true that most of what Petrus had said about the
     boy by the river made sense. After all, I had had a vision of the desert and of a face.
     But that story about the messenger seemed a little primi- tive to me. For a person with
     any intelligence here in the twentieth century, the concepts of hell, of sin, and of the
     devil did not make much sense. In the Tradition, whose teachings I had followed for much
     longer that I had fol- lowed the Road to Santiago, the messenger was a spirit that ruled
     the forces of the earth and was always a friend. He was often used in magical operations
     but never as an ally or counsellor with regard to daily events. Petrus had led me to
     believe that I could use the friendship of the messenger as a means to improve my work and
     my dealings with the world. Beside being pro- fane, this idea seemed to me to be childish.
    But I had sworn to Mme Lourdes that I would give total obedience to my guide. Once again,
     I had to dig my nail into my red, raw thumb.
    I should not have put him down, Petrus said about the waiter after we had left. I mean,
     after all, he didnt spill that coffee on me but on the world he hated. He knows that there
     is a huge world out there that extends

The Pilgrimage
    The Messenger Ritual
    1. Sit down and relax completely. Let your mind wander and your thinking flow without
     restraint. After a while, begin to repeat to yourself, Now I am