--- Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com> wrote: > > --- mary whalen <marewhalen at yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > --- Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com> > wrote: > > > > > > S > > > P > > > O > > > I > > > L > > > E > > > R > > > > > > F > > > O > > > R > > > > > > P > > > o > > > t > > > D! > > > > > > > > > I'm impressed by this list, but I wonder whether > the > > > first Phoenix > > > incident was jumping off the cliff--"dying" to > be > > > reborn. > > > > Of course, almost all Phoenixes who entered the > > Paths were dead first. > > Quite true, but we don't know that they pass 18 > tests rather > than 17. Indeed, your quotation (I haven't read > LoCB, and > I'm grateful that you've been careful not to spoil > it) doesn't > say that there's an initial Phoenix test at all. > > Jerry Friedman > No, I don't think that Zerika had to pass an extra test because she was alive or for any other reason. I think that all who come to the Paths of the Dead (or at least all Phoenixes if the others are tested somewhat differently) are given 17 tests* before they reach the Halls of Judgement. The test of entering and of leaving aren't two different ones, they're the same test (or two parts of the same test). Just like the poem of the Cycle doesn't have eighteen Houses, it just comes back to the Phoenix (just like the real Cycle continues turning) and describes another part of its character. *assuming Paarfi is correct __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools