Mage rote: ...as they really are.
Game: Mage: the Ascension
Rote: ...as they really are.
Spheres: Matter , Mind , Prime , Spirit *
Traditional focus: Absinthe, though any reasonably high proof spirits would do.
Effect: This is a sensory rote developed by a Cult of Ecstasy chaote named Amber who made a habit of communing with the genius loci of wherever she happened to crash for the night. Following an old saying by Oscar Wilde that the first drink of absinthe shows us things as we wish they were, the second as they are not, and the third as they really are, she would prepare three doses of absinthe using the water ritual and partake before retiring for the evening. The mind-altering effects of the absinthe served as a focus for her magic: Matter allowed her to more fully grasp the nature and composition of everything around her while Mind opened her empathic abilities to the latent emotional impressions of wherever she happened to be. The first rank of Prime permitted Amber to assense the flows and patterns of quintessence around her while Spirit made it possible for her to speak and interact with any conscious spirits in the room.