Path #28 - "The twenty-eighth path is called the natural consciousness. Through it is completed the nature of all that exists beneath the sphere of the sun."
In Hod, we learn the lesson that how and what we think, shapes our reality. With the path of Ayin, we apply that understanding to the transformation of our personality. The Tarot imagery depicts the natural mechanism that, when left as an unconscious process, binds the personality to the whims of subconscious reaction. Initiation however, demands more of us. It demands that we take this natural mechanism and use it consciously in the work of self-transformation of the personality.
The "32 Paths" passage speaks directly to this, stating that the action of the rational mind is what "completes" the astral matrix or personality. The term "beneath the sphere of the sun" refers to the Sephirot Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth - the lower astral realm of the personal self. Thus with Ayin, the initiate's task is that of consciously applying their rational understanding of things to the realm of their personality, with the unrelenting aim of transforming it into a closer semblance of their truest Self.
