Hermina considers Plato's Cave, the steep path out of the cave, esoteric wisdom, pain, everyday work, cataclysmic possibilities, and hope.

Credits All music was either excerpted/edited from online free libraries of royalty-free recordings in the public domain, or created by me.

From IMSLP: Chopin's Etude in A minor, Opus 25 #11 played by Kimiko Ishizaka Chopin's Nocturne Opus 9 No 3 in B major played by Xuan He

Organ Concerto in D minor, BWV 596 played by Marie-Claire Alain

From Freesound.org

⁠D phase drone.wav⁠ by user Kyster

⁠Drone, Dishwasher, A.wav⁠ by user InspectorJ

From the Internet Archive: 34 Ghosts IV by Nine Inch Nails (Creative Commons)

Created by me: O frondens by Hildegard, sung by me

Quotations from:
Plato's Republic
The Wizard of Oz

Hafez, Sīne mālāmāl-e dard ast ("My heart is brimful of pain")
Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda
Kafka's Zürau Aphorisms

Additional heartfelt thanks to The Secret History of Western Esotericism podcast (SHWEP).