The Ascent is made in stages. At each gate of The Cosmic Tree one or more of The Eight Angels is woken and a Movement learned, until the congregation reaches The Crown. The Herd holds that the stages must be taken in order — from the nearer faculties to the furthest — and that none may be skipped.
The particulars of the climb are not set down here. The scribes teach that the ascent cannot be studied in advance but only undergone, and that to describe a gate to one who has not passed it is to close it. What may be said is that the faculties woken are the eight angels, and that the climb ends at the crown, where The Calf sleeps.