In the ancient days of Greece, any human who wished to consult the Oracle at Delphi was obliged to pay a tax, the “teleno,†which gave him the right to approach the great altar of Apollo to offer sacrifices (boars, goats or bulls). Having purified herself in the water of the Kastalian Fountain, Pythia bent over the Navel of the Earth (a cave opening), ate a laurel leaf and, inhaling the vapors emitted from the chasm, entered a state of ecstacy, uttering incoherent words. These were then composed into verses by the Priest, while the interpreter endeavored to render some meaning out of the prophecy. The Greeks say that Python, a great snake-spirit and Gaia's son, defended the rent in the earth from which oracles could receive visions of the future; they tell of Apollo's great victory against Python and his prophetic works of later days. Python wasn't truly destroyed, of course; he and his servants walk the tunnels through Gaia's bowels that lead back and forward in history. Loyal and wise Garou can use Python's Trail to walk those same metaphorical tunnels and gain glimpses of the future. Black Furies who use this Rite take on a distant demeanor, and their prophetic utterances obey only dream-logic, not Weaver-think. A second Fury must stand by the Mistress of the Rite while she performs the Rite of Python's Trail, to interpret the nearly mad utterances of her sister.
After an hour of trance, roll Perception + Enigmas (target 8). Gaia's dream-tunnels travel throughout history, through a given character's personal past and future as well as all the ages of Gaia. The Mistress of the Rite might well become overwhelmed by the visions before her: she needs three successes to convey anything sensible from the signs she sees - less than three and the character notices only sensations like pain and joy, color, and extremes of sound. Three successes yield poetic or metaphorical visions of important parts of the character's past or future. Four successes let the Garou explore the timeline of a packmate or loved one; five let her look at the past and future on a larger scale (for her entire pack or tribe, or she may just stare forward to the fire of the Apocalypse). To portray the prophecy correctly, the Priestess must roll Intelligence + Expression, difficulty 8; more successes indicate that more of the Mistress of the Rite's vision is passed on to the pack or sept. The Storyteller is encouraged to use dream-logic or nightmare-logic to fabricate the character's voyages through the past and future as a result of this Gift. It is intended to allow the Storyteller to grant glimpses and hints of things to come without forcing him to caper his storylines around madly to fit an overly literal interpretation of a character's vision.