In 1961 an unknown Aztec codex was revealed to Beat poet and explorer Marty Matz by a Mazatec shaman in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. This codex presents a profound metaphysical teaching describing how the end of time will bring about a visionary ascent. At the behest of his Mazatec teacher, Matz transcribed this pictorial codex into a literary form that would preserve its initiatory teachings and reveal its secret meanings to a wider audience.

Pyramid of Fire is an epic poem that provides a vehicle to transport the initiate into the higher realms of consciousness. It represents a barely surviving thread of teachings that have been passed down in secret since the time of the Conquest. The solar energy within what the ancients called the "serpent of consciousness" is the spirit by which man is translated to the stellar realm at death. Line-by-line commentary by John Major Jenkins provides insights into the perennial philosophy contained in the codex and its relevance to our times.