GR translation: What passes are these, so blurred, so old and perfect?

[Mike Jing]

P205.32-206.3   Why here? Why should the rainbow edges of what is
almost on him be rippling most intense here in this amply coded room?
say why should walking in here be almost the same as entering the
Forbidden itself—here are the same long rooms, rooms of old paralysis
and evil distillery, of condensations and residues you are afraid to
smell from forgotten corruptions, rooms full of upright grayfeathered
statues with wings spread, indistinct faces in dust—rooms fall of dust
that will cloud the shapes of inhabitants around the corners or deeper
inside, that will settle on their black formal lapels, that will
soften to sugar the white faces, white shirt fronts, gems and gowns,
white hands that move too quickly to be seen . . . what game do They
deal? What passes are these, so blurred, so old and perfect?

What are these "passes"?  Anything specifically related to gambling,
magic, or just card games?

And what is "the Forbidden"?