Find the Path

By use of this spell, the cleric is enabled to find the shortest, most direct route that he or she is seeking, be it the way to or from or out of a locale. 

The locale can be outdoors or underground, a trap or even a maze spell. 

The spell will enable the cleric to select the correct direction which will eventually lead him or her to egress, the exact path to follow (or actions to take), and this knowledge will persist as long as the spell lasts, i.e. 1 turn for each level of experience of the cleric casting find the path. 

The spell frees the cleric, and those with him or her from a maze spell in a single melee round and will continue to do so as long as the spell lasts. 

The material component of this spell is a set of divination counters of the sort favored by the cleric — bones, ivory counters, sticks, carved runes, or whatever. 

This spell is subject to the same sort of abuse as a locate object spell is. A locale is not an object. 

The spell will enable the caster to find a way into or out of some area, but this area must be known or identified in itself, not for what it might house. Thus, one could use it to find a great forest of ash trees but not to find a forest where a green dragon lived. In the latter case the desire is to find an object, not an area or locale. 

Similarly, use of a find the path spell to locate the way to a hoard of platinum pieces is absolutely useless, as it must not be allowed, but the spell could be used to find a level known to have such a hoard of coins, or a cavern with a pool in it might be pointed to, etc. 

The spell finds a way to a locale or an area, and whatever objects are therein are not meaningful to the spell.

The reverse, lose the path, makes the creature touched totally lost and unable to find its way for the duration of the spell, although it can be led, of course.