Preparing to initiate a Theoricus

Yesterday and today, I am doing the final preparation for initiating a member into the Grade of Theoricus. It is not the first time that  I have done this task and probably will not be the last. Nevertheless, I find it an interesting that every time I have done this, diagrams have wandered off. Yes, once again, I am drawing up the Theoricus diagrams.

This cycle, it is also interesting because it is the second of a set of three initiations. Last month, a member advanced into Zelator; and next month, we are going to have an advancement into Practicus. Busy, we are. Because of this, we are just opening the lodge room up in the necessary Grade, and then leaving it there until we bump it up another Grade for the next person. This is the first time that we had the opportunity to do it this way.

Of course, the most interesting part for me is that despite the fact that this cycle of initiations was scheduled months ago, there have arose schedule conflicts. And they are all on my own end. My sister chose to come visiting during this time, and got upset because of the tightness of my schedule. Given her feelings about my involvement in Golden Dawn, I am quite sure that she is thrilled that I placed the lodge above her. But given the difficulties that the person we are advancing has in getting time off from work (it takes an act of congress for them to get time off), once this initiation was scheduled, I was unable to change the timing of it. As someone else noted, my sister really needs to give more warning about her little vacations if she actually wants any chance of seeing me---after all, my schedule is blocked in months in advance and once the schedule is made, I have little or no leeway to change it.

(It should be noted that my relationship with my siblings has always been on thin ice. Last year's melt-down, combined with this year's has just been par for the course. As my regular readers know I do not respond well to anger and blackmail. And that is what I got for admitting that my schedule was tight. Basically because I was not willing to change my schedule which was rooted in the schedules of other people, I was told that it was proof that I did not love my family. My response is that because I was INSTANTLY met with anger and blackmail that they obviously had no respect for me in the first place. And so it goes. I am quite sure that all can see how this one is actually going to end.)

Here is to tomorrow's Theoricus initiation. Hopefully, the initiate has a better experience than I did getting ready for it. And if not, here is to the cup of tea and sympathy that I will provide afterwards.