Types of initiation

Kitty undergoes the trial of catnip during their initiation.

One of the problems about talking about initiations is that there are several types of initiation. And not all of them are equal to one another.

For instance, what we traditionally think about as initiation, at least in the esoteric Orders, is lodge initiation--being initiated by several officers of an lodge. In a lodge setting, this form of initiation trumps all...provided that it is only the merit badge of Grade obtained that concerns you.

Now, I will admit that lodge initiation is on the top of my list of preferred methods. But it only counts provided that you are using the same set of rituals as I am. If you are using a different set of initiation rituals, that means that you belong to a different Order, and quite possibly a whole different esoteric tradition than I do. Different ritual scripts result in different inner experiences.

This opinion annoys some people. Just slapping the same name on your system as a system that I work is not an automatic ticket to sit in the same lodge with me.

Nor is claiming that a degree from another system is the same as a Grade I work going to get you any points either in my book. There is only one time that a "transferred initiation" works, and that is when you are starting up a brand-new Order. It is how Mathers and Westcott could start up Golden Dawn, and not be actually initiated into its system...and why your Master Mason and fringe degree does not make you an Adept Extemptus automatically--degrees only transfer under specialized situations.

Of course, the very worst type of initiation is the one that did not happen. There are a ton of people out there who claim to have initiations that they have never recieved. My rule of thumb is that unless I saw you get the initiation, or I personally know one of the officers who performed it, then that initiation is mere hearsay.

I mean, after all, you do not believe me when I claim to be an initiate, do you?

In modern times, we have gained two new types of initiation: the astral initiation and the self-initiation. Having experienced several types of initiation, I must admit that I was not impressed by the astral initiation I undergone...and it was not the EOGD (yes, there are others who have experimented with that form of initiation). Personally, if you cannot travel to lodge to get initiated, my opinion is to go with the self-initiation.

Of course, the biggest determining factor about whether an self-initiation is successful is the amount of work you put into it. But then again, that is true of all forms of initiation, isn't it? I know several people who have "worked" their way into being what I consider an initiated Tarot reader.

One thing that must be said about all the types of initiation that I have mentioned is that they are not what initiation originally looked like. Our modern initiations are tame in comparsion to the original form of initiation.

The original form of initiation was what I tend to refer to as a "divine clue by four," or occasionally as "the bear done ate him." Initiation in is original shamanistic form was tramatic and scary. You could really die during it. You got seriously ill. You got badly injuried. But you somehow survived. Even today, there are some people who suffer this form of initiation...they tend to be a little crazy because of it.

To illustrate how severe this form of initiation is, just remember that the first thing a new prophet was told in Biblical times was "Do not fear, I am an angel.of the divine." It is never a good thing when the first thing you are told is "Do not panic." Planets have boiled away on occasion after that statement has been uttered. (Bear in mind that for most of human civilization, your entire world was your village or farm...a lots of worlds have been destoryed throughout history when you realize this little fact.)

So if you ever talk to me about initiation, remember that the first thing I am going to ask is exactly what type of initiation that you are talking about because there are many types of initiation. It is only after making sure that we are talking about the same type of initiation that we can truely start discussing the subject.

Weighing the Grades of others

Being only one-seventh of an initiate makes me a sad panda.

One of the questions that occasionally arises in conversation is whether or not Golden Dawn Orders should recognize the Grades given by other Golden Dawn Orders. More specifically, should this recognition be automatic with no questions asked.

My answer is always H*** F****** No!

I am sorry; recognition of Grades bestowed by another Golden Dawn Order is something I feel needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. And if I ever did support the idea of automatic recognition, the support would only extend to the Neophyte Grade level---all the higher Grades would still be determined on a case-by-case basis. To understand why I feel this way, one needs to understand how I look upon initiation and the Grades.

During my involvement with one Golden Dawn Order, I was initiated as a Neophyte. On that day, the Hierophant did six other initiations. Given how complicated Golden Dawn initiation actually are, were all the initiations of equal value? Am I only one-seventh of a Neophyte in that system?

(One should bear in mind that this particular group emphasized personal work; initiations were seen as a starting point, but the initiate had to finish growing their garden on their own.)

The same type of question arises around astral initiation. Given the fact that there are seven layers to an initiation, do astral initiations address all of these layers? Or do astral initiations merely focus on just a single layer? Are astral initiates only one-seventh of an initiate?

(One should bear in mind that I belonged to another group that formally stated that the only thing that they could promise from the initiation was the physical experience. They were unwilling to promise that the initiation would have any effect beyond that point. Again, one-seventh of an initiate.)

The same type of questions arises when you shift your focus to Grade work and instruction. Given the variation in focuses by the various Golden Dawn Orders, one can be fully trained according to one's own Mother lodge and not trained at all in the eyes of another group. For instance, look at the vast difference of emphasis between the training given by Pat Zalewski and David Griffin. They focus on completely different things. There is no way that a person trained by Zalewski can be fully recognized by Griffin; nor can a person trained by Griffin be fully recognized by Zalewski.

(I have been a member of three Inner Order training programs, and I have never seen an exact match ever in the programs. In each program, I had to work with completely new material..sooner or later. While there is some overlap between the programs, the difference is large enourgh where I feel that it is pointless to even mention how far I got in the programs beyond the fact that I been involved in Inner Order training; if I enroll in a new Inner Order program, I get to start all over again.)

There also the issue of the skill and level of the officers conducting the initiation. Is an initiation performed by a crew of all Adept Exempts better than an initations performed by mere Adept Minors? And what if one of them has a cold that day? Does that affect one's initiation?

Does the type of lineage that the officers possess affect the initiation? Is an initiatory lineage better than an administrationary lineage? Are some lineages better than others? Does a lineage that traces though Mathers trump a lineage traced through Crowley? (Oh wait, if your lineage traces through Crowley, it also traces through Mathers...that is not good, is it?)

And do variations in ritual scripts make a difference? And how big of a difference does it take? If my lodge uses a modern language version of the rituals does that make them members of a different system from those who only use the language of 1888 London?

All these questions occur before we get to the ultimate question for the working magician: If you recognize my Grade, can I tap the energy bank of your Order? For a working magician, if recognition is in name only, and does not include the ability to share information and tap magical energies, then the recognition is just an empty gesture. Which is why working magicians tend to ignore this whole issue because they realize that only access to information and magical energies count. Realizing my Grade without giving me access to new sources of energy and information is merely an attempt to appease my ego and stroke yours.

So for me, recognition of my Grade by others, and my recognition of other people's Grades is a pointless exercise unless they are going to be sitting in the same lodge as I am. And let's be honest, there are a whole bunch of people who would refuse to sit in lodge with me; fortunately, for the most part, they are the same people that I refuse to sit in lodge with.

History of Self-Initiation

One of facts of life if you are interested in Golden Dawn today is that most people are either self-initiates, or long distance members. Very few people are members of an actual lodge. Most people experience the system through self-initiation or "astral initiation" rather than actually undergoing the rituals in a Temple setting.

There is a whole can of worms involved with both self-initiation and astral; you can boil the worms down to that sticky, dark goop of a question "Do these variations work?" Being a little fuzzy around the ears today, I chose to delay addressing that question.

Instead I want you to consider how long the concept of self-initiation has been around. When I became interested in ceremonial magic in 1991, one of my text books was Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts by Donald Michael Kraig. This book came out in 1988, and has been in print ever since, much to the surprise of its author.

When I encountered Andew W., the man who was to become my sponsor and mentor in Hathoor Temple, I was reading this book. In fact, it was how Andrew spotted me. Upon leafing through the book, he laughed. At the time, I was under the impression that he had a low opinion of all who studied such things--later I realized that he had a low opinion of the book as did most of the members of Hathoor Temple.

In hindsight, with fifteen years of Golden Dawn experience under my belt (most of it Temple based), I have to agree that perhaps Modern Magick is not the most ideal book for the purposes of self-initiation.

But it is not the first book on self-initiation, nor is it the last.

In 1995, Chic and Tabatha Cicero had their opus Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition: A Complete Curriculum of Study for Both the Solitary Magician and the Working Magical Group published. I know quite a few people who have used this book. As a Temple Initiate, I must say it hardly prepares one for the curriculum of the SubGrades of Inner Order (ZAM, THAM, etc.) or at least not the program that I have the most experience in; that particular Inner Order curriculum depends upon knowledge of the Temple versions of the rituals.

The Ciceros will not be the last to publish such a work. Why? Because with the inability of individuals to find local Temples, and the problems with long distance memberships, self-initiation fulfills a need. As long as the need is around, self-initiation will happen.

This need has been around for a long time. The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor had an initiation script "The Hermetic Ritual For the Private Initiation of Neophytes" which was to allow for their members to self-initiate. Most of their members were self-initiates, especially after their system of lodges collapsed.

The A.A., the famous (or infamous) organization detailed in Crowley's Equinoxes is primarily a loose band of self-initiates.

In fact, advancing a member without them undergoing a Temple ritual has been so common throughout the history of the Orders, there is a Freemasonry term for it--communicating the degree. Basically, you sign your oath, and are issued the relevant papers for your new degree.

How far does the concept of self-initiation go?

My personal opinion is that it extends all the way back to the writings of Agrippa. His is the first book that I can look at and see a set of lessons for the self-initiate in. Whether that was his intention or not is hard to say.

Self-initiation is going to be around for awhile. Besides the sources already mentioned, there are some non-Golden Dawn systems of self-initiation--the works of Mouni Sadhu, Edred Thorsson, and Franz Bardon are all designed on the principle of self-initiation. For those who are more interested in Golden Dawn with a side order of Thelema, check out the webpage of the Thelemic Golden Dawn. And for ceremonial magic, there is also the works of John Michael Greer. Wicca has Scott Cunningham as a source.

And there are probably many works and options that I do not recall, or have not read.

Bottom line, if you are interested in doing the work and can not find a suitable Order, there is self-initiation.