SELF INITIATION
By
V.H. FRATER A.M.A.G.
The Neophyte Ritual and that of the Adeptus Minor Grade are the most important
and effective rituals of the Order. Those in between are the so-called elemental
rituals. Crowley took a rather dim view of these. Francis King assumed wrongly
that I also held much the same attitude. In fact, however, I think that they
have a very definite place in the entire process of initiation. That they
are verbose and overlong I will admit to. Nontheless there are ways and means
of overcoming this problem. In my recently published book Ceremonial Magic
(Aquarian Press, England) a ritual opening that I called Opening by Watchtower
(first demonstrated in the consecration ceremony of the Vault of the Adepts)
could be elaborated meaningfully in a variety of different ways which could
be construed as effective as abbreviated elemental initiations.
To be concise, an elemental initiation is one in which the elementals are
invoked in such a way that they affect the sphere of sensation or the energy
field of the candidate. A series of impressions or symbols are impressed
on this energy field in such a way thay they act, for the candidate, as a
kind of passport providing safe entry and freedom of movement in that elemental
sphere of operation.
Assuming that this is the case, then the four elemental grade initiations
of the Outer Order, in reality do little more than the abbreviated Opening
by Watchtower ceremonies. A number of advantages flow from this assumption.
The first is that the ritual is nowhere as turgid, lengthy and tiresome as
is the grade rituals, all criticism which led Crowley and others to the faulty
conclusion that they could be dispensed with as useless. The second, and
I think the most important one, is that the Watchtower rituals described
in the book named above could be employed as self-initiatory rituals.
Again, assuming that this is factual, then we have reached a stage which
fulfills the original promise of some of my early writing on the Golden Dawn
- which was that since the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was now defunct,
the isolated student here, there and everywhere, could now be his own initiator.
This does not preclude the possibility that new temples might arise and have
arisen in various parts of the world independently of any other temple. Several
new temples have in recent years been formulated and are functioning very
successfully, with new temples emerging even now.
In stating that the isolated student could now be his own initiator, one
important phrase is rendered imperative. And that is he must be persistent
and as thoroughgoing and exacting as if he were an initiator in a regularly
constituted Golden Dawn temple under the constant scrutiny of officialdom
and higher adept authorities. The responsibility for progress is thus placed
inexorably on the student or candidate himself. As I see it - and I have
watched this on a very few students - each elemental initiation or Watchtower
ceremony requires its repetition several times. One student whom I am thinking
of at this juncture has performed the whole Opening by Watchtower ceremonies
some 50 or 60 times. It is therefore my opinion that she has initiated herself
as effectively and as positively as any temple initiatory hierophantic team
could possibly do. All the important "command" symbols of elemental significance
are altogether imbedded in her aura or energy field so that should she visit
their sphere of activity, via skrying in the spirit vision, they would not
regard her as an enemy alien invading their hallowed circle. Instead, she
would be regarded as friendly and as a divine helper because she carries,
as it were, the only correct and valid passport recognized by them as an
official password.
The only and still major problem remaining as of this moment is how to convert
the Neophyte and Adeptus Minor rituals into self-initiatory operations. I
am willing to write of the Adeptus Minor ritual as impossible to convert
to a self-initiatory ceremony. It still requires an authentic initiator to
accomplish the purpose of this ritual. I see no possibility of converting
this, as things stand at this moment.
However, I still feel that the Neophyte ritual does contain the possibilities
of conversion. It has been done in other ways. For example Crowley, while
in Mexico, did one series of meditations, almost tantric in nature, that
utilized the clairvoyant visions of G.H. Frater S.R.M.D. The latter did describe
in Z-1 and Z-3 what happened to the candidate during the Neophyte initiation
in full temple ceremonies. This I described in my biography of Aleister Crowley,
The Eye in the Triangle, Falcon Press, 1982. (Although some students dislike
Crowley the study of his life and the effect of the Golden Dawn on him is
essential to our understanding of extending the work of the Order.) Years
later, when he came to full term as an initiatior himself, he wrote a book
of instruction entitled Liber HHH (included in Gems from the Equinox, Falcom
Press, 1982.) In one section of that Liber he refined his early meditation
and created a magnificent instruction. This also I have quoted in The Eye
in the Triangle. However, I am not looking in that direction at this particular
moment. What I wish to do is so to simplify the Neophyte ritual as practiced
in the Order, by deleting a number of segments which are not necessarily
integral to the process of initiation. And leaving a ceremonial skeleton
which can be adapted by any student to the service of his own initiation.
For example, the entire section in which the various officers give speeches
describing what some of the symbols amount to and furthermore name the various
subjects that must be studied by the candidate before he can be advanced
further in the Order. This would eliminate a good deal of unnecessary baggage
and shorten the ritual the student would have to learn. It is quite likely
too that most of the opening of the temple in the Neophyte grade could also
be left out without harm to the entire initiatory process - with the exception
of that passage of the Hierophant which stated that by names and symbols
are all powers awakened and re-awakened. Whether the circumambulations should
be omitted I have yet to decide, on the basis of some experimentation myself.
Much the same applies to the purification by water and the consecration by
fire - processes which are repeated several times.
This then leaves as the most important part of the ritual the obligation
at the Altar, the charge of the Hierophant to quit the night and seek the
day, the reception into the Order and the Hegemon's guiding the newly initiated
Neophyte between the two pillars between the altar and the station of the
East.
It was only when discussing this matter with V.H. Soror Sic Itur Ad Astra
in Los Angeles recently that some light was shed on this problem. The core
of the solution revolved around the notion that initiation outside of a regularly
constituted Temple was only possible with two students. They would have to
prove to themselves - not to anyone else - that they were wholly devoted
to the Great Work, devoted enough to spend at least several months jointly
or individualy practising the Middle Pillar technique as described in The
Foundations of Practical Magic, Aquarian Press, 1979. If this practice were
assiduous and intense both students would have awakened in themselves the
psycho-spiritual energy that could not only hasten their own inner development
but that the latter could be communicated to yet another in a manner not
too dissimilar to that described in Z-3.
The fundamental requirement was that the initiator shoud be an initiator
- not a layman out of the brute herd. Something mush have happened to him
to have redeemed him of the stigma of being "ordinary." Of course it would
have been better if he (or she) had been the recipient of a spontaneous mystical
experience of the type described in James' Varieties of Religious Experience.
Since this kind of attainment cannot be made to order, as it were, the only
alternative is to fall back on time honored methods of development and growth.
I am well aware of the debate which has gone on for years as to whether mystical
or occult practices can induce the mystical experience - conversation or
samadhi or satori, call it what you will. If not, then it is maintained that
these practices prepare the student for that possibility if not inducing
it actually. And if he have patience to "wait upon the Lord," as it were,
then the one is as good as the other, from my point of view.
While pursuing their work with the Middle Pillar technique and any other
set of exercises to which they may be drawn, they could set themselves to
the task of studying the Neophyte Ritual and the Z documents that pertain
to it. There is additional suggestive material on this topic in The Eye in
the Triangle. Using the clairvoyant description given my Mathers of what
really happened between the Two Pillars to the candidate, Crowley developed
a meditation incorporating all those ideas, as I have intimated above. Apparently
this meditation must have proven successful, for many years later after he
had come to term he wrote a document for his own Order, The A.A., known as
Liber HHH. The first section of this document elaborates this meditation
and transforms the clairvoyant description of Mathers into an extraordinary
piece of magical work that has fascinated me for many years for as long as
I have known of the Equinoxes that he published as long ago as 1909-1914.
All of this could give them ideas and hints as to how to proceed in the task
of initiating themselves or others. First one and then another could be helped
to come to the Light in much the same way as if they were operating in a
duly constituted Temple. In fact, to go one further, there is no reason why
the officers of a regular Temple should not follow some such procedure as
this temselves. It would certainly do no harm, and in fact would accomplish
a great deal. Since a Golden Dawn Temple is being instituted here and there
throughout not only this country, but the world as a whole, this counsel
might be very useful to all concerned to enhance the whole process of initiation.
Once this were accomplished, they could either go their own separate ways
or maintain the relationship for mutual aid and comfort. But from here, with
the aid of the Opening by Watchtower, as it has come to be called, the elemental
initiations would be taken care of, and from there they face the task of
the Adeptus Minor initiation. What needs to be done in that regard is something
I would rather not speculat about. But as one initiate has said, all that
remains is to prepare theTemple and then hope and pray that it may become
indwelled.
This entire discussion however is to be suggestive only. A great deal must
be left to the ingenium of the student involved in this great adventure.
Their intuition must be sharpened by their adherance to the work itself,
and their progress and their plans must be left to unfold by itself. Enough
has been said at least to show that the way is not without light, and however
bleak the path seemed without teachers and a temple of the Order, they are
not left to stumble unaided in the darkness of the outer world. For as the
Ritual says "My soul wanders in darkness and I seek the Light of the Hidden
Knowledge."
In conclusion it is strongly sugested that students closely study two or
three of the discussions in this present volume. One of them is the Cautionary
Note which directly follows this. Another is a document dealing with the
Inflation of the Ego, a result which is to be avoided at all costs by self
observation and study. And finally the important article written by Hyatt
and myself concerning some major errors and confusions which students have
made in the past. Other documents scattered throughout the different segments
of this book will also be found supremely helpful in achieving the ends desired.
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