Golden Dawn Temple Initiations

When you were ready, or rather considered yourself ready you asked for an auspicious date at the temple.

There was no control, no gatekeeping, and definitely no hand-holding.

The result was a large amount of lower grade, a few higher ones, and a splash of Adepts, although I’m sure many, myself included, didn’t know the real numbers.

It wasn’t fully a hands off approach, one could get feedback on the previous grade and studies, there we opportunities to run questions by somebody senior, one could even have their aura checked, but the lack of kingmaking and gatekeeping was adamant. This seemed to be by design in order to fast track out anybody who wasn’t serious and wasn’t prepared to be taken seriously. The exoteric order that many speak about was one thing, it was the esoteric order that did all the sorting out.

Darwanistic meritocracy was the name it was given.

I can speak to some of the methods used as they produced interesting results if not orthodox, but with all (most) of the rituals profaned and out as what would now be called open source, it was a different idea.

That and something about it being 120 years later, adjusted for tribe and custom.

When one showed up at the temple (Dendur) one slowly walked the path of the grade, pausing at the requisite moments in the ritual and recalling the words which at this point should have been mostly memorized.

One of the aims was a growing realization of light and its manifestation. Did one feel or notice anything on the journey?

What about the points where one closed their eyes?

Even if one felt or saw nothing that power, the power of the Gods, infused the aura, and by Philosophus most in the temple had the vision to see it.  

This was the power that brought the self-study outside of the temple to life, and the tech that was used to reawaken the energetic body.  

Over time while one might have noticed the same two or three Hierophants, and even some of the other members known or unknown from where they were standing on the sides if one was observant enough.

Personally, through this experience I began to see *initiation* in three ways.  

That initial experience where one is introduced to the grade, that first time that one walks the path and the importance of that first impression. You only get one chance, so make sure you are ready, along with something about not being afraid.

The opposite of this experience would be participating in the ritual, or in the role and responsibility of the Hierophant. One experience is micro the other is macro.

And that third perspective?

One of just being passive in the temple, neither giving nor receiving, just being there and watching the forces of creation unfold.