Astral initiation?

Following recent articles about astral initiation into the Golden Dawn on the blogosphere i cannot help but giving in my two cents about this topic too.

I have many years of experience in active Temple work, and assisted as magical Officer at numerous initiations of dozens of candidates throughout the grades of the Golden Dawn in the Outer.
Especially the experiences i made when assisting at Neophyte receptions comprise the highlights of my whole magical journey until now, and i deem them so precious that i never dared to speak about that in public so far.
And its not because i fear to violate my magical oaths- as long as i never give out names, dates and places, they remain unsullied.
Its more about the fear that a true transcendental experience becomes stained when trying to verbalize it.
And its a question of magical power that is kept strong by keeping it hermetically sealed (and with this i touch the very sore spot behind my relation to this blog of mine, but i digress)....

Of course i heard about the legend of Moina Mathers, who, after the death of her husband, gave one american A.O. temple dispensation to nominally confer the grade of Neophyte without physical initiation to any candidate who is willing to send in 10 Dollars per mail. I never read anything about this temple performing astral initiations instead, by the way.

Well, its a pity that Moina cannot reply on this anymore, because i believe this is either an idle rumour or Moina simply was out of her head in her later years.
To be honest, the picture of her that i had in my mind after reading books of Dion Fortune, Ithell Colquhoun or Mary K. Greer never was free of ambivalence, seeing a certain deal of envy and competitivness and also some instability in her character.
But, anyway, who is free of flaws? And also, this alone can't be reason enough for throwing overboard important magical principles.

First of all, when i speak of initiation i mean initiation into the system of the Golden Dawn.
Initiation is a wide concept, from rites de passages in so-called primitive cultures to truly primitive adolescent rites in our culture, everything is possible.

Initiation into the Golden Dawn means getting initiated into the grade of Neophyte.
In general, i believe that the main intention behind this ceremony, apart from the official reception into a magical brotherhood, is to awaken into activity the divine spark that lies dormant in every human being.
It tries to trigger and raise the vibration of the seed of Soul and illumination that is trapped deeply in our material bodies.
It cleanses the Sphere of Sensation or Aura of the candidate, and by opening certain energy channels makes his etheric and astral bodies more receptive for the influx of L.V.X., the magical universal and transformative energy without every performance of ritual magic would be worthless.
And, last but not least, it also impresses on the mind and consciousness of the candidate the idea of illumination in a symbolic manner.
So it is clear that the initiation into Neophyte tries to accomplish its aim on more than one level.
There is a transmission of energy that works on the subtle bodies via the physical body, and a reprogramming of the mind by occult symbols, and in certain points the technique behind this resembles what i have read about brain washing techniques long ago.

Symbols are the language of the unconscious.
It is common to every occult student that the mere act of looking upon magical symbols will have an effect on the unconscious. By staring at a Tarot Trump, you allow the symbolism of the card to sink deeply into your mind. On the deepest level, the Trump will become an entity that is talking to you, leaving distinct messages and imprints for you to work with, if you are aware of it or not.

The whole ceremony of Neophyte is loaded with occult symbolism. There is nothing in it by chance. Every prop or implement, every speech and movement made by the officers, from the Banner of the East down to the colour of the robes of the officers, everything has a kabbalistical, magical or alchemical meaning or concept behind.

To see a Temple of the Golden Dawn in full bloom for the first time of his/her life is like a magical assault on the senses of the canidate. Even when the candidate knows nothing at all about the meaning of the symbolism displayed there, it will leave an important imprint on his consciousness, and this is the meaning behind the Z3- document stating that
"...the Sacred Rites may gradually, and as it were, in spite of himself, lead the Neophyte unto the Knowledge of his Higher Self".

But there is more behind it than just displaying certain symbols.
The Golden Dawn makes use of an ancient technique that accomplishes it to imprint these symbols much more deeper upon the mind than by simply showing them.
And part of this technique is to blindfold the candidate for quite a time, and to send him through a challenge and drama that makes his mind highly absorptive. The whole dramatic procedure of the ritual arouses his nature to the greatest extent.
By these devices, the emotional armour of the candidate is temporarily cracked and the symbols are allowed to flow in unfiltered, without the necessary barriers that ensure the sanity of our daily affair with the world around us.

This is no uncommon procedure. Freemasonry makes use of this technique, and we are also told that in ancient mystery cults like Eleusis the aspirants had to grope through darkness and to go through physical and emotional challenges before being received into the Light.
Sadly enough, even terrorists know about the effectiveness of putting somebody into emotional and physical insecurity in order to reprogram his mind and value system.

I think the whole process of re-programming the mind by ceremonial devices is impossible to accomplish by astral initiation.
While a magician or Adept may be able to send occult energy or force over long distances to somebody, or to ignite a certain current of force that is felt and absorbed by somebody at another place, i think s/he is not able to manipulate the energetic body in the same way as when performing the ceremony when the candidate is present.
The astral body is rooted in the physical body and its development is largely dependent on the treatment of the physical body. So if you want to affect anything, it would be only logical to affect the root of it.

I think there are many magicians out there who can attest that a magical ritual performed physically has a much more deeper and long lasting effect than any ritual performed only on the astral level, that is in imagination.
The hidden forces of nature strive to be "incarnated" on the material level.
This is the reason why you always complete any invocational round of a force with the consecration of a talisman- by doing this, you complete the formula of YHVH, you make the force practically accessible in your all day life.

I think Dion Fortune once spoke about this aspect. She said that a occult force, if not called down into a material basis, is likely to bring trouble to the Sphere of the occultist, because till then it is "only" whirling in the astral.
But when bound into a talisman, the force is equilibrated.
The talisman in case of the Neophyte Ceremony is the candidate himself!
And what a living and vibrant talisman he is, with all his senses in divine expectation and awe!

So i believe that the energetic transfer accomplished by astral initiations is at least very dubious.
And i believe that the re-programming of the mind and unconscious by the symbolic impact is simply impossible with astral initiation.

It also makes me sad to hear that aspiring Golden Dawn- candidates only receive astral initiations. With this they get robbed of the most wonderful and exciting experience i can imagine.
Of course i know that the successful performance of a Neophyte ceremony requires the Hierophant and its officers to build up and enliven the astral hall, that is the Godforms and invisible stations of it.
This part of the work sets in motion the magical current of the Order- and that will saturate, purify and consecrate the astral body of the candidate as well.
By names and images all powers are awakened and re-awakened.
This is basic knowledge for any Golden Dawn magician.
But this is only half of the work required for a successful initiation....

And there is also the argument that astral initiation is offered in order to serve students who cannot afford travelling to a temple.
Well, i travelled around the globe in order to receive certain initiations, although iam not a wealthy man at all!
Its always a question of what it is worth for you.
And this path never was there for serving the masses, but for the few and elected.


May you be blessed under the wings of the Eternal!
Summa scientia nihil scire,
Fr. L.