When a Hierophant and founding group build a new lodge, a lot of care goes into the inner constructions, but what is often overlooked is the inner calling of initiates. The drawing in of potential initiates for training to be adepts is often just left to chance, word of mouth and, these days, public advertising through workshops. This is all fine if the lodge is going to operate in a simple public training way, but it does not furnish the lodge with the souls needed for deep work over a long period of time. If the lodge/group purpose is to take on large long term powerful projects that serve magical structures over generations, then more care is needed to light a beacon for the true searchers to find the group. It is also important to put the inner call out for the qualities the lodge potentially needs to fulfill its goals.
Straight away, with such an agenda, you can see the pitfalls lining up, ready to fall into. This approach can very easily become an elitist filtering system which sabotages the project early on. Much care, thought, and ethics need to come into play the minute the group decide to involve such magical methods for bringing in initiates.
So what is the calling all about? The calling is just one part of a sequence of acts that bring in initiates for training in the present, sets up pathways for future seekers, and also calls out through the Abyss for certain inner contacts, adepts, and teachers to reincarnate so that they can work with or in the lodge in the future. It does not manipulate or force any souls to come; rather it creates landing lights and beacons for present and future seekers.
Because we have such a short life span, and within that life span a fairly short understanding of long term magical patterns that operate throughout time, we are not always the best judges of what qualities are needed in future generations, nor indeed in present generations, to furnish a solid and long lasting line that will not corrupt. A new lodge built from scratch has the potential to be a foundation for the long term development of the mysteries in a way that can be of service to the outer world as well as the inner worlds throughout time. The action of bringing together adepts, teachers, healers, magical workers, guides, and exorcists who commit themselves to the furthering of humanity through the mysteries and through wisdom should be the main intention of the calling.
The shopping list for the qualities needed to achieve such an undertaking are beyond our everyday awareness. Our limited culture and spiritual understanding cannot begin to perceive what is truly needed; indeed we may even balk at what is really needed as it will most likely, at some stage, conflict with our own opinions.
To gain the skills needed to make such a calling we need to employ a variety of beings to work with us through the Hierophant, the foundation members and through the consecrated line. It is a team effort and we, as humans, are the most insignificant members of the team. The understanding of needs is best reached by input from the polarity extremes of the powers that the lodge works with and also input from the inner contact/elders. The knowledge is put into the Hierophant not in the form of words, but in harmonies — it is harmonics that call souls into being, not words.
Because we live in a corrupt and conditional world, the first section of the harmonic will need to come from the depths of conditionality: the depths of the Abyss. The long term patterns of civilisations are to rise and then slowly collapse and the job of the lodge within that is to ensure that the inner mysteries continue untouched by such power dynamics, and serve nature, humanity, Divinity and the inner worlds regardless of what is going on in the outside world. The politics of civilisation are not the concern of the lodge — the responsibility of the adepts is to make sure that as humans we contribute and bridge the power needed for necessary change to occur, whatever that change may be: it is unconditional service.
The beings in the lower Abyss, usually referred to as demons, are beings that are heavily involved in the rise and fall of civilisations so they are some of the best beings to ask for an opinion as to the qualities needed for humans to take up the mantle of work. On a surface level, and indeed in the surface world, demonic beings are a dangerous and corrupting force. In the Abyss which is their own territory, they display more balance and are able to ascertain what the adepts are trying to achieve — it is in their interests to offer good advice.
THE VISION TO COLLECT THE HARMONICS
The vision will need to be conducted by the founding group as well as the Hierophant. Although it will be the Hierophant asking for the help, the powers are so strong in these places that it will take the group energy to make the vision safe and workable. The vision is long, dangerous and very draining, so the group need to be properly prepared for the work and be able to rest afterwards.
The first step for the group is to go down the Abyss and ask the Keeper of the Abyss to take them to an area where there are demonic beings who work through the creation and destruction of civilisations. It is safest to access the Abyss through the back door of the temple and it would be wise to take a gift as an offering. It would also be prudent when first stepping into the void to access the inner temple, for the group to call upon the Sandalphon and ask them for armour to protect the group. They will give the group suitable body cover to keep them safe not only from the demonic beings, but also from the sheer force of the power deep down in the Abyss.
In the Abyss area and the chamber where the demonic beings reside, the group need to be constantly on guard in all directions as these beings, although willing to work with humanity sometimes, are still dangerous and unpredictable. Once the Hierophant is stood before a being willing to offer advice, the Hierophant states that he is looking for a harmonic frequency to call out for future initiates of the line, to have a harmonic that will be polarised with the other power harmonics of the angelic, ancestral and Divine lines. The demons, if they decide to help, will put their heads back and make a sound, a deep heavy sound that the Hierophant needs to absorb within him so that his body remembers. This is a very important dynamic in the work of calling — it is the body that remembers the frequencies, not the memory.
As soon as the Hierophant has the sound, the gift should be given to the being and the group then need to leave quickly. These beings are governed by the need to disrupt humanity and they will start to have an effect on the group pretty soon. The group leave by calling the Keeper of the Abyss to the ledge and asking the Keeper to take the group to the angelic beings that are also a part of humanity. These are an interesting group of angels referred to as the Nephilim and they are beings who have gotten some pretty bad biblical press in the past. They are a hive of angelic beings that are also of humanity and as such they have a pretty good understanding of how humanity works and why.
Again the group are dropped on a ledge in the Abyss which is the back door to a realm where the Nephilim can be found. The group seeks out these beings and again ask for a harmonic. This harmonic is a direct counter balance of the demonic sound and when the two sounds are put together, a power tension is created that is the beginnings of a doorway.
The moment the sound is gained by the Hierophant, the next harmonic is needed from the elders, who were once human (they were adepts in their own time), and who are guardians of the mysteries at the edge of the void. They are also on the edge of the Abyss and are getting ready to move across the Abyss beyond humanity’s reach. They are adepts that are from thousands of years ago and they have a very good understanding of what works and what doesn’t over a long period of time. These guys have been patiently working with humanity for hundreds of generations so they have seen it all. Their inner temple is on the level with the desert of the Abyss, our realm out of time, and instead of being put on a ledge by the Keeper, the group are carefully placed at the foot of a great temple that teeters on the edge of the Abyss.
Inside, the Hierophant once more asks for a sound, a harmonic to call initiates to the line for current and for future generations. A sound is given, as human advice is given to another human. One or more of the adepts may come forward and ask to be consecrated. If this happens, what they are actually offering is to stall their well earned rest and be connected into the lodge so that they will be reborn and find their way to the lodge in the future. If one of them is selfless enough to offer this, it is a great honor. The cycle of life and death is not a pleasant one and these beings have already given a great deal of themselves to humanity, which will have also meant enduring a great deal of suffering. The Hierophant should consecrate any adept that asks and the group then exchange gifts and knowledge with the adepts in the temple. The Hierophant of the great temple will then call the group to a side chapel.
In this side chapel, the wall falls away into the void and the two Hierophants stand side by side on the edge of the Abyss. The inner Hierophant calls for the powers of Divinity that manifest through humanity to appear out of the void. Slowly out of the nothing a human appears that shines like the sun, has the stars all around them and is clothed in the forest. This human sings a short song, a few notes over and over that the Hierophant of the lodge sings back to them, to make sure that he has got it. Once the Hierophant has the notes, the being withdraws back in the void and the group prepare to leave the temple.
As the group exit the temple, they find themselves stood on the edge of the Abyss and the Keeper of the Abyss appears. It is now time to put all the sounds together into a harmony and call the future initiates to the line. The Keeper picks the group up in his hand and holds them up high in the Abyss with the Hierophant in the centre. The group combines their strength by putting a hand on the person next to them and then finally on the Hierophant so that they are all connected.
Looking up, the group see stars and as they look down the Abyss, they see the Earth. The group realise that souls are falling past them on their journey towards incarnation upon the earth. The Hierophant begins to sing the harmonics to the stars and the stars give off their own sounds — the angelic consciousness of the stars also work in harmonics. The group watches and listens as the stars align themselves into constellations that have sounds.
The sounds are sung in harmony with the song of the Hierophant and the combination of songs creates a vortex for souls to fall through on their journey towards life. The vortex is a landing strip that resonates through the Abyss, guiding magical souls towards an incarnation of magical service. The souls that are drawn by these harmonics will eventually be born and will make their way though life to the lodge. The harmonic song will continue to resonate through the Abyss, as there is no time in this place — it will stay there and can be strengthened by the use of the song in the lodge.
As the group come out of the vision by way of the inner temple, they pause briefly in the inner temple and use the harmonies as a chant, both in vision and physically. The chant reproduces the harmonics, sending them out into the world which will echo the song in the Abyss, It will slowly build up a beacon in the lodge that will attract seekers already out in the world and near the lodge — the song will resonate with their inner landscapes and souls as they search in visions and dreams for their way ahead.
NEW INITIATES
Many lodges put up a variety of physical filters such as interviews and application forms to weed out inappropriate aspirants, but some of these filters can end up also filtering out people who have the skills needed by the lodge, i.e. skills which are currently dormant, or not obviously presented. Then there are other aspirants who fit the bill completely on paper, but in practice do not really furnish the needs of the lodge.
The problem with such filters is that they are put in place by humans and as humans we have a limited understanding of the inner dynamics and how they flow. So for example one particular prominent UK lodge demands a person be heterosexual, have a job, have a certain set of morals, must live in a certain place, have certain religious leanings and then must commit to learning outer court work to be examined by a panel before they are considered for entrance.
You can see the logic behind some of the demands, but other demands display a complete lack of understanding of power dynamics in today’s world as the criteria were obviously put together for a different age and a different world. That list of criteria filters out gay natural priests/esses, people who live on a private income (such as Dion Fortune did), people who have moved beyond religion, people who understand religious and moral codes to be about society and not God. Another pitfall with the criteria design encourages people who can memorize certain lessons and reproduce them in a way that the examiner likes — this potentially filters people who have the skill to challenge, think or develop in a unique way.
That method of criteria potentially filters out the most valuable possible initiates who may find their way to the lodge — it is no wonder many of these lodges have degenerated down to exclusive magic clubs and elite correspondence courses. There are ones who do not work that way and they tend to have a better chance at allowing long term magical development that is not littered with agendas.
If the Hierophant uses the inner harmonic call through the Abyss, in the lodge, the inner temple and across the Tree of Life, then it will bring people to the door that have heard it and therefore have the necessary skills. The ‘Calling Down’ the Tree of Life is a vision whereby the Hierophant and the group stand with their back to the Abyss and walk down the desert pattern of the Tree of Life, singing the harmonics as they go. When they reach Malkuth, they continue walking which takes them into the outside world. They sing as they walk out of the desert and down the street to the lodge, still in vision and still singing — it leaves a trail of harmonics bridging the inner and outer worlds and literally beats a path to the door.
So, when people do turn up, they will have inner skills, which is great. That does not guarantee however that they will stay, or even survive the training. It is up to the founders and the Hierophant to create a learning environment that is stimulating and which operates in a way that acknowledges skills already developed and honours them. Some lodges insist that no matter what skills you have, you must start at the beginning. This is a waste of time and a prime example of limited vision — the flexibility to be able to tailor training to the skills, or lack of, in each potential initiate is paramount to developing strong adepts.
The lodge must also ensure that it is not just a training school unless that is its primary function. Because of the commercialisation of magical groups, lodges/groups in general no longer take on mammoth tasks or undertake long term service; instead they go around in circles in money making classes, workshops, correspondence courses and grades. Some lodges do undertake limited long term work, but sometimes it becomes locked exclusively in the hierarchies of the ‘elite’ grades. What they do not understand is that such action is a self-cull. The contacts eventually lock them out, or the contact line becomes very narrow and unhealthy. Any new contacts or fresh powers that are carried by new young untrained but natural potential initiates are lost by the outer filter. So there is no fresh or unusual power breathed into the lodge for undertaking long term powerful work.
Basic learning is a small part of a lodge’s activity — 25% at the most. The rest of the lodge is about soul development, service, construction, inner tasks, and the wider longer term service to the inner line that runs through the lodge.
The phase of the initiate should be one of learning and development so that they can work towards being an adept at some point, and dedicating their lives to magical work if that is what they wish. So what does an initiate need to know? What training do they need? In reality the mix of knowledge needed is complex and yet also simple. A lot of the initiate’s training will happen out in life once they begin to walk the path of the initiate. Their strength, endurance, ethics, inner stability, and patience will all be tested out in life and polished through life events. These are major skills needed over time in service to the inner mysteries.
The outer skills needed are the ability to work in vision, the ability to understand the process of divination, the discipline of ritual, and the ability to mediate power. All of these skills are practical skills that cannot be learned from books or correspondence courses. I have personally found that taking an initiate through the inner worlds; for example to experience the Tree of Life by walking its power and seeing it in action, seeing the Abyss work and seeing the angelic structures, and then the initiate then goes to read a book about it, it all makes true and deep sense. If it is just studied in a book and then approached in meditation from an intellectual perspective, the power and depth of that place is truly lost to the initiate.
I feel the mysteries are best approached first from an inner point of view and then an outer one. To do that the initiate needs to be versed in various techniques of visionary work which are skills that come with practice and practical application in the group work.
The process of divination is important to an initiate, particularly if they do not have natural sight. A lot of divination techniques, such as tarot and oracles, are drowned in mystical shadows and complex patterning, which is really not necessary. It is the responsibility of the Hierophant to make sure that, if the adepts are teaching initiates, the skills passed on are straight forward, no nonsense practical operational skills without “woowoo” dressing. As the initiate begins to work in any depth with their operational skills, the true mysteries of the tarot etc. begin to emerge in the consciousness of the student. As always, the key is to learn to do it, get confidence in it, get curious about it, then start to read about it and question what you read.
The discipline of ritual and power comes from the initiates joining the adepts in ritual work and learning how to take power from the inner worlds and mediate it to the outer worlds. It is nearly always best to pass on these techniques to initiates by having them work alongside adepts rather than in a group of just initiates and a teacher. The reason for this is twofold: resonance and safety. When you work alongside someone who has a particular magical skill that you do not, by working alongside them the frequency that they are working at is picked up by your spirit at a very deep level, so that the skill is passed on by resonance not by detail.
Having done something with an adept, then you can do it too, but it must initially be done with someone who already has the skill. The other issue with this is safety — a lot of power mediation and some ritual can impact an initiate if they are not prepared for it. Mediating power can be like carrying blocks of concrete — it has a massive impact on the body if the body is not used to it. Therefore, by working alongside adepts, not only is the technique learned but the load is shared out between people who have good ‘inner muscle’. This enables the new initiate to experience the power work without getting blown out. It also gives space for talented new initiates to be able to work at a higher speed, allowing their natural abilities to become apparent so that they can be trained properly. It also allows for inner adepts manifesting through a young initiate to be recognised.
This means that a major part of the training of the initiates should involve ritual and visionary magic in all the worlds/realms and with all the different beings, using mediation, communication and service. By joining in with the adepts they will experience the worlds, get to know the contacts and pick up all the resonances needed to do the work of the future. Working this way can also sidestep a lot of issues of superiority, hierarchy, and pecking orders. The adepts are respected for their work, as are the initiates.
It is also prudent to note that when a Hierophant runs the lodge this way it will allow a certain dynamic to come into play which is a major part of the mysteries that our current age of status does not allow for. And that is the dynamic of the old teacher in a new body. This happens over and over in magical groups where there is space for it to happen, and, if the group is using the inner calling of the Abyss, they must be prepared for this to happen over and over.
An initiate, sometimes a new one, with very little background in magic will join the group, join in the visions and immediately make deep and powerful contact with inner beings and deities. They will be able to access many different realms, find inner teachers with ease and will just ‘know’ things. If the adepts teach them one lesson, they will come back with the learning of a hundred lessons. This is the rebirth of an old adept, and the lodge’s job is not to teach them but to help them remember. The way to do this is by the usual method of allowing the initiates to work with the adepts and to not put limits upon them.
The one thing they will need is to learn how to pace themselves. I have had a few initiates like this in my time, where they were far in advance of my inner knowledge but they just didn’t know it. But when I opened doors for them to see, they sometimes dived in too quick and got burned. I learned that my responsibility was to guide them in how to operate within a body that was not used to magic even though the soul was. They had to learn all over again how to pace themselves, how to clean themselves, and how to re-energise. If these old adepts are carefully guided and supported, the payback for the lodge is immense. These old souls carry a depth of ancient knowledge that can be of use in service to the inner mysteries — they just need help to get back up to speed and have support in the outside world.
Often the older souls do not resonate well with modern life and will need some help to find coping strategies for dealing with the outside world. This often happens when a soul has repeatedly come back into a monastic or temple setting, and then in this life is born into a secular commercial world. It is a terrible shock to their systems and it can have a physical impact upon them. They often need to learn how to protect themselves, how to feed themselves and how to go out among people without getting their energies eaten alive. All of these skills are the sort of thing that the adepts need to pass on to the initiates, rather than Kabbala 101.
THE INNER DYNAMIC OF INITIATION
So, when an aspirant turns up at the lodge, what do you do with them? And how do they get there in the first place? The pathway to the lodge needs to be very carefully attended to, as it can go wrong very easily. Open classes that are free or cost-only are one way to keep a door open for possible initiates. The issue of money comes up over and over in magical circles and there are many different opinions about it. My personal attitude about it is that magic should not cost money; a spiritual path to the inner mysteries should not be for sale. Once profit comes into being, then it slowly begins to mould what is done, it dictates that the most popular class be taught rather than the most needful, and in our world of greed, it becomes a part of that whole structure. Many people do not agree with me and many adepts think that they have worth and people should pay them what they are worth. Many years ago I used to teach for money by travelling and teaching all over the USA. I slowly watched what it did to the magical work, to the training, and to the people I was working with. It was not the right thing to do and the system did not work. It took a while to get out of but as soon as I did, the magical work became very powerful and those who needed to work with me got to me.
If a class is done for expenses only (or free if there is no real expense), it makes it accessible to anyone of any income which is very important, as it does not put a poor person in the embarrassing situation of having to ask for discount or a free place. The lodge itself should be a shared expense in that the costs of running the lodge should be an equal responsibility of all who work within it.
But once people have found the lodge through classes, what then? This is the dodgy phase — it is tempting for the Hierophant to cherry-pick people to invite for initiation, which is a mistake. You cannot tell who is going to blossom by their initial performance and in fact I have been constantly caught off-guard by people who I would not have thought would blossom but do, to the point of real deep and wonderful power with solid commitment.
The initial phases of teaching usually filter out anyone who is not going to be suitable. As an initiate candidate does visionary work in the inner worlds, the inner contacts begin to work with and through them and that always triggers change. That change will either spur them to commit to training and more work, or it will filter them out and they will not want to return.
So if the Hierophant gets a few people wanting to look deeper into initiation from the public classes, then drawing together the adepts and other initiates to do some basic underworld, over world, death and inner temple visions, coupled with basic ritual structures, use of implements etc, that type of work will filter out those who are just not in the right place. Those who stick with it and come back for more are the ones who should be then walking the path to initiation. After a few months of joining in visions, the aspirant should be ready to be accepted as an initiate. Note that the role of an initiate is one of learning and developing; it is not a badge of completion, status and power.
THE INITIATION
The ceremony should be done during a full day gathering, which will allow the aspirant to really get a taste of deeper work. The initiation should probably come later in the day when the power has built up suitably to bridge the energies needed for the initiation to straddle both inner and outer worlds.
The initiation itself is a mark acknowledging that the person is a member of the lodge in the outer world, is in training and has access to the inner temple as well as the inner contacts. Some lodges do not allow their initiates to have connection to all the inner contacts, a privilege that is kept for an elite few adepts — I find that very distasteful and evidence of power grabbing. The Hierophant of such a group is stating that they alone know what is best for people: a very high pedestal indeed.
The initiate will keep the mark while ever she is connected to the lodge. If she leaves the lodge with the intention of discontinuing the work, the mark will be wiped off her inner pattern. If she intends to continue magical work just in a different stream, the Hierophant may wish to leave the mark on the initiate, therefore furnishing continued support of the fellowship to the individual. The mark allows the initiate to draw upon the strength of the egregore and allows access to the collection of group knowledge.
For myself, I have never wiped a mark off of anyone — I see such initiation as a part of a longer path a person has to walk and it is there to help them on their way. If they can still access the energy and knowledge of the collective, then it will help them to develop in their own way on their own path. The inner mysteries have their own way of working and we are merely servants to the greater power.
The initiation itself should take place in both the inner temple and the outer temple. The group goes in vision into the inner temple and then while still in vision, they open their eyes and conduct the ritual in the outer temple. The Hierophant marks each aspirant with the sigil of the lodge upon their foreheads and does the same action simultaneously on the inner body of the aspirant in the inner temple, while verbally welcoming them into the group. The initiate is then introduced to the inner library, where she can go and study and connect with an inner teacher.
The initiate will probably stay an initiate for a very long time — adepthood is something that does not come lightly or quickly. It comes when the initiate has all the disciplines, knowledge, skills, maturities and strengths to conduct whatever magical actions are needed, in whatever realm necessary, to do a specific magical job without help or support.
I cringe when I read so called commercial mystery schools offering a weekend course that ends in adept hood. What is the point? A fancy title? Most true adepts do not take on a title, they just are who they are and they get on with their work.
The protection, development and training of initiates is one of the most positive, demanding, and fulfilling jobs that a Hierophant has to do, and it is the one that teaches the Hierophant the most.