[split] Mystery Schools and Initiation

[Dtris]

Well what is the purpose of initiation? Specifically the Western Mystery School kind?

IMO it is to use Drama and Ritual to imprint into the subconscious a type of arch typical experience which will facilitate growth in the specific direction of the mystery school. To be a "real" initiation there needs to be a source of energy, qi, or information that transmits this thru psychic imprint or sympathy. This can be a more advanced practitioner, a group of them, a discarnate entity, or even an egregor or akashic record. This is why there are self initiations into the Golden Dawn tradition possible.

One of the main issues with Mystery Schools, is that they suffer the same woes as any other human institution. The Golden Dawn dissolved due to squables, greed, and manipulation. Most of the groups that followed suffered the same fate. Ego driven individuals surround themselves with Sycophants and gullible individuals while providing nothing in return. Lastly hubris even among a group of otherwise amicable people can cause the ability to create a profound initiation to decay or not develop.

There are many people who attended the same meditation workshops with my teacher, but they were too caught up with being taught by a famous meditation master that they neglected to actually practice. These types of people abound and may offer to "initiate" someone now, when they never did the work to be able to initiate in the first place.

I think initiation is unable to be confined to a western mystery school concept. Doing so is too limiting. At the base level, initiation is an Experience. In a school or tradition those Experiences are formalized and supposed to be reproducible. In many cases the Initiation will be individual, and unique. Since everyone is on their own path, not everyone should experience the same thing in initiation. A good teacher will provide the experience the student needs.