On The Path Of Initiation
Much of modern Paganism, presuming to follow in the spirit of ancient practices, places great emphasis on the role of a Goddess containing three distinct but interrelated aspects, in the classic triune of Maiden, Mother and Crone. It isn't always recognised that each aspect within that triune also contains more than one aspect within itself. As the face of the Moon changes and then changes again, so does that of the Goddess.
For instance, while it's generally understood that the image of the Crone represents a dark and restrictive, even destructive, side of the Goddess, it's less often recognised that it is as much in the role of the Mother to impose boundaries – sometimes in a severe or even harsh way – as it is to give birth and to nurture.
We can see this given expression in the struggle between Arianrhod on the one hand, and on the other her son Lleu assisted by the magician Gwydion, as it survives within the story of Math, Son of Mathonwy in The Mabinogion. The young Lleu is issued a series of increasingly difficult tests by his mother before she will grant him the formal attributes of manhood – a name, the right to bear arms, and a wife. Fortunately for the boy, he has assistance from Gwydion, arch trickster of The Mabinogion, and passes each test thanks to Gwydion's combination of magic and cunning. Although, unfortunately, the gaining of a wife through Gwydion's trickery backfires rather badly, but that's another story...
The figure of the harsh Mother could also be considered to underlie the many “wicked” stepmothers and fairy godmothers that appear in traditional stories worldwide. Snow White needs an evil Queen, and Sleeping Beauty needs a bad fairy, or else they can't become all that they have the potential to become.
Their apparently restrictive, negative function, in fact, is setting the boundaries that serve to empower the development of the central character, hero or heroine of the particular story, effectively channelling and focusing that character's growth and destiny. These stories relate, not the failed vengeance of some embittered women, but the outlines of an initiatory process.
It’s important to be clear in our understanding of what initiation is and what it entails. The concept itself has become a relatively familiar one due to the popularisation of much of neo-Pagan practice. Most often, it seems to have come to signify a rite of social acceptance into a group, as a rite of passage, and as a mark of personal commitment to a particular group or Tradition. There is nothing wrong with these elements – though they are arguably derived more from the practices of Freemasonry than from any genuinely ancient initiatory knowledge – being associated with initiation. However, the primary Tradition in which I was trained saw the subject of initiation a little differently.
There’s a clue, as so often, in etymology. The original meaning of initiation is related to the verb to initiate; in other words, initiation is a beginning, a trigger or a point of activation. It isn't necessarily a self-contained ritual. Any ceremonial involved may be, in fact, a relatively minor part of the entire process. There is a sense in which initiation is designed to launch a period of change or even transformation, perhaps on the level of the initiate’s personality, but certainly in their magical and spiritual energies. Thus, the impact of the initiatory magic can be expected, if at all effective, to continue rippling through the life and experience of the initiate for some time – maybe even for some considerable time – following the initiatory act itself.
It's interesting to compare this with the concept of advancement in traditional Japanese arts, particularly in the martial arts koryu (the classical schools of Japanese martial arts). There, the award of a higher rank is not so much a marker or confirmation of achievement than it is meant to be an aspiration. The student is provoked to grow into their new rank, psychologically and spiritually, more than they are required to demonstrate any mastery of physical techniques.
The way in which my primary Tradition approaches the process is through the method of the Initiation Path. There's no pretending that this is in some pure form passed down from ancient times, or entirely original, although it may well resonate with old practices. I think it's been influenced, for instance, by the chapter on Initiation contained in Murry Hope's book, Practical Celtic Magic, although my understanding is that my own first teachers were building on a tradition that significantly predated the publication of that book. The Initiation Path is intended as a sequence of tests or challenges that will stimulate and exercise the candidate for initiation mentally, physically and psychically. By doing so, it works on all those three aspects of the individual, and hopefully improves the state of balance and harmony between them.
Initiation is also regarded, within such a context, as something ongoing, rather like an endless ladder. The point is that, however knowledgeable or even powerful we may become (or at least think that we have become!) in terms of our magical and spiritual development, there will always be some distance further to travel. The Initiation Path is the means of taking that journey towards greater understanding and perhaps even wisdom. It also tends to show up our limitations, helping to keep the ego in check and any sense of “power” firmly in context.
It is no accident or coincidence, by the way, that the Initiation Path usually involves some degree of physical journeying. Not simply because it adds an element of physical challenge to the Path, but also because it constitutes an Outer, physical symbol of the candidate’s Inner progress. There is a strong connection to the notion of pilgrimage, which I've written about in a previous essay for A Beautiful Resistance, and which is highly relevant to the physical journeying – particularly the appropriate state of mind in which it should be undertaken – that is a key element of the Initiation Path. And it is also worth noting that once you have started out on the Path, even if you stop partway, you will have triggered a psychic “chain reaction” of sorts that will continue even if you don’t want it to.
The Initiation Path is often given in a way that may appear to be deliberately obscure. In fact, this is intended to provoke the initiatory candidate into making a poetic, non-rational – rather than rational – and personalised interpretation. This is, in itself, a crucial element of the quest. It should involve not only the physical journeying, but also methods that may include meditation, visualisation, divination, contact with discarnate entities, and a growing relationship with the Land itself and with its guardians.
I think it’s important to point out that initiation can also take many and unexpected forms quite apart from the formal kind, arising naturally and spontaneously through experiences in “everyday life”. There is nothing at all “lesser” in such initiations, in fact there is a certain sense in which more formalised magical practices are often designed to attune the awareness so that it will be able to recognise and work with them. Real magic is to be found in the real world and in real, lived, experiences; not merely within the temple precinct or the witches' Circle and a cloud of incense.
None of the foregoing is to suggest that the more common form of initiation is either useless or wrong. But as our Pagan traditions, and our relationships with the wider society, continue to evolve in a rapidly changing world, there is value in rethinking how we connect those two environments – the supposedly civilised world of everyday life and the wild forests of magic and imagination – on either side of the hedge between them. How, in fact, we may keep the door that leads through both open and closed, simultaneously.
Philip Kane
Philip Kane is an award-winning poet, author, storyteller and artist, living in the south-eastern corner of England. He is an “Old Craft” practitioner, a supporter of Anti-Capitalist Resistance, and a founding member of the London Surrealist Group. Philip's work has been published and exhibited across Europe, in the Middle East and in the USA. He is a contributor to The Gorgon's Guide to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press, 2022).