On the Preparation of the Soul for Initiation

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

It has been said that the opportunity for the enlightenment of any individual comes but once in each lifetime. There is truth in this. If a person is aware enough of his- or herself and surroundings to recognise a moment such as this he finds himself at a crossroads. He can opt out and let the opportunity pass by and believe whatever he wants to believe. The mind of the average person is pretty rigid in its aversion to new ideas, and blocking things out of the conscious mind has become a conditioned reflex. On the other hand, the individual can choose to catch the thread and follow where it leads.

In either case, the choice made is an act of will and its ramifications reflect on the life led thereafter. In the case of he who walks away early on, the ramifications of his choice will generally not haunt him. Not knowing what could have been, it is a simple matter to ignore imagery or events reminding him of the choice made. Things will be as they always were. Conversely, he who chooses to break beyond the barriers of the mundane seeks truth, though the individual may not fully realise it at the time. And once the proverbial forbidden fruit has been tasted, it is a truly difficult savour to forget.

Even so, the individual needs to have some form of preparation for initiation. A critical sign of readiness is an open mind - an analytical or scientifically sceptical mind is usually a bonus, but an open mind or wider perspective is a fundamental in progressing toward enlightenment, as new and foreign ideas will bombard the mind upon the path. The mind is generally recalcitrant in accepting new ideas. It bases an individual's perception of reality upon things already experienced, pulled from memory, subconscious, genetic or otherwise. Reconditioning the mind to accept these ideas takes practice and great effort; and the reward is success.

Another sign is determination. Perseverence is a necessity to the initiate. Progress can at times be frustrating and may require a mental step back to look at the problem area from a different angle, or a mental regrouping, but the way is ever forward. An unsuccessful attempt at anything should spur the individual to a redoubled effort, or a reassessment of the means to the end. True failure only occurs when one gives up the efforts for conquest.

Passion is another driving force for the initiate. Whether the yearning is for knowledge, power, inner peace, or satisfaction every student of the mysteries is nudged ever upward by that passion. The object of that passion may vary or change, expand or contract, yet the passion remains.

There are many other recognisable signs of aptitude including talents, latent or developed, such as clairvoyance, a deeper understanding of music and other arts, genius, scientific curiosity or what have you. But these are only the beginning of the foundation of each aspirant for the many initiations along the path to enlightenment. Skills are developed along the way that enhance and balance the individual's increasing understanding in both mundane and spiritual matters. Strength follows familiarity, which in turn comes of practice. There are many ways to prepare and strengthen the spirit, but the spiritual self can ultimately progress only by an 'act of will'.

An act of will is a choice, directed will aimed at an objective, and should be distinguished from habitual action as the two are not at all synonymous. An act of will can be anything from performing a routine task at a different time to setting a goal and striving for it. Spontenaeity is one of the more obvious traits of the active will, as if the body is acting upon information of which the conscious mind is unaware.

The initiate trains himself to become acutely aware of the information avenues including the heightened common senses, which not only broadens the perspective range of the initiate but also allows for development and control of the will.

The path of initiation unfolds as the initiate chooses to go forward. The mind is becoming more flexible with regular exercise. Techniques are employed to facilitate deeper exploration of the various levels of consciousness, and each step of progress is further preparation for the next initiation. The layout of the path varies for each seeker as he is a unique individual and interacts with his universe in his own personal manner. It is not, however, laid out before him awaiting his foot to tread.

The positioning of any individual - his state of mind, his strengths and weaknesses, and his interaction with his environment - is key to which gateways are open, visible, or closed at any given moment.

Timing can be very important, and it may seem at times that the initiate is being pushed in a particular direction, nearly to the point of inevitability. Potential events are subject to varying degrees of change. Generally, those evolving events still distant are more feasibly altered than the outcome of those that are imminent.

There are a great many degrees of individuals' preparation and the souls' readiness - or lack thereof - all of them affecting and influencing each other and interacting with an equally multitudinous combination of environmental variables. An effect this roiling mass of seeming confusion produces is the uniqueness of everything in existence. And the mere continuous motion of it, ever changing and evolving, is the momentum of the universe, the only circumstance allowing the very perception of this existence.

In mathmatical terms, this formula of the individual is always changing in relation to every manner of condition, variable and influence it is exposed to. 'Talent x', for example, can be proportionally modified, reversed or cancelled out by 'current social environment q' state of mind 'd' or 'childhood trauma f '.

The soul itself is the vessel that houses the spirit, and is itself a combination of the elements in various proportions. This combination is not necessarily balanced, either, and its make-up could be said to act as a filter or lens to the outward expression of the spirit. The soul is an itegral part of the nature of an individual in his present incarnation, and the acquisition of complementary, or balancing, factors is one of the things the initiate strives toward. In the early stages of initiation the soul acts as a veil, dampening the radiance and clarity of the spirit until such a time as by glimpses and exercise of its function, control, then mastery is achieved.

Some individuals are not conducive to the path of enlightenment. Some lives have not developed to a sufficient degree to adequately adjust to the shock the mind receives as even the first veils are removed. Some are trapped in the obsession of categorizing information into the realms of what's real and not, having conditioned beliefs of what is and is not possible, forming an impenetrable block to any idea that does not fit into their perception of reality. This is not stated to imply that one who is prepared is any better than another who is not. Each person plays a role in the scheme of existence.

It would be unnecessarily cruel to force anyone onto a path other than their own. Their choice to abide in the mundane must be respected as much as the choice to expand beyond it. Besides, without the full range of extremes one can neither gauge progress nor attain a balance somewhere in between.

This choice of progression applies even beyond the first veils. Again, as progress is ultimately made through individual acts of will alone, many initiates pause and stop along the way; whether deciding to remain at a comfortable level, or being unable to proceed further with the accumulated strength and tools available to them. They who choose to stay should not be pitied or regarded with disdain. One who over-extends his reach can lose the very perspective he's been striving for, flounder and even fall from the path. This is why preparation is the key to growth and success.

Some individuals have passed through various ordeals and reached certain levels of enlightenment without ever having realised the significance of the state or drawing any connective conclusions from it. The pure fool walks the path in innocence and passes through the fire unscathed.

But he who yearns to understand more deeply those things he has experienced or suspected, he who wishes to understand the karma (cause and consequence) of himself and of the universe around him must set about to explore the causal natures and functioning of such things in both artistic and scientific terms, testing the flexibility of the laws of form, gaining an understanding of the thermoplasticity of 'reality' - putting names to the faces, as it were.

There are an infinite number of systems, circumstances and events that will lead to universal truths, which are the fundamental constants at the core of every initiatory system, regardless of region, customs and dogmas surrounding them. The trained initiate can use his knowledge of how physical environments such as a lush valley or a harsh desert play a role in the development of customs and the allegories in legends to see beyond the face value of each.

Such imagery can also facilitate understanding in the initiate if it happens to parallel a past or present perspective. He then decides which parts of which systems work best in conjunction with his nature, tests them, mixes and matches them, studies and analyses them and uses them, or rather the underlying truths, and refining them to enhance his progression upon his path.

The initiate who unveils such truths can recognise them in any other system geared toward enlightenment. They are the milestones of attainment. Moreover, bits of these truths are seen to be employed throughout societal function as well, though they are just as likely to be corrupted or misinterpreted as in religious dogma. A universal truth described in allegory, for example, can, if the deeper meaning is lost in time, be taken literally or objectivity be lost due to personally coloured interpretations. But not only are these truths undeniable when grasped, they are apparent to all initiates when seen in the individuals who apply them, consciously or not.

A great many of the obstacles an initiate faces upon the path to enlightenment involve or amount to fear. Some fears are developed later in life as our conception of reality hardens into a rigid perspective but most are imprinted upon us in our early development during childhood.

In the cradle, without the support of language as a communicative asset, the child automatically reads his surroundings with tools of genetic heredity built in to the human mind.

For most, these tools are shuffled to the rear as they 'grow up' because they do not appear to be commonly utilised by those within their sphere of familiarity, nor do they seem hugely necessary to a minimal level of fitting in to the role each person plays in society.

In the event that these innate tools are not suppressed or frowned upon in the individuals' environs, they often maintain a somewhat active role in everyday living.

Still, the first thing a child learns to mimic is the expression of emotion. It perceives the love, frustration, tranquility, anger, surety and fear with the clarity of an astute and determined student, and as certainly as Joe Average sees orange and truck. The child sees the shifts from one emotion to another and associates them with the circumstances insofar as it is able, refining and expanding its understanding as time passes and more data has been collected on the interplay experienced. He does this instinctively, understanding that there must be common ground for communication of any sort. And so the child adopts the assets and inadequacies, the culture, the beliefs and the fears of its peers.

From the very beginning the initiate starts to question these conditioned tendencies exhibited in reaction to certain stimuli and situations, determining the origins of each in turn. He re-learns the usage of the tools he was born with, this time with more and less difficulty, depending upon the rigidity of his mind. There is a greater library of relationships and other data that aid in the development of technique, but there are many things, superstitions and certain ideas of limitation, for example, that must be unlearned. This deprogramming of the mind is often very difficult.

Once the idiosyncrasy is identified and acknowledged, it can with the trained mind be broken down into its components, analysed and simplified. It is then determined whether such tendency, reaction, belief or what-have-you is valid, necessary or appropriate for the individual's nature.

The mind is full of fear: fear of the unknown, fear of acceptance, fear of failure, fear of change, fear of worthiness, fear of fear, fear of death, fear of life. They may not be obvious, varying in degrees of intensity or camouflaging themselves behind masks and excuses. Herein lies a great danger to he who would be free of these bonds. Sometimes the smallest uncertainty can create a profound hang-up.

One by one the initiate challenges his fears, breaks through the balk, rends the veil and moves further into the freedom beyond. The initiate who cowers before these fears will find torment and other unsavoury discomforts at his doorstep.

Habit also is something that must be scrutinized. With actions of habit the individual may have lost sight of the importance behind the action, and the mind ceases to pay attention to said act. This is similar to, but not the same as ritual action.

The purpose of ritual is a symbolic union of action with the intent of that action. The association is strengthened with time and use rather than becoming dogma or the repetitive monotony that is a fog in the conscious level of awareness.

The similarity between the two is seen in their automatic natures. Both take little thought or conscious effort to execute, leaving the mind free to focus on other matters at hand. But action without meaning is weak and amounts to lip service, especially for the initiated. Once the difference is not just known but understood, the distinction is clear, and the initiate must remain mindful of the one falling into the pitfall of the other.

Whatever system an initiate uses to propel himself ever upward into the light, the way of attainment remains the same. Some students utilise multiple systems, others but one. But the attainment achieved is recognisable to all initiates. For in the end, the many systems become one system; or rather it is realised that it was always thus, merely under the guise of plurality. The mind has known the truth all along, it merely had to be reminded that this was always the case.

As the initiate moves forward, he becomes aware of a particular phenomenon in relation to his progression. It is similar to the feeling of probability that grows with the imminence of an event and can be regarded as a progressive summery of one's current standings on the scale of Tao.

When the student is on the right track, per se, progressing at the optimal rate, he finds that the universe seems to independently bend itself that the path of the individual is clear and free of minor obstacles, from traffic lights to an important 'chance' meeting. Every event tends to work out in his favour, however trivial it may seem.

Likewise, when the student is dallying overlong or working in contrast to his own benefit, he distinctly feels to be bucking the universal stacked deck. This phenomenon is familiar to most on the path, and whether being patted on the back as the red carpet is rolled before him or receiving a smack upside the head as the cosmic foot trips him up, it can usually be interpreted as a sign as to whether the individual is flowing with the universal currents or against them.

The momentum of the universe is more than the mere expansion of the galaxies and the rotation of the planets and moons. It is every form of energy wave regarded as a whole. From the tiniest sub-atomic particle to the ball of burning gasses we call a star, sounds, colours, thoughts, etc.. Seen from the viewpoint of the individual there is an infinite number of currents criss-crossing, running parallel, diverging and converging in such an immense scope that it can seem an overwhelming confusion of complexity. From an expanded viewpoint, it is seen as a fluid and harmonious symphony or dance of continuous change.

Along the path of the initiated student of truth, some of these wavelengths are dealt with on a more intimate level than is currently considered normal. The student learns not only to identify many of these currents but also how to manipulate them, immerse himself in them, identify with them and understand their natures and effects, both within and without himself.

When the student first opens the gateway, and begins invoking the energies within himself, he becomes aware of other sources. Like a magnet, an initiate who builds up a charge attracts energies from his surroundings. The stronger the energy is built, the greater the range and the more potent the attraction becomes. When new to this experience, bombardment from these forces can be quite overwhelming. Of course methods are acquired to deal with them, from setting up a simple circle to invoking a zen attitude and allowing them to flow freely through. Often it is desired to draw them in to enhance a shift in the initiate's state of mind, such as with the assumption of godforms and shapeshifting.

The action of an individual creates the strongest current since the laws of attraction affect the currents around him, molding and directing them to follow and enhance his action. Also, most things in the universe move along at their natural path with very little self-initiated variation. The human, on the other hand, is curious and a natural explorer and adventurer, forever testing limits, experimenting and otherwise generally causing conflict within his environment. It is almost a natural inclination for the human to meddle in the affairs of existence.

However, by virtue of these very tendencies, if the initiate pays attention to the causes and effects of his play (his karma), in both the short term and the long term, he can glean a clearer perception of what he is actually doing, from planting a new idea in another's mind right down to weather-witching. Knowing which strings to pull, as it were, is important, and the more potent the strength of the initiate's influence becomes, the more dramatic an effect produced will be.

As a river gathers force and magnitude when tributaries flowing in the same general direction join with it, so does the student's abilities grow, fortifying him and opening the gateway to the next stage of initiation.

A student with some clarity of vision can apply principles and techniques from one system to another. Say, for example, the student has mastered a physical science. Understanding the essences behind the formulæ, he can easily master a second science simply by replacing the one set of terms with another, and another, and so on. In exactly the same fashion, another student who can detect nuances in facial expression and inflection in a conversation will have little difficulty applying the same principles to another conversation in a language he does not speak, enough so as to comprehend the intent, at least.

As for attainment itself, even as the child will continue to learn, more or less, at the pace initially set at two or three years of age, so long as there is no great interruption in that momentum, the student will continue to expand at the exponential rate set by his exposure to the challenges of initiation.

In effect, he will catch a wave on the sea that is the momentum of the universe; and so long as the gates remain open and the individual continues forward, so faster will he attain. While the individual ultimately directs the vectors of movement, the momentum of the wave will sustain him.

In these ways he becomes more than the sum of his parts.

Once a sufficient level of competence in the use of the tools has been attained, the individual refines his techniques, and in some cases altering them completely. He finds that he can open an close avenues of consciousness at will, travelling the great expanse of the inner self. He has freed himself of the fetters of mind that inhibited action. He has prepared himself for one initiation after another in the continuous process of self-enlightenment.

He has developed himself to such a degree that his soul, the bridge to the spirit, has attained a degree of balance with mitigating qualities developed by the initiate, and has become as much a cooperative, functioning part of the whole as has the mind. This understanding helps to clear most of the obstruction and the soul is nearly prepared to function as the conduit between the microcosmic and macrocosmic aspects of himself, between the man and his higher self, the immortal spirit.

The initiate now explores the means and methods of enabling coherent communication between himself and Himself, preparing himself for reception and understanding. He should be fortified, and capable of proper translation and interpretation so that the next initiation and all those that will follow are able to be put to their best use in the performance of the Initiate's Work.

Every step taken on the path to enlightenment is in preparation for the next. The mind, the body and the soul progress toward a unified and harmonious existence. The spirit is strengthened with every act of will. And every act of will, executed through the individual leads to the freedom and strength to exist both as a self-contained unit and as an essential and active part of the living universe.

The roads are many. The Goal is One.

Love is the law, love under will.

© 2004 By Frater Valak. Published on Wiccanweb.ca by permission of the author.