noun: the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new ("She looked forward to her initiation as an adult")
noun: a formal entry into an organization or position or office ("His initiation into the club")
noun: an act that sets in motion some course of events
noun: wisdom as evidenced by the possession of knowledge
Manly Palmer Hall
"Death takes man out of the world, but initiation takes the world out of man." [Manly Palmer Hall, The Hermitic Current]
"In the ancient system of initiation, the truth seeker must pass through a second birth, and those who attained this exalted state were known thereafter as "the twice born." Only one who has been born again can understand the mysteries of heaven. This new birth, however, is not attained by merely joining a sect. It must be personally earned through a complete regeneration of character and conduct." [Manly Palmer Hall]
Rudolf Steiner
"Through me you will die while still living in your body, to be reborn into an immortal existence:
Thus do I stand before you here to-day visible, as I have always stood invisible beside you in the hour of death. When you shall have passed my threshold you will enter those kingdoms which else would have opened to you only at physical death. You will enter them with full knowledge, and henceforth, when you wander outwardly visible upon the earth, you will also move through the kingdom of death, which is the kingdom of eternal life. I am indeed the angel of Death; yet at the same time I am the bringer of an imperishable higher life. Through me you will die while still living in your body, to be reborn into an immortal existence. The kingdom that you now enter will introduce you to beings of a superhuman kind, and in that kingdom happiness will be your lot."
[Rudolf Steiner, Initiation and Its Results, 1910, p. 151.]
Frank C. Higgins
"The true significance of all initiation has ever been that of a spiritual rebirth. The sacred Agrouchada of the Hindus says, “The first birth is merely the advent into material life; the second birth is the entrance to a spiritual life.”
The newly initiated into the first degree of Brahmanism was called douidja, which means “twice born.” The very word initiate indicates that the candidate is at least symbolically in the same situation as if he had had no previous existence. He is to be ushered into an altogether new world.
In ancient initiations the extremity of humility was expressed by the rent garments of contrition for past offenses in the life about to be blotted out, the bosom offered to the executioner’s sword, and the attitude of a captive."
"Above all were enjoined upon the candidate the three sacred virtues, which by the Jain sects in India are still called “the three jewels,” represented by three circles, “right belief,” “right knowledge,” and “right conduct.” In order to reach the spiritual plane, in which the soul is entirely freed from the bonds of matter, these were the chief necessities, and the person who clung to them would certainly go higher until he reached the state of liberation."
"To the ancient candidate were also recommended “the three successive steps which open the soul to free and unobstructed activity and communication on both the psychic and the spiritual planes.” The first was to still the ego and empty the mind of every bias and standard of self and sense. The second consisted, when this passive state had been induced, in fixing and holding the attention upon the specific object about which the truth was desired.
Thirdly, the foregoing two steps having been taken, the individual was to stand firmly and persistently in the receptive and listening attitude for the immediate revelation of the truth, in the full expectation of getting it. This receptive state and expectant attitude opened the consciousness to “the psychic vibrations that write unerringly their story on the receptive mind.” [Frank C. Higgins, The Builder, c. 1916]
See Also
Awakening
Christ Consciousness
Cosmic Consciousness
Illumination