Category Archives: Initiation

Initiation requires study and concentration of the mind as necessary preliminaries. Those who wish to undertake practical work must study and obtain familiarity with our philosophy and primary techniques. They should give thought to a fraternal name and associated Qabalistic number for exclusive use in the Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake. An ‘Apprentice’ is a Student that has been accepted into the novitiate and begins practice and learning. The Student is asked to provide a date for starting their Record. This will coincide with the entry of the Sun into a new zodiacal sign. The Record must be kept on a strict daily basis. The Apprentice Oath and Task is signed after meditation on its meaning, and a copy returned to the Order. The Apprentice continues their reading and study. If the Apprenticeship is deemed successful, a ritual for admission and particular practice will be given for the Iº (First Degree) Neophyte.

The Oath of an Apprentice (Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake) is as follows:

I shall direct the whole nature and all the powers of my being towards the accomplishment of the Great Work, which is: To obtain True Knowledge of that which is by Nature hidden from the ordinary senses and reason of Man. To this end, I will obtain control over the nature and powers of my own being.

In fact, that declared aim, to be attained in any full and complete measure, might take many years, even a lifetime, and might even never be attained, as depending on the latent possibilities of the individual.

Our Hermetic Qabalah Foundation course is open to suitable applicants. Advanced practices involve Raja Yoga, which combines devotion to an Egyptian deity involving concentration of mind, meditation and intellective process of discrimination, which alone can lead to the yoga of pure knowledge (jnana).

Mantra Yoga and Initiation

Posted on 2nd November 2025 by Metamorphosis

The mantra is extremely important in all initiatic traditions as it is the primary means of conveying diksha or ‘initiation’ within the Orders or groups. Various meanings of the Sanskrit term also include ‘consecration’, ‘preparation’ and most interestingly, ‘new vision’, as seeing and knowledge often have the same meaning.

When the guru gives a mantra to a sadhaka, it is called japa as that implies continuous repetition. While that is not the only use of the mantra, japa is valuable as a means of controlling the mind and stabilising the knowledge, and can be very efficacious as a support to meditation. The word or phrase can itself be the object of meditation. The whole question of diksha is contentious and some prefer not to discuss the subject at all, which is understandable. One should certainly not discuss one’s personal mantra. Very often the same mantra will be given to a group; it is still ‘personal’ when it has been conferred, even if used by all the followers of a particular guru.

This article is from our book, Advaita Vedanta—Question of the Real.

Why is diksha contentious? Very often novices will pester us for japa or diksha when they have read or heard about it somewhere and sense its importance. However, that feeling does not take account of their readiness to receive it, especially in the real initiatic sense. Impatience is a clear indication of unworthiness, although there is no reason at all why it should not be requested. In so far as it really can transmit initiation then once received it is permanent, and this is why it has been said that no member of an Order can ever leave it, since it is an integral part of being. Those who do leave an Order, as of course happens frequently, especially in the volatile times we live in today, were never truly members so their departure is no different than someone dissociating from any profane club, association or society. Even if initiation were given, they would not have received it.

Mantra in Initiation

This brings up a very important question regarding initiation, in whatever way it is given. We will not discuss here the absurdity of ‘self-initiation’, which is very popular in neo-spiritualism, and will only state here that it is an oxymoron arising from sheer ignorance. Initiation must be transmitted from one who has knowledge of more than a theoretical order, or if not, then at least from one that has received authorisation to initiate from within an Order. Initiation, as we have said, may be given sometimes but not received. Likewise a seed may be cast upon stony ground and so will not flourish.

At the highest level diksha is no less than what is called guru darshana, where the samadhi of the guru is transferred to the practitioner at least temporarily—in which case they have to work on it of course. There are other cases where the person may receive a spiritual influence but owing to their lack of preparedness, its effect is detrimental—although this is usually temporary and it is known that sometimes the power has been subsequently removed by the guru. In such a case, they were not able to withstand the direct transference from the mind of a Brahma-jnanin. It will then become apparent that the giving of a mantra or diksha is far more than the practice within the Order of the Golden Dawn where a seasonal ‘password’ is given, or in some later derivatives of that, where the Neophyte has to figure out a ‘secret word’ from a code given in the ritual.[1]

A real mantra is never merely invented or made up. The word or phrase will often be one well known from the Gita or Upanishads, for example, in which case the question arises as to how then can it be in any way ‘secret’ or indeed personal? It is special because it has been given in the way we have indicated. It is not merely a word, there is power behind it, which is the power of transmission. The guru will also give personal instruction in how to pronounce it and how to use it, which may be different according to the individual.

The secret then is not in a word itself, as is the case with shruti (‘direct’) texts. This is further explained by the bija mantra, where not only a word is given but also a deity, called Ishta Devata, the ‘chosen deity’. The mantra in this case is linked to the deity and usually a name of the deity is included, as with the much celebrated Om Nama Shiva-ya. There are countless examples in scripture and in hymns of praise. The most important of all of them is Om or AUM as it is a name of Brahma and much else besides.[2]

The three letters A, U, M are merged into one figure. The chandra-bija is at the top, which literally means ‘moon and dot (or point)’. All mantras include what is also called the bija-nada, which is indicative of subtle sound, not uttered physically. The bija ‘point’ is placed over the mantric word to indicate this. It is for the same reason—of the very subtle nature of this sound—that AUM is referred to in the Vedas indirectly, as Pranava, which is AUM or Brahma Nirguna.[3] This can be taken to mean, ‘a boat that carries us away from world illusion and to the Real’. This is further indicated by the moon and point.

Mantra: saying it and hearing it

It is often said in books or literature that mantras are to be sounded aloud with the voice. While this is sometimes done, it is not the way to enter the mystery of the bija-nada. It is therefore best to utter the word silently. In the highest form of the nada, it is not uttered at all, not even mentally, but is heard though not with the ears or even the inward sense of hearing. In this case, what is actually experienced is completely indescribable. There are lesser degrees of this, which amount to more indirect forms of knowledge.

The yantra, ‘image’, is also used extensively, and there are countless examples even within Hinduism, let alone neo-spiritualism where symbols are invented as often as they are drawn from a valid tradition. Apart from these—some of which can be effective—the best are no doubt to be found within the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some of the most effective within the Tantras, and which are also very well known, also happen to be the simplest, for example the point within a triangle:

The purpose of this is to meditate, using the bindu in the centre as the focal point. Such a yantra should preferably be hand drawn and painted by the sadhaka. While it can be meditated on externally, as with the mantra it is best when it is transferred to the subtle sense of vision in the first instance. After that, depending on the skill of the operator, the image itself is lost and the real knowledge of the symbol is known directly.

Another form of yantra is the image of the Ishta Devata. This is used in combination with the bija mantra. Traditionally, the idea is to build the image of the deity imaginatively in as much detail as possible. In practice, some are better at this than others, and in fact it is not really essential, especially as the idea is not to stay with the imagination; ideally, the created ‘picture’ is replaced by the vision of the deity, which is not at all the same thing as imagining it. Although it is not in any way a supreme realisation or something of that order, there are ‘degrees’ or levels of reality and the vision is of a higher order generally than mere visualisation. This practice is also part of what is called Ishvara Pranidhāna in the Yoga-Sutras.

Mantras and Chakras

Finally, a word should be said regarding the use of bija mantra images and sounds associated with the chakras. There is much of this written about in popular books and elsewhere, and that removes such practices entirely from their traditional use, so we will not give here a list of them. One might gain the impression, even from what might appear to be authoritative sources that the use of mantras extends no further than a means of helping with bodily health or psychological problems. In fact, using them ignorantly in the ways often suggested can be harmful—often the best thing that can happen is that nothing happens at all. Why is this? The methods are ancient and while the main use of these was spiritual, that does not mean that a spiritual influence will have a beneficial effect on one that uses them without knowledge and without a guru to guide them.

Even in tradition, mantras can be used for material purposes and this is not necessarily illegitimate but obviously there is ignorance prevailing in the person using them in this way, exactly as in the case of magical talismans. Our recommendation is to use the mantra and yantra for spiritual purposes, which means knowing the Real as the ultimate goal.

Notes

1. For example, using the Western colour correspondences to the paths of the Tree of Life in the King Scale: blue, yellow, orange-yellow, emerald green, blue-black: MABYN, a transliteration from Hebrew, sometimes rendered without the yod.
2. One should refer, in the first instance, to the Mandukya Upanishad, which is the authoritative treatise on AUM.
3. Thus repetition of the sacred AUM is called Pranava Japa.

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Initiation and Counter-Initiation

The term ‘initiation’ is frequently used without qualification. It is used to describe various things, some of which are mutually contradictory. There is thus no common agreement on what initiation even means, so it is not then surprising that confusion exists around the subject. The etymology of the word simply means ‘to start something off’, and yet there is no consensus on even that, the broadest definition possible. In fact it is so broad a definition that it necessarily narrows and limits the meaning to an ordinary material action. A trumpet can be blown to announce the commencement of some game, act or play, none of which concerns us here.

Path of the Arrow or Rainbow: The Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake includes three major grades or initiatic degrees. The Student (not a grade) must show an intellectual understanding of the work, and be prepared to study recommended texts. If they are accepted for practical work, then once duly prepared the Apprentice takes the Oath of entry to the Iº Neophyte grade.

A common error to be made concerning initiatic organisations is that initiation, or a rite of initiation, is no more than a means of induction into a particular group or body. That may be the case with some organisations, but those are not in any way initiatic, which is to say, their purpose is in no way to transmit a spiritual influence and consists only of social, political or other profane concerns. From this mistaken idea of induction into a social or other group comes forth even worse confusion, for example that initiation is no more than ‘psychological process’.

The Jungians and other rationalists that for various reasons made it their business to comment on things of which they were, by their disposition, not qualified to speak of, have denounced elite initiatic organisations. They did this on the grounds that all such groups can achieve is the immersion of an individual in a collective mind or egregore—we use the latter word here in its conventional sense. It would be as though some souls, too weak to help themselves, need the safety net of a collective body until such a time as they are ready for what Jungians term as ‘individuation’. The word ‘egregore’ has been used to reduce and nullify all public knowledge of initiatic organisations through misunderstanding and confusion. Before this could be done the word had first to suffer a degraded meaning. The meaning has by now become so far removed from its original sense that the word ‘egregore’ is even used to describe the motivations, attitudes and opinions of a corporate body, for example.

Initiation or Egregore?

Originally, egregore, derived from the Greek egregoros, ‘wakeful’, was associated with ‘Watchers’, of the Enochian tradition.[1] Far from being any kind of collective mind (if such a thing can even exist), the Watchers hint at the central mystery of initiation, which is concerned with non-human, praeterhuman or ‘beyond human’ intelligence. The Polish author Count Jan Potocki (1761–1815) wrote The Saragossa Manuscript in the early 1800s. This features the term ‘egregores’ in relation to certain illustrious fallen angels—which is a reference to the book of Enoch and the brief mention in Genesis of descendants of the elder race called Nephilim. Eliphas Lévi, in The Great Mystery, 1868, identifies egregores with the Watchers, the fathers of the Nephilim, describing them as “terrible beings” that “crush us without pity because they are unaware of our existence.” The description is complete fantasy on the part of Lévi, based on what he had read in the Bible and Apocrypha, which was overwritten from the surviving fragments by scribes completely unaware of the real meaning of the narrative. The accounts are therefore fascinating but corrupt. We shall turn to René Guénon for a precise explanation of what initiation means in our present context.[2]

Initiation must have a non-human origin, for without this it can never attain its final end, which extends beyond the domain of individual possibilities. That is why truly initiatic rites cannot be attributed to human authors; in fact, we can no more know the authors than we can know the inventors of traditional symbols, and for the same reason, for these symbols are equally non-human in their origin and essence.

He goes on to mention that there are strong lines between rites and symbols. By ‘rites’ he does not mean something made up or created, obviously. The original meaning of a ‘rite’ is more in the way of divine ordination, and of setting things in order. Thus any scholarly enquiry into the ‘authenticity’ of rites through an examination of authorship or historical facts can tell us absolutely nothing of any real significance concerning this matter. The true origin of an effective rite is beyond the bounds of the corporeal world of time and space.

This leads us to the matter of individuals conferring initiation on another, or others. Such a person is a transmitter, for he does not act as an individual, which would render any real initiation impossible. A transmitter is a ‘link in the chain’, as it were, and the support of an influence—but that influence has nothing to do with the individual domain. He does not act in his own name but in the name of the principle that the initiatic organisation represents. For this reason the effectiveness of any rite, even a religious one as opposed to an initiatic one, does not in any way depend on the individual merit of the initiator. The accomplishment of the rite is then made possible not through individual or personal qualities, or even their ability or knowledge, but through the power invested in the initiator. Thus it is possible for the hierophant to close the proceedings under some circumstances without the requirements of ‘ceremony’, which sometimes forms an additional part of a rite, but through simply declaring the closure, “By the power invested in this sceptre”, for example. The sceptre is the symbol of the principle and so of spiritual authority, though never the authority of the individual person themselves.

The initiator, perhaps needless to say, cannot be ‘anybody’, but must be invested with the function of transmitter. The initiator must also ‘know the rules’ of the rite, and be able to perform it without error. Even if the members of such an organisation have only what Guénon terms as ‘virtual initiation’, a spiritual influence can be effectively transmitted so long as the traditional chain is unbroken and the organisation or body of initiates must be truly a repository of a spiritual influence, which it carries. By ‘virtual’ initiates, Guénon, writing in 1946, does not of course refer to digital technology. He is referring to an organisation where the members have, through deviation or necessity such as is brought about by the extremely unnatural conditions imposed by the modern world, forgotten the true meaning and purpose of the rites and teaching. These can nonetheless be transmitters of the initiatic current, even when they do not know it themselves.

Anti-Initiation

Once psychological explanations of initiation gained dominance, the Western world was subjected to a plethora of ‘self-help’ literature and even professional guidance for those with disposable income and time on their hands. This counterfeit initiatic movement emerged from incomprehension of spiritual traditions combined with the arrogant presumption typified by modernism. Initiation by therapy or ‘healing’ swiftly gained popularity over the last half century, forming a covert anti-tradition. By placing all emphasis on the individual it destroys all possibilities of initiatic transmission in those who adopt its mind-set, for initiation must by definition have its origin outside and beyond the human sphere. This element of counter-initiation is ‘covert’ in so far as even the few remaining cosmic mediators in the last generation were persuaded by the claims of Jung and his followers that psychoanalysis might in some way be helpful, even essential, in matters of initiation—or even worse, that a therapeutic approach to the subject is in some way a healthier alternative. It was a serious deviation—destructive to whole generations in so far as it has rendered them impervious to any possibility of real initiation. We will turn once more to Guénon:[3

Thus it is altogether erroneous to identify initiatic organisations with secret societies, as is commonly done. First of all, it is very evident that the two expressions cannot in any way coincide in their application, for in fact there are many kinds of secret societies that have nothing initiatic about them since they can be formed by mere individual initiative and for any goal whatsoever…

Guénon here discerns a difference between groups that are societies, which are by definition purely exterior organisations, whether ‘secret’ or not, and initiatic organisations. He does this because even those who profess knowledge, or profane scholars who profess to ‘facts’ and ‘evidence’ commonly confuse the two things. He is prepared to concede, on the other hand, that genuinely initiatic organisations can sometimes take on the outward appearance of societies, in which case they automatically deviate in some ways from the original purpose of any initiatic organisation. He later qualifies the point further, by pointing out that in some circumstances, mainly those conditions that affect the modern Western world, this becomes inevitable. He therefore continues at some length describing in broad terms the different kinds of organisations that exist, for some of these are initiatic and some are not at all initiatic.

In all of the quarrels relating to secret societies, or to what are so called, either initiatic organisations are not involved, or at least it is not their initiatic character as such that is involved, something, moreover, that would be impossible for other profound reasons that the rest of our account will better explain.

Guénon alludes here to the disputes, frequently carried out in public, among members of various organisations claiming to be initiatic. This often revolves around ‘authenticity’, ‘lineage’ and so forth. As he has already made clear, none of that can have anything to do with a truly initiatic Order. Sometimes an organisation might be initiatic, or was once, but the members have lost sight of the true meaning and purpose of initiation through social or other aims. Guénon refers to this as ‘contamination’ or ‘deviation’.

Whether or not an organisation clothes itself in the particular and moreover wholly outward forms that permit it to be defined as a society, it can be qualified as secret in the widest sense of this word, and without attaching to it the least unfavourable intention…

Organisations are often accused of being secret societies once their presence, or at least their outer appearance, has become known. This rests purely on the fact of secrecy, as though that were objectionable in itself. There are two kinds of secret that an organisation may harbour. The first is that of initiation itself, which is incommunicable by profane means and completely ungraspable by the materialist—for even if such a person knew the rites from reading them in books (for example), they could not receive initiation, being impervious to any spiritual influence or transmission. The second kind is that of very ordinary secrets that are no more than outward signs, words or symbols conveyed to the members so they can recognise each other.

Once the difference between a ‘secret society’ and an initiatic Order is understood, it becomes clear why it is that the member of a truly initiatic organisation can never leave it. It is easily possible to leave, or be expelled, from any profane society, for it is only governed by the same rules that govern any other purely exoteric body, and so the being is not in any way changed by this. Any ties forged or broken are entirely outward. In the case of an initiatic organisation, however, which transmits a spiritual influence, the person that has received an effective initiation is changed permanently—no merely formal or administrative means can alter the fact. Furthermore, whereas a society can be the target of attacks from outside—because it is itself ‘on the outside’—and can be removed by political or other means, an initiatic organisation, by its very nature, is not in any way affected. Guénon goes on to say that such an organisation exists so long as “even one single member remains alive”. An initiatic organisation cannot be attacked or dissolved from without, for such a body is invisible to the profane world. Even if no representative is still living, we should understand that the ending of the spiritual transmission was willed from within and not as a consequence of attacks from without, or from any exterior cause.

It is necessary to qualify the different kinds of organisations, both initiatic and non-initiatic. While some have remained purely initiatic, others have deviated, for example by introducing political or social ideals or agendas, but they remain initiatic at their core, even if the members or even the representatives do not understand this. Then there are pseudo-initiatic organisations, which are a counterfeit, for example those that have a purely ‘psychological’ basis. In addition, there are some organisations wholly opposed to all initiatic tradition whatsoever, and this can include merely conventional, non-initiatic or pseudo-initiatic bodies. The pseudo-initiatic organisations, as they are as profane as the declared anti-initiatic, are equally opposed to any true or genuine initiatic tradition, even those elements that have deviated yet retain an initiatic core.

There is a popular fantasy that confuses initiatic Orders with some political secret or covert project—the name of the Illuminati is often used, even though that was a real but profane organisation with a rationalist ideal. All this is conflated with ‘conspiracy theories’, which has nothing to do with either. It has lately been used as a political means of suppressing all dissent from the official line—it is only necessary to attack one that declares perfectly reasonable and quite ordinary facts to be a believer in ‘conspiracy theories’ and the public are ready to join in the condemnation, aiding and abetting the suppression of knowledge and reinforcing their subservience.

When a genuinely initiatic organisation holds a secret, that can only be a symbol or some outward token of the true initiatic secret, which of course can neither be disclosed or betrayed by any means available to the profane, for it is incommunicable. The outward ‘secret’ is then a purely secondary element, having no real value or significance in itself. No truly initiatic secret can be betrayed and no exterior force can betray any truly initiatic body.

Finally, there are, and have been for centuries, organisations that parody initiatic organisations, without concealing anything though they sometimes pretend to keep some secret. There are some such groups that emerged in Britain and America from the 18th century continuing to the present day. One obvious example is the ‘Hellfire Club’, which served no other purpose than to entertain the whims and excesses of English lords.[4]

Notes

1. The only authentic account of the Nephilim or ‘Watchers’ is preserved in the opening paragraphs of ‘The Sethian Gnosis’, Thrice Greatest Hermes, G.R.S. Mead.
2. Guénon, pp. 52–53, Perspectives on Initiation [1947—republished in 2001 by Sophia Perennis].
3. Guénon [ibid].
4. The first Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip, Duke of Wharton, but gained notoriety through the English club established by Sir Francis Dashwood (1749 to around 1760). The Club was later associated with Brooks’s (1764). Other Hellfire Clubs sprang up throughout the 18th century, most of them in Ireland after Wharton’s had been dissolved.

This article is abridged from Nu Hermetica—Initiation and Metaphysical Reality.

Related on this website:

Crisis of the Modern World Revisited (on René Guénon, in view of the present times)

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