NMR ISSUE 16

All Together On This Earth
Astrological Forecast 16
Don't Save the Earth!
Editorial 16
Initiation and the Degree System
Letters 16
Metaphysical Messages of Addictions
New Virtual Economy
Rite to Reclaim the Power of the Snake
Snail
Spirit Lover
The Abyss and Beyond
The Eleventh House: Dreams or Destiny
The Oldest Magick
Three Magical Waters
Understanding Your Dreams
Why Love is the Law - A Primer
Winter Solstice

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Initiation and the Degree System

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Most modern occult groups have some kind of degree system. Even in non-occult groups, a hierarchical order involving degrees is very popular and reflects a vital nucleus within them. The degrees become intrinsic in the structure of these Orders and often reflect the interrelationship among members. It is most common for them to number degrees (with Roman numerals) to indicate the individual's position on a sliding scale. Higher numbers usually refer to members with greater experience and responsibility.

Often these systems use the term initiation," though in many different ways among different groups. They usually refer to the initial acceptance of the individual into the group, but can also refer to events occurring throughout their membership, thus there can be many initiations. In fact, many groups call all the degrees initiations."

Initiation can refer to a spiritual experience, generally an inner transformation. In this sense, it's often an individual experience, as in the Elysian Mysteries (when the neophyte stayed alone in the Sacred Temple). While, in there, sacred icons (paintings, statues) were supposed to create an inner change in the individual viewing them. An initiate would be someone who has gone through the ceremony and (ideally) been illuminated and changed in some spiritual sense. This may have roots in the ceremonies involving the cave painting of our remote ancestors.

Initiation may refer to an experience in which the neophyte undergoes a physical or emotional ordeal. This is often used to put the individual into a suggestive frame of mind which may be used to imprint or condition them to a new kind of behavior. Primary cultures often use this to mark the passage of young members of the tribe into adulthood. Under these circumstances, people can learn the social rules very quickly and remember them long after the ceremony is over. Generally the guidelines have a special spiritual significance as well—it can be difficult to separate the religious from the social.

Initiation can also refer to the transference of special knowledge, such as secret documents, invocations, rituals, passwords, or instructions. The most common form of this is in the fraternal organizations: military groups, frat houses, Masons, Templars. In these, there is special information that only dedicated and loyal members should know and passing this information requires proof. This proof is in the form of special signs given to the member during particular ceremonies. These groups also use the degree system, and it has formed the model for most other extant occult groups.

The most likely source for the modern degree system is the Stone Mason. Most magickal groups us very something similar, including special rituals for each degree and even Pagan ones (like Wicca) do. In fact, the Wiccans use the same number of degrees and even refer to themselves as the Craft," just as the Masons do. The Masons were originally a Guild society, something like a primitive form of the Unions. In ancient times, the Guilds served the useful purpose of uniting working people by common interests: their trade, and insuring their continued employment. Guild members would meet to discuss regulations, resources, prices and any other matter that might mutually affect them. Obviously, the need for secrecy was paramount. For most Guilds, this was easy. Villages were small and people knew each other by sight. This wasn't sufficient for the Masons though.

Because of their nature of the work, masons had to travel far and wide to find work. Buildings didn't go up that often and many small villages couldn't support them. Masons converging in a town from far away to work on a Church or other new structure would have the problem of not knowing each other, and being unable to judge the others' work. The solution for Masons was to use an educational system involving secret signs passed on through special ceremonies at the right time. They are alleged to have originally used three degrees; Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft and Master Mason. These refer to levels of experience and ability, and in this sense degree, is synonymous with its use in educational institutions. To ascend the ladder, Masons were expected to earn their degrees.

At some point (no one is certain when) the Masonic Guilds began offering membership to people with no Masonic abilities. The earliest references I know of date from the 1600's. They are little more than obscure notes found in letters from various prominent people (prominent in their day, that is). Why Masonic groups began doing this isn't certain, but it was probably to honor important members of the community. This may have been in the same sense that Universities offer honorary degrees. How or why the Masonic Guilds than evolved into the fraternities we know of today is a mystery, but by the 1700's, Masonic orders began forming that had no connection with their working brethren. These became known as Speculative" or Free" Masons, as opposed to Operative" ones.

The first speculative Grand Lodge was established in London in 1717. It recognized only the first three degrees mentioned above (called symbolic degrees). In three years it began chartering other subordinate Lodges. This was the beginning of the era of the infamous Men's Clubs in Britain and other parts of Europe and marked the real origin of many occult societies. They played an important part in the French and American revolutions, and the British Industrial Revolution. In a very literal sense, the Masons and other similar occult societies were critical in the development of modern civilization.

Originally, the Masonic degree system had only three levels. This divided quickly into amended degrees called Rites. The earliest of these is the York Rite. It alleges to be rooted in an annual meeting of Masons in 926 at York, but more likely developed in the early 1700's (perhaps 1732, when the Grand Lodge of York recognized the Grand lodge of London). It had 10 degrees; Apprentice, Fellow, Master, Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, Holy Royal Arch and three administrative degrees. Now the York Rite has more degrees, though the exact number varies.

The most popular degree system, next to the York Rite, is the Scots Rite. This is the one with the infamous 33 degrees. I'm not going to list them all, but they are conspicuous for their inclusion of may Knight degrees. This is because the founder of the Scots Rite, Andrew Ramsay, believed the Masons derived not from the Stone Masons, but from the crusading knights. He believed that the first Freemasons were knights dedicated to rebuilding the sacred Temples and other historic buildings that the Saracens had destroyed. They were originally hampered by spies, who would find an easy time joining the knights' ranks. These spies proved very harmful to the orders, so they had formed secret rites, signs and symbols in order to keep the spies from getting any more information. He claimed that their administrative center was in Edinburgh, hence the term Scots rites.

He first offered this theory to the British Lodges in 1728. It was about as popular as a fart in an elevator. They were adverse to new theories and firmly entrenched in the Stone Mason theory. However, in 1740 Ramsay gave his speech to the Grand Lodge in Paris which accepted it with great enthusiasm. This is probably because the French held the knights, especially the Templars, in high esteem after their brutal treatment by the aristocracy and in the Church. They became a powerful symbol for many revolutionaries. Although the details that Ramsay used to support his theory were later proven false, the idea of the knights being the first true Freemasons spread, and his system of 33 degrees became very popular.

Along with this, an entirely new and different fraternity developed as a result of Ramsay's lobbying: Templarism. These Orders were not formally connected with the Freemasons and used a different system of degrees. In order to be a recognized Masonic Order, a group must accept the first three symbolic degrees. (Crowley was allegedly requested to rewrite the first three O.T.O. degrees because other Masonic Lodges complained they were too similar to theirs.) Although the French were the first to recognize the knightly roots of the Masons, they did so under the auspices of the Grand Lodges, hence the Scots Rites are founded on Masonic degrees. The Germans were the ones to take the Templar route one step farther and form completely independent Lodges. The Templar Lodges substituted the Knights of Priories, Knights Commanders and Knight Grand Crosses for the initial degrees, and expanded considerably from there. Many were also far more occult than the Orthodox Freemason and explored many esoteric areas, like Gnosticism and Tantra. These were the immediate roots of modern occult societies. Many groups, like the Golden Dawn, acknowledge their origins in them. However, some Templar groups were later recognized by the orthodox Masonic groups (including the early O.T.O.), and accepted under the Grand Lodges.

While most Freemasons would be offended at being called occultists, there is no denying the esoteric character of the degrees and Rites. It is easy to see the connection with other obviously occult groups—in particular their use of Masonic organizational structures. Most Masons contend that their roots lie in the ancient Greeks, Egyptian and Israelites who build the Temples and Churches. In order to make these sacred structures, they had to know the correct symbols and geometries. Often, the early Stone Masons were a special priesthood all their own, such as in Egypt. This accounts for much of the arcane imagery they use and their ready acceptance of ritual and ceremonies that aren't entirely mundane. It would be comparatively easy to form a secret society with secret passwords and signs without the religious symbolism.

If we also accept Ramsay's theories about the origins of the Freemasons in the knights we have another ready source of esoteric knowledge. While soldiers rarely leave much philosophical or spiritual writings behind, they have had strong esoteric connections. They usually travel to other countries and are the first to collect and examine religious artifacts and books from other cultures. The Renaissance in Europe could not have happened without the Crusades and all the Saracen libraries they liberated. Such resultant spiritual eclecticism occurred throughout history. Mithraism (which was Persian, but very popular among Roman soldiers) included a degree system with special rituals and initiations. The Knights Templar were accused of heresy derived from contact with the Arabic mystics and Gnostics in France and Spain. While the accusations where never proven, the Templars did have many esoteric artifacts. This contact with occult knowledge might very well have found it's way into the rites, rituals, and teachings of the Military Orders.

In the 1700's when the Freemasons really got going, the Church's resources were considerably less than they use to be, and the aristocracy, too, was losing popularity and power. Social, economic and religious reforms were well underway. People were exploring new avenues of knowledge that had been forbidden to them for centuries. One of the fraternal groups that expanded into the vacuum was the Rosicrucians. How and when they did so is a story for another essay, but after their birth (following the Protestant reformation) they became intimately connected with the Freemasons. Even the most Orthodox Lodges retain this connection, such as in the Rose Croix degree. In France, Gnosticism became a popular esoteric area for study and many Lodges and occult societies centered themselves around it. They were also some interesting ideas leaking back from the French controlled Islands, like Haiti, which mixed in. The East was also exerting an influence. As early as 1780 the Veda's arrived in America and they influenced many well known philosophers, like Thoreau and Emerson. The combination incubated until well into the 1800's when it erupted from several sources throughout the Western cultures.

At the center of all this were the Freemasonic Lodges and in particular the degree system. They were interpreted and incorporated in occult societies in several different ways, many of which used the idea of initiation. An initiation means to initiate or start something. To be initiated is to begin the ascent on the path. Many adepti use the metaphor of the egg, or the seed planted in the neophyte which grows to spiritual maturity.

The first type of degree is call conferred. This is a degree that is given to the participant simply for membership and with few if any requirements, except perhaps longevity. This is the standard degree system which orthodox Masons use—a person of high rank need not know anything special or even have any real power. It is rarely more than internal politics and personal relationships.

The problem with this is obvious, it merely maintains the status quo without insuring any knowledge, ability, spirituality, competence in the members above, nor growth among the members below. An initiation in this type of order is little more than a formality. It simply means that one has entered the group and begun an ascent up through the sterile ranks.

The second type is the recognized degree. This is the most popular among correspondent groups. It affirms the participants' achievements. These could be scholastic knowledge or expositions, special abilities such as Pranayama or Asana, or particular experience that show that the initiate has mastered knowledge or a technique. The participants generally know exactly what is expected of them, and can choose to work for it or not. In this case, members of high rank generally are capable and knowledgeable (at least about their particular system), and often have much authority. The Golden Dawn system uses this method for the lower degrees. The AA was derived from this system and depends very heavily on the capability of the individual for advancement. Crowley even went as far as saying that members physically unable to pass a requirement would have to wait for their next incarnation to try again. They could be a very high adept in other areas, but as far as the AA is concerned, they are stuck.

An initiation in this sense would represent that the seed of knowledge or skill had been planted—it's now up to the adept to expand and develop it. I don't think this definition entirely fills the requirements of an initiation either—it's not precise enough to be useful. Any knowledge could be considered an initiation, and it is difficult (if not impossible) to determine which bit is important. And if it were possible, then the entire system could be eliminated with the exclusion of that particular bit. Generally, advancement in the recognized degree system is slow and difficult and the abilities gained take time to mature. Here the system itself might be considered an initiation.

The third type is the specifically initiated. This is the hardest to define or judge. In this case, the initiation refers to something originally outside the experience of the neophyte and must be brought into them. The Gnostic systems with their reference to the descent of spirit are clearly initiatory, as were many of the Greek Mysteries. Most often when a person is initiated, it means that they have gone through a special ceremony within the group. An initiation may be personal, though, and could refer to an internal experience that results in a change in spiritual understanding.

Most initiated systems are dependent on a lineage and a secret or special power that is passed on. This may be in the form of living knowledge" such as the Wiccan systems (well described in Frank Herbert's Dune), or as a current or spiritual energy that passes from person to person and grows as the consciousness of the adept becomes tuned to it. Hindu groups use the idea of a spiritual lineage with such currents called Shubd, Bani or several other names. The initiate can be anyone in contact with the current, but it is expected that only a Perfect Master can fully pass it on. With lesser gurus, the initiation may be imperfect or incomplete.

I think a group should use a combination of the recognized and initiated degree systems. If a spiritual current exists, it should be passed on to other people. The spirit exists for the sake of human enlightenment and should be given the best possible chance of taking root. However, I don't think that this is enough for insure spiritual development. There are many cases of Gurus passing on their lineage to various disciples, some of whom grow and expand their abilities and some of whom display amazing incompetence. Obviously, more is required. The use of special training and education is vital here. It also insures that the leaders will be knowledgeable and competent and that, at the very least, the students will learn something. Degree systems are likely to be around for a long time, which systems will survive remains to be seen.