Furthermore, it is necessary to say something about individuals who are self-initiated in our Order without the guidance of the Superior, many discussions are leading to whether their Initiation is valid or not. Our stand is that Initiation is pointless without touching the aim; as the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is the ultimate destination of the outer Order, everything beyond that is mere bureaucracy blinded by spirituality. I know a significant number of individuals who have achieved the Knowledge and Conversation without any formal affiliation to the Order, and even more those who, within their legitimate and recognized lineages, have not achieved even a mumble of that Talk. Until the Knowledge and Conversation is achieved, we are nothing but blind animals driven by instincts of hunger and survival of the species, and every tale of Initiation is empty and sad. The Superior is, therefore, the Student’s witness, the witness of the living consecration of LVX. But as long as there is an uncompromising tendency towards the light, the witness is redundant. Far from being worthless, but each of us must understand Initiation as a process that is not subject to any established rules. And if we look closely through history, the only similarity of all the great journeys is that they were all a resultant of a pure heart and a strong mind. Every worthy Initiation has the mark of willingness to go to the end at all costs. Unfortunately, most of the Initiations today have not moved any further from the beginning, and their value is mainly expressed exclusively in the amount of the fee. Initiation is not obtained, Initiation is requested. It is not there to concede, to lease, rent or sell. Initiation is demanded. And at the point when you lose yourself and everything that you are in that quest, Initiation finds and takes you by force. It will not ask nor seek permits. Yet by then, you will already be so changed, that nothing will be left to Initiate.
Moving through the Grades for some will be a search, for others a slight recall, for some third hell of the worst karmic repayment. Every Aspirant within what we call incarnation has its one natural habitat and a sphere in which he smoothly resides. There is always one Grade through which the Aspirant simply flies, without any effort. The issue the Superior needs to deal with is whether he will allow it; that is, will he use this talent of the Aspirant to deepen the Grade to the extreme, asking the talent to be compensated by increasing the criteria, or will he use a talent to make the Student enter the next Grade more rapidly? It certainly depends on the Superior, although he always has to think in accordance with his Grade and nothing else; only in this way will the circle be closed, and the A∴A∴ principle fully realized.
Frater 273∴
Frater 273 | Reflections on Thelema 
Thanks for making and sharing. I look forward to your posts. Honest question from an ignorant me: is it possible that the self-initiated
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Eek, that these ind’ls found their way in inadvertantly and not through a solo quest? So, the issue of not having a Superior might weigh heavy?
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Thanks Casey! I would put this on a different module, and that is: what is meant when we say “solo”, “alone”, “together”, “between”? Can we be truly alone? Is there a whole Universe who guides us and just changes its manifestation before us? I would say that every initiation is Self-Initiation and that every company in the Universe is actually One big monologue of One and the same Self. Something like that.
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It’s a case of not having a Superior matters not one whit if one applies themselves with dilligence. It is not EASY. It certainly wasn’t when all evidence pre-internet pointed to all that was left was books – none of the individuals I encountered knew anything and no amount of money changing hands (and a LOT did for some of the materials from dealers with an eye to such things) opened any doors there either.
I didn’t have it all in hand until five years after that blessed moment. Would it have helped? Perhaps. Would it have made it any easier? Not one whit.
But I had caught a glimpse before I even had a framework to put it in, and nothing was going to stop me. Nothing, no one, not anything. And once I had, and committed to that goal – everything else started falling into place.
That was almost thirty years ago now. I’ve had students since early in that – I had materials, I had aptitude, and they just appeared as I was able to instruct. I’ve taken care to offer either a more traditional route (once I had same) for those who had it, as well as a more abbreviated version focusing on the important milestones mentioned and the Holy Books.
I still get them with regularity (a virtual deluge in the last year now), including those who have lost their way or not had a good experience *with* superiors or a particular approach. Those latter ones, when they are dilligent and want to get on track are of particular interest to me, as a lost sheep who didn’t know that the shepherds existed will always have an affinity for a semblance of what I once was.
I don’t have “superiors” on this rock. I answer to the same thing we all do. And in the end, that is all that matters. I have peers, and those I assist. If one is doing that work with joy and beauty, I treat them as a Brother. They treat me the same.
This is about that Work. One person at a time, however it comes. It is the beauty of our system, and the beauty of the Holy Books themselves.
Do I recommend going the hard road to the Palace? Not unless that is the only way and you are called to same – I would not have if there was an option. At the same time, I would not have stepped back from the Angel I was pursuing for any person or a year of student grade and the like at that point either – I wasn’t coming in blind to say the least.
But having done, my obligation is the same as the rest, and the obligations of those I have taught the same, and I work in concert with ANY doing this Work with that One Star in Sight.
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