Affiliation of Heavens

Unlike the other Grades, all the emotional stirring that the Probationer feels does not come from poorly implemented practices. In fact, the practices of the Probationer, no matter how exalted, serve only one purpose – for the mental stress and the feeling of testing to accelerate even further. He cannot fail even if he wants, and more, the quality of his work is not what is valuable for us at all. It is essential that he continually works, attacking his usual way of functioning with meaningless repetitions. And as long as these repetitions are constant, as long as he is doing them all the time and always, it is irrelevant what he is doing and how he performs. The practice does not serve the Probationer for any achievement, but for the attack, above all on his thinking apparatus, which in this way acts as leverage of his Ego to move it from the usual pedestal in which it is fixed by inertia. In a large number of cases, whenever the Probationer has a sense of comfort, it can be said with great certainty that the whole process is poorly placed, which in no way means that his Probation is wrong. Poor Probation is an absurd expression, and our nature will always find a way to get the maximum even from the worst circumstances. There is no proper or improper Probation, unlike the appropriate or inappropriate Probationer. The process of finding the ideal Superior also seems to be condemned entirely to failure; the A∴A∴ mechanism will secure everything to make the best possible Probation from the worst Superior and the worst Probationer. The question is what would happen then, but we do not need to spend too many thoughts on this subject. Let the only measure be the feeling that something is happening and nothing more. The tasks of the Superior and the Probationer are clearly and precisely defined, and there is no place for speculation, except in some special cases of Dominius Liminis. This one Grade, which is not a Grade in a true sense of the word, is destined for recapitulation and an extreme intensification of temperature; therefore the burden of this speculation is, in fact, the ideal fuel for this process. In the end, the higher temperature is achieved, the better it is for everyone, for something that the Aspirant’s mind cannot assume even in his most abstract models of thinking will soon happen.

Much can be said about the affiliation between the Student and the Superior, and as equally the Student and the Superior have the attribute of their Grades, so their relationship will be the refraction of those crossed forces. Although variants are almost infinite, some general analogies can be drawn. Thus, the relationship between the Probationer and the Neophyte can escalate into fear, stiffness, or even perversion of the fatal kind, while the relationship between the Probationer and the Practicus can be distorted and boring to the frontiers of the understandable universe. To the Zelator, the Practicus can be an insult to intelligence in certain circumstances, while the Neophyte can find seeds of idolatry and adoration in the Philosophus. What can draw particular attention is the influence of the time to the moment of giving the Oath; that is to say, a Probationer who took the Oath in the sign of Scorpio can behave entirely differently from the one who did the same during Cancer or Leo.

Each Aspirant should think about this, as much as it is necessary to overcome the possible crisis that he has, realizing that it is just a natural phenomenon which must be followed with attention, from its formation to its end. Each Grade, especially the Probationer, is one observation, equally of itself and the environment, and all wisdom is knowing that between these two there is no difference. The difference is only in the experience of that between; our Ego creates an illusion of the Grades because it is the only way he can comprehend itself – as variation and form of that difference. In the same way that each Superior must understand everything that is proceeding in the soul of the Probationer, and understand the exact reasons for each of his actions and decisions, so the Probationer must know that the Superior has his own course and the task of his Grade as well. He must express attention and goodwill toward the Superior as much as the Superior returns in the same manner. The nature of their relationship is the commiseration as much as companionship, and not fraternity in the usual sense of the word.

Frater 273