“Initiation” is the term used to describe the experience of an affiliate of the Temple of Set. Since the term is very easily misunderstood and misused, its usage within and by the Temple deserves careful explanation.
In its traditional sense, initiation is induction into the membership of a secret society, hence being entitled to successively more exclusive secrets as the level of initiation rises. There is usually a good deal of occult hot air mixed in with this, in that the candidate is exhorted concerning the excellence he has had to display to be worthy of the honor, the sublime dignity of the initiation itself, and the fearful consequences should he betray its secrets.
Many initiatory societies are little more than financial rackets, while others are more or less sincere in what they are trying to do. Most esoteric knowledge imparted under the guise of initiation is not particularly practical. Rather it is vague, theatrical, mystical, and inconclusive: obscurum per obscurius (“explaining the obscure by means of the more obscure”). The new “initiate” is left with a pleasing feeling of heightened importance, yet is somehow unable to explain why.
Authentic initiation is not simply the acquisition of specific knowledge or skills; it involves a certain approach to the challenges of existence in general. An initiate, like a cat, must learn to land on his feet in any situation in which he may find himself. He does this by the acquired and applied technique of “stepping back to view the situation from outside himself”. He assigns relative importance to it, estimates his options as an actor within it, and activates the most appropriate such option. He may make mistakes due to lack of information, but he rarely errs on the basis of what he does know. His developing sense of intuition, moreover, will warn him whenever a situation is not whatever it immediately seems to be. He can then avoid premature conclusions and impulsive actions.
The Temple of Set conceives the process of initiation as a Socratic refutation of confused, imprecise, and unsubstantiated information and thinking. It is the imparting of truth as much as we know it to be, but even more importantly it is the imparting of the ability to pursue truth and to recognize it when it is found.
Wisdom – knowledge of truth – cannot be taught to stupid intellects. A love of and insistence upon the truth cannot be taught to unethical individuals. Hence initiation is not something that can be “done to” someone merely by subjecting him to a series of classes, examinations, and ceremonies. All that the Temple can do – and all that it tries to do – is to spread out its banquet of truths, probabilities, hypotheses, and speculations before aspirants whom we evaluate as reasonably sincere. They must then utilize it, together with such other resources as they may develop, to achieve wisdom. Thus do they initiate themselves.
from “Black Magic” by Dr. Michael A. Aquino
Setemheb 