2
PHIL HINE
ARE YOU ILLUMINATED?
‘Magic 1s often reterred to n terms of being a path. a spi
itual quest, a voyage of self-discovery, or an adventure.
Honever you wart to dress it up, one point is clear, it is a
‘means of bringing about Change. For this change to be
effective, it is important that you be able to set the effects
fof your magical work within a centext—to be able to make
sense of them ard integrate them into a dynamic interac-
tion with a moving, kid universe.
Initiation is the term which magicians use to examine this process of
integration, and //fumination is one of its most important by-products.
This raqpiras a cence [hniasunr tantirst) of whee yous hee
been, and where you are “going.” At times these anchor-
points will seem to be solid, ané at ethers, ephemeral and
faint. Initiation is the term which magicians use to
examine this process of integration, and flumination is,
fone of = most important by products.
INITIATION AS A PROCESS
There appears to be some misunderstanding over what
exactly the term “intiation” means. Occasionally one
bumps into people who consider themselves as “int:
ates” and seem to consider themselves somehow
above" the rest of humanity. Particularly irritating are the
sef-styled “initiates” who let drop teasing bits of ebscure
information and then refuse to explain any further
because ther audience are not “initiates” The term itself
seems to crap up ina wide variety of contexts—people
speak of being imitated nto groups, onto @ particular
path or cf inating themselves. Some hold that “initiation”
is only valid ifthe person who confers itis part of a gen-
Line tradition, others that it doesn’t matter either way
Dictionary definitions of initiation allude to the act of
begining. oF of setting in motion. or entry into something
One way to explain initiation is to say that it is a threshold
of change which me may experince at different times
four lives, as we grow
‘and develop. The key 12
initiation is recognizing
that we have reached
‘such a tutning point,
land are aware of being
in a petied af transition hetusen aur past and avi Bie
The conscious awareness cf entering a transitional state
allows us to perhaps, discard tehavioral/emational pat
terns which vill be no longer valid fer the “new” crcurn
stances, and consciously take up new ones,
‘What magical books often fai to emphasizeis that intiaton
is a process. It doesnt just happen once, but can occur
mary times throughout an individual's Ife, and that it has
peats (itiatery cises), troughs (black depression or the
“dark night of tne sou”) and plateaus (wne‘e nshingmuch
‘seems tobe going on). Beceming auare of your own cycles
of change, and how to weather them. is a core part of ary
developmental process or approach to magical practice.
The key elements or stages ofthe intiation process have
been exzensively mapped by anthropologists such as
Joseph Campbell. While they are mostly used to describe
stages of shaman intiaticn, they are equally applicable
to other areas of life experience.CRISIS AND CALL
| shamanic societies the first stage of the initiation
process is often marked by a period of personal crises
and 2 “cal” towards starting the shamanic journey. Most
of us are quite happy to remain within the conceptual and
philosophical boundaries of Consensus Reality (he every:
fay world) For an individual beginning on the intiatory
Journey, the crisis may come 2s a powerTul vision, dreams,
cr a deep [and often disturbing) feeling to find out what is
beyord the limits of normal ife. it can often come as a
result of @ powerful spintual, religious or political experi-
ence, oF as a growing esistertial discontent with life. Our
sense of being a stable self is reinforced by the “walls” of
the social world in which we participate—yet our sense of
Uniqueness resides in the cracks of those same walls
Initiation is @ process which takes us “over the wall” into
One way to explain it
iation is to say that it
of change which we may experience at different times in
our lives, as we grow and develop.
the Lnexpiored teritories of the possibilities which wo
have only haligiimpsed. This frst crisis is often an
Unpleasan experience, as we oegin to question ana
become dissatisfied with all that we have previously held
dear—work, relationships, ethical values, ‘amily life can
all be disrupted as the individual becomes increasingly
consumed by the desire to “journey.”
The internal summons may be consciously quashed or
ties to refuse "the call’ to shamanic training—no small
thing, as it may lead to further crises and even death, One
\ery common experience of people whe fee! the summons
in our society is an everpowering sense of uxgency to either
become “enlightened” er to change the world in accor:
ance with emerging visions, This can lead to people
that may have been formerly charneled into work or rela-
tionships is directed tonards taking up spiitual practices
and becoming mmersed in “spiritual” belief systems,
The “newly awakened” individual can be (unintentionally)
as bering and tiresome as anyone who has seized on a
messianic belief system, whether t be politics religion, or
spirituality It is often diffcutt, at this stage in the cycle, to
Understand the reaction of family, friends and others who
may not te sympathetic to one’s newfound direction or
changes in lifestyle. Often. some of the more dubious reli-
gious cults take advantage of this stage by convincing
young converts that “true friends” ete., would net hindor
‘them in taking up ther new life, and that anyene wno does
rot approve, is therefore not a “true friend.”
‘There are a wide variaty of cults wrich do well in terms of
converts frem yeung people wino are in a period of trans.
tion (such as when leaving home forthe fist time) and who
are attracted to a belef/value system that assuages their
Uncertainties atout ‘ne world Anotner of the problems
often experianced by those feeing the summons tejoumey
isa terible sense of isolation or alienation from ene’s fet
oms—the inevitable resut: of moving to the edge of one’s
culture, Thus excitement at the adventure is often tinged
with regret and lass of stability or unconscious participa
tion with one's former world, Once you hae begun the
process of disentangement from the everyday world, tis
hard not to fee! a certain nastal
ga tor tne lost former ite in
which everything was (seemingly)
clearcut and stable, with no
ambiguities or uncertaintes.
a threshold
common response to the summons to departure isthe
Journey inte the wilderness—of moving away from one’s
fellows and the stability of conscnauel roelity, A proto:
shaman is likely to prysically journey inio the wilderness,
vay fom the Secursy of tribal realty, and trough ths 1s,
possible for some Westemers, the constraints of modern
living usually mean that for us, this wandering in the waste
is enacted on the plane of ideas, values and beliefs,
herein we look deeply within and around ourseWves and
lection everything. perhaps denuing suiny ferm secial
relations as well Deliberate isolatien from one's fellows is
2 powerful way of loosening the sense of having fxed val
les and beliefs, and social deprivetion mechanisms turn
Up in a wide varity of magical cultures.
‘THF INITIBTODY SICKNESS.
In shamanic cutures, the summons to journey is often
heralded by a socalled “initiatory sickness,” which can
either come upen an individual suddeniy, or creep slavly
tupon them as a progressive behavioral change. Western
observers have labeled this state as a form of “divine
madness,” or evidence of psychopathciogy. In the past,
anthropologists and psychologists nave labeled shamans,
as sctizophrenic, psychetic, or epileptic. More recently,
western enthusiasts of snamanism (and anti-psychiatry)
have reversed this process of labeling and asserted that,
ait wine
s“
people as schizophrenic, psychotic or epileptic are proto-
shamans. Current trond in the study of shamanism now
recagnize the former position to be ethnocentric—that
researchers have been judaina shamanic behavior by
westem standards. The onset of initiatory sickness in
tribal culture is recognized as a dificult, but potentially
Useful developmental process. Part of the problem here
The Dark Night is a way of bring!
Tradition, this experience is reflected
is that western philosophy hes developed the idea of
“ordinary consciousness.” of which anything beyend this
range is pathological, be it shamaric, mystical, or drug-
induced. Fortunately for us, this narrow view is being rap
ily uncermined.
Individuals undergoing the initiator sickness do sometimes,
appear to suffer fom fits and “strange” behavior, but there
is an increasing recogrition that itis a mistake to sweep-
ingy attach western psychiatric labels orto them (so that
they can be explained aviay). Shamans may go through a
period of readjustment, but research shows that they tend
to become the nealthiest people in ther tibes, tunctionng
very wel as leaders and healers.
Transitional states showing similar features tothe initiatory
sickness have been identfied i other cultures’ mystical
land magical practices, which wostem researchers ro
beginning to study, as practices from other cultures gain
popula n ine west.
THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
St.John of the Cross, 2 Christian mystic, wrote of this
experience:
Ii). puts the sensory spintual appeties to sleep,