Adapted Rite of Initiation

RITE OF INITIATION

In the name of the Lord of Initiation, Amen.I fly and I alight as a hawk: bright are my mighty-sweeping wings.

I swoop down upon the black earth; and it gladdens into green at my coming.

Children of Earth! rejoice! rejoice exceedingly; for your salvation is at hand.

The end of sorrow is come; I will ravish you away into my unutterable joy.

I will kiss you, and bring you to the bridal chamber: I will spread a feast before you in the house of happiness.

I am not come to rebuke you, or to enslave you.

I bid you not turn from your voluptuous ways, from your idleness, from your follies.

But I bring joy to your pleasure, peace to your languor, wisdom to your folly.

All that ye do is right, if so be that ye enjoy it.

I am come against sorrow, against weariness, against them that seek to enslave you.

I pour you lustral wine, that giveth you delight both at the sunset and the dawn.

Come with me, and I will give you all that is desirable upon the earth.

Because I give you that of which Earth and its joys are but as shadows.

They flee away, but my joy abideth even unto the end.

I have hidden myself beneath a mask: I am a black and terrible God.

With courage conquering fear shall ye approach me: ye shall lay down your heads upon mine altar, expecting the sweep of the sword.

But the first kiss of love shall be radiant on your lips; and all my darkness and terror shall turn to light and joy.

Only those who fear shall fail. Those who have bent their backs to the yoke of slavery until they can no longer stand upright; them will I despise.

But you who have defied the law; you who have conquered by subtlety or force; you will I take unto me, even I will take you unto me.

I ask you to sacrifice nothing at mine altar; I am the God who giveth all.

Light, Life, Love; Force, Fantasy, Fire; these do I bring you: mine hands are full of these.

There is joy in the setting-out; there is joy in the journey; there is joy in the goal.

Only if ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis.

My disciples are proud and beautiful; they are strong and swift; they rule their way like mighty conquerors.

The weak, the timid, the imperfect, the cowardly, the poor, the tearful --- these are mine enemies, and I am come to destroy them.

This also is compassion: an end to the sickness of earth. A rooting-out of the weeds: a watering of the flowers.

O my children, ye are more beautiful than the flowers: ye must not fade in your season.

I love you; I would sprinkle you with the divine dew of immortality.

And this immortality is no vain hope beyond the grave: I offer you the certain consciousness of bliss.

I offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shall be with Me in the Abodes that are beyond Decay.

Also I give you power earthly and joy earthly; wealth, and health, and length of days. Adoration and love shall cling to your feet, and twine around your heart.

Only your mouths shall drink of a delicious wine --- the wine of Iacchus; they shall reach ever to the heavenly kiss of the Beautiful God.

I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.

In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.

Ye who take but one step on this path must continue to the end, for this path is beyond life or death.