Initiation and male and female initiation
by Athos A. Altomonte
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Q.: …I need to understand better the theme of
the female initiation… certain obediences have mixed lodges… A.
A.: I apologize if I get to the point straight away.
A Grand Master, talking about «Mixed Obediences», said with “wise
irreverence”: “the only mixed thing is a mixed salad”.
Obediences of Men and Women, then. Even if bad habits are hard to lose you should
say «Obediences of Men and Women».
Female initiation has always existed probably even before the “rituals”
to propitiate hunting. The most ancient examples go from the mystery of
birth, to the cultivation, up to the delving into the unknown.
After these we find male and female initiations, both eastern and western.
In our (cultural) hemisphere Cagliostro brought to Europe the Egyptian
Ritual which became the prototype of Freemasonry which opened “the
Mysteries” to Women (the first one was the Queen of France).
In the same way those “mysteries” can be both male and female,
so it is for initiations. We can talk about it for hours just to refuse all
of them afterwards, because they are all secondary initiations (lesser or Threshold
Mysteries).
Those initiations, in fact, are based on the principle of difference
of sex. That is astral, emotional and passional differences (see cults
procedure and devotional standards). They are all exterior
initiatory models (exoteric view) obtained through physical
reason. They are only the “threshold” of the inner path
that leads to the true Initiation which will create a link between the level
of intellectual conscience (abstract mind) and spiritual conscience
(level of the soul) through a process of inner metamorphosis.
It then produces the “holy alliance” of the greater
Initiation between heaven (soul) and earth (personality).
Therefore initiation is not a «ritual representation» but expansion
and fusion between different levels of conscience (physical and hyper-physical).
In the physical conscience (concrete reason) sex (male and female) makes a difference
but on the level of the superior mind (intellect) it doesn’t. As a consequence
on the internal levels of conscience and spirit, Man and Woman are equals.
So much so that by definition, the mind developed becomes androgynous.
Therefore the real Initiation linked to the process of “inner transformation”
of the individual doesn’t have anything to do with the sex element. Indeed,
it goes beyond it.
The choice of the applicant is a dilemma that starts from here.
From deciding to aim to the inner (high) levels of oneself, of one self’s
conscience (the so-called “inner heaven”) or to be happy with the
exterior, formal and exoteric representations of the initiation, where genital
characteristics (animality) are relevant.
I wish, and I wish for you, that your “inner sensitivity” is attracted
by the sun of your inner sky (the soul) rather than by the
shadows of the earth.