I am offering a four-class course on Initiation through the Theosophical Society in America. It is 11/17/2025-12/8/2025. It is synchronous online. If you register, you can get the recordings. Register here: https://www.theosophical.org/program/webinars/initiation-the-path-of-accelerated-evolution
Initiation: The Path of Accelerated Evolution
Class 1: Introduction
- Initiation: Definitions, types, characteristics
- Foundational concepts one must master to understand what is happening in initiation
- Characteristics of the initiatory path
- Difference between an initiatory ritual and a ceremonial initiation
Class 2: Rites of Passage and Membership Initiations
- Rite of passage initiations and initiations into groups
- Ceremonial marking of a change in status vs. transformation catalyst
- Characteristics of catalysts of transformation
- Design of effective rites of passage and membership initiations
Class 3: Mystery Initiations
- Mystery initiatory traditions are a specific class of ancient cults that originated in Greece. They are at least inspirational or transitional to the notion of occult initiations in later traditions.
- This class shares information about the Hellenic and Hellenistic mystery cults with an eye to how they can inform current practice and thinking about occult initiations.
Class 4: Occult Initiations
- Ultimately occult initiations happen in the level of self that is not bound to the body, but many occult traditions have created rites to serve as potential catalysts to this inner transmutation.
- Teachings about initiation and the initiatory path from various wisdom traditions
- The risks of this “path of peril” and risk mitigations
Gwendolyn Reece 