Initiation Quotes

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don't go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

“You pigs, you. You rut like pigs, is all. You got the most in you, and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you...'

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Take a war to make you spend. Take a jam to make you think. Take a challenge to make you great. Rest of the time you sit around lazy, you. Pigs, you! All right, God damn you! I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great. Blow yourselves to Christ gone or come and find me, Gully Foyle, and I make you men. I make you great. I give you the stars.”
― Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

“The material world is all feminine. The feminine engergy makes the non-manifest, manifest. So even men (are of the feminine energy). We have to relinquish our ideas of gender in the conventional sense. This has nothing to do with gender, it has to do with energy. So feminine energy is what creates and allows anything which is non-manifest, like an idea, to come into form, into being, to be born. All that we experience in the world around us, absolutely everything (is feminine energy). The only way that anything exists is through the feminine force.”
― Zeena Schreck

“We take spiritual initiation when we become conscious of the Divine within us, and thereby contact the Divine without us.”
― Dion Fortune, Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate

“The challenge with being an initiator of projects is that you are never, ever done.”
― Seth Godin

“There are two Paths to the Innermost: the Way of the Mystic, which is the way of devotion and meditation, a solitary and subjective path; and the way of the occultist, which is the way of the intellect, of concentration, and of trained will; upon this path the co-operation of fellow workers is required, firstly for the exchange of knowledge, and secondly because ritual magic plays an important part in this work, and for this the assistance of several is needed in most of the greater operations. The mystic derives his knowledge through the direct communion of his higher self with the Higher Powers; to him the wisdom of the occultist is foolishness, for his mind does not work in that way; but, on the other hand, to a more intellectual and extrovert type, the method of the mystic is impossible until long training has enabled him to transcend the planes of form. We must therefore recognize these two distinct types among those who seek the Way of Initiation, and remember that there is a path for each.”
― Dion Fortune, Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate

“Many women do not even have the basic teaching about predators that a wolf mother gives her pups, such as: if it's threatening and bigger than you, flee; if it's weaker, see what you want to do; if it's sick, leave it alone; if it has quills, poison, fangs, or razor claws, back up and go in the other direction; it it smells nice but is wrapped around metal jaws, walk on by.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

“I called it a baptism in flaming ink that forced me to shed my shyness about recognizing myself as a poet and to accept the fact that life had never given me any choice in the matter. And then I had to discover exactly what that meant.”
― Aberjhani, The American Poet Who Went Home Again

“Most people live their lives laying prostrate before a false god, waiting for a cue to rise. There are no cues, only decisions. Shall I have dessert? Shall I have the best of the wine? Shall I love the person next to me? They can all be brought to your table. Rise, I say, rise and look within to the truth, to the light, and tell it your decision.”
― Lawren Leo, Love's Shadow: Nine Crooked Paths

“When we speak of the Path we mean much more than a course of study. The Path is a way of life and on it the whole being must co-operate if the heights are to be won.”
― Dion Fortune, Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate

“There are Tantrics who deliberately seek to do more active forms of renunciation, so transgression of social norms and breaking of taboo, and breaking of social taboos especially, is a form of renunciation.”
― Zeena Schreck

“It may be the first day of your life, the prime of youth or several decades in, when Medicine Woman calls you. Your name on her list. Her new initiate. She crept in whilst you were sleeping, when you over-exerted, when you kissed him, or ate that, or lived there or pushed too hard just one time too many. She crept in and curled up in your cells, your heart, waiting to meet you. Longing to know you. Longing for you to know her, at last.
And what feels like the end is in fact a beginning, of a new road, an unknown path of pain and healing. She will show you how to slow down, she will run her fingers roughly through your life and help you sort the busyness from what matters, she will show you how to find support… and who you really are, beyond your roles and expectations… and even more beyond the System the world has forced you into. She transports you into the timelessness of big pains and tiny joys. Initiates you into your strength. Into your love. Into your courage. Into a world beyond your control.
She has sent me an invitation. I see yours too, tucked in your bag, amongst all the receipts and bills, the pens and detritus of life. Take it out.
It is time.”
― Lucy H. Pearce, Medicine Woman: Reclaiming the Soul of Healing

“It has been well and truly said that in the exoteric church the ceremony is performed by one person for the benefit of the congregation; but in the Lodge the ceremony is performed by the congregation for the benefit of one person.”
― Dion Fortune, Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate

“Sometimes the elements of our life present us with a challenge that is an initiation in disguise, a fire walk that burns your lower nature right out of you so that you are able to adapt to a higher level of consciousness.”
― Caroline Myss, Spiritual Power Spiritual Practice

“In certain ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures there was often a process of initiation that young people would go through before they became adults. In some Native American traditions, for example, the initiate would be put out into the wilderness without any food or any other provisions for survival. He would have to rely on the Universe and his own soul. During the experience, the initiate would fast. He would experience himself confronting the Universe alone. He would be out there for a number of days. This would open up the initiate to a direct experience of something beyond the usual egoic mind and all of its concerns. The initiate would be thrust into an experience that would take him beyond his small, limited self. Such a process existed in our own Tradition going back to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. What was Muhammad doing in a cave when the first revelations of the Qur‘an began if not going through what Native Americans would call a „Vision Quest“? He received direct revelation and inspiration through this practice. (p. 12)”
― Kabir Helminski, In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching

“An ‘Initiate’ is someone who has ‘crossed the boundary (or threshold).’ The greatest Initiates have crossed the boundary of death and have returned — they have been called the twice born, the born again, or those born from above. These Initiates are often referred to as the Enlightened. However, the spiritual voyage consists of many steps, and thus in reality there are many initiations that the seeker experiences on the path to knowing the Divine. Each initiation is the badge of having overcome some challenge or barrier.”
― Laurence Galian, Alien Parasites: 40 Gnostic Truths to Defeat the Archon Invasion!

“It’s important to understand that all initiations are beginnings and not endings.”
― Mat Auryn, Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation

“The path of the mystic is strewn with both rose petals and their thorns. You just gradually become more selective on where you place your feet.”.”
― Fotoula Foteini Adrimi, Sacred Mysticism of Egypt

“All ceremonial events such as initiation (baptism) and incorporation, signs of communal membership, signify in the final analysis the renunciation of the intimate sphere of the person, if not emotionally, as in the bond of a biological blood-based kinship, then nevertheless spiritually, ideationally, and symbolically.”
― Helmuth Plessner, Grenzen der Gemeinschaft

“As Campbell pointed out, in all spiritual traditions the hero must undergo initiation and testing. These rites of passage awaken and develop latent human capacities as they mark and safely ritualize the process of maturity, empowerment, and agency among members of a group. Initiation is a way adolescent naivete and dependency ends as we develop a sense of mastery, meaning, and purpose and are reborn as adults and active, contributing members of the tribe. Vision quests, shamanic journeys, sun dances, ordinations, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and confirmations offer access to a time-tested method steeped in a collective body of wisdom and community that mitigates risk and gives reproducible outcome. (p. 18)

Regardless of time, place, or culture, the motifs and stages of every initiation are the same. Whether symbolic or actual they include leaving home or separating from the community, facing a symbolic or literal hardship that serves as a psychological catalyst for an altered state of consciousness, and awakening as the nascent hero. The process continues with integrating and embodying wisdom, sometimes with the help of elders, priests, or shamans, and returning to the community as a mature member, active contributor, or leader. Initiation hastens development so the latent hero nature can be realized. (p. 18)”
― Miles Neale, Gradual Awakening: The Tibetan Buddhist Path of Becoming Fully Human

“The experiential Mysteries that are at the heart of Witchcraft are usually accompanied by the secrets: certain signs, names, lore, etc. that can be intellectually revealed but would be useless to anyone who had not yet undergone the initiatory experience.”
― Storm Faerywolf, Betwixt & Between: Exploring the Faery Tradition of Witchcraft

“In order for you to cross the threshold of your initiation, a loss of lower vibrational relationships is required. Releasing this dead weight will allow you to rise to newer heights. Remember, history is not an excuse to hang on to a connection that has withered out and long expired.”
― Robin S. Baker

“Initiation into Kriya Yoga: [...]

"He touched my forehead. Masses of whirling light appeared: the radiance gradually formed itself into an opal-blue spiritual eye, ringed in gold and centered wit ha white pentagonal star."

"'Penetrate your consciousnes through the star into the kingdom of the Infinite' My guru's voice had a new note, soft like distant music.

"Vision after vision broke as oceanic surf on the shores of my soul. The panoramic spheres finally melted in a sea of bliss. I lost myself in ever surging blessedness. When I returned hours later to awareness of this world, the master gave me the technique of Kriya Yoga.”
― Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi

“He took me between his knees and shuffled some photographs before my eyes with his dextorous hands, showing me images of naked women and boys in strange positions. I leant against him and peered at those delicate human bodies with distant, unseeing eyes, as the fluid of a vague agitation that had suddenely clouded the air reached me, running through me in a shiver of anxiety, a wave of sudden understanding. In the meantime, the haze of a smile that had appeared under his soft, beautiful moustache, the germ of desire that had stretched across his temple in a pulsing vein, the tension holding his features together for a momenr, fell back into nothingness, and his face departed into absence, forgot itself, and disintegrated.”
― Bruno Schulz

“Even though we are all likely to view an ending as the conclusion of the situation it terminates, it is also the initiation of a process. We have it backward. Endings are the first, not the last, act of the play.”
― William Bridges, Transitions. Making Sense Of Life's Changes

“The hesitant mind risks stagnation. Sometimes, the bravest step is the first one.”
― Monika Ajay Kaul

“The Manhandling of Gilbert Gripes by Stewart Stafford

Scrummage in a birch wood,
Pyrrhic rut for an oval prize,
Grinning studs rake my face,
A flayed Garryowen as sport.

Cauliflower ears throb with fear,
Thunderous hooves charging,
Poleaxed by a car crash tackle,
Nosebleed kiss tickles my lips.

The rite of passage staggers on,
A butcher's initiation of brothers,
Cutthroat razors kindly supplied,
Wealthy primates whoop in safety.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Anyone who wants to be born must first destroy the world.”
― Hesse, Demian

“As we said before, initiation lies at the core of any genuine
human life. And this is true for two reasons. The first is that any
genuine human life implies profound crises, ordeals, suffering, loss
and reconquest of self, "death and resurrection." The second is
that, whatever degree of fulfillment it may have brought him, at a
certain moment every man sees his life as a failure. This vision
does not arise from a moral judgment made on his past, but from
an obscure feeling that he has missed his vocation; that he has
betrayed the best that was in him. In such moments of total crisis,
only one hope seems to offer any issue-the hope of beginning
life over again. This means, in short, that the man undergoing such
a crisis dreams of new, regenerated life, fully realized and significant. This is something other and far more than the obscure
desire of every human soul to renew itself periodically, as the
cosmos is renewed. The hope and dream of these moments of
total crisis are to obtain a definitive and total renovatio, a renewal
capable of transmuting life. Such a renewal is the result of every
genuine religious conversion.”
― Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation

“The interest of initiation for an understanding of archaic mentality lies predominantly in its showing us that the true man-the
spiritual man-is not given, is not the result of a natural process.
He is "made" by the old masters, in accordance with the models
revealed by the Divine Beings and preserved in the myths. These
old masters constitute the spiritual elites of archaic societies. It is
they who know, who know the world of spirit, the truly human
world. Their function is to reveal the deep meaning of existence
to the new generations and to help them assume the responsibility
of being truly men and hence of participating in culture. But since
for archaic societies "culture" is the sum of the values received
from Supernatural Beings, the function of initiation may be reduced to this : to each new generation, it reveals a world open to
the transhuman, a world that, in our philosophical terminology, we
should call transcendental.”
― Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation