INITIATION
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance into a level of awareness - whether that is adulthood, expertise in a group or a level of society. Examples include: baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order.
In most mystical societies it signifies a rebirth and a subsequent transformation into a new role. One such example is the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece, dating back to at least the Mycenaean period or "bronze age".
The initiator , holding power or state of being, transfers this new awareness to the initiate. Thus the initiation process is a simultaneous death and rebirth, because as well as being a beginning it also implies an ending as existence on one level drops away in an ascension to the next.
Initiation: Dead Man Walking
Initiation is seldom understood—especially by someone suddenly thrust into it. A spiritual warrior, though, is well prepared to face any challenge, no matter when it comes. Gayle has experienced several initiations. One night, for example, a ghostly man questioned her; another time, during a dream, her physical body was altered by strange "light beings". She wasn’t on drugs, under undue stress, or daydreaming: these events happened. On a few occasions, these initiations were verified by people capable of understanding them. Initiations not only impact our being tremendously, we also don’t comprehend their significance until much later. While telling stories of her initiations, for example, Gayle is deliberately distracting the listeners. As the story progresses, listeners relax and allow transforming energies to flow through them. Recently, Gayle told of an MRI experience that was also a highly charged account of an initiation during a former life in ancient Egypt. As she spoke, her voice not only changed, it also carried coded information. Listeners were affected according to their capability. Listening to the seemingly innocuous story, Darla’s arms raised and crossed over her chest. She stared straight ahead, and watched as Gayle’s appearance began to change. “Gayle looked dark and splotchy. The rustic stone fireplace behind her began to move. The brick stood out and vibrated. The lines blurred and shimmered, wiggled and glowed yellow. The whole whole room glowed with an intense light. Gayle was glowing and shimmering; her aura wiggled like thousands of specks in a microscope.” Darla had entered an altered reality that echoed a previous initiation in Hathor’s Temple at Dendera. With a rigid body and arms crossed over her chest, Darla resembled those depicted in the legendary Osirian mysteries. During the ancient initiations, drugged initiates braved crocodiles as they swam underwater to reach a columned entry area. There the survivors were greeted, clothed in new robes, and immediately directed toward the next phase of their initiation. From her frozen position, Darla had difficulty staying in contact with consensual reality and begin to slip backward in time. “Gayle’s talk was jumbled and foggy in my ears. I realized that I, just like Gayle in her MRI story, was frozen in position. There was no light except the glowing and shimmering around people and objects. Her tale ended, and people quickly left the room, yet I still could not move. I screamed 'Can you make it stop ? '—but no words came out. Somehow, I forced out the words again: 'Can you make it stop?’ "
Gayle, slipping easily between ancient and modern times, saw the next step of initiation at Dendera. The disoriented initiates had to make their way to a chair at the front of a pitch black chamber. Truly enlightened initiates could generate their own light to see their way through the maze of columns, while others wandered aimlessly and failed the test. Disoriented between worlds, Darla struggled to walk the short distance to the seat where Gayle sat. Summoning an identity far higher than her normal way of being, Darla forced her body to conform to her intent. “I walked slowly, carefully, and with measured steps. Gayle reached out her hand to mine and—with the power of touch—brought me back to this life.” Darla’s perception of consensual reality had completely altered due to an encounter with the mystical awareness that Gayle holds while teaching. At this level of consciousness, space and time become palpable qualities. Students, realizing their higher identity, often find karmic knots in spacetime that "fix" memories within different realities. Discovering such a marker, a student may access the energy, wisdom, or knowledge stored there, and remember it. In doing so, her perception of reality changes, as Darla soon discovered. “My focus on the world was completely different. I contemplated dewdrops on tulips for the first time in years. The intensity of the initiation lasted a couple of months, then faded, but I still experience glimpses in everyday life where my connection to a different reality exists.
Similarly, as Gayle began uncovering her true identity, she brought each shadowy presence from previous lives into present awareness, giving deeper meaning to the phrase "living in the now". Slowly, surely, each of these karmic markers revealed gifts—healing, teaching, and shamanic journeying. By virtue of these gifts, Gayle frequently recognizes students through time. Likewise, by experiencing an initiation, Darla has begun her discovery through time to reclaim her deepest wisdom. Know thyself. |
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All materials are copyrighted by Gayle Clayton 2000-2010 |
