Change and initiation
Rites of passage, alchemy and ceremonial work aimed at changing the practitioner.
Magic of change and initiation aims at transforming the practitioner or the world. It covers rites of passage, shamanic initiation, the initiations of Vodou and Santeria, the alchemy of Europe, the Middle East and China, and the ceremonial work of orders such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It asks how a person becomes a priest, a healer or a magician, and what a change of state is believed to involve.
Passage and rebirth
Many initiations follow a pattern: leave the ordinary, endure a trial, receive new knowledge, return changed. Shamanic callings are often described as an illness or visions followed by training. In Vodou and Santeria, initiates are shut away, dressed in white, and given new status in a house. Many societies have coming-of-age rites for boys and girls, some of which, such as female genital cutting, cause real harm and are opposed by health and rights bodies.
Alchemy and the self
Alchemy in Egypt, the Islamic world, India, China and Europe sought to transform substances, to prolong life, or to refine the soul. Chinese neidan turned the body into the furnace, and European writers such as Paracelsus linked metals and medicine. Carl Jung read alchemy as a map of inner change. Many alchemical remedies were poisonous, and mercury and arsenic killed seekers. The same ideas run through monastic life, where a new name, a new robe and a vow of poverty or obedience mark the change from one person to another.
Orders and secrets
In Europe, orders such as the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, and later groups built graded systems of initiation, drawing on Kabbalah and Hermeticism. Modern Wicca has its own degrees. Such groups depend on secrecy and hierarchy, and some have been accused of exploitation or abuse by leaders who held power over members. In many Indigenous and African traditions, initiation knowledge is closed to outsiders. The end of alchemy came from the rise of chemistry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though a few writers kept the language of inner change.
What scholars see
Anthropologists, following Victor Turner, call the threshold state liminal, a time in which people are between roles. Psychologists note that shared ordeals bind groups together. Practitioners speak of becoming someone who can carry a responsibility, and the community sees them differently afterwards, which may be the main change. Initiations may also be refused or repeated, and teachers say a rite is only the start of what a person has to do.
Change and initiation on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreEmanuel Swedenborg
An 18th-century Swedish scientist who became a mystic and claimed to visit the afterlife.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 IndiaLeft-Hand and Right-Hand Paths
Two distinct orientations in occult magic, dividing taboo-breaking from orthodoxy.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreAleister Crowley
English occultist and founder of the religion of ThelemaText · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreCorpus Hermeticum
A collection of Greek writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus that shaped Western esoteric thoughtText · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyChymical Wedding of Christian RosenkreutzChymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459
An allegorical romance and Rosicrucian manifesto detailing a seven-day alchemical initiation.Text · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomHermetic Order of the Golden DawnOrdo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae
A late-19th-century British magical order that shaped modern Western occultismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreHermetica
A collection of ancient texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, covering magic, alchemy and philosophy.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Change and initiation Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptTheurgyθεουργία
A Neoplatonic ritual path to unite the soul with the divine through sacred actsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreAnthroposophy
A spiritual movement founded by Rudolf Steiner to explore the intellectual side of the unseen worldTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNeotantraनवतन्त्र (navatantra)
A Western movement blending Tantra with modern views on sacred sexualityTradition · Love and attraction · Change and initiation Living
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandPsychological astrology
A system that maps horoscopes to psychological theories and archetypesTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreThelema
A Western esoteric philosophy centered on discovering and following one's True WillTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇮🇹 ItalyArcheosofica
A school of esoteric Christianity founded in Rome that teaches ascetic disciplines and magical theory.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreAMORCAntiquus Mysticusque Ordo Rosae Crucis
A US-based Rosicrucian order with global lodges and a focus on correspondence study.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAstral body
A subtle vehicle of emotion and dream said to travel beyond the physical formBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomTyphonian Order
A British Thelemic esoteric body working with dark occultism, kalas, and cosmic mythTradition · Change and initiation · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇹 ItalyUR Group
An Italian esoteric circle studying magic and traditional philosophy in the late 1920s.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptPrima materia
The formless base of all matter in alchemyText · Change and initiation Historical
🇮🇷 IranPersian mysticism
A spiritual tradition in Iran blending ancient beliefs with Sufi practice and poetic thought.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇷 GreeceSacred mysteriesμυστήριον
Secret ceremonies and divine doctrines held to exceed human reasonBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 IndiaCausal bodyKarana-Sarira
A yogic and esoteric concept describing the highest innermost body that veils the true Self.Belief · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇱 IsraelBabalon
A Thelemic goddess of fertility, ecstasy, and spiritual transformation.Being · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesChurch of Light
An esoteric organization teaching astrology, alchemy, and magic as a way of life.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreFourth Way
A spiritual path for inner development that does not require leaving ordinary lifeTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreIlluminates of Thanateros
An international group dedicated to practical chaos magic and experimental ritual workTradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreFire (classical element)
A classical substance of heat and transformation in Greek, Indian, and Western esoteric traditionsSubstance · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
- Anthroposophy: Wladyslaw, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sex magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Emanuel Swedenborg: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain, source
- Marsilio Ficino: Marsilio Ficino, Public domain, source
- Baphomet: Eliphas Levi, Public domain, source
- Fourth Way: Londonlinks, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fire (classical element): Correogsk, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Astral body: Rad el Baluvar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Babalon: William Blake, Public domain, source
- UR Group: Gruppo di Ur, Public domain, source
- Sacred mysteries: Johannes Hopffe, Public domain, source
- Aleister Crowley: Aleister Crowley, Public domain, source