Part of a series of posts inspired by the South Wales Occult Conference in Cardiff on 2nd November 2024 – find the first post and index here.

As I shared previously, at the conference I teamed up with my friend Sef from The Visible College to speak on our joint project – Star Club.

Star Club is a syncretic magical training program rooted in the Western esoteric tradition, blending ceremonial and ecstatic pagan practices to give students the opportunity to develop themselves and their skills as magicians. We teach a bit, discuss a bit, and then apply it in group ritual to get results.

Of course, once we completed the first training cycle something else emerged with a life of its own. A new modern magical order (to quote Dr Bob Plimer), complete with initiation for those that want to be a part of it… and further support and training for our members, because we never stop learning!

At the Conference we talked specifically about initiation and it’s impact on individuals and the order itself. How initiation occurs as part of the process of becoming…

Initiation is a funny thing.

It can be a change initiated within you.

It can be a new chapter begun.

It can be an initiation into a tradition or order – which can be like joining a club, being adopted, or getting married.

So what happens in initiation for a modern magical order?

Initiation is by definition a beginning, but when something new begins, the old dies.

Within Star Club we designed the whole training cycle as a process which supports the transformation of self, and the initiations themselves are a part of that.

In the final session of the training cycle our final group working is our version of the ritual known as “The Headless Rite”, developed from the “Greek Magical Papyri”, which acts as an initiation of completion and integration. And then, after the cycle is complete, practitioners are invited to initiate into the order itself and we come back together for a big ritual…

The first is an initiation of internal change, the second is an initiation of becoming part of something larger than yourself.

But what is always worth remembering is that when a new person joins a group, that person is changed in relationship, and the group is also changed. It now has something that it didn’t have before.

Initiation doesn’t just change the individual… It changes the order, the magic of the club.

And as magicians, witches, pagans, and company, we know that “as above, so below” – all parts partake of each other – and thus changing ourselves, and changing the order, also changes the world.

Your Turn:

What are your stories of initiation, whether explicitly magical or spontaneously occurring, that you can share publicly? When have you stepped through a gateway, or finished a chapter, and found that it wasn’t just you that had changed but the world around you changed too?

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below. (Or you can join the conversation in The Enchanted Academy here!)

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