Initiation

Initiation occurs when one dares to act against natural
instincts and allows oneself to be propelled toward CONSCIOUSNESS.
From time immemorial, initiation rites have been devised which prepare
for and parallel the significant transitions in life involving both
body and spirit; as, for example, at puberty (see RITUAL). The complexity
of such ceremonies suggests the breadth and depth of the
ritual container that is needed when psychic ENERGY must be diverted
from acquired habit into new and unaccustomed activity. What
occurs for the initiate is an ontological change which is later reflected
in a recognised change in outer status as well. Again, using puberty
as an example, a boy becomes a man, takes over or moves away
from his father’s house. Significantly, one is initiated not into knowledge
but into mystery and the ‘knowledge’ so acquired may be
termed gnosis.
All initiations involve the death of a less adequate and the REBIRTH
of a renewed and more adequate condition (i.e. TRANSFORMATION);
hence, the rites are both mysterious and terrifying for one is brought
face to face with the numinosity of the GOD-IMAGE or SELF, while
being propelled by the UNCONSCIOUS toward CONSCIOUSNESS (see NUMINOSUM).
SACRIFICE is involved and it is this sacrifice rather than
any torments or tortures that produces suffering. Rites therefore anticipate
a liminal or transitional state, corresponding to temporary
loss of EGO. Because of this, the initiate must’ be accompanied by
someone, priest or mentor, a MANA PERSONALITY, capable of taking
the projected TRANSFERENCE of what the initiate will become,
although at first the content of the projection may take the form of
one who is preventing that same initiate from becoming it. The
relationship between the two, initiate and initiator, is a symbolic
one. During the initiatory process a re-combination of OPPOSITES,

a CONIUNCTIO involving spirit and matter, takes place in the
individual.
Initiation is of central importance in psychological life and all
outward ceremonies conform to an inborn psychological pattern of
change and growth. The rite or ceremony simply safeguards either
person or society from disintegration while deep-seated and pervasive
change takes place. Therefore, it is not surprising that Jung writes:
The transformation of the unconscious that occurs under ANALYSIS
makes it a natural analogue of the religious initiation ceremonies,
which do, however, differ in principle from the natural process in
that they anticipate the natural course of development and substitute
for the spontaneous production of symbols a deliberately selected
set of symbols prescribed by tradition (CW 11, para. 854).
It is not surprising, either, when he claims ‘The only “initiation
process” that is still alive and practised today in the West is the
analysis of the unconscious as used by doctors for therapeutic purposes’
(CW 11, para. 842). See PSYCHOTHERAPY.
Initiation was a potent image for many of the first generation of
analytical psychologists and, perhaps because of this, the dichotomy
between psychological and dogmatic approaches became apparent.
Gradually reliance upon initiation as an unpredictable and unforeseen
process indicated by the unconscious gave way to the outlining
of stages of ANALYSIS, the sketching out of phases in the process of
INDIVIDUATION, and, in addition assigning levels in the training of
analysts (see ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY).
After Jung’s death, Eliade, an anthropologist and scholar of comparative
religions, who was a close friend and former associate, continued
to work on parallels between psychology, anthropology and
comparative religion (1968). Jung had called attention to the fact
that initiation is connected with HEALING; i.e. when a psychological
orientation outlives its usefulness but is not allowed to transform, it
putrefies and infects the entire psychic organism. Writers on initiation
and its purely psychological function are He