Sunday, February 19, 2006

Is Initiation Forever?

The tradition in which I was trained and in which I continue to practice teaches that because an initiation, if done properly, is a life-changing experience, we as a tradtion cannot undo an initiation once it had been given. We cannot take away from that person the experiences which he or she has undergone, so we can't revoke an initiation. The best that we can do is to revoke someone's right to act and style themselves as a priest or priestess of our tradition.

But recently, I've seen some things happening that suggest to me that even if we cannot revoke an initiation, the person to whom it was given CAN walk away from it.

I'll discuss some things that relate to this in more detail later, if it seems necessary. For the moment I'm interested in people's initial reactions to the question.

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