44. The First Degree of Initiation

©2001 Athene Bitting All Rights Reserved

XLIV

The First Degree of Initiation:

From Innocent to Acolyte,

or, the Seeker

Lecture based Questions:

1. What are the achievements of a First Degree Initiate?

After experiencing hundreds (perhaps) of lifetimes and having interacted with members of one’s Soul Clan in all possible relationships, the Astral personality learns a few things and realizes that the rewards of the worldly life are no longer enough to satisfy the spirit. This is called the Awakenment, when the individual becomes a conscious being and is no longer simply an organism in the collective whole of the clan.

2. Which episode of Jesus’ life represents this initiation?

Baptism is the symbolic event for the 1DI. It carries a deeper metaphorical meaning also, when the Soul Body comes into contact with the Holy Spirit as an intimate friend.

3. Is there a particular lifetime when this initiation is designated?

No. A certain amount of personal power must be accumulated and there is no set amount of incarnations required for this. Personal power is gained through experience, suffering, wisdom, and the effort of physical life.

4. What are the keys of accomplishment that must be gathered for the First Degree of Initiation to take place?

•Awareness of the individual and unique needs of one’s own personal quest.

•Understanding of the dynamics of human relationships.

•A certain level of focused thought.

•The desire to know the truth.

•Dedication to serving a higher power.

5. What is the single most encouraging event that takes place during this initiation rite?

The initiate receives her/his Guardian Angel. This relationship lasts for a very long time. Its necessity is finished at the 3DI, in the case of the Initiate deciding to take angelic service for himself/herself. If the Initiate chooses to serve in human incarnations, the Guardian Angel remains in support through the 5DI. The bond and loving communication between disciple and Guardian continues far beyond any levels of obligation or need.

6. Meditation Exercise: Gathering in the Net

In the Network of Light throughout the universe, we can all be likened to points of light connected to each other by filaments of life-love energy.

Let us turn our thoughts to those who have recently reached the stage that we call Dedication. It is a precious time, full of confusion and hope, need and desire to do good. Each of these little stars needs encouragement and blessing.

We can augment the power of our effectiveness exponentially by gathering in like-vibrational siblings into a network of collective agency.

•Visualize yourself as a spark of very bright light. All around you are sparks and stars just like you, as far as you can see into infinity. Some are tiny and faint. Some are large and brilliant.

•Set your mind to connecting with the very smallest lights. Gossamer filaments like spider web strands connect you to these brothers and sisters. The more that you are able to connect with, the brighter shines the network that you have created through your reaching out.

•As we say the following words out loud, observe the vibrations of thought traversing the filaments and increasing power to all sympathetic members of the network.

Beyond the realms of illusion, beyond the pathways of toil,

We are always conjoined in the sacred ocean of Infinite Love.

We increase our awareness by sharing our collective wisdom.

We increase our power by sharing our collective experience.

We increase our velocity by sharing our collective purpose.

So we rise together in our unique destinies.

7. Draw or describe one of your helpers.

How about your Guardian Angel again? Get used to talking to her. She is your greatest hope.

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When the World Is Young

Our infinitely diverse pathways always begin at the same point—the beginning of consciousness. We are born in primal oceans of creative energy. Each life wave has its collective song of purpose. Each drop in these waves takes on a singular purpose of its own—to gather about it a unique collection of stories and experiences to share with the collective whole.

On our planet, innocent souls are pressed into physical incarnations of various forms. The forms of humanity have already been through several transformations of evolution and capacities. At human stage, we begin with the pack or the clan to help mold our awareness into functional and constructive modes of expression. Our clan incarnates together as a group consciousness. We share many lifetimes of high drama and family relationships. Every relationship possible is enacted between us. Every sordid adventure within the scope of our imagination becomes manifest. We become intimately bonded with each other, and this bond remains throughout the eternal cycle of ascendancy.

Let us discuss this first phase of human life, for it sets the primary resonances of later development. During physical life and in between lifetimes, our group remains together. We have our group homes in the Astral World. We learn together in classroom situations. We are never apart at the astral and mental levels. We are comfortable in the tribe and we do not consider that there could be anything of meaning outside of it.

Our virgin spirits are always overwhelmed by the bombardment of hormonal stimulation. It takes many lifetimes to take control over these commanding impulses of desire, fear, fury, manic enthusiasm. After our clan continually explores the highs and lows of emotional living, some of us become aware that there might be a more valuable lifestyle outside of the pack.

Consider the time when you reached this moment of revelation. For you there was only the group against the world. You felt safe within the confines of this social structure and the parameters of its harsh laws and restrictions. You had never experienced life outside of the clan, other people had not much meaning to you other than your own group. To break from its ways was unthinkable for many lifetimes, yet here you were, on the brink of the unknown, and unable to turn back.

What happened to you? How did you reach this inconceivable juncture? What happened to you is what happens to all of us. We call it the Point of Breakaway Power. All life comes to this moment of high decision and impulse. The drive is to move ahead at a different vibration than before. You feel stimulated to explore new sources of knowledge. You understand that there are people out in the world that can lead you to adventures beyond the confines of Plato’s metaphorical cave.

All your past lifetimes were meant for this time, when your personal power brought your consciousness to rise above the water’s surface (primary consciousness) and into the air (advancement consciousness). From this instant on, you will be seeking for answer upon answer. From now on, your feet point upward.

What happens in the Astral World and beyond is most interesting. The Kindel Archangel for your group prepares an event that we call The Awakening. The Watcher Angel for your group is closely involved in observing your progress. She alerts related angels to your cause of upliftment. Awakener Angels have been bringing you in touch with literature and people who can suggest the new life to come. The moment of transformation is an event of celebration for you and all the helpers who have been involved in your guidance.

Your soul body, which has been mostly “sleepy” until then, has been imbued with a thought form of enlightenment. When the Soul Body becomes ripe, it assimilates the thought form into itself and undergoes a transformation. Never again will it slumber without awareness. It remains alert throughout the stages to come.

The Mental Body receives the benefits of the Soul’s change. It becomes more porous and thus can receive higher frequencies of information. Gradually, the atoms become accelerated in their vibration and the entire appearance of the Mental Body is clarified and more beautiful.

The Astral Body undergoes a very dramatic alteration. The fabric of the body becomes bright and lively. An aura of purpose and determination galvanizes each atom. The appearance of the Astral Body, which had formerly born a sameness with the other members of the clan, takes on a special countenance of its own. At this point, the Astral Body renames itself according to its sense of motive.

The physical body will experience a sense of enlivenment and alertness. The environment will chafe and no longer seem to fit in the same way. Goals will appear for the first time in the mind that have no connection to the pack. The tribe will no longer fit in the life plan. The group may reject and expel the initiate at this point, as he or she has become a foreign object.

A particular blessing of this initiation is the eternal bond that takes place between Guardian Angel and Acolyte. The Watcher Angel of the clan becomes quite attached to the candidate of next harvest. The Awakening of this soul also marks the initiation of the Watcher Angel into Guardian Angel. They take on their passages at similar moments and move upward together. Your Guardian Angel was your Watcher Angel, and your transition marked hers as well. You are bound together by the sacred ties of this unified point of motion. Until the Third Degree of Initiation, She will guide, accompany, and encourage you during and between lifetimes.

Let us imagine such an event taking place. An incarnated person comes into this life in the accustomed fashion, as part and parcel of her or his group. This is the lifetime when it is likely that Individuation will occur, and so it does. The candidate accumulates the required amount of personal power. The Soul Body assimilates the thought form of transformation. The Mental and Astral Bodies undergo their alterations. The physical body becomes lighter, brighter, and more inquisitive. The angels in attendance monitor and bless the occasion. Among these are the Christ Spirit, the Holy Comforter, the Kindel Archangel, Watcher Angel, Awakener Angel, Angel of the Christ Presence, angels representing Truth & Wisdom and Karma and Destiny, nature spirits who have observed the candidate, and human helpers in their astral forms. Great is the celebration, and the singing and music of rejoicing echoes through the lower and higher regions. It is a great event when a child of the Divine attains Awakenment. The entire universe is fortified by it.

The physical world as the acolyte knew it is no longer a comfortable fit, but a challenging set of mysteries to solve with mentors and new friends.

Sometimes, when a nature spirit slips into physical incarnation and begins the arduous karmic climb, the human rules do not always apply en toto. The nature spirit never feels at home in any clan, but does find comfort in other nature expatriates. A Guardian Angel is attached nearly immediately, as the process of awakenment already belongs to the Devic line of evolution.

Now comes the great adventure. The subtle lessons of mastery over the physical and astral bodies begin. Your former Watcher Angel, now your very own Guardian Angel, has dedicated her career to arranging your next initiation.

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As That Which Has Always Been supports and nourishes us,

We individually give back the same to the Infinite Way.

Our unique destinies create the intricate patterns of the universe.