Elan Hawk on Initiation

Initiation is not an ending but a beginning. In the years ahead the initiate will probably grow and change, and may even go on to explore other faiths and spiritual ways. The ideals that seem so concrete and perfect now may also be adapted, or even left behind as others emerge. Existence is not static; everything is in a state of evolution, including our spirituality. As we gradually experience the different aspects of life, our ideas change and evolve too, and so the theories and symbols that once seemed to suggest absolute truths reveal themselves to have been ciphers, and others take their place or alter them. At times we may come back to concepts we thought we had abandoned and see them in a new light or with a wider visual perspective. The key initiation provides is meant to unlock the door that opens our own true nature, for to know ourselves is to understand all of existence

(Elan Hawke, Praise to the Moon, Llewellyn Publications, 2003, page 76)