An initiation is a symbolic death and rebirth, a rite of passage that transforms each person who experiences it. - Starhawk

As feminist scholar Carol Christ points out, “Symbol systems cannot simply be rejected, they must be replaced. Where there is no replacement, the mind will revert to familiar structures at times of crisis, bafflement, or defeat.

An initiation creates a strong bond and a karmic tie, so they should be people within your community you feel close to, not strangers or figures you admire from a distance.

The Mysteries are teachings that cannot be grasped by the intellect alone, but only by the deep mind made accessible in trance. They may be conveyed by an object — a shaft of wheat, as in the Eleusinian Mysteries — by a key phrase, or symbol. The secret itself may be meaningless when out of context: only within the framework of the ritual does it take on its illuminating power.