Initiation, Invocation & Evocation

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This Hearthfire last kindled on: 16 January, 2011

The Avalon Initiation

A Different Kind of Journey ...

Most of us are accustomed to imagine Initiation as a grand ceremony in which we receive accolades from our peers, recognition from our mentors, and grace from the Gods. We think of it as a celebration of something finished. This is both true and untrue, for ceremonial initiation marks the culmination of one phase of our soul's journey, but the beginning of another... The glamour of Initiation is merely the part that the uninitiated are permitted to see. It is not the heart of the experience. This is especially true in Avalonian Tradition -- as those living in Glaston can surely attest. Yet the initiatory experience in Glastonbury is not unique; it merely illustrates the typical experience of Avalonians everywhere.

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The Initiatory Landscape

Nearly everything that happens at Glastonbury or any other sacred site happens everywhere else on the planet too, but it is easier for us to recognize the initiatory dynamics at such places because their special energies amplify (and in some cases accelerate) phenomena, bringing causes and effects together swiftly in arresting and powerful ways. If we are to reap the full benefit of these initiatory experiences, we must learn how to allow them to inform our interactions with everything and every place else on the planet. We must maintain the same perspective when we leave them as we held when we were consciously working with them. The exact phenomena and initiatory experience that characterize specific sacred sites are defined by unique combinations of features and the energies that run through them, and by the generations of people who have invested their energies there. The unique combinations of elements defining sacred sites also help to define the spiritual practices that evolve around them. As Avalonians, we work with one initiatory landscape that manifests in nine variations (one for each of the ancient, archetypal regional centres) and our Avalonian initiatory experiences may be informed by any one of them. All of them reflect Avalon's unique signature energy and characteristic inner nature. This means that the same archetypal figures, the same basic landscape features, and similar myths occur at each Avalonian site.

Landscape initiation is the first phase of the Initiatory process. It occurs when the Seeker asks to advance to the next phase in their spiritual development, and it occurs regardless of where one lives in the world. It typically manifests in the guise of personal crisis. The main difference between different landscape initiations is defined by our perception of the landscape itself. At sacred sites, we tend to be constantly aware of the special qualities of the place and its affect on us, and so we more readily recognize this crisis for what it is (a crisis of soul). These sites also amplify (and sometimes accelerate) the initiatory experience, ramping up the volume to a pitch that's impossible to ignore. At "mundane" locations we generally don't expect the same things to happen and so when they do we tend to attribute them to "mundane" factors. In both cases, the soul is being harrowed. In both cases the soul has embarked upon a profound, frequently painful journey of transformation, but we only recognize this journey and perceive it as having a highly distinctive form in particular kinds of landscapes.

During a landscape initiation we meet the obstacles and barriers that have obstructed our spiritual progress in dramatic forms that demand to be addressed. It is our soul's desire to evolve that activates the powers within the initiatory landscape, and spontaneously begins or accelerates our spiritual journey. This experience has the potential to carry us towards or away from our spiritual goal, depending upon our own readiness to face our own soul lessons and challenges. We may either use these challenges to break through the barriers of personality and ego, awakening the light of the spirit (a process often called "the Great Work"), or we may withdraw into denial and actually regress, taking refuge behind the very obstacles we had thought to overcome.  Our spiritual harrowing may take the form of a dark night of the soul, or of consecutive waves of crisis spanning hours, months, years, or even decades. True initiation is not a finite process, but a continual unfolding into a purer state of consciousness, a more holistic and sustainable existence, and a more radiantly heart-felt life of spiritual service. The actual amount of time will depend upon the effectiveness of our response; the sooner we move past the barriers to continued spiritual growth, the sooner the crisis sparked by this phase of our soul's evolution will end and we may enjoy a period of respite before the next phase begins. This is true of initiations on all spiritual paths.

It is largely the specific landscape templates, their inherent energies, and the overlay of residual energy resulting from people and place memory, that define the forms of specific spiritual traditions. "The land changes the people; the people do not change the land", as they say. In our belief, Avalon does not exist only on the inner planes or solely at one site; it exists on the inner planes (or primal lands) and in multiple locations in physical reality. Avalon's sacred landscape is defined by a specific set of physical and energetic elements common to all Avalonian sites, whose qualities are reflected in the common experiences documented by local myths, legends, and folklore, all of which share certain Avalonian motifs. This template is the main theme of Avalon's sacred landscape. There are also nine variations on this theme; one for each of Avalon's nine archetypal regional sites. Each of these Avalonian landscapes is dominated by a specific energy and feature and has a specific magical and initiatory function. The features of this landscape are already well known to us. Even if we have never been blessed to see and experience them in this life, they are documented (in various forms) in Celtic and Arthurian literature that will be familiar to most of us:

• The Vale, Lake or Mirror Pool & the Perilous Bridge
  

• An "Eternal Flame" & Sacred Springs
  

• Tunnels / Processional Ways
  

• The Apple Grove
  

• Sacred Tree(s)
  

• The Womb-Tomb, Crystal Cave or Underground Burial Mound / Temple
  

• Labyrinth, Tor or Spiral Tower
  

• Egg Stone(s) & Standing or Ring Stones
  

• The Star Temple or Landscape Zodiac
  

While all Avalonian sites have some combination of these features, obviously they will be most easily identified in places where the sites themselves have been protected and preserved -- and easier still where they are found in close proximity, which is why Glaston is such a favored place of pilgrimage. American sites are either on private lands or reservations to which the public has no access, or they have been ransacked by the Army Corps of Engineers, or demolished by private developers who value fast profits over authentic history and spiritual heritage. Rarely are they on public (or public accessible) lands, and while there remain many undiscovered sites these are often difficult to identify without extensive knowledge and experience of recognized sites -- which is why American Avalonians frequently make pilgrimage to the Isles and Western Europe, where numerous sites survive, have been restored, studied, "mapped", and are accessible to the public.

Making the commitment to visit and learn from these sites is especially important now. During this cosmic period of initiation, death and rebirth, we are being offered a unique opportunity to transform our relationship with the planet. As difficult as this process might be, it will likely become even harder after Midwinter 2012, when the cosmic gateway closes and the mounting planetary crisis forces us to make the changes we have continued to resist. Our own choices have defined the terms for our initiation and set the process in motion. Fortunately we are all dwelling in an initiatory landscape and have the power to initiate our own change at a less painful rate, if we find the wisdom to acquaint ourselves with the process, so that we may recognize and work with it in all its manifestations.

The Somerset Initiation: The Tor   (The South)

Every site associated with Avalon was once known as an "Apple Isle", and several (such as "Patrick's Purgatory" in Ireland) were also known as "purgatorial sites" or "Isles of the Dead", but only one is known as "The Isle of Glass" (Ynys Witryn). In addition to its role as a soul portal, Glastonbury is a soul mirror known for reflecting back whatever you bring to it in forms you cannot ignore. It's dominant features are the Tor and the Red, White, and Grey (or "Ash") Springs. The challenge here centers on Identity; specifically, the ability to discern the Heart or "Higher Self" from the Ego. To the living Seeker it "holds the mirror up to life", reflecting back aspects of our authentic selves that no longer serves or which are ready to be brought forth.

(For more on this Glastonbury initiation, please see the "British Mystery School of Avalon" site.)

The Mona Initiation: Bryn Gwyddon, "The Hill of Science"   (The Centre)

Ynys Môn was also once known as an "Apple Isle", but it has many other names as well, Ynys Dywyll ("Dark Isle"), Ynys y Kedyrn (Cedyrn or Cedairn; "Isle of the Mighty"), Mam Cymru ("Mother of Wales"), Clas Merddin ("the Sea-Girt Spot"), Y fêl Ynys ("Honey Isle"), and "Mother of Wales" (Mam Cymru), among them. Like Glastonbury, among its numerous Otherworld portals is a mound or mount that is reputed to be an Avalonian portal. Mynydd Bodafon retains a reputation as a hill of magic, associated with the Gwyddoniaid ("Order of the Wise") whom local folklore claims preceded the Celtic Druids. The challenge here centers on Discernment; specifically, the ability to distinguish true dreams from illusions. This is often experienced as a form of haunting; a recognition which may be reflected in the isle's modern name, the Isle of Anglesey ("Isle of Angels").

The Ioua Initiation: Cairn Mound   (The North)

For most people today, the name Iona brings to mind the Christian community which claims to be the inheritors of Columba, but in time past this isle was named Innis Ioua ("Ioua's Isle", named for the ancient Moon Goddess), Innis nam Duineach ("Island of the Cunning"), and Innis nan Druidhneah ("Isle of Druids"), and Ì nam ban Bòidheach ("Isle of Beautiful Women"). Its Druids are known to have engaged in fierce magical battles with Colum Cille and his contingent (much as did their colleagues in Ireland, facts which starkly contradict the popular notion that Druids simply handed the isles over to "their Christian brothers"). It is one of several islands where the Druids are said to have taken refuge from Rome and founded a library. Like Glaston, with its Tor and sacred springs, Ioua has its Tobar na h'oige ("Fount of Youth") set on an isolated hill called Sliabh Meanach ("Middle Hillside"). The island's black with the Stone of Truth (another of the hallows) and it is the burial site of the Kings of Dalriada, all of which supports this as another Avalonian portal. The challenge here centers on Sovereignty; specifically, the ability to discern duty from desire.

*   *   *

These are the three great centres of the British Isles, but their powers and characteristics are mirrored in many other regional complexes. We are taught that each of these centres is comprised of nine tribal regions. This ninehold template is mirrored in many other places in the Isles, in Europe, and in eastern North America. In these times, it is especially important that we work as much as possible with the lands on which we now live, while keeping alive our connections to more remote ancestral lands. This has been a particular challenge for Americans, who until recently were encouraged to believe that all of the *real* sacred sites were located in Europe or were the exclusive province of Amerindians, and that Avalon was the exclusive property of Britain, Ireland, Scotland, or Western Europe (depending upon which source you read). Happily, the existence of Avalonian place names and the discovery of rare forms of Ogham script, pictographs, and Avalonian God-name inscriptions on American monuments, as well as the recent discovery of pre-Clovis European settlements along America's east coast, provide increasing verification for oral tradition teachings that place ancient Avalonians in the New World before or with Amerindians. In short, the Diaspora are coming home...

The American Initiation into Avalon

Unfortunately, due to the American penchant for destroying sacred sites and the need to preserve positive relations with other native peoples, we cannot publish which locations are "Avalonian," but we can tell you that the sites are here. Avalonian sites exist from Nova Scotia to at least the Carolinas. While the energies of these sites are informed by the land in which they have taken root, they retain the same forms and functions and remain recognizably Avalonian in feeling; it is not difficult to discover these correspondences once the the Seeker has worked with the sites in Britain.

Asheville/Black Mountain, North Carolina, carries almost exactly the same energy as the Isle of Mona (and indeed, the same bluestone and crystalline deposits run through each), but the stories you hear there sound eerily akin to those heard in Glaston. Like Glaston, people feel compelled to move there. After arriving they experience a "harrowing of the soul" through personal crisis prompting profound self-transformation, and again like Glaston, they may find it difficult or impossible to leave until they do so. There is no obvious Tor looming over Asheville, as there is in Glaston, but a careful examination of the local landscape will soon turn up all of the same basic features within a day's walk or 15 minutes drive from the city centre. The Finger Lakes area, which more closely resembles Somerset physically, blends the energies of Somerset and Mona. Like Mona, are "haunted places" whose hauntings open doorways to other orders of existence and being. Mystery Hill, New Hampshire, closely resembles Skara Brae, Scotland, yet during our visit its energy corresponded more closely to that of Lough Gur, Ireland. Without direct experience of multiple Avalonian initiatory landscapes, these surface discrepancies between physical appearance and energetics can make for a lot of confusion, though closer examination will reveal unique harmonies of form and function.

Once these sites are identified, their characters as initiatory landscapes can be easily discovered. One has precisely the same kinds of experiences and for the same reasons as we find in Avalon abroad. However, without first having the experience in a "prevalidated" site it is difficult for most people to trust their personal experiences and observations, especially when they are likely to be met with ridicule both by the mainstream society and by other pagans, who see these claims as the pathetic delusions of "British (or Druid) wannabes". In America, intuition and reason aere not granted equal weight or value; "real" authority derives solely from establishment institutions and science. The achievements of the ancestors are seen as myth or as "lost and unattainable". This environment, which feels so hostile to serious spiritual exploration, is actually part of the spiritual initiation as we encounter it in the "New World"; something we must all learn to face and fear of which we must each learn to overcome as part of embracing our inner Truth.

The Importance of Soul Initiation

Upon realizing the actual nature of initiation most people are far less keen to sign on for the experience, but if we are to forge a new and healthier relationship with Creation, we must first understand the truth of what Creation is and how it works. This is the knowledge into which initiatory experiences are intended to bring us; thus it is more essential than ever that we begin to understand the machinery underlying our daily experience. This means interacting with the places we find ourselves as initiatory landscapes, posing the same questions and holding the same expectations as we would when visiting sacred sites in the Isles or Europe. Close observation will reveal to us something of the nature of each place; the story of the land will provide a context for better understanding our observations.

This is an ongoing process, unfolding every moment of every day. Americans tend to dismiss this as impossible, yet those who have gone on pilgrimage or attended immersions in the sacred landscape can attest to the contrary. We live in immersed in this mind set during immersions without causing riots in the streets or offending everyone we meet. Holding an awareness of the sacred, magical inner nature of the land and of the lessons it is trying to teach us does not unhinge us; if anything, we come back wishing we could be in that state all the time... Well, we can. It is a matter of changing perspective, of shifting from seeing ourselves in a non-magical, mechanistic world, to knowing ourselves to be in a potent, aware, responsive, and magically charged environment. In reality, we have total control over this and it is not actually difficult to make this shift and hold to it throughout the day -- if we are willing to do it. This altered Sight will naturally expose other, less desirable aspects of the human world around us. It may compel us to see vividly the dangerous attitudes we've all accepted or to confront our own complicity as a support for the very things we say we oppose. These are not pleasant observations, but they are necessary if we are to embrace the Truth of who we are, what we have created, and of the choices now before us.

Landscape versus Ritual Initiation

Initiation in a sacred landscape happens with or without ritual fanfare and it may or may not directly involve the Gods; therefore it is a different kind of initiation to the type with which most of us are familiar. We are taught that it is the combined effect of (1) mindful relationship with an Initiatory Landscape, (2) the guidance of the Gods and Mighty Ancestors, and (3) tutelage of Community Elders that results in true "Initiation". It is this threefold initiation spanning all Three Realms that effects the deepest transformation in the individual and is the most valid indicator of spiritual authority as an emblem of spiritual attainment. This is the type of initiation symbolized by  ADO Initiation Ceremonies and the individuals who are recognized within them are those that have faced the initiatory soul challenge in all Three Realms. In this respect, they have earned the glamour that surrounds their attainments. It is this ceremonial initiation that we will now explore further...

"Avalon, Isle of Apples", (c) Joan Medina, Phoenix Springwater Creations. Used by Permission.

Initiation, Invocation & Evocation

What is an Initiate?

To "initiate" means "to begin;" thus an ADO Initiate is someone who has completed all foundation studies and received the blessing of our Gods and Elders to begin (or attempt) more advanced explorations. By our attainments we earn recognition of the Tribes and in the Otherworld. Our authority is earned not once, but again and again each day of the Druid's life; therefore ADO titles may be revoked upon proof of misuse or misconduct.

Avalon has many initiations serving many purposes. First are the Tribal Rites of Passage, individuals as members of our spiritual community before our Gods, Druids, and Tribes. Next, are the Novice Attainments recognizing mastery of the basic skills, wisdom, experience, and discernment that form the basis (or "Foundation Training") for Avalonian Druid practice.

Once the novitiate is attained, there remain the Druid initiations within the Three Disciplines (comprising a total of nine areas of study). These ceremonies are celebrated when the Council reaches accord on a candidate's attainments in specified area(s) *, including such areas as:

• Hearthcraft ("arts of making", i.e. spinning, dying, weaving, and needlecraft; wood and metal crafts; cookery and basic herbcraft)
  

• Healing (resonance healing; doctrine of signatures, wildcrafting, identification of herbs & herbal preparations)
  

• Wild Wisdom (communion with wild beasts and elements of nature)
  

• Gwyddonic Arts (magical science and philosophy)
  

• Songspell (ritual story-telling and song; lore-keeping; wood lore)
  

• Pathwalking (ways of the Hunter & Woodsman, Watcher, and Guardian)
  

• Dreaming (Avalonian ritual; the Dreaming arts; early Druid laws, e.g. Laws of Hwyl Dda and Brehon / Brithem Laws)
  

• Midwifery (ways of the birthing-aide and guide of the dead)
  

• Governance (ethics, arts of diplomacy & counsel)
  

* (Study of these Disciplines is by invitation, under the direction of an ADO Elder only.)

"The Gods Initiated Me"...

... It is often said in Avalon that "the Gods are the only Initiators." This is true. However, there are some who have tried to exploit this belief to support false claims on the mistaken assumption that their claims cannot be challenged. It should be obvious that the mark of deity cannot be faked, but apparently ambition blinds some people to the obvious. Any Avalonian Druid will immediately recognize the unique energetic signatures of our Gods. A real initiation is easy to recognize; and while false claims may persuade the naïve or those with similar ambitions, they will not convince a Druid. In order to protect the integrity of our community, all claims of  "spontaneous initiation" must be unanimously approved by ADO Council Elders before they will be recognized as valid within ADO. This is vital if we're to protect the reputation and credibility of the Order. It is also one of the first lessons of the sacred landscape; one we must remember if we expect to succeed on this Path.

Rite of Evocation

Evocation is the act of "summoning" or "inviting" Spirit to manifest in ritual space. A good evocation is every bit as powerful and impressive as a good invocation; however, the unpleasant realization that such rituals are being altered and misused by those seeking "fast access" to Avalon's power must be faced. Such abuses effect us all; thus the form of ritual now practiced by new Seekers is either ADO open ritual or dream journey, with evocational and invocational ritual being reserved for members who have made a demonstrable commitment to our community and Order.

Rite of Invocation

Invocation is the act of inviting Spirit to manifest through our bodies. The invoking Druid "steps aside" to allow deity to enter. Done correctly, with proper support from a strong circle, and with all of the traditional safeguards the process is quite safe; however, to remain safe requires precision and highly developed powers of discernment. For this reason, Avalonian invocation requires extensive, in-person training. Common risks include becoming intoxicated by the feeling of power and mistaking 'trickster' energies for Avalonian presences.

Tribes Ritual Ceremony

As new religions and ways were introduced, the Tribes forgot how to commune directly with Spirit. The old ceremonies lost their luster and the surviving Druids, rightly fearing that they would fall into disbelief and lose their unique spiritual identities, began using both evocation and invocation to bring the Gods back into the people's perceptions. However, the ancestors could count on the fact that those attending would share, if not the same beliefs, then a similar respect for the Gods and the Guest Laws. Even the Romans sought foreign Gods' blessings for safe passage through their realms. Modern people do not enjoy the same luxury. Public rituals may draw militant protestors whose beliefs conflict with our own and who are willing to subvert our rights to enforce their views on the world. In circle rituals, safety depends in part upon maintaining the focus of the circle; the possibility of unexpected interruptions, hostility, and even aggression is simply too great to safely perform Avalon's ancient oracular, invocatory, and fertility rites in their entirety. So while we look with joy to the day when we may once again publicly perform these rites -- that day is not today. While we may hold certain ancestral rites in memory for the future, we cannot perform them all at this time.

Our religious freedom depends on each of us; on the choices each of us makes ...