Initiation

Initiation is a rite of passage, ceremony, marking entrance, or acceptance into a group or society. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role.

In the Theosophical view it is frequently applied to the initiation into the occult sciences, which marks the acceptance as a member of the Brotherhood of Adepts. The person who is a candidate for initiation is denominated disciple or chela. H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

Initiate. From the Latin Initiatus. The designation of anyone who was received into and had revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of either Masonry or Occultism. In times of antiquity, those who had been initiated into the arcane knowledge taught by the Hierophants of the Mysteries; and in our modern days those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on earth.

H. P. Blavatsky seems to talk about seven degrees of initiation:

There are four grades of initiation mentioned in exoteric works, which are known respectively in Sanskrit as “Shrôtâpanna,” “Sagardagan,” “Anagamin,” and “Arhan”—the four paths to Nirvana, in this, our fourth Round, hearing the same appellations. The Arhan, though he can see the Past, the Present, and the Future, is not yet the highest Initiate; for the Adept himself, the initiated candidate, becomes chela (pupil) to a higher Initiate. Three further higher grades have to be conquered by the Arhan who would reach the apex; of the ladder of Arhatship.

Further reading

• Initiation at Theosopedia