Students, Children, and Heirs

Any Flow of Power naturally tends to continue, regardless of its strength or direction.

Therefore any egregore and any non-egregorial chain of succession also has a strong internal drive to continue.

Thus the continuation of a Line benefits not only those who receive power from it but the Line itself, which in this way secures its existence and continuity.

The way the flow of Power is maintained along a chain is usually described as its transmission “from teacher to student.” At the same time, this view is simplified since the magical myth recognizes several kinds of magical succession.

Accordingly, both students and teachers relate to the Flow of Power along the chain in different ways, and, depending on this, the teaching itself proceeds differently.

In antiquity the various “professions” of magical teachers were fairly distinct. Memories of this division have been preserved in some modern Traditions as well: for example, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn delegated the right to initiate a Neophyte to three “senior officers” — the Hierophant, the Priest, and the Hegemon — who collectively provided the full initiatory impulse.

This idea reflects the ancient notion of the “triplicity” of initiation, which may come from three different sources or from a single source if it is capable of channeling all three kinds of Power.

Indeed, a loan of power has three components — birth of power (-), the ability to direct power (+), and correspondence to the power (±). In other words, as we already know, to receive power one must 1) prepare the vessel, 2) bring it into contact with the power, and 3) open the vessel. Situations in which the same teacher can and is willing to guide a student through all three stages are very rare. That requires such a complete correspondence of the teacher’s and student’s energies that it is extremely rare. Besides, not all teachers have the talent to carry out all three stages of initiation.

Much more common are cases where from one teacher a student receives magical birth, from another — knowledge, and very few also inherit the Axis of the Line.

It is very important that the student understands from whom he received each kind of power and which kind he lacks, and that the teacher understands where his greater talent lies.

Mistakes occur on both sides. Those who have not yet entered the world of magic often seek information, while those who have been born often neglect a clear understanding of the myth. One also sees teachers who have the talent to teach but attempt to force passage through the Gates, harming both student and themselves.

Magical initiations, like everything in the unforgiving world of errors that is magic, require careful mapping, and neglecting this understanding risks losing effectiveness and may lead to defeat.