"The function of ritual is to give form to human life, not in the way of a surface arrangement, but in depth. In ancient times every social occasion was ritually structured and the depth was rendered through the maintenance of a religious tone. Myths are the mental supports of rites; rites, the physical enactment of myths." -Joseph Campbell

Mystery schools of initiation specialize in impressing upon every part of our being - physical, mental and spiritual - the various stages of our soul's evolution. The aim of their initiations is to bring the candidate to compassion through knowledge, to teach the candidate to cultivate within the latent faculties of spiritual sight. The initiations enable the candidate to chart the progress made as an aspirant to the higher life. In the final degrees comes the attainment of the divine knowledge of Gnosis and thereby the candidate may come to the realization of oneness with all that lives and moves, and which puts each in full and perfect attunement with the infinite. Initiation is indeed equivalent to a spiritual maturing, or a rite that makes, for a time, the spiritual tangible.

As has already been noted elsewhere, there are certain initiatory orders which are officially recognized by and have been part of the French Gnostic Tradition at least since 1919. Here, we present only the barest of information, allowing each to realize the interior action of the Holy Spirit upon them, moving each to contact the appropriate initiatory order at the right time.