Probationer of the OAI

Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati^®

Probationer of the O.·.A.·.I.·.

During the nine months period of probation, the Postulant must submit to the Order a 9-15 page thesis on any subject matter of his/her own choice. This thesis may be a self-examination, a biographic essay, or ritual; regardless of subject matter the thesis must be 9-15 pages. After nine months of probationary preparations and ritual work, if the serious Postulant is permitted to progress to Neophyte of the Order, s/he may then receive the Oath of the Probationer {Neophyte} and construct his/her own rite of Self-Initiation into the Man of Earth grade. The Probationer must then submit his/her signed Oath and Rite of Self-Initiation to the Imperator of the Order before formal performance of the Rite. It is only by official dispensation from the Imperator of the Order a Frater or Soror Probationer may then religiously initiate into the grade of the Neophyte I° Man of Earth. The O.·.A.·.I.·. does not conduct Initiation Ceremonies for its Fratres and Sorores. The system of the O.·.A.·.I.·. is entirely a Self-Initiatic mechanism. In the O.·.A.·.I.·. no Frater or Soror can be Initiated by another, as it is by the virtue of his or her own interior illumination to enter into the Secret Sanctuary. The religious Body of the O.·.A.·.I.·. embodies Fratres and Sorores who are determined & daring enough to work out their own transcending and elevation, disciplined enough to do their own sacred inquisitions, and skilled enough to execute their own manifest destinies in the Great Work.

Magical life and initiation commands an abandonment of security, conventionality, and safety. Initiation mauls the perception of truth and lies to where nothing is true and the personal Will is seen as a bewitching naked illusion. Without Initiation into the four powers of the Sphinx, body-mind invokes the ghosts of reason and vampires of ego, creating disease and fantasy. Magic has no room for the despondent of will, refusing sacrifice. Magicians are those secret few who are above the worms of the river Styx, learning well the lessons of the Path, ready to burn in the cremation grounds of the Great Serpent. The Invocation of the Dæmon, rather, the Knowledge and Conversation strips the initiate of all knowledge of the self, bringing to the surface previously inexperienced and unexpressed archetypes. In this inevitable revelation, it is from the darkness that the light withdrawn emerges.

The aim of initiation into the mysteries is to prepare for immortality. By taking up the Great Work and its sacred studies, the neophyte allied his or her entire consciousness and existence to the divine, that uncreated firmament of limitless light. This divine essence was never born, never manifest, and shall never perish in the multiverse of infinite diversities. Initiation is the means of Self-reformation where men and women are strewn asunder into the endless Sea. This endless Sea is the farthest reaches of human consciousness and imagination. The Path of Initiation arrogates strength & skill of Will. Occult initiation is a dire ordeal of the deathless soul as the initiate is often bewitched by the "Dark Night of the Soul" in the Chapel Perilous of the Grail legend, or the "Valley of the Shadow of Death.”

Ceremonial initiations express a latent intolerable ache of the soul in Mankind to ameliorate this unbearable “sickness” by seeking a direct contact with the holy mysteries. The underlying obligation of initiation into the Mysteries was that the Preceptors were consecrated brethren, and matrons, of the Gift not “layman of the brute herd." When the naked, bound, and pestilent candidate strips the mind of all psychological deconditioning (to unlearn), has mortified and excited the intolerable ache of the flesh (sensory deprivation), abandoned religious memes (occult science), s/he rises from a mystical death to reclaim the divine spark of Light, the Kingdom within.

True and real initiation into the Hidden Light of the Arts and Sciences left an indelible mark on the soul. Such a Gift of the sacred and holy Magi of the secret academies was played out during a mystical reenactment and orchestrated pageantry of sacred myth and theology. A progression of ordained knowledge from ancient Ægyptian mortuary rites to secret saturnalia of Mithraic temples and ceremonies of the Scottish and York Rites has become the axis of the one true Invisible College. Myths, superstitions, dogmas, creeds, and metaphysical theologies give way to the beginnings of a ‘Science of Religions.’ This enlightened propensity seems to make room for a sort of ‘theistic science’ that segregates Occult arts and sciences from philosophic schizophrenia, i.e., the ongoing polemic between “magic,” and mysticism

Initiations possess guides and signposts of progress and wisdom, many of the ordeals rooted in the Tarot Arcana, laid out for Neophytes to navigate. Many of these ordeals and psychological tribulations clearly relate to intimacy and sexual relationships as the Probationer almost immediately following the days of his initiation encounters a seductive nymph who tests the levels of commitment, the nature and loyalty of the Probationer to his, or her, work, and finally their understanding of the physical relationship they presently are engaged or soon will engage in. Another ordeal is a test of loyalty to ones initiating Brotherhood or Preceptor, in effect, the trial does not measure physical loyalty but fidelity to the oaths, and principles set forth in the initiation ceremony. The ordeals of the Adept are of the most dire, for they are spiritual ordeals of perfect beauty, of faith and true love. Here, the fool of the Tarot receives the fullness of initiation in the heart.

Theūrgia{Latin. “magic”} and ceremonial initiation led the Neophyte to a sacred study of forgotten alphabets, to a grammar of high sorcery. A genealogy of theurgic initiations can be recounted by tracing magical heredity from generation to generation, maiden to mistress, Magister to Neophyte, brother to brother. Ancient magic was studied, and is now best studied as a many-sided jewel – vast interpretations of shining traditions all emanating from the solitary star of an Invisible College. To this “Invisible College,” every wise Probationer has an indefeasible right to belong by the constitutions of his or her dignity and virtue, as each, if even unbeknownst to the other, are divided for love’s sake, to unite in fraternity and sorority under the One Light of Truth, the Truth of Darkness, that is the Kindred Arts, the Science of the Stars, the Keys of Religion, the Veil of the Antediluvian Mysteries.

Mircea Eliade notes the shamanism experiences of initiatory rites as “equivalent to a basic change in existential condition.” Eliade highlights initiation as a repetitive symbolism, retrogression to the chaotic primordial events that shaped the proto-history of the species, thus a common theme in initiation is a reenactment of the interaction betwixt the divine hierarchy and the ancient world. All initiatory rites induce a physiologic and psychological rebirth, a resurrection by iconographic symbols embedded into the psyche of the postulant. Eliade classifies initiations into two categories: puberty rites and specialized initiations. Puberty rites are ceremonies by virtue of which adolescent members of the community gain access to sexuality and knowledge, often accompanied by dramatic pageants, not excluding corporal and genital mutilations.

Specialized initiations are secret ceremonies where individuals undergo psychological transformation and become emissaries or protégés of the divine hierarchy invoked during initiations. Rituals of initiation are limited in scope of time from both an emic and etic standpoint. The rituals themselves are not ongoing and must end distinctly before the death of the candidate. In addition rituals are marked by distinct beginnings and endings. All initiation rituals within the Western Mysteries, and Masonic Lodges of the York, Scottish, and Memphis-Misraim rites, from both the emic and etic views, are seen as having a mythological element to them. Generally they are said to take place in a magical space outside of time and space, in the center of time and space or at some mythological location, such as the halls of Osiris from the Egyptian Book of Going Forth by Day, the construction site of King Solomon’s Temple or at the Rosicrucian’s mountain Abiegnus. Ritual initiation for the Probationer of the O.·.A.·.I.·. is a carnal act.

The Oath of the Probationer {Postulant} of the O.·.A.·.I.·. psychologically binds the postulant to a solemn task of becoming an independent religious scientist prospecting the dark Arte upon the earth. Men and Women seeking to religiously & psychologically initiate into the O.·.A.·.I.·. must be 18 years of age or older and serious about the performance of the Great Work. Postulants must first undergo and endure for nine months or longer the psychological ordeals and tribulations of the grade of the Probationer (Postulant). This period is a time of psychological introspection, and determination of one's intent to self-initiate and formulate a bond with the progressive initiatic mechanism of the O.·.A.·.I.·. During the ninth-month probationer, the postulant is obligated to adhere to a strict self-constructed curriculum. The Probationer curriculum is constructed by his/her own hand, suggested to include intensive studies of the following:

Ceremonial Magic: Golden Dawn, Elemental magic & Attributes, Pentagram Rituals, Cabala, Typhonian {Kenneth Grant}, Sabbatic Witchcraft, Yoga, Martial Arts

Divination: Probationer to train in a chosen form of divination; Scrying, Dream prophecy, symbolism & interpretations, Tarot, Runes, I'Ching

Extrasensory Perception: explore possible latent psychic abilities, history of research in Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, and Extrasensory Perception

Psychology: College level comprehension of Cognitive, Abnormal, Gestalt, Personality, & Social Psychology ~ Freud, Jung, Rollo May, Reich, Roberto Assagioloi

Psychotechnology: Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Christopher S. Hyatt

Paganism: Druidic, Gaelic, Celtic, Egyptology {Zahi Hawass, E.A. Wallis Budge}, Roman, Greek; history of, ritual application; Konstantinos, Scott Cunningham, Gerald Gardner, John Michael Greer, Christopher Penczak, Donald Tyson, Frater U.D.

Comparative Theology: Working knowledge of the fundamentals of world religions

History of Secret Societies: Manly P. Hall, Fritz Springmeier, Robert Anton Wilson, John Robison, Arthur E. Waite, Paul Foster Case; working knowledge of the formations & origin myths of Freemasonry, Rosicrucian Order, Sufism, Taoism, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

This curriculum by no means is static, the Postulant is encouraged to use the suggestions as a template for their own sacred studies to prepare for the serious psychological & spiritual applications of the Man of Earth grade. Much of this curriculum will continue for the Probationer into the Man of Earth grade where such studies shall be applied and deconstructed. Ordeals and Tribulations are trials which siege the Initiate, purifying and consecrating the body, mind, and soul in effort to awaken the potential for the execution of a manifest destiny, and progress in the Triangle of Initiation. Ordeal and Tribulation in the arcane arts of Initiatic Occult Orders are a source of elevation and evolution along the adverse Path. Men and Women often partake in Initiation for intentions having little to do with veritable self-enlightenment and spiritual elevation.

The lot of them remain but a short time in the Order, incapable of conquering the illusion of the ego, and facing the enchantment of ordeals. Initiation is the beginning of a new perception toward life and death, it is the entry into entirely new and formidable archetypes of existence that are previously unexpressed in the uninitiated. Ordeals are beset along the Path in order to attain psychological equilibrium, maturity, and self-virtue. No matter how a man or woman performs the Great Work, the shadow of tribulation plagues the initiate like the Hounds of Hell, and s/he who evades the mysteries and revelations veiled in ordeal and tribulation, is unworthy of initiation into the dark Arte.

The Probationer of the O.·.A.·.I.·. is to obtain the knowledge and power of her/his own interior Nature and creative potential. S/He takes a form of Art that suits their nature {music, poetry, painting & drawing, dance, etc.} and applies it to ceremonial magic, and the foundations of the O.·.A.·.I.·. to best pursue their sacred studies of the dark Arte. It also is an obligation of the Postulant to begin and create a diary or journal concerning her/his esoteric & spiritual experiences, and psychic development. The diary/journal reflects the life and work of a religious scientist, scholar-practitioner initiate, and is essential in the self-discipline of maturity, knowledge and calculation of a soul's manifest destiny. A diary/journal is a progressive covenant to one's true self., a chronicle of the romantic history of the Soul.