Initiation and Initiatory Traditions

[Witcher]

Hello pagan friends,

So after 26 years I have finally approached and started to work towards the path of an initiatory lineage. I am extremely pleased and excited and I wanted to get some opinions and discussions going about initiation.

Are any of you initiated into a lineage or a religion with initiation rituals or processes?

What drew you to a tradition that requires initiation or has oathbound aspects to the practice?

How did you feel leading up to the ritual or initiation experience?

Do you regret it? Did you love it? How did you feel both before the final step and afterwards?

Just putting out my tentacles here to see how others feel about it.

Thanks!

[Shahaku]

Re: Initiation and Initiatory Traditions

I haven't, but I'm considering it. Mostly because I want the structure. I'm struggling right now to put a full moon ritual together. I don't know how many times I've read about them. I've flown through the literature. But I don't really do that many ceremonies/rituals. And I've not really worked at memorizing any of it. I think a traditional initiatory group would help with that and give me the motivation I need. But I'm still not sure exactly which group I'd be interested in, or if I find the right one, that it'll be close enough to reasonable become part of the group.

However, I'm also somewhat interested in the idea of a one-on-one mentor type situation, which still has some aspect of the above.