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The hour was late and darkness had long since lain hold upon the world.

It is under such conditions that my friends and I would often set out into the wilderness. We would not go with any destination in mind. We'd simply set out in some direction and figure out where we were going when we felt like stopping somewhere.

The most memorable such excursion was opened with a trip West. We drove for well over an hour, turning off the highway, then onto dirt roads unknown to us. We talked, joked, listened to music, and treated it as anyone tends to treat a road trip. At last, off the road, we found a spot which we all agreed was the right one.

Darkness still veiled the landscape, which was littered with the a disorderly lot of shadowed brush. The ground was mostly sand, though rocks of prodigious size were scattered thereabout, adding texture to a landscape which otherwise might have seemed too uniform.

Ruling over this field of desert there rose a singular hill of shockingly symmetrical form, rising to a point which, from our angle of approach, looked as if it were centered in relation to the rest of the mass.

Like men possessed, we rushed the peak, and the climb was by no means merciful. The sand gave way under every step, the more so as we ran and struck with such force, nor was the hill short. It was certainly no mountain, but it rose with enough height and incline as to challenge some in our party. Two had to stop halfway up in order to catch their breath so they could mount the summit.

One of my companions and I stood, as if in silent vigil, over the shadow encrusted region. Above, the stars shone the more beautiful for our hard-earned companionship therewith. Beyond, it was like looking at another world, brought to life by only the light of stars and moon. Not long after, our other companions joined us, and we passed around bottles of water, for no alcohol nor other intoxicant could be permitted to dull our senses.

Only water would serve to toast our ascent.

After some time of this vigil, the eastern sky began to lighten, touched by the first golden hints of the coming dawn. A sense of anticipation filled each of us, even as the world anxiously awaited the rising sun. When at last the first rays stretched out from the horizon to touch and awake the world to a new day, we, too, were ready for a sort of spiritual rebirth.

As the light of the risen sun warmed our faces, we were for a moment exalted to a state of clarity, free from the troubles of daily life. We were able to see our lives clearly, without the clouds of emotion or the shadows of stress. This moment coincided with the first light of the golden dawn. What we were able to see through our clarity, we were able to carry out into life.

As the candidate is admitted into the Temple of Initiation, he is conducted through the Hall by another officer of the Lodge, because the candidate is blindfolded. He is led through symbollic ordeals of fear and emotional pressure, being purified and consecrated before he can pass by each "guardian" of the Mysteries.

When, at long last, the initiation is complete, the blindfold is removed, suddenly granting vision again to the candidate, now a neophyte of the mysteries. "Let the Brother receive the Light."

Long has light been the emblem of deeper understanding and the increase in freedom granted thereby. Despite the oaths taken at one's initiation, once the ceremony is complete, the initiate is not bound as he was before. His oaths are meant to bind him from such actions as would be counter-productive to the course which he, himself, has set. Through the initiatory process, he is brought to be less vulnerable to external pressures, thus able to more freely pursue his will.

These moments of clarity are a blessing that we should embrace. The Great Work of the magicians and alchemists is a process by which these moments are instigated at will, and prolonged by meditation and concentration. In every step along that path, we find greater clarity, deeper wisdom, and an increased sense of our own true liberty.

Thus do we attain to that which was once called the stone of the wise: in plainer terms, this is quite simply true wisdom and perfect happiness.

One has only to look around the world, and be courageous enough to see what surrounds them, in order to confront the forces of darkness and fear which would bind us to a course not of our choosing. These forces can be found anywhere, and are directly related to our unique, individual perspectives. None can say what might constrain and oppress another person. One man may find inspiration and guidance where another finds only fear and moral corruption.

Each must look for himself to find the proper path.

"Fear is failure and the forerunner of failure, and courage is the beginning of virtue." These words are the essence of the ceremony of initiation, and represent the first real task of the Neophyte of the Mysteries.