Awhile back, we asked for submissions from people who have had experiences being a member of a secret society. Here is one response, from someone who wishes to remain anonymous:
I have been a member of one secret society that was supposed to be affiliatedwith another well known secret society but later on several members figuredout that this group was not part of the group they said they were. Insteadof the group being more of a group effort associated with group results, etc. it was turning into a group working really towards the benefit of just acouple of people, that's when I personally and other members knew it was agood time to move on to something else.
Also this group was incorporatingtheir own stuff into rituals that were very old and not meant to have thingschanged in them. Other than that it was a good experience, I visited one ofthe Temples on a regular basis where I would be taken through the variousgrades of the Order, the ceremonies were beautiful and full of esotericmeaning. The ceremonies in this particular Order were of the Egyptian natureand our robes and head dresses we wore reflected this. The Temple wasbeautiful, for each grade however the temple is set up differently, with thesymbols taught in the specific grades of this Order.
The grade structure in this Order was very important, and grades are onlybestowed when one has completed study and testing on the various materialsnecessary to complete each grade. Each grade in this Order is based on theQabalistic Tree Of Life. The Tree Of Life represents different levels andtypes of energies. To each grade there is a different energy to be masteredin one's life.
As far as some of the stuff that one needs to learn in the very early gradesof this Order, for example, are the Hebrew alphabet, the four elements ofair, water, earth, and fire and the ancient symbols associated with them,the twelve zodiacal signs, meditation techniques, and the Qaballah. Theseare a few of the things one will have to master in the very early grades andas one progresses through the Order there is more and more to learn withineach grade of advancement. And when you are going through these grades youdefinitely notice how the energies effect yourself and the world aroundyourself as well. It sounds rather easy, but it is not. I am speaking fromexperience! With in the Order itself there is what they call a "current" ofpower so to speak, and it trickles down to all of the members no matterwhere you are in the world.
I have felt this current on many occasions andit even has scared people who had seen things around me from this current.It can be positive as well as negative depending on what the higher upmembers are doing, like what kind of magick and rituals they are performinghas a huge factor as to what the energy in the current will be like. Towardsthe time when I was about to leave this group I'm sure that the current wasnot of a good one due to the nature of the rituals and magick the membersin the Higher grades were performing.
This energy can really affect one'sown life in a big way, you start to notice that things just are not goingwell in any area of your life and as it's hard to explain, all I can say isthat one will know and feel the current working, whether it's in one's favoror not. The current also helps you in doing your own rituals and I thinkthat it adds more power to your rituals in general, because you are gettinga lot more energy from the Order as a whole compared to just the energycreated by oneself. Also the Archangels play a big part in this Order, theangels I'm speaking of mainly are: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel. AllI can say is that they are real and one should not only respect them butfear them, too! You don't want to ever say or do anything against anyArchangel or any Angel EVER, again, I'm speaking from my own personalexperience! They mean business!
I stayed in this Order long enough for me to advance fairly high in thegrades, but even though I am no longer a member per se of this group, Istill will hold my oath and promise as to what is taught in the highergrades and I will leave it at that. But I heard one caller on George's showsay something about learning stuff that's not in books...that is very true asfar as what one will learn in this particular Order. It is very cool! I had the opportunity to meet with members from all over the world and gotto listen to their experiences. When I was a member of this particular OrderI had many spiritual experiences that were awesome and life changing, what Imean by that is the experiences that I went through helped me not only learnmore about myself, but also took away a lot of fears I had about stuff,especially death.I hope this helps.
--Soror Incognito