A book by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and Stephanie Norris 113 pages £11 at Amazon
There have been many books written about the Western Esoteric Tradition that describe its roots and practices – Alice Bailey, Gurdjieff, Steiner, etc. And each of them is taught through the lens (and personality) of each particular teacher.
This book is different from all of those as it explains exactly what Initiation into a particular group is – in this case, the Servants of the Light School of Occult Science (SOL). This part of the book is written by Ashcroft-Nowicki – and is a good insight to what Initiation actually implies. The introduction by Herbie Brennan does a good job on laying down the groundwork for newbies to these ideas.
What it means to each Initiate as they go through the ranks is very cleverly approached in the sections written by co-author Norris, herself both an Initiate of the SOL and a professional astrologer. Who better, in fact, to undertake such a work?
Norris uses the birth chart of each subject and links it with a chart for the actual moment of the initiation ceremony. In other words, it is a simple examination of how a moment in time impacts on the life of a particular individual, and as such is a masterly description of the effects of the planets in real time, taken from a more esoteric angle. The same can be done for anyone entering any kind of spiritual undertaking, e.g. ordination, or any other meaningful event.
The conclusions that Norris draws offer teaching tools for any astrologer to learn from, whether one is interested in Initiation or not. I recommend it as an unusual book, coming at us from a little known angle, full of wisdom and information both for the student and advanced practitioner alike
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