In ancient times, one who went through initiation came to experience the spiritual world and its beings.
Then gradually came a time when the spiritual world withdrew making it increasingly more difficult for new initiates to reach the higher levels of consciousness, that is, the higher levels of the heavenly hierarchies. Many could only be initiated into the lesser degree(s) of the given Mystery Center. Fear of spiritual death arose. Then, what the Mysteries had been preparing for happened. A god became a man. The downward descent came to an end. Now, slowly, as if on the bottom of a parabola, the ascent could begin.
With this change, how did the process of initiation change? This presentation attempts to answer this question.
Spiritual Development Today and During the Ancient Mysteries