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Again, and I've posted this before, though I later said I'd been sarcastic (whan are we more serious?). The Guardians of the Inner Portals (GIPs) communicate, usually through Scrabble, with the Visible Outer Head who then issues an invitation. There may be problems with this: GIPs exist beyond time and space so that you may issue invitations to people whom you expelled last year; are dead; or haven't yet been born. Elizabethan GIPs spell in a very eccentric fashion (i.e., Anne Bolleyn at various times spelled her name Bolleyn, Bullen, Bollein, etc.) so the invitation may spell out the wrong name. Then, the GIPs might give you a motto that hasn't been selected yet. So the aspirant is advised to sit around and hope that his invitation doesn't go to someone else by mistake.
Of course, you might politely ask who chartered the group (and by what authority); and who initiated their Chief. They'll very rightly tell you to go to hell but you'll be able to tell a lot by how it's said. Ask about the structure of their Outer Order curiculum; how tutoring is done; what are the practical and magickal requirements for advancement through the Outer. Ask about the theoretical distinction between Outer and Inner (i.e., one is magical, the other alchemical; one symbolical, the other more direct in its analogical processes, etc.). You'll be able to tell if they totally blow you off (or don't know). Make sure that money is more or less only to cover costs. And, if you are an attractive woman, "Do I absolutely have to engage in sexual relations with any partners selected by the GIPs; or may I refuse for good cause (i.e., the fellow looks like Ted Kennedy only older and fatter)? |
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