Commentary on A New Path IV:IV – (Graal and the Social Element)
Nefastos 2022
Translated by Smaragd
Upon joining the lodge the Graal student, adopting the path below the mountain, has to present their “own terms” as mentioned in the article. On this path, where the connection to the guide is minimalized, the student has to keep their eye on their own consistency more than before. Right from the start they must understand how one’s “own terms” do not mean absolute freedom to change their mind and practice, nor their relationship to the spiritual ideology of the Star of Azazel or its practices: one can only have a absolutely free relation towards groups one has not joined in. Upon joining the path under the mountain, the student will deliver to all the Graal grade guides collectively a clear presentation – not a poetic one nor an ambiguously written one, for such words do not work as a whetstone – about what are those guidelines in one’s practice: on what grounds and how does his spiritual work proceeds, and what does it aim for. Already in the application to Graal the most essential part has come out, that is, why is one doing this particularly in (the Star of Azazel) and in this lodge.
Unlike on the primary path of practice going over the mountain where the student is presented with their own guide, on the path under the mountain the student doesn’t have their own singular guide. One is to report according to their choice, once or twice a year, to the collective of Graal guides. Possible months for sending a report are February and August. In the report, the student of the Dragon Path recounts the practices one has adopted, challenges one has encountered, and other matters significant to their spiritual practice. The length of the report should be 1 to 4 pages. In case neither of the reports have been sent during a year, it has been deemed the student to have ended their practice on the Dragon Path. The official time of resigning is in such cases the 1st of September.
After the report has been received, the guides will give an answer together in approximately one month’s time. In case the report did not include specific questions, the answer is a simple notice that the practice can continue – provided it seems to be still working within the limitations granted by the Star of Azazel and Graal lodge. Or, if this is not the case, a notice is given how the practice under the Graal mountain path is seen as ended. If the student of the Dragon Path and the Graal guides for some reason have other communication besides the official annual reports, the other communication is not seen as part of the work of the Dragon Path, nor can it be referenced in the report. For the student, the idea of the path going under the mountain is that one can go through spiritual practice in a independently defined manner, without the help and the challenge related to guidance.
In the regular path going over the mountain, eight practices are gone through. On one’s own path under the mountain after one has gone through eight subsequent practices of their own choosing, and seeing to have completed them well, the student of the Dragon Path can attach a justified wish on their report to proceed forth to the next phase. (There are three actual grades of practice in Graal: 1°–3°, and after these the grades of hermetic work 4°–7°.) If the guides will grant this, the path under the mountain may move forth to the following corresponding grade of the Dragon Path. Through the report one can also seek for transition from the path under the mountain to the regular practice path going over the mountain. Such a transition is possible on the following solstice, granted the guides will collectively approve this with simple majority.