ADVANCE PREPARATION: for Initiation into the First Degree, Knights Templar and Daughters of Tsion:
1. Combatants only: If you haven’t already, you must choose a name for your warhorse (they were always stallions). This is the horse you chose from the Templar stables during your postulant phase of lessons.
2. Print out the page of octagons that displays when you click here. If you have no printer, draw by hand a copy of the page and have it ready in time for the initiation It is called the octagon paper.
3. The Initiation should be performed during evening or night. Choose a room or place and then be sure to know which way is East (actually the idea is to know which way Jerusalem is, which is East for most people, see more below in Altar Set-Up section).
4. Be certain of the terms combatant and non-combatant as used in our Order. There are two versions of the initiation,the combatant version and the non-combatant version. As you know, we have combatant males and females, called Knights or Knightresses; and non-combatant female Daughters of Tsion as well as a few non-combatant male Clerics of Tsion. Know which one you are, combatant or non-combatant. [For those of you exploring both combatant and non-combatant roles, you can only be one or the other for the initiation. Pick one and stick with it throughout. If you are really up to it, you can go thru both versions of the initiation, but only one at a time, as you will see.]
5. Pronunciations: The three phrases below appear in the initiations and you have to say them out loud. So we thought we should give pronunciation hints ahead of time. Feel free to jot them down and keep nearby for use during your initiation. Don’t worry, you are not required to memorize the spellings or pronunciations of the foreign language versions of these phrases. But in future you must memorize the simple English translations, especially the third one.
Angels Go Before Us! was a popular battle cry and rallying cry for the Templars. They said it in Greek, which is: Angeloi Protego! “ONG-uh-leePro-TAY-go.”
En Toutoi Nika! is Greek for By this sign we conquer! It is pronounced: “En TOE-tee Nee-KAH” (TOE is like the things on your feet).
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam is the officialmotto of the Knights Templar. It is Latin and means, Notto us, Lord, not to us, but to your Name give the glory. Notonly did this remind them they worked as a channel for the Godhead, the “Name”YHVH, but it also reminded them to keep their egos in check. They were proud and arrogant men, very powerful and very sure of themselves. They had to be, or they wouldn’t have survived the vicious combat that constituted their mission. They fought not only physical enemies in the Holy Land but also the unseen forces of evil working below the surface of all the world’s affairs. The ego is actually useful in such situations, but it MUST be kept in check and aligned ALWAYS with the Divine Will, the glory and the credit going to the Godhead. It is pronounced, “Non NO-beess, DOE-me-nay,non NO-beess, sayd NO-me-nee TOO-oh dahGLOW-ree-yom.”
6. WRITING YOUR OATH. Back To Top
At one point in the initiation you will read an oath that you have written.Write your oath or vow of secrecy, loyalty, service to the Cause & Mission of the New Knights Templar and the Daughters of Tsion, the Ladies Templar.Make it as long or as short as you like. There are only four ingredients that absolutely need to be in your oath, and you can word them any way you like.
A). It must contain a pledge of loyalty to the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, also known as God & Goddess as in the 4-Part Holy Godhead.(There are other divine names, personalities, “entities” and manifestations of the esoteric Godhead, not just the Four, so using the word “Holy Godhead”encompasses them all, but leaves out all undesirable entities.)
B). A pledge of humble service to the cause of ending human suffering in any tasks in which it may come up during the course of our mission. As a member of the Mystery School you have already pledged to use the teachings for the benefit of humanity, so this is just a re-utterance of that vow specifically relating to Templarism.
C). A pledge of undying sacred brotherly-sisterly type loyalty, discretion and SECRECY to your fellow Knights and Ladies Templar of our Order, all of who will end up with you on many a spiritual battlefield.
D) AND swear never to reveal the Templar knowledge and practices you will be shown, even (especially!) if you leave the Order some day. Down thru the ages, the penalties of revealing occult teachings after swearing an oath of secrecy have been known to be severe. Very severe in some cases. The Divine usually handles these matters… And it’s not just creating bad karma. An oath-breaker gains so much more than bad karma. For example, curses. Some of which extend to ones offspring, some of which extend down to the 7thgeneration. All manner of dire warnings are usually given at this stage,but we don’t like to lay it on too thick, we RESPECT each of you for your sense of honor, we TRUST that the Divine wouldn’t have sent you to join with us if you were anything even close to an oath-breaker. However, we know,too, that a few slip thru the cracks, usually NOT unaided by an evil force.(If that sounds like medieval superstition, in a way it is, our Order is after all originally a medieval one, before that an ancient Order). Again,we hate coming down so “hell and brimstone” here, but we wouldn’t be a “mystery school” if we didn’t. It is not only the teachings that these policies protect from the misuse and corruptions of mal-adepts, it is also YOU that is protected.New members like you are precious to us, we need the continuing strength of “new blood” (or old blood whichever the case may be with you!). Templarism is as ancient as time, we want it to continue to safely thrive into the millennia ahead. And if we should be so cursed as to live in the End Times, then much more so do we protect the Faith from mal-adepts. It is your sacred charge now, too.
Remember, revealing SPECIFIC teachings or lessons is different from “sharing”knowledge and personal wisdom you may gain (or have already gained) from your years in Templarism or Esoteric Kristian study. We encourage you to pass things on to your children, for instance, and share them with your spouse.But if your spouse is unwilling to officially take the vow of secrecy thru our School (they can do this without necessarily paying dues, it’s called the Spouse’s Oath) you must not share specific teachings or practices.
(If you are having trouble wording your oath, one of the officers will gladly help you, but please at least give it a try first.)
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Back To Top
1. One of the following: Red magic-marker,felt-tip pen, red crayon, red pencil.
2. Ruler or straightedge if you are generally fearful of drawing or art projects.
3. One Red candle, small table or other surface to use as your altar, you can sit it next to your computer if you have to
4. Single red rose with stem removed except for one inch.
5. Men: white boxer shorts, underwear.Non-combatant Women: white full slip or white night gown that stops at your knees. Combatant Women: white underwear and T-shirt or white sleeveless undershirt
6. Optional: prayer rope or rosary if you have one
7. Optional for non-combatants,required for combatants: Some kind of sword or blade. Any sword replica is fine. If you don’t have such a thing then find a blade, any blade, to put on your altar. Even a letter opener that looks like a sword, there are cute miniatures I’ve seen for sale. If you are short on supplies, a kitchen knife is indeed a flat blade, and will work for your “commitment to the blade archetype.” Non-combatants are encouraged to have a blade too, for representation on your altar. During the initiation the Grand Master’s sword is laid out on the altar so if you have a blade on yours it is quite fitting. The non-combatant relates more to the health of the person swinging the sword and to the horse under him, whereas the combatant must relate very directly to that blade, his/her “tool of the trade,” and means of survival. Therefore DoT’s do not make the blade commitment during initiation (by kissing the blade) and they are not presented with a Templar sword during initiation(they are presented with something else). But DoT’s may wish to have a sword on your altar as a symbol of the warrior path that you now walk. Remember that a “warrior” is not necessarily a combatant. Walking the warrior path is for both fighters and non-fighters who have chosen to face life with courage, to stand up against forces of spiritual darkness that seek to destroy life and rape innocence. The sword is the symbol of that path. (PS If you want to buy or just see a picture of an authentic Templar Sword, go to Amazon.com and type in “Templar Sword”in the search window).
ALTAR SET-UP: Back To Top
You need a simple altar surface, anything flat and large enough to hold all the supplies. The altar really should be facing Jerusalem, which is East for North Americans, but Southeast for you U.K. residents, and way Northwest for you Australians. Your red candle and sword (if you have one) should be laid upon it. Put the red candle in the middle of the altar surface,and lay the sword (or other blade) down in front of it stretched out sideways.Place your Sacred Cord on the altar behind the candle. Place your rosary or prayer rope in front of or draped across the blade. Have your oath handy so that you may read it at the appointed time. It is customary to fold up the written oath and place it on the altar somewhere in front of the candle. Then when it comes time to read it, you unfold it and read it. Then fold it back up and place it behind the candle.You may also wish to have a copy of the Lord’s and Lady’s Prayers handy in case you haven’t memorized them, that paper doesn’t need to be on the altar. Your red rose, octagon paper and red marker / pencil should not be on your altar yet, but nearby.
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MAKING THE TEMPLAR CORD Back To Top
How to make your Templar Sacred Cord for your Initiation.
For medium sized men: Cut 3 strands of white yarn, 82 inches each.
For extra large men: Cut 3 long strands of white yarn, 100 inches each.
For small women: Cut 3 strands of white yarn, 62 inches each.
For medium sized or large women: Cut 3 strands 77 inches each.
If you are in doubt, make it extra long and then you can always cut it to the size you want after it’s been braided and you try it on.
Put your three strands carefully together so that they are all equal. Tie a knot in one end, make it fairly tight, but not too tight that you can’t later untie it. Now braid the whole thing. It will take about an hour. Braid it very tightly. When you get to the end, leave about 2 inches, maybe only one and a half, un braided. Then untie the first knot and unbraid it ever so slightly so that it also has 2 inches (or 1 1/2 inches) unbraided. Put the two ends of this long braided cord together and tie them in a very tight knot with the 1 1/2 inches hanging out loose. Make that knot real tight by pulling on it from both ends. Then take the tails that are hanging loose and make them into a tassel. Do this by untwisting, unraveling the yarn strands.You will end up with a nice little tassel.
PLEASE NOTE: Feel free to get it so that you feel comfortable with the length.The ancient Hindu way was to make it 96 times as long as the width of your four fingers, which also happens to be exactly how tall you are. It is worn by sticking the head and the right arm thru it. It then rests like a diagonal sash and traditionally would reach just below the waistline.
Initiation cords have been worn for literally thousands of years. Their use is documented at least 3000 years ago in India where they are called the Sacred Thread and are worn by the Gods, the Priestly class and the Warrior class. They were always white, and in some cases golden. Here is a picture of the God Shiva wearing onehttps://www.northernway.org/school/templars/1KTiprep.html
Krishna and his brother always wear one, too. The next time you see Hindu art, be sure to look for the beautiful sacred cords. Notice, too, that they wear them resting on the left shoulder, which is the sign of sacred use or ceremonial use. This is how our Order wears them during sacred events, too.Normally our cords are worn on the right shoulder for every day use, but during special or sacramental events, including taking communion, you weart hem resting on the left shoulder.
Templars and initiates of Near Eastern Mystery Schools always wore their cords inside the clothing, but in some situations you can take it out and show it by wearing it on the outside. (In ancient India they wore them so everyone could see).
In later millenia the cords got shortened. Christian Orthodox prayer ropes are actually a version of the short initiation cords used by the Templars and other Mystery Cults. The Templars used the long Sacred Thread style in the early days, and later shortened them to wear only around the neck, though in higher degrees the long ones were still used. In the next Degree, you will be given a new cord, a red and black one as worn by the Templars into every battle. The Lady-Drapier was responsible for getting the cords made,and the Draper -quartermaster was responsible for seeing that they were brought to initiations and given to the right Knights and Ladies.
You may take your cord off to shower, sleep, work-out, etc. It does not have to be worn every minute, but do please wear it whenever you pray, work magiks,assemble with other Templars or go within a church or holy building.
Don’t wear it until after the initiation, it needs to be properly activated and “charged up” during the ritual. But do try it on as much as you need to during the making process to ensure it’s how you want it.
The ancient use of the Sacred Thread in India goes back to at least 3000BC. Keep in mind that the Hindus are our cousins, and our language is called an Indo-European language because long ago our tribes, both Celtic and Teutonic,came from India. This is the so-called Aryan Race. The Northern Hindus were/ are light in color and whole families and tribes of them immigrated to Europe. They merged with tribes coming up from the south, “out of Africa”and the Middle East, and voila, we have Europeans, our own ancestors. To this day, the northern half of India has light colored people whose genetics and features closely resemble European people. It’s easy to see where the scholarly phrase “out of India” comes from. Anthropologists verify the India connection, and mitochondrial DNA studies show the African / southern origin.
Culturally and religiously, there are noted similarities between Druids,Heathen Priesthoods, early Christian Priesthood and the ancient Brahmanas,the priesthood of India. If you read the first webpage listed below you will see the similarity of a Hindu student in 3000 BC putting on the sacred thread to Christian baptism. It is called “being twice born” or born again. Fascinating notes on how they made their cords. So similar to our Templar methods, using the three strands. They twisted theirs, we braid ours. Here is an excerpt,but do go read the entire articles (2 of them) found on this webpage :http://www.hinduism.co.za/sacred.htm
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The composition of the Sacred Thread is full of symbolism and significance.Its length is ninety six times as the breadth of the four fingers of a man,which is equal to his height. Each of the four fingers represents one of the four states the soul of a man experiences from time to time, namely,waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and absolute Brahmanhood (Turiya or thefourth state). The three folds of the cord are also symbolical. They represent the three Gunas (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas) reality, passion and darkness,out of which the whole universe is evolved. It was done, so that the Sattwaguna or the good quality of reality may predominate in a man, and so he may attain spiritual merits. The three cords remind the wearer that he has to pay off the Three Debts he owes: 1.To the Rishis (ancient seers), 2.To the ancestors and 3.To the gods. The three cords are tied together by a knot called Brahma-granthi, which symbolises Brahma, Vishnu and Siva (the trinity of gods, Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer). Besides, extra knots are made in the cords to indicate the various Pravaras of a particular family.The Acharya(teacher), while investing the student with the Sacred Thread repeats an appropriate Mantra, asking for strength, long-life and illumination for theboy, the boy looking, in the meanwhile, towards the sun. A Brahmachari (student)can put on only one set of the Sacred Thread. A householder is given privilege to wear two, one for himself and one for his wife. There are different methods of wearing the Sacred Thread at different occasions. While performing an auspicious ceremony one should be Upaviti, that is, the Sacred Thread should hang from his left shoulder. At the performance of some inauspicious ceremony one should be Prachnaviti, that is, the Sacred Thread should hang from the right shoulder; and at times he is called Niviti when the Sacred Thread is worn round the neck like a garland.
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Please be sure to read both the articles athttp://www.hinduism.co.za/sacred.htmfor more details. For instance that they were made by virgin daughters of the priestly class, and that women also did wear them at one time in India’s history, before patriarchy got a firm grip. Thank goddess for that, because the part above where only boys wear them, and husbands can wear two, the extra one for the wife, was worrying me!
