The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

A MASTER OF THE TEMPLE On December roth his practice lasted 46 minutes. He hoped to do 60 minutes next time. But he does not appear to have done so, for after signing his Probationer’s Oath on December 24th I find no record till January 11th 1910. E.V. the day he received his first written instructions from his Neophyte, Frater P.A. As those instructions represent the basis upon which he worked for a considerable period, I shall include them here, in spite of the fact that it may have been out of order for him to work on definite instructions at all, since the Probationer is supposed to choose for himself those practices which please him best, and to experiment there- with for himself. Since however he did not know this at the time, he cannot be blamed for doing his best along the lines laid down by his Neophyte.’ In any case he might have done far worse than to strive to carry out these few simple rules which are as follows: THE RULES, 1. Ever be moderate and follow the middle path; rather be the tortoise than the hare; do not rush wildly into anything; but do not abandon what you have taken up, without much forethought. 2. Always keep your body and mind in a healthy and fit condition; and never carry out an exercise, whether mental or physical, when you are fatigued. 3. In an ideal country the hours in which to practice are: at sunrise, sunset, noon and midnight (and always before a meal, never immediately after one). 1Jt is presumptuous for a Neophyte to lay down rules; for (a) he cannot possibly know what his Probationer needs, having no record to guide him; (b) the Probationer’s task is to explore his own nature, not to follow any prescribed course. A third objection is that by putting the Probationer in Corsets, an en- tirely flabby person may sneak through his year, and become a Neophyte, to the shame of the Order. But this objection is theoretical; for Initiation is overseen from the Third Order, where no Error may endure. O.M. 131