Initiation of an apprentice Freemason around 1800. This engraving is based on that of Gabanon on the same subject dated 1745. The costumes of the participants are changed to the English fashion at the start of the 19th century and the engraving is colored, but otherwise is that of 1745. Initiation In the Western Mystical Tradition there are three purposes for initiation. The first is to make you a member of a group or a level or degree within a group. The second, which is the outcome of the first, is to give you some power, knowledge, or rights that are not available to those who have not been initiated into either the group or a level within that group. The third purpose is the most