Authentic Knowledge

It is not ‘legitimate initiation’ which constitutes the chain – or rather the flow – of the tradition – but rather the niveau and authenticity of spiritual experience and the depth of thought that it comprises. Therefore it is initiation per se which consitutes the Hermetic tradition across the ages, and not the transmission of initiation by way of rituals and formulae. If the tradition depended only on the latter it would already long ago have been either extinguished or certainly lost in the jungle of quarrels over rights and legitimacy. Now, it is he who knows from first-hand experience who represents the tradition, and it is his authentic knowledge which is his legitimacy.

Meditations on the Tarot, Letter XV, The Devil