In this post, I may be pushing a bit on the correlation between Qabalahs and Quinceaneras to come up with a Q post but bear with me. All societies (from a club to a country) have ways of initiating youth and newcomers into their worlds. These rites are marked by spectacle -joyous or somber-to recognize that people (or beings) have successfully passed through the initiation and are ready to move on to the next stage – be it of life or learning or corporeal reality.
The Quinceanera, a Latin celebration marking the passing of a 15 year old girl into womanhood, is an easy example of how this works. It is both societal and religious in a nature – recognizing how a young girl’s life is shaped through family and society. It is similar to other rituals, such as a Bar Mitzvah (bat for girls) in judaism, an occasion that is both somber and celebratory that welcomes the youth into adulthood – recognizing that passage comes with both privileges and obligations.
The Qabalah reference is less obvious. The Qabalah (spelled with a Q rather than a K) refers to a system of both occult and practical magic. (With a K, the Kabbalah refers to the study of the ten essences of the divine personality in order to come to an understanding of the nature of the Divine.) In contrast, a student of the Qabalah studies the ten elements of the astral or magical world with each element forming a step on a sequenced ladder of magical initiation. You have to pass through one to get to the next. In this, it is a good example of how initiation is built into our learning and expertise systems.
When building magic in a new world, it is common to see creators build systems of mastery into magic, because of how dangerous raw, untamed magic is assumed to be. Immediate examples are Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the Maesters (scientific knowledge) and the Alchemists Guild (magic) in Game of Thrones.
Your turn: Can you share an example of how initiation or rites of passage play out in interesting ways in stories (any medium you choose)?
Visit all the other bloggers participating on the A to Z Challenge.
My favourite fantasy series ever is The Belgariad and even though that has a magical system which is built on will, Belgarion still has to go through stages of learning to harness his power, as did Belgarath etc, only his teacher was a god.
Tasha 💖
Virginia’s Parlour – The Manor (Adult concepts – nothing explicit in posts)
Tasha’s Thinkings – Vampire Drabbles
I loved the Belgariad too. It was one of the first fantasy series I got really into.