The Fourth Initiation represents the higher octave of the First Initiation of Birth. Matrimony is a birth into a higher dimension. It is a spontaneous inner commitment that greatly widens the pathways of awareness inside your being. The Initiation of Matrimony or Marriage is your first step into the collective way of life. In the Christian mystical traditions, matrimony represents the marriage of the seeker to Christ — a very deep level of commitment that actually led to the beginning of the monastic tradition. The modern cultural institution of marriage still contains many of the secret initiatic rites that mark this high stage of consciousness. The primary symbol of matrimony is the wedding ring — the emblem of sacred union and divine perfection.

The Fourth Initiation marks the beginning of the higher life in which your primary focus is to incarnate the causal body fully onto the physical plane. This means that your life’s work is now offered in service of the whole, and there is no difference between your work and worship. The well known wedding vow, until death us do part, now becomes your living reality, and your only true beloved is the higher self of your Divine consciousness. Externally, this period of your life story is usually marked by deep service to humanity in which you are much concerned with improving the welfare of those less fortunate than yourself. You may recall that the causal body is the body of our enduring virtue, being the sum total of all that is good about us. After the Fourth Initiation, our lower nature becomes increasingly more organised by the causal body. Our sexual energies in particular are channelled into creative work of a higher nature. Just as physical marriage precedes the raising of a physical family, so this higher marriage can lead to a vast surge in creativity that can involve and awaken many others.

It is of interest to note that it is not just individuals who move through the great Initiations, but also entire species. Humanity has in fact passed through the Fourth Initiation during the past few hundred years. Our matrimony has vastly improved the state of the world in which we live. The steady growth of global awareness is outstripping individual greed. Politically the rise in democracy and social justice has changed the face of the planet. Gradually, human goodness is moving us forward, even though news headlines do not often reflect this truth. To understand Initiation, you must read between the lines and you must feel the truth with your heart as much as see it with your mind. As a species we are closer than we have ever been to the ideal of working together collectively as a single unified organism.

Matrimony has many hidden meanings. It can refer to the marriage of opposites — of East and West, science and religion, the masculine and the feminine. Inside your DNA it speaks of a fusion, an intense period in which the many opposites within your being mystically come together into greater harmony than ever before. In the analogy of the church, it is when you are singled out within the congregation and approach the high altar together with your betrothed. It is represented in the sacred geometry of the church by the crossing and the great side windows of the knave — the open arms of the church lying between the congregation and the choir. It is a place of expansion, where the body of the church opens out on both sides like two spreading wings. This is exactly what the Fourth Initiation denotes — a time in which you open your heart to the world and spread your wings to the winds of the Holy Spirit of Grace