CRATA REPOA - PREPARATION AND FIRST GRADE
PREPARATION When an Aspirant desired to enter the Ancient and Mysterious Society of Crata Repoa, he had to be recommended by one of the Initiates. The proposition was ordinarily made by the King himself, who wrote an authorization to the Priests (*1). Having applied at Heliopolis, the Aspirant was referred to the learned of the Institution at Memphis, and these sent him on to Thebes, (Porphyre-Vie de Pythagore.) Here he was circumcised (*2). (Herodotus, book 2nd. Clement of Alexandria, Scromat I.) They put him on a particular diet, interdicting him the use of certain foods, such as vegetables and fish, also wine (* 3) , but after his initiation this restriction was relaxed. They compelled him to pass several months imprisoned in a subterranean vault (* 4), abandoned to his reflections he was allowed to write his thoughts. He was then strictly examined to ascertain the limit of his intelligence. When the time had arrived to quit his prison, they conducted him to a gal...