The term ‘initiation’ in the most general sense denotes a body of
rites and oral teachings whose purpose is to produce a decisive
alteration in the religious and social status of the person to be
initiated. I n philosophical terms, initiation is equivalent to a basic
change in existential condition; the novice emerges from his ordeal
endowed with a totally different being from that which he
possessed before his initiation; he has become another (Eliade,
1975:151).I n the research questionnaire, Question 10 sought to establish whether
some form of (childhood) suffering or illness had brought about an ‘initiation’ into
SC or MLC in any of the ten respondents; four indicated that it most definitely had;
this included one shaman, one mythopoeic writer and two readers. David Malouf
and Thomas Keneally did not respond to the question. Four respondents indicated
that they had not suffered serious childhood illness but had literally been initiated in
a much more definite way. Shaman 1, Maureen R, said that she was ... going off
the deep end throughout 1993- 94 and in retrospect viewed ... this semi-sane period
as a shamanic initiation similar to schizophrenic breakdown. Similarly, Reader 4,
RP, experienced schizoid episodes from an early age, a condition which was
exacerbated, some two years prior to responding to the questionnaire, by a near-
death experience following a near-fatal snake bite, and who told me in conversation
that as a result he now experienced a ... much deeper resonance with most of the
significant places in his life, most especially that particular locale in the bush where
he became paralysed and almost died. I n the case of Reader 1 JC, she did not
allude to the question in any way but did state that as a top young athlete she
spent many hours exhausted, after rigorous training, and in isolation from her
peers. Reader 5, N van der W simply indicated that he was a very healthy child and
did not suffer any childhood illnesses, thus making him the exception.
6.6 Mythopoeic Writers and Neo-shamanic Knowledge
The writer John Fowles claims that the idea to write The French Lieutenant’s
Woman came to him one morning while still in bed half asleep, when he had a
visual mythopoeic image of a Victorian woman, who even had a name, Sarah, and
who was standing at the end of a deserted quay, staring out to sea (Fowles,
1998:20). I mages produced in such a trance-like state are termed by psychologists
as hypnopompic imagery (Neher, 1980:42). Fowles says that the image of this
woman obstinately refused to stare out of the window of an airport lounge, as he