Iniciace, rituály, tajné společnosti

Initiation is a set of rituals, cults, ceremonies and tests followed by a fundamental change in the religious and social status of the person undergoing initiation. He enters chaos and undergoes ritual death, becoming a kind of tabula rasa and starting anew so that he can go from being a natural creature to becoming part of the spiritual life of his community - a being connected to the gods, the ancestors, and the way things were in the "beginning."
Eliade's meticulously researched work compares archaic initiations within different cultures on all continents (America, Australia, shamanism, India...), looking at the initiation of men and women, the role of secret societies, warrior rituals and initiation within the great religions, especially Christianity. In all the initiations, he affirms a similar sacred experience - the experience of an indissoluble bond between humans and the world of gods, spirits, animals, ancestors and nature.