This post is part of an ongoing Q&A series. Thirty questions in total exploring themes of initiation, identity, meaning, and transformation.
Each one stands alone, but together they map a deeper conversation I’ve been guiding for years through Tattoo Pathway.
Rather than polished essays or formal teachings, these responses reflect the way things actually unfold in dialogue.
The first question started with a dream. You can go back to it here if you want to see where this began.
Question 19 (AI):
You’ve mentioned the phrase “initiating into the mystery” several times. Could you describe what it feels like. . . on a lived, personal level. . . when someone actually begins to enter into the mystery¹?
Answer (MN):
I can’t really share much more than I already have, to be honest.
Because what we’re speaking about in our previous questions. . .the lived experience of these initiatory processes. . . is so deeply personal, so intimate, that it’s hard to fully convey.
You’re asking me to open a window into something that’s sacred².
And sacred things, by their very nature, aren’t easily handed over.
They’re meant to be participated in, not observed secondhand.
They’re meant to be walked.
It’s like our most intimate relationships. . . those we have with our partners, or our children.
You can describe them, but you can never fully transmit what they are.
They’re not something you want to dilute or deteriorate by overexposing them either. Like the uninitiated³ adolescent who brags about his sexual exploits or war stories. creation and destruction are sacred and to boast is a sign of not being introduced to that sacredness.
There’s a natural link between sacredness and secrecy.
Not secrecy out of fear.
But secrecy out of care.
Care for what’s precious.
And that’s probably the best way I can describe what it feels like when someone begins to truly enter into the mystery:
It feels like an overwhelming, undeniable care.
You care for something so deeply. . . you sense that this whole experience, this existence, is caring for you in a way you’ve never felt before.
There’s an uplift.
A support that’s so complete that it humbles you.
But it usually comes after a challenge.
It usually comes after a moment where you think you’re completely lost, where you feel bottomed out, with no way forward.
And then. . . somewhere in that space. . . you meet something.
Or something meets you.
And it assures you beyond all doubt that you are not alone.
That you are seen.
That you matter.
It’s a feeling that’s too vast to be contained in waking consciousness.
It touches you, and then it’s gone.
But the scent of it lingers.
The taste stays in your mouth.
And it gives you everything you need to keep walking.
So if someone is wondering whether they’ve touched the mystery yet, they’re probably still approaching.
Keep going.
You’ll know when it touches you.
You won’t be able to mistake it.
Mystery ¹
“Keep trusting the mystery” a cardinal string of vocal reverberation that entered my ear, echoed through my soul, aroused my spirit, and has continued a movement toward everyday initiation ever since. I am forever grateful to the wise gentleman who continually imparted those words at the end of each interaction so many years ago. Thank you.
MYS’TERY, noun Latin mysterium; Greek, a secret. This word in Greek is also rendered murium latibulum; but probably both senses derive from that of hiding or shutting; Greek — to shut, to conceal.]
A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder.
In religion, anything in the character or attributes of God, or in the economy of divine providence, which is not revealed to man.
That which is beyond human comprehension until explained. In this sense, mystery often conveys the idea of something awfully sublime or important; something that excites wonder.
“Great is the mystery of godliness.” — 1 Timothy 3:16
“Having made known to us the mystery of his will.” — Ephesians 1:9
“We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.” — 1 Corinthians 2:7
Sacred ²
To commune with the sacred is the foundational stone of a true initiatory pathway. If that’s not present, the foundations will shift and the need to rebuild is unavoidable.
SA’CRED, adjective — [Latin sacer — sacred, holy, cursed, damnable. We see here the connection between sacredness and secrecy. The sense is removed or separated from that which is common, vulgar, polluted, or open and public; and accursed is separated from society or the privileges of citizens — rejected, banished.]
Holy; pertaining to God or to his worship; separated from common secular uses and consecrated to God and his service — as a sacred place, a sacred day, a sacred feast.
Proceeding from God and containing religious precepts; as the sacred books of the Old and New Testament.
Relating to religion or the worship of God; used for religious purposes — as sacred songs, sacred music, sacred history.
Consecrated; dedicated; devoted.
Entitled to reverence; venerable.
Inviolable, as if appropriated to a superior being — as sacred honour or promise.
“Secrets of marriage still are sacred held.”
Uninitiated ³
In the case of mystery and sacredness, the uninitiated are those yet to be acquainted with the invisible attribute that permeates life and coordinates through a higher order of consciousness than the one inhabited by the habituated ego or self-created identity.
UNINI’TIATED, adjective — Not initiated.
INI’TIATE, verb transitive — [Low Latin initio, to enter or begin, from initum, ineo, to enter; in and eo, to go.]
To instruct in rudiments or principles; or to introduce into any society or sect by instructing the candidate in its principles or ceremonies — as to initiate a person into the mysteries of Ceres.
To introduce into a new state or society.
To instruct; to acquaint with.
To begin upon.
INI’TIATE, verb intransitive — To do the first act; to perform the first rite.
