how to join the order of nine angles
Order of Nine Angles The ONA does not initiate members into the group itself, but rather expects an individual to initiate themselves.[93] It requires that initiates be in a good physical condition, and recommends a training regimen for prospective members to follow.[41] Newcomers are expected to take on a magical partner of the opposite sex,[66] or of the same sex if they are lesbian or gay.[94] Thenceforth, the practitioner must undertake personal and increasingly difficult challenges in order to move through the different grades.[93] Most of the ordeals that allow the initiate to proceed to the next stage are publicly revealed by the Order in its introductory material, as it is believed that the true initiatory element lies in the experience itself and can only be attained through performing them.[95] For instance, part of the ritual to become an External Adept involves an ordeal in which the prospective member is to find a lonely spot and to lie there, still, for an entire night without moving or sleeping.[96] The initiatory process for the role of Internal Adept entails the practitioner withdrawing from human society for three months, from an equinox to a solstice, or (more usually) for six months, [97] during which time they must live in the wild without modern conveniences or contact with civilisation.[98] The next stage – the Ritual of the Abyss – involves the candidate living alone in a dark isolated cavern for a lunar month.[99] According to Jeffrey Kaplan, an academic specialist of the far right, these physically and mentally challenging initiatory tasks reflect "the ONA's conception of itself as a vanguard organization composed of a tiny coterie of Nietzschean elites."[74]