There are five stages in Initiation. First of all purification, for participation in the Mysteries is not possible for all those who wish it, some being excluded beforehand by proclamation, such as those whose hands are impure and whose speech is unintelligible, while it is required of those not excluded that they previously undergo purification, after the purification, the second step is communication of the rite, the third is what is called Epopteia. The fourth act, closing the Epopteia is the binding and decking with garlands, qualifying the initiate to communicate to others the rite delivered to him either as torch-bearer, hierophant, or in any other sacred capacity; the firth arriving from the preceding, is Blessedness according to the faith and fellowship to the Deity. (Theon of Smyrna, Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato, Chapter 38, translated by Robert and Deborah Lawlor.)
