The Curriculum
The course of the A∴A∴ as Crowley designed it: one system, three orders, eleven grades, each grade a definite attainment proved by a definite test. Nothing is altered here. The aspirant climbs the Tree of Life grade by grade, and at every rung the Order demands two things: the work done, and the record of it in writing.
▸ View the chart: The three Orders and eleven grades
▸ View the chart: How the disciplines of the Work fit together
Three rules govern the whole course. The aspirant works alone, and knows only the one above him and the one below him in the chain. No payment is taken for initiation, instruction, or advancement, ever. And no attainment is recognized until it is demonstrated under examination: what the Order certifies, it has seen.
Before the Grades
His business is to acquire a general intellectual knowledge of all systems of attainment, as declared in the prescribed books.
The First Order: G.D.
His principal business is to begin such practices as he may prefer, and to write a careful record of the same for one year.
Has to acquire perfect control of the Astral Plane.
His main work is to achieve complete success in Asana and Pranayama. He also begins to study the formula of the Rosy Cross.
Is expected to complete his intellectual training, and in particular to study the Qabalah.
Is expected to complete his moral training. He is tested in Devotion to the Order.
Is expected to show mastery of Pratyahara and Dharana.
The Second Order: R.C.
Is expected to perform the Great Work and to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Obtains a general mastery of practical Magick, though without comprehension.
Completes in perfection all these matters.
The Third Order: S.S.
His principal business is to tend his “garden” of disciples, and to obtain a perfect understanding of the Universe. He is a Master of Samadhi.
Attains to wisdom, declares his law, and is a Master of all Magick in its greatest and highest sense.
Is beyond all this and beyond all comprehension of those of lower degrees.
The one-line task of each grade is from One Star in Sight, Appendix II of Magick in Theory and Practice (Paris, 1929).