Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The A.'.A.'. journey starts, with most aspirants, with the non-official grade of student. We call it non-official since it has no place on the Tree of Life scheme that contributes the system proper. I will discuss it only briefly before moving on.
A students job is to read a given set of texts which he will be given by the Cancellarius of the A.'.A.'., and after three months apply for examination which should he pass will give him the right to be formally tried and tested. Crowley instigated this grade after realising that most people came to the work with little or no prior knowledge, and so floundered before they had even started. We can consider the student grade to be a primer in A.'.A.'., Thelema, and Magick/Mysticism in general.
Studentship also serves a second purpose, that of winnowing. Those who are simply sniffing around the door will tend to fade away at this point, once they realise that we are not messing about and that actual work is required. This period is simple and only requires concentrated reading over a short period of time, followed by proof that said reading has been carried out. Once this proof is obtained, then applicants are taken a bit more seriously. You might say that an applicant transitions here to being formally recognised as an aspirant. From here things get interesting.
Probation 0=0
The grade of Probationer can be visualised as the aspirant waiting patiently outside the temple gates. On the tree of life this grade is a sub-grade of the Neophyte 1=10, we might say that they represent the 'without' and 'within' stages of Malkuth respectively. A Probationer has found the porch, but the door remains closed.
The door is solid oak, with only a tiny slat for letters. It is set in stone and their is no discernible lock or door handle. There is a sign posted on the door, with a simple instruction: "KNOCK ONCE AND WAIT".
This really is the essence of the Probationer grade. He or she will have met his assigned supervisor, establishing a tentative relationship. He will have been given instructions in the form of the Probatoner paperwork which he has signed and read aloud in the presence of that supervisor. His job now is to go away, carry out the required tasks of reading, practicing and diary writing, for 11 months, before handing in a diary to his supervisor. The task is summarised as 'to obtain a scientific knowledge of the nature and powers of his own being'. That is, to find out what sort of person he is, what are his strengths and weaknesses, what is he likely to be good at. This is all useful information later in the work when different grades make different demands on his physical body, his instincts, intellect, emotions and aspiration itself. Without this preliminary work he is essentially sailing blindly off into the unknown, so we insist that it is carried out to a high standard.
If a Probationer is diligent and applies himself steadily to his own work it is not so difficult, but it does require a certain amount of grit, patience and humility. Problems can arise when he starts to realise that gradually the path is taking over his life. This can lead to a sense of separation that some find uncomfortable, he may feel lonely or depressed being unused to this insular lifestyle. More often than not, life itself gets in the way and the solitary existence of an aspirant is impossible for any number of reasons. There will be a variety of reasons, but the root cause of suffering here is the inability to be alone with oneself.
If we consider this grade as preparing the ground for one's personal temple, these things can be envisaged as rocky ground that needs flattening before the foundations can be laid. It may be that such rocky ground needs levelling before the student can proceed, which is perfectly normal. On the other hand, if he cannot, or as is sometimes the case, will not do what is necessary, cast off old sweetness's, do some mental, emotional and physical spring cleaning, then the work will stall. This is what we might call the ordeal of the siren, the song of Lorelei that beckons unwary fishermen only to wreck their ships on the rocks. In modern parlance I would label this ordeal DISTRACTION. At this stage, the unwary will be distracted by this fairy daughter, who, jealous that her victim might seek another lover, drowns him in her underwater kingdom.
Probation comes from the Latin :Probare, to prove. The probationer is proving that he is fit to enter the temple doors. If in the space of his year sitting there waiting, he gets distracted, moves off in other directions, starts to fidget and worry and doubt himself or the order, he will tend to drift off and return to his previous existence. He may also find that aspects of his outer life intrude, making sitting at the temple porch impossible for the time being. Sometimes the duties of family or society preclude initiation, in which case he should accept this with humility, since this may be his true vocation, his True Will. However, if he can sit still and wait, not be distracted, and obey the simple instructions of the grade he will after eleven months be invited by his supervisor to first submit his diary, perhaps sit a small written exam, and recite his chapter of Liber LXV.
I should say something about Liber LXV, since really it is through the memorisation of this chapter that the Probationer is instructed as to the meaning not only of his current grade, but that of the Outer Order as a whole. It is not by accident that the robe of a 0=0 is the same robe as that worn by a 5=6. The aspiration is the same at 5=6 as at 0=0, it must be so, since the path of the Outer College is so wide and varied, that it is easy to become distracted or caught off-guard, particularly later on when the aspirant leaves the middle pillar for Hod and Netzach.
At the Probation stage this memorisation serves as a lode-stone for the aspirant, focussing his work on the one aim of the whole of the Outer College. Though his studies may take him in various directions, with much reading and practice, if, at the heart of it all, he consistently wears the robe of a 5=6 and recites his chapter of LXV daily until it rolls off the tongue without a thought, and seeks into his consciousness to rise unbidden at odd moments, he will be able to pull through the eleven months period, and thereby earn the right to the following grade. From there he may be invited to attend the initiation ritual of a Neophyte, Liber T'raa, and begin the next stage of the Great Work.
Love is the law, love under will.
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