To join the Royal Art Society as a Candidate is FREE. There are no obligations or terms. We believe in a safe, healthy process to build community. In order to allow us to continue our mission, please contribute a donation of your choice, if you feel so inclined. Each of the three grades, should the Candidate choose to pursue them, requires a $31 administrative fee for materials.

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Royal Art Society Candidate

Grade Nothing

Until completing the Candidate Registration and Investiture described below, you are regarded as an applicant for Candidacy. The following ritual may be performed physically—alone or in a group—but it is primarily intended as a guided visualization for self-initiation and meditation.

The Candidate begins at Grade Nothing, the Rite of Manifestation. This is not yet an alchemical grade but an entry point. The Candidate affirms their readiness by cultivating balance in body, mind, and spirit.

The Candidate’s Well-Being

The material and physical well-being of every Candidate, within the wider context of global society and international law, is fundamental to the Royal Art Society. The Society acts as a catalyst, connecting alchemists worldwide in fellowship and exchange, fostering opportunities for study, travel, and cooperation.

A Candidate must maintain their health as part of their discipline. This includes:

Hydration & Diet: Drink adequate water daily. Meals should be nutritious, moderate, and—where possible—fresh, organic, and plant-based. Always consult your physician before changing diet or exercise routines.
Physical Exercise: Engage in regular, moderate activity such as walking, yoga, qigong, taijiquan, martial arts, hiking, swimming, or other mindful disciplines. Creative arts—music, painting, poetry, theatre—may supplement or replace physical activity where needed, and are recommended for all.

The specific practices are left to the Candidate’s discretion, guided by sincerity and moderation.

Contemplation and Environment

Every alchemist is urged to contemplate the great arc of human civilization. Just as Daoist alchemists drew inspiration and “qi” from sacred mountains, ancient temples, and revered trees, so too may modern alchemists receive wisdom and energy from environments of human and cultural significance.

The Royal Art Society encourages visiting places of meaning: museums, libraries, theatres, cemeteries, monuments, parks, centers of government, and sacred sites of every tradition. These locations embody accumulated life-force and cultural memory, nurturing reflection, inspiration, and transformation.

How to Apply for Candidacy

Preparation: Study the Candidate’s Introduction chapters of the Book of the Royal Art. Begin your journey with the Candidate’s Handbook.
Advancement:
- After one year, you may take the Grade of Earth and become an Apprentice, beginning the Apprentice Alchemist’s Handbook.
- In the following year, you advance to the Grade of Man (Homo sapiens), working with the Master Alchemist’s Handbook. Four rituals mark this degree—at the equinoxes and solstices—after which the Book of the Mage (Immortal’s Handbook) is opened.
- In the third year, the Alchemist may attempt the Grade of Heaven, the Rite of Emanation, and become an Immortal. At this stage, study turns to the final volume: Experimental Alchemy of the Royal Art Society.
Application Ritual: To apply, complete, sign, and date the Candidate Application. This document may be kept, buried, burned, cast away, or otherwise ritually disposed of. Beyond this symbolic act, the investiture as Candidate is an inner ritual of visualization, confirmed at dawn on or about the next Vernal Equinox.

Thus begins the Path of Initiation.
The Candidate is received into the Rite of the Royal Art, the first step toward transformation through Integrated Humanism, meditation, and symbolic alchemy.

The Candidate must create their own registration form exactly as modeled below:

Candidate Registration

Name ________________________________________________________________________

Date of Birth ________________________________________________________________________

I apply for Candidacy to the Royal Art Society by my own free will and with fit mind.

A new member is given the title of Candidate on or about the next Vernal Equinox and is registered as an Apprentice on or about the following Summer Solstice at noon.

Signed, __________________________________________

Date __________________.

Candidate Investiture

Rite of Manifestation (Calcination)

Vernal Equinox, Six O’clock Morning

All participants and observers are dressed in formal attire. The Officers except the Candidate(s) process clockwise from the North-East to their stations. When the Officers are in their stations the Master of Ceremonies (MC) conducts the Candidates who are to be installed from the North-East clockwise to the West of the Altar.

The MC receives the proper manuscripts on a cushion from the Archivist when he passes the South, and all Officers bow to the MC. The MC bows to the Candidates and stands before them to the East of the Altar of the Royal Art. The initiation begins with the Royal Art Society Martial Hymn recited by all of the Officers present. The hymn describes a particular symbolic ritual or visualization.

The Royal Art Society Martial Hymn

“O One, O Law, You made all Opposites:

Negative and Positive, Darkness and Light, Evil and Good,

From eternal rest the Good awakens and challenges the Evil.

Each Opposite is given his Strength.

I am prepared at the right hand of the Lord,

Facing Evil at the left hand of the Lord.

In the center are the Sacred Fire and the Holy Graal,

About us is a circle of stone below, and heaven above.

My Opposite teaches me the revelation;

I am presented before the Lord,

Stripped of my adornments, and given a new robe.

I am presented with the Book of Life

And led to the Feast.

It is here that All returns to One.”

After the hymn, the MC then administers the Oath to the Candidates being installed, who simultaneously repeat the words of the Oath.

Candidate’s Oath

I, ________ (full name), in the presence of this worshipful Royal Art Society, united in Spirit and dedicated to the same, do hereon promise and swear to always conduct myself as a person of honor: to remember my vows and exercise the noble virtues. All of which I swear, with a fixed and steady purpose of mind, to keep and perform, binding myself under no less a penalty than that of betraying the Way of Truth and Life, and losing my connection to the Source. I invoke the Nameless One to keep me steadfast in the performance of this, my Royal Art Society Candidate’s solemn obligation.

The MC then performs the Act of Installation by shaking hands with the new Candidates. All bow. The MC hands the Candidates each a copy of the Book of the Royal Art and reads the following to the Candidates:

“Congratulations on your appointment in Candidacy to the Royal Art Society. You have received the title of Candidate upon your merits and you are authorized to be passed to the First Degree, the Grade of Earth, on or about the next Summer Solstice at noon. Welcome to the Royal Art Society, the Way of the Royal Art, and may peace be with you.”

All bow, and the MC leads the Candidates clockwise to the exit, followed by the other Officers in procession, all reciting the Royal Art Society Martial Hymn.

Congratulations! Thank you for joining the membership of the Royal Art Society.

Continue to the Candidate’s Handbook >

The next ritual marks the transition from the Candidate, the Grade of Nothing, to the Apprentice Alchemist, the Grade of Earth. It is called the Rite of Formation.

How to Register as a Candidate