Usually the secret name is not given to the neophyte directly, but only after the completion of initiation.
The connection between the initiation and the presentation of a secret name is considered a rite of passage by most esoteric orders. It is understood that this process represents the mystery of rebirth (or birth - death - rebirth).
Read more about this topic: Nomen Mysticum
Famous quotes containing the word initiation:
“Until the end of the Middle Ages, and in many cases afterwards too, in order to obtain initiation in a trade of any sort whatever—whether that of courtier, soldier, administrator, merchant or workman—a boy did not amass the knowledge necessary to ply that trade before entering it, but threw himself into it; he then acquired the necessary knowledge.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)
“The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new—whether it be the settlement of new lands or the initiation of new ways of life—is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)