 The ONA does not initiate members into the group itself , but rather expects an individual to initiate themselves . It requires that initiates be in a good physical condition , and recommends a training regimen for prospective members to follow . Newcomers are expected to take on a magical partner of the opposite sex , or of the same sex if they are lesbian or gay . Thenceforth , the practitioner must undertake personal and increasingly difficult challenges in order to move through the different grades . Most of the ordeals that allow the initiate to proceed to the next stage are publicly revealed by the Order in its introductory material , as it is believed that the true initiatory element lies in the experience itself and can only be attained through performing them . For instance , part of the ritual to become an External Adept involves an ordeal in which the prospective member is to find a lonely spot and to lay there , still , for an entire night without moving or sleeping . The initiatory process for the role of Internal Adept entails the practitioner withdrawing from human society for three months , from an equinox to a solstice , or ( more usually ) for six months , during which time they must live in the wild without modern conveniences or contact with civilisation . The next stage – the Ritual of the Abyss – involves the candidate living alone in a dark isolated cavern for a lunar month . According to Jeffrey Kaplan , an academic specialist of the far right , these physically and mentally challenging initiatory tasks reflect " the ONA 's conception of itself as a vanguard organization composed of a tiny coterie of Nietzschean elites . " 
