But if you wish to show him [the god] as well, judging whether he is reliably worthy, as a human — using the procedure as though it were you being judged on his behalf in the immortalization — prompt him with the first formula, whose beginning is: 'First origin of my origin, aeêioyô.'

To initiate another is the gravest step, and the text hedges it with judgment. First you must krínō — decide, weigh — whether the candidate is áxios, worthy, and 'reliably so, as a human': not perfect, but soundly good by the human measure. Mystery cults guarded their admissions; the wrong initiate was a danger to the god, the rite, and the teacher alike. The extraordinary phrase is the stake attached to that judgment: proceed 'as though on his behalf you were being judged in the immortalization.' The teacher does not merely assess the pupil — he becomes surety for him, answerable before the god as if it were his own worthiness on trial. Vouching for someone was that serious; you put your own standing before the divine on the line. Only after all that does the actual teaching happen, and it is nothing new: the opening the reader met at the very start of this book — génesis prṓtē tês emês genéseōs, 'first origin of my origin,' sealed with the seven vowels. The rite folds shut on its own beginning. What was the initiate's ascent becomes, taught to another, that other's first step.