Back in the days when I first started to walk the spiritual path {pre-2000} many of us spiritual seekers could only utilise energy work by attending what was called a Mystery School. Those schools varied slightly in their offerings, however principally we would go to them to learn to master our energy, our "selves" and particularly our emotional nature. As a part of the learning curve, we would also go through what was called initiations. Initiations were essentially a trial or test to ensure you have mastered the requisite teaching. They were not so much about doing or accomplishing something; instead, they were about how you were {being rather than doing} during the experience. Initiations that were common to every single mystery school were based around the mastery of fear.. whether that was physically, mentally or emotionally induced fear. Fear was {and remains} the single most difficult emotion to master, and so many initiations would revolve around it. I remember one particular initiation from a past life in an Egyptian Mystery School where you had to swim through a pool of crocodiles. The visualisation based initiation wasn't about the physical aspect of getting to the end safely {though that was helpful}; instead, it was about mastering the fear of the experience and thus making oneself less of a "target". Master the fear and the crocs don't bite; succumb to the fear and ...well, you can guess the rest. Other initiations would have brought up natural and primal human fears too. One way of looking at initiation is that once you have gone through it, you change your perspective as you come out the other side literally with a new vibration. Once you have mastered the fear {literally or metaphorically staring death in the eye} then you can leave it behind, as you know within that nothing can ever touch your immortal being at the heart of you.
Today we don’t have mystery schools in quite the same style as thousands of years ago. Nonetheless, initiations exist in the context of everyday life and in quite a similar format. The goal of those ancient initiations was to learn to transcend basic emotions, and most especially to master fear in all of its manifestations. Fear-based decisions attract fear-based circumstances - it's a simple energetic principle. And so the goal of the Soul is to put the personality in situations {initiations} where it can work through the fear....and there are plenty of everyday examples where that happens. They are inescapable in the course of modern life, for fear is rife, and especially so at this particular point in history. There is always a choice of going down the "enlightened" route i.e. recognising it for what it is {fear situation = potential empowerment} and following the route of no fear, or choosing fear {or inaction} which keeps your energy stuck and attracts more of the same at a later date.
As I say, initiation examples are everywhere in the modern world, small and bigger. You might start to empower yourself and go to see a therapist/practitioner to work through fear, {or another kind of problem}, you might do that by yourself, you might stand up to the demands of an overbearing boss/partner, you might stand firm in the face of unreasonable demands from a corporate "giant", you might put yourself out there to speak your truth in spite of what others might think of you etc. Whatever the fear-inducing situation might be, these are all forms of initiation. Empowerment is there for the taking by potentially all of the people on the planet. It's just that most people are unlikely to either recognise or use the opportunity for what it is. If you align to fear and let your action {or indeed your inactions} be dictated by fear, then you get more fear. Cutting off the source of fear is a smart move. Too many people choose to remain beholden to the media which bombards wave after wave of fear at them, and thus they remain in that fear-full place. The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is an act of empowerment, that is an initiatory process in itself. It generates such positive energy within you that when you are able to live from that perspective and it is truly life-changing. It is a cue for true empowerment, mastery, Soul realisation and subsequent ascension.
This is the age of empowerment ....self-empowerment... else is going to do it for you, though like-hearted souls/communities will undoubtedly assist you along the journey...and it is most likely exactly what you incarnated to do!
So, enjoy it and embrace empowerment by the horns to enjoy the ride.