Initiation into the Mysteries

["aha3996" <aha3996@...>]

In my reading over the years, many authors insist that one must have
a personal teacher/"guru" in order to progress along the path. Others
advocate that one needs to be linked to an order, via initiation, that
has a lineage back to the original source of the mysteries. Rene Guenon
advocates this position and then proceeds to tell the reader that at 
the present he knows of no genuine initiatory groups other than the 
shadow of them found in various existing groups of freemasonry. Franz
Bardon seems to take the opposite view of not being bound by any oath
or to any group or person with the alternative of following the path
on your own. Any input out there on these divergent opinions?