To me, it is a step across the Threshold, a taking-on of a new form of attention to the World: hard to go back upon, hard to rescind. Once taken, nothing can ever be the same. Best done in full knowledge and conscience of what the implications are, and I imagine even better done with a structure and support around one, from others further along on the Path one has chosen.
I had neither luxury: I was alone and unprepared; I did not fully measure the import of what was happening, or the responsibility I was taking on; I had no guides to teach, prepare, and look out for me; I had no Order or Tradition to look to, no fellow travellers to receive me in Ritual and in Communion.
