When the initiate is judged to be of sufficient experience to become a full member of the Order of the Checkered Shield, the second and final initiation takes place. This normally occurs after at least two years of service.
This initiation ceremony is far more involved than the first, and supercedes the other in every way. It begins at nightfall (if possibly on the night of a full moon), when all of the full Meken (who are not away on patrol or on guard duty) leave their base and march out into the surrounding countryside. In a suitably secluded spot, preferably with trees nearby and no view of their base, they begin preparations for what is to come. (Generally this place will have been used many times.) A rectangular fire pit is dug, not terribly deep but some twenty feet long and ten feet wide.
All of those who are initiates in the Order have heard something about the initiation rite for full membership, but it is usually not much. Full Meken say nothing about it in the hearing of others, except small hints about a nightly summons.
Two days before the initiation ceremony takes place, those selected to take part are refused food, though no explanation is given. Then, late one night, they are dragged out of bed (off the floor, usually) by men in masks (depicting what I'm not yet quite sure) who blindfold them, and then strip them naked (possibly leaving loin-cloths, I'm not sure). They are led in a line out of the keep, out into the woods (still blindfolded, and barefoot). They reach a clearing, where they can smell cooked meat. They are lined up (still blindfolded); the front person has his/her blindfold removed. In the clearing is a bed of coals about twenty feet long, maybe five feet wide. On each side are ten people wearing masks - on the left, demons, on the right "angels". Another figure approaches behind the initiate on the left, and says that Larani requires obedience, discipline, and sacrifice; that the path to the Goddess is straight and painful; that the initiate must keep walking. Only when the Lady is convinced of the initiate's strength and devotion will she accept the initiate. Then, the initiate's legs are slashed repeatedly with a knife, so that blood starts flowing down to the ground. The initiate is then pushed out onto the coals.
Immediately the masked figures start calling to the initiate, calling him/her to approach them (there is probably also chanting and so on at this point, from others outside the light). If the person does so, s/he is pushed firmly back into the centre of the coals - if the person falls over, no one will help. At the end of the bed of coals is a white cloth, maybe two feet square. When the initiate reaches this, s/he must remain there until it is fully soaked red with the blood from his/her legs. If the blood clots before this is achieved, s/he is taken back round to the other end of the pit, and it begins again (complete with more cuts).
And so on, for as many initiates as there are. Then the meat (which had been cooked earlier) is served, and most likely the initiates will faint (if not from pain and bloodloss, then from having stuff which pumps up their blood-sugar levels right after a fast - I imagine there are fruits and so forth with the meat).
The cloth is kept by each Meken as their symbol of initiation. Those who have lost their cloth have been known to undergo the ritual a second time in order to replace this valuable item.