That is like saying going to medical school is purely for social acknowledgment. I am good with Math, but I still went to school for it. Again, people selling you this crap are just taking your money. To be good at a skill, you need experience, knowledge, and education. That is how it works. You cannot be good at something purely by declaring yourself a maser. That is not how this works. The purpose of degrees and guilds was to solve the problem if incompetent people declaring themselves skilled. I do not care for magical organizations because I was initiated into a magical culture by birth. My family is magical, and you cannot self-initiate into the particular magic of my particular family's culture any more than you can self0-initiate adoption.

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I explain why self-initiation does not work on a practical and mechanical level in my response here.