INITIATION - WITCHCRAFT - GOLDEN ASS Lucius, recognizing the divinity of Isis, kneels down in worship during the Isian processional. Shortly afterwards, after eating roses, he is transformed back into the shape of a man. The story of the Golden Ass is an initiation tale, recounting various indignities and outrages experienced by Lucius, who is transformed into the body of an ass, but with this final initiation in the mysteries of the goddess Isis. From a 19th century Italian edition of Lucius Apuleius, The Golden Ass.