The Grades of Release as covered in HCOB 22 Sept 65 have been named and will be found, with auditor classes, in the ROUTING CHART of 26 Sept 65 being issued with "Auditor 10" in October 65.
These Grades and names are final, and they designate what is to be run on the pc to obtain the various states of Release.
A table follows:
| GRADE | NAME | MATERIALS | FORMER NAME | WHERE DONE |
| Grade VIII | Operating Thetan | R1 Drills | Operating Thetan | Saint Hill |
| Grade VII | CLEAR | Clearing Course | Clear | Saint Hill Solo |
| Grade VI Release | Whole Track Release | R6EW | Stage 4 Release | Saint Hill Solo |
| Grade VA Release | Power Plus Release | Added Power Process | Stage 3 Release | Saint Hill by Class VII Auditor |
| Grade V Release | Power Release | Power Processes | 2nd Stage Release | Saint Hill by Class VIIs |
| Grade IV Release | Ability Release | Service Facsimiles | None | Saint Hill or HGCs – Any Class IV or above |
| Grade III Release | Freedom Release | R3H ARC Breaks | None | SH or HGCs – Any Class III or above |
| Grade II Release | Relief Release | O/W Processes Missed W/Hs |
Joburg | SH or HGCs – Any Class II or above |
| Grade I Release | Problems Release | Probs Intensive Any Problems Process Hidden Standards Book of Case Remedies |
None | SH or HGCs – Any Class I or above |
| Grade 0 Release | Communications Release | Level 0 Processes (0-0, 0-A, etc) | Keyed-Out Clear Book I Clear | SH or HGCs – Any Class 0 or above |
| Ungraded | Scientologist | Assists of all types | None | Anywhere – any Qualified auditor or Scientologist |
It is obvious then that GRADE CERTIFICATES FOR PRECLEARS lapse and are no longer issued and are replaced by Release awards, awarding "Grade ____ Release" when attained.
It is also obvious that as these states all existed before they were discovered then REHABILITATION OF FORMER RELEASE is addressed to rehabilitating these grades. When rehabilitation is done and the state recovered for the pc a "Grade-Release" for the Grade actually recovered is issued.
The SAME rehabilitation processes as issued are used for every type of Release.
Preclears were sometimes released in more than one grade and Former Release is rehabilitated (and sold) for each grade the pc was formerly released on.
All grades formerly attained must each one in turn be found and rehabilitated and each one is separately declared by Certs & Awards. Therefore a pc going release on a simple Qual Division check-out must be urged to get a rehabilitation as there may be other former release states there and for anyone rehabilitated as a former Release many other grades (as per chart above) are available to be audited up to.
Technically you will find just these phenomena as given in the Routing Chart of Auditor 10 and the 22 Sept HCOB were the subjects of release.
Sometimes a pc was according to him released formerly on some other process or subject than those given on the Chart. You will however find that it relates to one of the Grade Subjects (Comm, Problems, O/W, ARC Brks, Service Facs, as the total of the Grades up to IV).
Example: Pc reads as Released on CCHs. OK, that was a Problems or a Comm Release. Why? It was because pc came to PT away from his problems of the past or because pc got into comm with the universe. Just decide which.
Example: Pc checks as Released on the button "Importance", run in brackets or concepts. This wasn't any Grade VI Release! It was probably Problems that were cleaned up or even O/Ws; therefore it was a Grade I or II.
You have to see which Release Grade it was and that's easy since the pc will tell you even without your asking that he "got over his ARC Breaks" or "His problems didn't worry him".
On old-time processes, R2-12, Rising Scale, even Engram Running, the point where Release was attained was because a Comm block, a Problem, an O/W, an ARC Break cleaned up. It wasn't the old process that determines the Grade the pc was formerly released at so much as which of the Grade subjects were relieved at the time.
The biggest error you can make in rehabilitation of a former release is to grade him too high and by-pass available charge for further releasing.
In the earlier grades you can go from Grade IV Release to Grade 0 Release to Grade II, etc.
They are not entirely consecutive from 0 to IV. They are from V up.
For instance you rehabilitate a pc as Grade II Release (overts and withholds) by standard rehab approach. He is then declared a Grade II Release of course. However he can be run on Comm Processes to obtain Grade 0 Release or on Problems to obtain Grade I Release and better had be.
As we have formerly released so many on so many different processes the background for rehabilitation is ragged at this time.
New people can be moved up smoothly from Zero to IV. Older Scientologists will go up and down from Zero to IV.
You will find at times that somebody you are trying to audit to a certain Grade suddenly recalls being released at that Grade. The proper action then is rehabilitation of the Grade, not continuing to run the Grade.
All this is really quite simple.
The BIGGEST error is and will continue to be not noticing a state of Release occurring while running a process and then overrunning it and engulfing it. You don't always see the free, floating needle – it is at times brief.
For a while auditors will be very nervy and err by underrunning processes and failing to flatten them. Some auditors will see a floating needle everywhere. Some will remain blind to them and grind on and on.
The thing to do is eventually find the happy medium. Don't underrun or overrun. Just notice when the process has produced a floating needle and carry on when it has not. And listen for those big pc upsurges in tone and halt there. And watch for the rising Tone Arm that goes to 5. Mostly it's an overrun. But some pcs who always were at 5 weren't ever formerly released and will need Power Processes to get them started. Power Processing also combines a lot of lower grade results. But it is hard to Power Process pcs who have never had lower grade releasing. The Power Processing becomes very lengthy. However, real tough cases can't attain lower grade release states and so have to be Power Processed at once instead of after properly attaining the lower grades. These "at once" Power Process cases, who have had no former release grade, are pretty Suppressive. However, some pcs' Tone Arms can be at 5 and the pc can act Suppressive if it all stems from unnoticed lower Grade releasing that was never observed or rehabilitated.
It is interesting that a Grade V Release (Power Process) cannot thereafter be processed below his Grade. But this is a new set of processes. You won't find any Former Release Grade Vs. They just never made Grade V before, even by accident.
Grade VI Releases (R6EW) don't easily respond thereafter to Power Processes. But remember, that's a Grade VI Release, not somebody who came up with a few bits of R6EW.
You can't run a Grade VII (Clear) on anything but he can be drilled on getting about the universe and getting familiar with himself and what he can do.
Grades VI and VII really cannot be successfully audited except by oneself – solo. If somebody else did audit them on a pc, the pc would not prosper. He'd be a fool and quite confused. These Grades (VI and VII) require knowledge. Without it it's pitiful. Auditors who have tried to audit raw meat pcs on these Grades have gotten into serious messes not with us but in their own activities all stemming from trying to make a baby be vice president in six easy lessons. Two such auditors blew Scientology – they themselves had no real data or release grade or even case gain yet they tried to use VI materials on raw meat and it all went wrong and the pcs today mostly snarl and natter. Their way is barred by their antagonism.
It takes a real thetan to stand up to VI and VII. Ask somebody who has been there.
I trust these new Grades I found will help straighten out a lot of things.