THE ROCHDALE OBSERVER

Rochdale, Lancashire, England

14 April 1934

(page 4)

A BOOK OF THE WEEK.

MISS VIOLA BANKES’S STORIES.

“Why Not” by Viola Bankes, Jarrolds.

Miss Viola Bankes (Mrs. Norman Hall), the authoress of this piquant book, is a member of the famous Dorset Family which has owned Corfe Castle and the beautiful manor of Kingston Lacy for centuries.

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AN UNLUCKY RING

Aleister Crowley, the poet and authority on ancient magic, who was a friend of Miss Bankes, once showed her a diamond and ruby ring which, he said, brought him luck. He warned her not to put it on her finger, as it would bring bad luck to her:

“A man was copying some designs for me the other day,” he said slowly, as he smoked his cigar and leaned back in his chair. “There was a very powerful electric light over the table where he was working with an opaque glass shade. I took off this ring to show him, and before I could warn him he had slipped it on his finger. A second later he got up from the table too quickly and caught his head against the shade with some force. His forehead was gashed from top to bottom.”

If the ring was responsible for that, it would seem it lost no time in putting its malevolent powers into action!

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