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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Gerald Kelly
Boleskine.
[Undated: circa February 1900]
Care Fra[ter].
Agrippa is very useful. It is practically the source of Barrett and is much fuller in the same style. Abramelin is not reduced in price. Who is your person? 9 ft a circle in lesser key of S[olomon]. You follow "greater" if you are going to do "greater". I want to do some p. M[agic]. Incidentally I will. Good for Qabalah. Where do you begin? Allan MacG [Allan Bennett] knew K[ey] of S[olomon] v[ery] well and he said: Water, Fire and Incense are the first 3 things. But you must make the tabulation I suggested if you want it all perfect.
You can only do any M[agic] of necessity, not "just to see". You can only curse a spirit because you have conjured him by the Great Names of God the Vast One, and he obeyeth Them not. You cannot use these Names unless you yourself are in accordance with His Will. This leads me to your next point as the solution of this Mystery. My First Magical Operation was devoted to the Invocations of That One whom Abramelin calls the Guardian Angel. As also it is written: So help me the Lord of the Universe and My Own Higher Soul! And without the aspirations to, and in a little measure the grasp of, this: no White Magic is possible.
"In myself I am nothing: in thee I am All-Self". Therefore you are not of position to act as Master: for you are not yet Master of yourself, nor even in communication consciously with That One who hath made of you His habitation. Therefore it is necessary First to reach unto your own Kether: that the Influence of the Most Holy Ancient One descend upon you: and then—"all things shall appear easy unto you".
But having invoked the Highest to the utmost of which you are at present capable, you can then perform other magic to the same extent.
I have been thus far prolix—but what shall not a paternal affection do? As to Abramelin, he is a quite different bird. You devote 6 moons to the purification of your sphere or "aura". Then you can invoke the Angel with complete success. Then you can compel the Forces of the World—"The Visible Image of the Soul of Nature" to your service. This Operation is so awful that I cannot find any words to tell you of it. I may now say that I have devoted my life since our fortnight at Folkestone to the Beginning of it. And the opposition on every plane has been tremendous. Even now, the copying of the symbols is so terrible a task that I can barely finish a dozen daily. After that my brain seems to reel, the characters dance round me, and it is useless to proceed. And this while avoiding putting any magical force into them in the making.
If you wish to do Abramelin, God forbid I should hinder you. But I warn you that for all its apparent simplicity and ease, it will be a bigger job than anything you ever tackled in your life. I have desired that someone should be with me in my working (to be with me and to save me some of the bothers—ordering servants about and such) now nearing the start (if the frost breaks up and allows certain building operations to go on). But it is obvious that such a one must give father and mother and wife and houses and lands—yea and his life also!—and this kind of fool is not easily found.
You may put the point of Hebrew—I don't myself. Good for clairvoyance. Osiris had dyspepsia. If this isn't advice what is?
P. 89. Each companion has a sword, but one of them carries also the S[word] of Art for the Master, till he wants it.
The "Graver" = Burin of Art. Use ordinary graver, carve hilt of wood and so on.
P. 87. I don't see the hitch. There are 3 disciples (or more).
P. 90. Having constrained spirits to obedience. After appearing they may give trouble. Firmness but kindness are indicated.
I return your letter so that you may compare it point by point. The part about the Angel and my intention of doing Abramelin is very secret—not from obligation standpoint, but from its extreme Sacred Character. To no other person inside or outside the Order, would have spoken thus plainly. But (as I said above) what will not paternal affection do?
Yours fraternally.
P[erdurabo].
A.C. intends to write soon to G.K. [Gerald Kelly]. I know he is anxious that G.K. should not forget to give Lan 5/- on his behalf.
P.S. Your letter is that of a 1=10 but you do not say you have taken the exalted grade. Have you?
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