|
Correspondence from MacGregor Mathers to Percy Bullock[1]
87, Rue Mozart, Auteuil, Paris,
2nd April, 1900.
C[ara] et V[ery] H[onoured] Fra.[ter] "Levavi Oculos,"
I do not recognize the right of the Second Order either to elect a Committee without my authorization and consent, or to take upon themselves the responsibility arresting of the work of the Order, save and only by my direct commands. I annul the Committee and I annul the Resolutions passed at the meeting of the 24th March, 1900. I cannot therefore accept your report of that meeting, and l return you herewith the typewritten copy of its proceedings which you sent me.
I stand by
my Manifesto issued to the Theorici Adepti on Thursday,
October 29th, 1896, after the comprehension of which each
Theoricus Adept sent me a written Declaration of allegiance
which I have kept as a pleasing memento of fidelity to their
engagements, that of " De Profundis ad Lucero" [F.L. Gardner]
is especially of value in the view of the line of action he
has recently taken.
I know to a nicety the capacities of my human brain and intelligence and what these can of themselves grasp, and I therefore know also when the Forces of the Beyond, and the Presences of the Infinite manifest, and when the Great Adepts of this Planet still in the body of flesh, the Secret Chiefs of our Order are with me.
Do you imagine that where such men as Count de Gébelin, Eteilla, Christian and Levi [Eliphas Levi] failed in their endeavour to discover the Tarot attributions that I would be able of my own power and intelligence alone to lift the veil which has baffled them?
You have seen the development of the Theosophical Society, and that since the death of Madame Blavatsky [Helena Petrovna Blavatsky] nothing but turmoil and strife have arisen, and that that association is tottering to its fall. And I tell you plainly that were it possible to remove me from my place as the Visible Head of our Order (the which cannot be without my own consent, because of certain magical links) you would find nothing but disruption and trouble fall upon you all until you had expiated so severe a Karma as that of opposing a current sent at the end of a century to regenerate a Planet.
And for the first time since I have been connected with the Order, I shall formulate my request to Highest Chiefs for the Punitive Current to be prepared, to be directed against those who rebel; should they consider it (after examination of the Status of the London Order) advisable.
Some of you have been pleased to remark that I have condoned a felony. I would sooner condone any number of offences against the Law of Man, than I would fail in the first duty of an Occultist, which is Fraternity and Fidelity, and it is the want of these in the English Order which has been the root of all mischief.
It is a very easy thing for you to ask "Sapere Aude" [William Wynn Westcott] for the address of "Sapiens Dominabitur Astris," and find out if she lived there, Fraulein Sprengel I think he said her name was, and I believe the address he gave was Ulm, Heidelburg or Nuremburg, also it should be easy to get from him the copy of the correspondence which he retired. But I have nothing to do with all this, and "S.S.D.D." [Florence Farr] has acted injudiciously in making my letter to her as my representative a lever for increasing dissension in the Order.
I thank you, as always, for your courteous manner of writing, and you have my best wishes.
I have been and am so occupied that I could not answer your letter before. A[ha]th[o]or Temple alone takes much of my time and it is increasing rapidly in numbers.
Yours in haste and with best wishes,
Deo Duce Comite Ferro.
1—Percy Bullock was a member of the Golden Dawn.
|