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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to George Montagu Bennet (7th Earl of Tankerville)
60, Jermyn Street, S.W.
Easter Day [31 March 1907]
Dear Lord Tankerville,
The Ms. came safely to hand. I am glad to hear that the defence was successful. You should be prepared for a great temporary increase in the violence and persistence of attacks. In the Magic of Light defeat should stimulate the seeker to fresh exertion; in that of darkness it is as it were a terrible premonition of the inevitable end, and excites the sorcerer to rage even more and more horrible, as he vainly invokes powers even more evil to his aid. Then when he has spent all, the accumulated currents of hate which he has sent forth recoil irresistibly upon him, and he is swept away—mercifully, be assumed:—into the unspeakable abyss.
The weapons of the magician are very many; but in the beginning we should confine ourselves to four. The wand, which is that in which Prometheus brought down fire from heaven; the cup which lifted up in the weird Cadmean “forest” and into which the dew of Dionysus drips; the sword which Michael bore when he drove Samael from the glittering plains of Heaven; and the Pantacle or little book wherein is written the Secret of the Universe.
You must begin with the first of these; I have told you how to procure the wand of almond or hazel; you will yourself know how to steal the fire of heaven.
The alpha and omega of all the great work is hidden in this mystery of the wand. It is the link between yourself and the Highest. Identify yourself with the Highest by holding tightly to the wand, and those who attack you (as they blindly imagine) will find themselves attacking the Inscrutable and Eternal Silence.
This is that which is written “Vengeance is mine; I will reply saith יהוה.”
The wand further implies singleness of purpose; until you have acquired the power to concentrate upon a single line of thought—and that the highest thought—you have most perfectly mastered the use of the wand.
The sword which you suggest is a weapon of much value, and of great danger. You should be skilled in the use of the other weapons before you employ it.
As a means of pure defense no formula is better than that of Harpocrates, which I showed you.
But there is an advanced and difficult means of counter-attack which I should like you to know of. You should fill your mind always and altogether with kind and loving thoughts about your enemies. This method infallibly destroys them, either literally or by converting them into friends, whichever they will. This, and no mere morality, is the meaning of that which is written “Love your Enemies” etc. But the application of the said formula is a most serious matter. Perfect detachment is needed: perfect loss of illusion of personality. And as it is so powerful a remedy, it is most fateful if the slightest mistake is made in its use. Just as the mistake of a grain makes no odds to a prescription of sodium sulphate, and kills—an hundred times over—if the drug be aconite.
I am quite serious when I say (in these days of Rayner reprieve petitions) the maxim “Shoot your enemies” is a far safer one.
Yours truly,
Aleister Crowley. 7 4
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