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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to T.S. Reelfs
[Undated: circa May 1913]
Care Frater,
Illness has prevented me from answering your letter of the 8th April till now. I have not heard from Professor [Emil] Schaub but I have no doubt that he will agree with me in time. I am glad to hear that you have four people to work with you. In order to comply with the regulations two of these—and I suggest one lady and one gentleman—should I think be initiated by us or affiliated to us if they are already Masons. The three of you should make joint application for a Charter or warrant authorising you to work. If they are not already Masons, it would be a pity for them to have to come to England for it, and in that case you would have to initiate them by your own authority, which you can do as soon as you are a member of the 33° or VII° and I could if necessary, make you an Hon[orary] Member of that grade which in any case it is desirable that you should possess. The matter which troubles me is that I do not wish to exact heavy fees and I can give you the Honorary degree as a compliment, though it is somewhat straining the Regulations. From your first two members we should have to charge the full fees either of initiation or affiliation, of which we send you a note. As soon as you have a charter you can initiate or affiliate others making your own scale of charges, but they would have to sign our pledge forms and you would be responsible to send us a capitation fee of 25 francs for each person admitted up to the 3°. My experience suggests that you would find it best to work up to the 3rd degree only. The expenses of establishing a Lodge are extremely small. You could do it very well indeed for 2 or 300 francs. In fact the furniture of our Lodge was constructed with a view to making it easy to start night Lodges. You only require 3 chairs, 3 candles, 1 skull and crossbones painted with luminous paint, square, compasses, volume of the Sacred Law [Book of the Law], which you get from us at the cost of 1 Guinea. I will however send you an authorised French translation of this book which I suggest you should have printed and sold to your members and any others who may apply. You should be able to derive sound profit from this source—altar, carpet with emblems of mortality, sword for tyler, 3 gavels or mallets, hoodwink, cable tow, I and II degree aprons for candidates.
I think I have now explained all that is necessary for the moment and if you see your way to go on, please signify the same, when I will send you two pledge forms and a Hon. Diploma of our VII°. On the two forms being returned signed with the petition for a Charter, I will issue one. The cost of a Charter is £25 but you can arrange to pay for in course of time out of the fees as you receive them. We find that the simplicity and completeness of the system, and the very small amount of work which its working requires from its officers makes it extremely easy to get new candidates. Moreover, Co-Masonry is giving a great deal of dissatisfaction from various causes, and you will probably find a great number of Co-Masons are most anxious to cooperate. The establishment of the IV° should therefore be possible for you in the course of say 12 months, and I think you should spare no pains to have your furniture as imposing as you found it in London.
Your fraternally,
P.S. While my letter of yesterday was being typed yours came to hand. If you are going to Basle you ought to be able to settle it in a friendly men-of-the-world sort of fashion. It is purely a question of the practical convenience of the work, and should lead to no friction. No need to beg my pardon for giving me trouble. I went to you to understand that the more you write and work, the better I am pleased.
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