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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Sir Edward Letchworth
Sir Edward Letchworth, Freemasons Hall, Grt Queen Street. E.C.
27 June [1913]
Dear Sir and Right Worshipful Brother,
I wish to appeal to the fraternal Brothers of the Lodge of England in the following circumstances. I was made a Master Mason 17 December 1904 in Lodge 343 Anglo Saxon in Paris, working under the Grand Lodge of France. My proposer was the Rev I L Bowley, who I understand has been the Provin[cial] Grand Officer [?] in the Oxford Province, and I fully understood from him that the Anglo-Saxon Lodge was duly recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, and in fact numbers of admitted English masons have attended the Lodge while on the other hand I have always been received with the greatest fraternal welcome in many lodges both in England and India, and no question has been raised as to my status except in the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch at Freemason's Hall. I must admit that at that time I was annoyed by what seemed to me a narrow minded view of masonry. As the Ritual of my initiation was that in use all over England, and no such alteration of landmarks had taken place as that which has caused the breach between the G[rand] Lodge of England and the G[rand] Orient. And I shall consequently prepare to support the G[rand] L[odge] of France in its claim to the validity of its initiations. I am now, however, credibly informed that recently the Grand Lodge of France has tolerated and even recognised so-called co-masonry and in these circumstances I see no course open to me but to resign from that Lodge, not only on masonic grounds, but because so-called co-masonry is merely a mask for the cult of "Alcyone", which I have no hesitation in describing as the most impudent blasphemy and filthy fraud that has ever been attempted in the history of the world.
I write to assure you of my thorough loyalty and allegiance to the principles of the Grand Lodge of England and I ask your fraternal kindness to make it as easy as possible for me to regularise my position.
Yours faithfully and fraternally.
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