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Correspondence from George MacNie Cowie to Aleister Crowley
14 Glenisla Gardens, Edinburgh.
[Undated: circa 1915?]
Care Frater
Good news at last by Jupiter! who says there isn't Justice in this world. Anyone who loves the Hun as himself and has Kompassion on Kaisers, deserves to be reduced to his bottom dollar! and 25 cents o'er, is much too good for him.
Seriously I don't worry about you, as you are always pulled out somehow. As for Mater [Leila Waddell] You needn't worry too much, as she knows that she needn't starve at least, so long as I have anything to share. And if she decides to go out to you, she knows her fare is ready. But ? is it wise—And at this moment it's quite possible she might be torpedoed by the gentle fair-playing Hun.
I sent you another copy of the Smaragdine. The Latin in all versions is probably corrupt, but that last one had been annotated by some one and corrected. The first two were from Lettner's "Theatrum Chemicum" a collection in Latin of the principal alchemical writers. The third is from that rather remarkable book The Suggestive Inquiry, the first time I had come across a copy. It's horribly difficult to get through such a book in snatches of time at a Library. I tried to get the reprint so much talked of 3 years ago, but Watkins tells me it was never published after all. So far I have read it it does not seem to me as if the author had come too near giving away the secret or had guessed it, but we'll see. You know the edition was suppressed or bought up as far as possible, only a few copies being left. The excerpts alone make is a quite valuable book.
I discovered another really valuable book the "Hermetic Museum" in English. It contains 22 of the best alchemical writers, all obviously genuine, but requiring much time to wrest the secret from 'em. They won't lend out a book without an Advocates order and (thank God) I know no such a person.
I thought that if a guinea would buy a copy it would be worth more than my own while, and that I could manage that this month (especially as you're sending me £600). I wrote Gardner, he has a copy but wants £3.3.0 and has a customer ready if I don't say 'done'. Dunno; just got his letter and will sleep on it. Could offer him £1.1. down and trust me for the rest, true Perdurabo style. (A few more deadly insults and I will be steam rollered and avenging punitive currented besides). This 'Museum', by the way, has the trail of Waite [Arthur Edward Waite] over it, but only to the extent of the preface. He didn't translate it, but being in 1895 the most eminent authority on True Wisdom he was asked to make himself the Front Door to the Museum.
The only surviving copy of the Smaragdine [Tablet] in the original Arabic was in Louvain University and the Kultered Ones had extreme pleasure in making hole sin it in their playful way. You won't blame 'em.
As to the O.T.O.—one startling chemical experiment in my last. No others. Makes me feel like the old woman "Lawk a missy on me, this is none of I".
Destroy that paper by the way seeing it refers to some really sacred and intimate matters as well as the experiment. Please.
I don't know that I am very far on after all. A test is that I can still make very little sense out of that puzzle in the Equinox 'Brother Perardua'. That he was right skilful at the athanor I can well believe! but a lot more is still vague. And I do want to know what it is the Seven Wardens correspond to in the Macrocosm and how they connect with the chakras. The Sphinx and the Green Lion grow less and less of enigmas, but I can't make out if the result referred to is alchemical or refers to the annihilation of the personality or what.
No good! the more one goes on the greater an ignoramus one feels and here at the venerable age of 54 years, my hair that is hoary with eld is bending over a Latin grammar because a dictionary is not much good if you don't know the tenses for certain etc etc and I'm always being floored. But still for an artist I've done pretty well these last years.
The Hun is the most pestilent and poisonous chanchre as ever was, only curable by complete excision. The point of view you indicate is true enough and certainly the Hun doesn't disturb my meditations much. But the point is this—you pick out this pestilence and chuckle and say Look! here's our model, well hold up our heads after this! Who calls us Thelemites will do us wrong if the Hunnish Will is to be held up as an exemplar. But that was 6 months ago and you didn't know that the Hun was going to give points to the Qliphoth so I'll gracefully forgive you if you will say ('Damn the Huns' just once. If only I had had the sense to praise the beasts than I should have got steam rollered for that, and the Huns would have been damned and all would have been PAX. It's the wise chela knows when to stop baiting the guru—so guru having endured even unto the end of this letter we'll stop (pro tem, more in our next) and express the pious wish that he'll get one dollar and 50 cents next time. 10.20 p.m. must stop—I do wish more Jupiter would come in. It's no light matter that you should be so worried and crippled by a senseless want of pence.
Fraternally.
F[iat] P[ax]
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