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Correspondence from George MacNie Cowie to Aleister Crowley
14 Glenisla Gardens, Edinburgh.
13 June. [1916]
Care Frater
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Your welcome letter of the 23rd May reached me on Friday the 9th. The sudden change of note at the end made me smile, but it is so agreeable a change—so it's 'we' now? that I let you off any sarcastic remarks. Also, I have not twisted the Beast his tail since he assured me that on his honour etc etc.
Well, that was a fine little scrap 'we' had. As fine a thing as when Francis Drake began to drum the Dons up the Channel. But think of the splendid stupidity of the Anglo-Saxon the first day; acknowledging all his losses and saying very little of those of the enemy, and also think of that amoosin' little Kuss, the Kaiser hailing the flight of the relics of his battered and groggy fleet as a splendiferous victory and forthwith fervently worshipped his Fetish and sitting down to design a medal.
You don't mention it so I don't know if you got the blasted cable all right.
Mary [Mary Davies] appears to be vehemently épris of de Wolf and does not drive him from the door. No, gives him the use of her rooms for a Hebrew class. She is doing daily some weird Yod Heh Yod Heh practice for which he gave her the Recipe and declares it is good for her poor health. She wrote impressively of a wonderful Qabalistic diagram he had done for her. Later, she sent it and I grinned. It is the familiar perpendicular arrangement of Tetragrammaton, so that it looks like a human figure—of sorts. The letters were ingeniously traced in a red outline on a figure of Adam Kadmon, not a bad idea, only shorn of impressiveness by the Sephiroth being placed wrong. That is, if Westcott's arrangement is correct, Wolf's or Papus' is. They have Chokmah on the forehead, Binah on the right shoulder, Gedulah and Seburah as on the tree, instead of on the left and right respectively. I'm no authority on the rest, but as I don't want Mary to become a Papust I freely expressed derision. We don't need to pick up 'practices' from outsiders. Wolf, of course, may be all right—I just have a Dr Fell sort of feeling about him, and would be cautious. That he is of an intrusive nature I am certain.
Financially I have had a bit of a staggerer. Bill for the repairs at Boleskine amounts to £76; odds—I did not expect much over £40, though one knows that rough estimates are always exceeded. We could not with any decency have avoided this and anyway it's a long way below the £500 first demanded, and better then as big a bill for 'damages'—I'm afraid there have been some minor ones. I can't find or pay £76 except in course of time, but I will not let this go unpaid on any account. What I propose to do is to confiscate the next quarters rent. I will scrape together as much as will make it £50 and pay off that much. This will reduce the account to less frightful dimensions, and I'll manage to clear off the balance after a time. This does not mean depriving you of your income, I will send you a little each month, as I earn it, instead of humiliating myself by paying this bill in small installments.
Thank good ness we've got through two years, now without real disaster, and I've kept my income, though that didn't seem a certainty at the outset. Also if They are going to relent, we are two years nearer the time, and in one way or another I'm not so scared of this 76 odd as I'd formerly have been. Also the Tailor (£300.0.3d!) and the Baker and the Candlestick Maker all appear to have got tired of wasting stamps by sending in their little bills. (Touch wood!) If I'm slanged for wasting a quarters rent on a blackmailin' Inverness thief (it's not Frasers don't fear) I don't care. You've had a slice of it in anticipation and will have more, even to the half of my Dukedom. Selah.
By the way I wish you'd give me a translation of the Greek in the final exordium of the Star Ruby. I note that my smattering of Greek is enough to let me make out the general meaning of the passage, but that of three or four words (iunges, teletarchia initiation? ancient mysteries? phlegel (they, the spirits burn, or are inflamed?) the exact sense is uncertain, sunoches I cannot trace in any dictionary.
There was some M.M.M. property pawned for ? £90. No interest note has ever come this year and I cannot trace the 'broker'. Hobbs can't , and I expect it's one of the letters held up at 33 [Avenue Studios]. Do you remember who holds the things?
[The remainder of the letter is missing.]
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