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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Louis Umfreville Wilkinson
1123 Broadway New York City
August 17, 1917
Dr. Louis U. Wilkinson, 10 Davis Place, Rockaway Beach, L. I.
St. Louis the Beloved,
Thanks for your letter of the 16th. I have told the business department about the matter which pertains to them; and I hope that you will be satisfied, in rather the same way as a worm might be thankful to God if nobody actually stepped on it. But I think that you should look at this matter in a rather constructive light. My idea is to form what I might cal a man-of-the-world party. I want to get Bercovici for charity reform, Judge Wells for legal reform, Boris Sidis for educational reform, yourself for sex reform, and myself for religious reform. This would form the nucleus of a regular party. We could start to get subscriptions of the six figure order from sympathisers; have your own organ, and make a tremendous splash. For example; if we had a widespread movement, we could book you to lecture for us at your own figure. Your work for us is partly of the nature of advertisement.
You have to remember that nobody else in America would publish a single word of either the Plea for Better Morals or the Tolstoi Review, though I am glad to say that the last has been asked for by “Current Opinion” with the idea of quoting from it. Every little bit helps in this sort of thing. The great puzzle in life is to get people familiar with your name. I feel sure that by using the "International" as a means of publicity, you can do a great deal which you could never do in any other way, and no other organ could help you so well at present, because with me you have that pull of which Cicero speaks so eloquently in “De Amicitia”.
I am sure that you can find time to let me have a couple of thousand words on Repression within the next week or ten days. I want to see your name in some way or another in the paper every month. I only wish it were every week. People forget unless they are reminded all the time; and it would be a fearful mistake for you, after having made a big hit, to drop out.
I sent you the Crucified Saint both because of the extraordinary interest of the story and of the idea that you might use it in the article in some way. You don’t need to dress yourself in Freud’s pajamas, all you want is a corner of his academic robe to cover you. You see Freud has achieved respectability. I will hope to get word from you about this as soon as possible. I am really rather anxious to get the October number [of The International] through the Press right away. In fact, I am sending nearly everything down to the printer today.
I am being vampired by a lady with Scorpio rising and cannot think of the words of the benediction which begins “The Lord bless and keep you”, but consider yourself blessed! You might let me have news of Powys [John Cowper Powys]. I am very anxious to hear that he is better.
Yours for the libido,
Aleister Crowley.
AC / RBG
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