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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Jane Wolfe
63, Washington Sq., N.Y.C.
June 19, 1919. E.V.
My dear Miss Wolfe,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
At last I am free, more or less.
I must begin by warning you not to pay the slightest attention to visions unless they are scientifically checked. I admit gladly that Fee Wah seems to have been fairly good so far; but what assurance have you of it? Who is Fee Wah? What right has he to dictate to you? How can you know that it is he speaking? What did Shakespeare say about 'woo you with honest trifles to betray you in deepest consequence'? If you saw how I treat 'disembodied masters' you would have a fit! Every interview is a savage cross-examination. Your great will and purity have been a guard to you so far; but it's taking a chance.
'Unstable mind' describes L.V.J.; the adjective was meant to include 'sensitive'.
It is the worst possible habit to discuss your occult activities with 'critics', or with anybody else. The A∴A∴ training provides for one criticism by an expert at the end of a year; during that period you are supposed to keep to yourself. You cannot work with other people, except on very exceptional things. The preliminary work, the acquisition of a magical and mystical technique, is absolutely individual.
About the vision in yours of June 13, you're all wrong. This is all guess-work. You don't seem to have any control over the vision. When you go into other worlds, act like a factory inspector in a bad temper. You seem to have no idea of discrimination, or at least no canon of criticism. The other worlds are bigger than this planet, and the company is just as mixed. You have got to test each and every communication as scrupulously as you would perform a chemical analysis. It is not merely a question of being convinced; your record ought to be such as to convince any unprejudiced observer who knew the facts.
Here is an example. Fee Wah obviously speaks Chinese. Copy a quotation from one of the Classics, and get him to give you the English. Then take the quotation to a scholar; if the two translations correspond, it is evidence that 'Fee Wah' is at least a Chinese scholar. Then, how do you know whether he is an adept or no? Ability to say nice things about 'will' and 'surrender' is not proof. Can he give you the formulae of Mercury, for instance? Take this sentence: "Love is the law, love under will". Anybody could have said that. But then "Will" in Greek (Word given in Greek in another passage) adds to 93; and 'Love' in Greek adds to 93; and the name of the communicating intelligence adds up to 93. None of this I knew at the time of getting the message; but I did find later two most important Words of Mystery, and they too added to 93 each. Each of these things is arrived at in an entirely separate way; so the proof is cumulative. Interwoven with many other proofs of the same type, there is no more room for doubt. And you should go on until that happens. Till it does, you will be very foolish to believe anything you may hear. This is why I do not say at present what, if anything, I would like of you, except to see you. There is a good deal of indication that there is something important in the wind. But—the wind bloweth where it listeth. I would not advise you in the slightest matter unless I felt about it as I should before I voted 'guilty' on a jury in a murder case. I think your Way just as vital to Existence as a man's life. You can do worse things to people than cut their throats. In point of fact, if I had to choose, I would gladly cut your throat; that could hardly do any serious harm.
I seem to be in a scolding mood; nay, 'tis no seeming; I feel rotten. I am having to wait for various things to happen, and it is too easy to disturb me for me to settle down into trances. However, it gives me the greatest pleasure to be tapping this stuff off, and I hope it will not make you too cross.
I must say that I wish I could drop in at Los Angeles; this town is bad for work of all kinds; and I don't feel like working anyhow, and this town is dreadfully dull when one isn't working, and I don't want to be amused. Now you have my psychology; so fare thee well. Anon.
Love is the law, love under will.
Ever fraternally,
666.
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