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Correspondence from Norman Mudd to Frank Bennett
COLLEGIUM AD SPIRITUM SANCTUM Cefalu, Sicily
April 26, 1923 e.v.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As a result perhaps of the personal malice of individuals, perhaps of intrigue on the part of Papist Reactionaries, perhaps of the ridiculous falsehoods put into circulation by low-class sensational papers, a summary order has been made out for the Expulsion [of] The Beast 666 from Italy where his Abbey [of Thelema] and house have been established in peace and security for more than three years. No reason is given for this action. No accusation of misconduct of any kind is made. There has been no friction with the inhabitants of Cefalu, who are affording us the moral support of their personal sympathy as well as of a formal protest to the Minister of the Interior at Rome.
It is not the least of the difficulties of the situation that we are being kept in ignorance as to how far this order of expulsion applies to us (his fellow-workers at Cefalu) or may be made to do so instantly by local departmental regulations against which there could be no useful appeal. But even on the most favourable interpretation the action creates a very desperate financial situation. Funds must be found for The Beast to travel, to transport a certain minimum of apparatus for his Work, and to procure the mere necessities of physical existence. It is critically important that his Work should proceed at this time with the least possible interruption and anxiety. In material matters, as Frater O.P.V. [Norman Mudd] has just arrived from South Africa to co-operate with him in preparing the final Comment upon The Book of the Law. In the circumstances, we feel justified in calling upon you to send us the largest sum of money that you can possibly raise in any way.
We may mention that Frater O.P.V. has given up his professional position on the staff of the Grey University College at Bloemfontein placing, incidentally at our disposal without reserve, the whole of his worldly estate and prospects. Owing however to the crises created by this entirely unexpected action of the authorities, the funds thus provided, which should and would have supported the establishment for a considerable time, are already almost exhausted; so that we may expect to find ourselves at any moment deprived not only of the help and protection of The Beast but of all material resources as well. The situation is further complicated an aggravated by the fact that the household includes three quite young children, and that Lay-Sister Ninette [Ninette Shumway] is pregnant and expecting to give birth to a child in a few weeks. The Beast himself is still far from recovered from his recent debilitating illness—asthma, malaria, and Mediterranean Fever.
Perhaps the most imperative need of all is that the Library and other essentials of the Work of the Beast should be preserved intact, in the face of threatened distraints, many of the volumes and typescripts being unique, irreplaceable, and of incalculable value for the ultimate establishment of the Law of Thelema throughout the world.
We urge you therefore to do your utmost in this extremity, and to cable us in reply at the earliest possible moment, stating to what extent we may rely on your assistance.
Love is the law, love under will.
Signatures:
Ninette F. Shumway
Alostrael. 31-666-31
Norman Mudd
Please send remittances to the Account of Edward Alexander Crowley, Banca Comerciale, Italiana, Palermo, Sicily.
Cables other than these will reach us if addressed to "Abbey, Cefalu, Sicily".
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