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Correspondence from Henri Birven to Martha Küntzel
16 October 1928
Dear Sister:
I will give you a few more explanations, regarding the letter which I wrote to you on the 12th of this month, prompted by the interest I take in Therion. That Tranker [Heinrich Tränker] is an antagonist of Therion today, cannot put out of the world the compromising fact that a man of his mettle was chosen to promote the Master's work in Germany. It should be the care of all to be honest about Therion's work. It should be one of the essentials that Therion does not get from the pan into the fire. My correspondent denies that the calumnies were communicated to him by Tranker, but I do believe that Tranker is the originator, notwithstanding. Do you know Meyrink's opinion of Therion, and if that opinion is based upon the information received from Tranker. Therion is right and I have said so. Tranker must no longer be mentioned (But he does it constantly). You are sensitively opposed to my statement that you can approach the work of Therion only from the side of sentiment. There is no reproach in that. Your sentiment can lead you toward the recognition of Truth much more surely than your intellect. You should be criticized if you believed earnestly that Therion should be judged only when detached from tradition and his predecessors. Whoever possess the necessary knowledge may immediately trace Therion's sources. Your question as to how many works of Therion I know, I can unhesitatingly answer—I know them all. So long as Therion uses the sources which I know. When Barth and Tranker spoke to me of Therion and Thelema I said to Barth, have you Rabelais there. Barth got it and although I had not had a Rabelais in my hand for thirty years I immediately turned to the chapter of the Abbey of Thelema and the sentence "Do what thou wilt," and you should have seen the faces of those connoisseurs of Therions. It is more than naive to believe that Therion does not lean upon his predecessors, as well as upon science. For that reason only, one who knows at least his sources thoroughly can formulate an opinion. I wish you would think this over and if you admit that there is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous—not to say anything of worse things—you will readily see that whoever takes Therion seriously will seek to evade this danger. The moment they called me a genuine Freemason without Schar [?] I became an adherent of Thelema, and when Crowley had perhaps not yet read Rabelais' works. I will admit that a man is that which he does and you seem to overlook that in modern ethics the motive is that which counts. But there is another saying "tell me with whom you associate and I shall tell you who your are." My phraseology regarding "favour" should not be taken literally, as I am not depending on anyone's favour. So long as I can assume that Therion is an earnest seeker I would remain upon the standpoint that it should be better for him and his work to vanish out of the picture rather than serve as hocus pocus to a lot of totally ignorant people, if it is, as you say, one is what one does. (Which statement is wrong of course. Man is the result of his thoughts. Nobody can know the motives in anybody else's actions. It is only in the eyes of superficial onlookers that man is what he does. I am sorry I made that mistake.) My opinion regarding you should not be founded upon Tranker's remarks but upon your own words. Above all things there was no intention to hurt your feelings. I am ready to say an earnest word to Therion when he comes here and to explain the situation to him as well find a means to disseminate his teachings in a practical way with a friendly greeting, etc.
Yours etc.
P.S. Why has Miss Hirsig [Leah Hirsig] given up Therion? Tranker told me so sometime ago, showing me some letters from her, which I did not read.
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