|
Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Arnold Krumm-Heller
[EXTRACT]
[22 June 1930]
Thrice Illuminated, Thrice Holy, and Thrice Illustrious Brother.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In sending you the first four rituals of the O.T.O., I feel that I must explain to you the circumstances in which they came into being. Reuss [Theodor Reuss] was in the habit of initiating people with the merest skeleton rituals boiled down from those of Continental Masonry. There was, to put it mildly, no order or decency in the proceeding. He realized that perfectly well, and it was one of the reasons for asking me to reconstruct the whole system of initiation.
I made a comparative study of numerous rituals to which I had access, and produced a series which were perfected up to and including the 6th degree (equivalent to the Kadosh) and these were worked in London with the greatest success.
I must here pause to point out that the fundamental and essential change which is necessary in any ritual with which I have anything to do is the complete renunciation of the cult of the slave-gods. It is impossible for free men to acknowledge any system which is bound up with the fetishes of savages whose only motive for action is the fear born of their ignorance.
The accounts of the new rite made a great impression; and in particular, attracted the attention of the Supreme Grand Council, Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the 33d and Last Degree of the Scottish Rite in the Valley of Detroit, Michigan. This Council deputed two Princes of the Royal Secret from the Consistory dependent from their jurisdiction to interview me in New York. It was of course impossible for me to deal with subordinates, and I refused to discuss the matter except with Sovereign Grand Inspectors General. I was thereupon invited to Detroit, and a series of conferences was held [1918-19]. A Supreme Grand Council of the 7th Degree of the O.T.O. was formally instituted. However, when it came to the considerations of the practical rituals to be worked, the General Council of the Scottish Rite could not see its way to tolerate them, on the ground that the symbolism in some places touched too nearly that of the orthodox Masonry of the Lodges.
While we are of course in no sense subordinate to the vulgar convivial Masonry of the Craft Lodges of England and North America, or to the political Masonry of Europe, we recognize in them what is of influence for good, especially as they have a tendency to militate against the foul sorcery of all Christian Rites. We are therefore anxious to avoid in any way appearing to infringe on what they consider their peculiar privileges. In order to meet these views, it was suggested that I should re-write the rituals in an entirely new symbolism which would on no way be considered as in competition with the accepted ritual of the Craft. I accomplished this task and produced the rituals which I now send you. But they were never put into operation because just at this moment the Supreme Council of Detroit was, from our point of view, eliminated from usefulness by a dissension which sprang up in itself on personal grounds, into which I need not enter. I am personally of the opinion, that it would be best to use these rituals despite the technical difficulty involved in training suitable people to operate them, and the constituting of a new superior organization, but think that the best policy is to act in such a way that we shall not be faced later on with unexpected opposition from quarters which should theoretically be friendly to us.
I shall be pleased to have your views on this matter at your earliest convenience, and subscribe myself, Thrice Illuminated . . . etc.
|