Choronzon Club Circular

[C. F. Russell—13 July 1935]

     We had a personal interview, wholly in good faith, with RUDOLF HOLM, lasting about three hours, during which relations including his attitude were perfectly cordial. We raised him a degree & carefully explained several points in the previous work which he had not hitherto understood. We found him deficient in a number of things, including KRYPT^[1] & LIBER L, but knowing that we could overcome these deficiencies without any trouble, we gave him an important executive position which we had been holding open for him & entrusted to his hands several important documents, also some books free gratis. He left us apparently showing enthusiasm & obviously eager to begin the study of these documents & stated that he was ready to go ahead with the new work in the position given him.

Imagine our surprise, therefore, upon receiving a letter from him, written not more than twenty four hours later resigning from the ∴ ORDER, giving a reason beyond doubt the most childish imaginable & refusing to discuss the matter & forbidding us to attempt even to communicate with him.

We were not aware that he had already violated his OATH before coming to Chicago so that it needed but very little more pressure to cause him to repudiate that OATH entirely. So we delayed making this announcement hoping that he would return to his senses long enough to communicate with us again at least; for five minute's explanation is all that would be necessary to deal adequately with the reasons he gave for withdrawal.

We have now learned that he began immediately after leaving the interview to attack us in every way he could think of by writing back to California, a mess of twisted & inconclusive nonsense, so that we are indeed somewhat surprised that he took the trouble to find any excuse at all for withdrawing & no other conclusion is possible than that he came to us deliberately as a SPY, to learn all he could & get all he could before letting us know of his withdrawal. This reveals considerable short-sightedness on his part, for if he had not been so precipitate he could have learned a great deal more. But in view of the fact that Frater ∴ GENESTHAI [C. F. Russell], for one at least, maintains the policy of section zero of the Probationer's Commission in his contact with candidates, HOLM secured no =inkling of anything further than the new degree at the time conferred upon him.

Unfortunately for him his resignation does not release him from his OATH OF TRUTH even though his connexion with us is now severed, for according to his own expressed will we are prevented from communicating with him & no one but us can possible release anyone from the obligation we have administered. Consequently, out hands are tied & we can do nothing to save his soul from being dragged down to awful torment while he continues to shatter the pieces that are left of his WILL into more & more minute fragments. We are very much afraid, therefore, that it shall take many incarnations before he can gather again in a body even as high in the scale of evolution as a blind rat. For, sad though it seems, no confirmed Theosophist can possibly understand the true mysteries of reincarnation & that, for example, even a rate was once a human being who became a straggler!

For your information then, please note carefully, that RUDOLF FRITHJOF HOLM, formerly known as Frater ∴ OBAL, is no longer a member of the ∴ ORDER & therefore no loyal member will discuss with him in any way, shape or form anything that pertains to the ∴ ORDER of any grade or degree, with or without our knowledge, under penalty of immediate expulsion & suffering similar consequences.

I. We have recently received reports of some strange doings in LOS ANGELES.

Certain people with whom we were formerly associated in personal contact & whom we considered, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, still to be our friends, have been attacking us behind our backs while taking advantage of the results of our own work & efforts for several years, to feather their own nests. Of course they are attacking really no one but themselves since it is quite evident that without the support of the group of people who have become interested in their work due to our efforts alone they can accomplish nothing & if we expel these people then what little material gained through their treachery shall be valueless to them & obviously no one can build anything solid about a nucleus composed exclusively of traitors, curiosity-seekers & spineless incompetents. It is reported even that one of our own N[eighborhood] P[rimates], a trusted leader, is to blame for this mess, that he, or she [Mary Green], as the case may be, has turned over to these people, whom we will designate, for want of a better term, SMITH [Wilfred Talbot Smith] & CO., all G∴B∴G∴ documents possessed & that Smith & Co. has forwarded them to Europe which is presumably the Headquarters to be inspected by the head & used for what they may be worth to him, either against us or in his own system. Comment on such treachery is not needed. Certainly our faith, consistently maintained in the probity of human nature does receive from time to time some setbacks. In fact, we do know said Head personally & have indeed up until now considered that he was our friend & have taken advantage of every opportunity that presented itself to defend him against the malicious attacks of yellow journals & other enemies of his & have distributed a large number of his books to our own members, thus incidentally helping to promote his cause & further his interests, although we have always made it quite plain that his cause is not identical with our own & that we are emphatically NOT engaged in promoting any of his organisations mentioned in his books, nor indeed any other organisation than those mentioned in our own official documents. Consequently it should go without saying that we need absolutely no authorisation from him or any of his disciples to carry on our own work, although we do have, as a matter of fact, sufficient authorisation from him to carry on his own work, should we care to, which we do not! We have never been expelled from any organisation to which he belongs in any capacity, either as head, or pretended head—the latter being the more correct designation, since there is a division in the camps of both organisations of his concerning which we now speak. Neither of them was founded by him; both of them were appropriated, or stolen, as you like & in only one of them, is it at all possible to say that he is the recognized head & this is not the one concerning which we have received the mentioned report from LOS ANGELES. These are facts which you can learn for yourself, in the books written by him or which are bound to be admitted by SMITH & Co who, while they cannot possibly know all the truth about this man that we know, since they lack required INITIATION, yet they do know plenty which they will not tell you & if they do succeed in raising the cash to bring him to L A then a large number of people are bound to be disillusioned sooner or later about points which we have never considered it our business to discuss, since a man's personal character or activities really have no logical bearing upon the work he has done for the world provided the two can be kept separate, which of course shall then be no longer possible, even if we should as hitherto exert our influence in his defense, which we shall do no longer in view of the fact that his disciples are known to be attacking us. Said SMITH & CO in themselves are non-entities, have no important degree of INITIATION, & have of themselves nothing whatever to offer anyone, as evidenced by the emphasis they put on letters of authorisation from their Head, for certainly the power to INITIATE does not depend on a scrap of paper, & the possession of any Grade whatever must always be supported by more than the mere claim. Furthermore any system of INITIATION, worthy of its name must always be SECRET, & it is also a FACT that no genuine INITIATE ever stoops to use underhanded methods, nor would such ever employ spies or take advantage of any gratuitous treachery. Considering also that MR SMITH of SMITH & CO does not inhale his tobacco smoke one might suppose that he would have self-control enough to refrain from smoking cigarettes at least during what are supposed to be holy ceremonies, for effect at least, even if for no other conceivable reason!

II. The above seems about all that is necessary to say to intelligent people. There is no call to suppose that any crisis has developed & the remedy to apply to save any further unnecessary worry is for each & every loyal member of the ∴ ORDER to pay strict attention to minding his or her own business. Your business is to accomplish the GREAT WORK, that is, to unite yourself in exact consciousness with your HOLY ∴ DAIMON, through consistent application of the rules we give you. Follow out the instructions to the letter. Everything else is beside the point. Keep your OATH OF TRUTH! If you happen to meet other people calling themselves THELEMITES that does not mean that you should hasten at once to tell them everything you know before testing them to find out if they are members of the G∴B∴G∴ & of what grades & even if they were proved members you knew that even then there are rules to follow in discussion. The fact that such people may be using LIBER LEGIS or even rehearsing ceremonies similar in some respects to our own need mean nothing to you beyond that they have had access to books that contain such matters & you very well know that we have emphasised many times that nothing in any books we have recommended is to be regarded as official with us unless found in exactly the same form in our own official instructions. LIBER LEGIS itself is a book which is way beyond the comprehension of the very man who was the means of communicating it to the world, as admitted even by himself & certainly it shall continue to remain way beyond his comprehension as long as he continues to fail to comprehend the GOSPEL OF JOHN. We ourselves have photographic plates of LIBER LEGIS (some even for sale) & it contains secrets which no "Beast" can divine & "not only in the English." We have no intention of reviving any ancient Egyptian cult or religion for there is progress in the spiritual as well as in the material world & you should know that the two organisations being promoted by SMITH & CO have as their pretended head a man who does not understand even the first principles of the ancient Egyptian system of INITIATION, let alone the principles of INITIATION which must be employed with modern humanity, which is, indeed a revival of the old Egyptian civilisation. In fact the one cannot be understood without an understanding of the other. This man's work is therefore important only in an evangelistic sense, to prepare the way for the really esoteric work that must be conducted by advanced INITIATES & for that reason we have been willing to spread information concerning his work & see value in it just as we see value in the work of the ordinary Christian churches. But any genuine INITIATE well knows that the truly esoteric & spiritual Christianity is never taught in any of the ordinary Christian churches. Similarly, a publically organised church of Thelemites has its value if conducted by honest people, but need not be supposed to have any esoteric or INITIATORY value whatever! We will now leave the problem to your own judgment & further specific instructions shall be communicated to worthy N P for communication to worthy NEIGHBORS . . .

FROM THE GRAND EAST IN CHICAGO

AN I, 9 SUN IN CANCER, MOON IN SAGITARRY

CFR [C. F. Russell]/G

3 55 pm

13 July 1935 E V

1—The secret script of the Choronzon Club, wherein every character was believed to be a talisman.

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