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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Wilfred Talbot Smith
8 June 42
Dear Smith
That appointment of you [1 January 1932] was an emergency measure in case Jones [Charles Stansfeld Jones] tried to usurp my authority and I wasn't alive to squash him. You can't be X° in any English-speaking country during my lifetime, because the original appointment is ad vitam. See Liber LII par 6 Eq[uino]x III, 1 p 201 [The Equinox of the Gods]. Your position in California is Acting Deputy Grand Master. You claim also the IX°; but as you haven't got the documents, what sense is there in that.
You must face realities: I don't see how you could ever be O.H.O. [Outer Head of the Order] in actual fact, because you wouldn't know how to deal with other Grand Masters. You don't seem to have the knowledge, or the tact, or the 'presence' necessary. Nor have you any original work to your credit.
Do be sensible about this: we want Aldous Huxley; can you go and see him, and show him where his theories fail him, and how AL can solve all his problems? He wouldn't treat you as an equal at all: one sharp snub, and Good-bye Smith! No? All right, Have a shot!
Baphomet O.H.O.
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