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Correspondence from Karl Germer to Jane Wolfe
K.J. GERMER 1007 Lexington Ave New York, N. Y.
September 15, 1942
Dear Jane,
Yours of Sept. 9 The certificate looks bad. I'm glad I have it with A.C.'s letter to Max [Max Schneider]. A.C. likes to keep things like that away from me, possibly not to let me worry too much.
As to your questions re A∴A∴. I really don't know how to answer adequately. A.C., I think, stated out with drawing it up with outer degrees similar to other outer Orders, He possibly found out that it just didn't work. How are you going about if you want to assign degrees to people like Lincoln, Beethoven, Shakespeare and all such Masters who all are in the A∴A∴? A.C., if you read his Comment to The Voice of the Silence, gave Blavatsky the 8º=3o. Don't for a moment think that Blavatsky herself thought along such terms. Growth in the A∴A∴, well, it's just growth. Of course, you can take a tree, say an oak, and tell him, you are now in the 7º=4o and all such things. He will, if he is wise, probably nod and say, well, it's O.K. with me, as long as you say so. But it really doesn't make any difference either to him or to anybody else, as long as he keeps growing.
So with us. I have never, in an outer formality, been initiated either into the A∴A∴, nor the O.T.O. for that matter. It seemed to make a difference to me years ago; but no longer. You really initiate yourself as you grow, if you do grow; most people become stagnant and accept the rewards (read "The Wake World"). You can trace your growth yourself by listening with your inmost ears to the subtle signs that will be given to you. He who knows the Tree of Life and its attributions, will find indications strewn across his path which will correspond to paths and Sephiroth; or to descriptions in the Wake World or other books. It's like following progress on a map, you know where you are, but that's really all. There is no reception committee in any outer sense, no diplomas and similar stuff. A.C. has never told me where I am in the A∴A∴ Yet I believe I know. The messages you get are in my case sometimes quite striking. It may be a change of occupation or activity or job; or change of surrounding; it may be the colour of a dress or hat or car you buy; the messages may be visible in millions of ways. The Voice of the Silence is speaking and trying to tell you all the time. It's you who has got to learn to hear or listen to it, and understand its language.
My path is different from most others, therefore I cannot very well teach in the academic sense. I possibly need personal contact to inflame, inspire and encourage. I dislike words and conceptions like chela and the relation it alludes to. You yourself are advanced enough to help people along. You have lived with A.C., you know the substance of what it is all about. Have confidence in your own self and nature; speak YOURSELF, I mean EXPRESS yourself. Every Star is independent and has his own language; so find your own and work accordingly. If A.C. is a Sunflower, and you are a Rose, learn to smell, grow and blossom like one and forget to stare at the other, whose life, nature and self-expression, whose laws are different from your own? Don't be afraid to make mistakes. What does it matter? Only don't try to make another Rose out of a Star-soul that may represent a thistle.
I really don't know what else to say or suggest. A.C.'s writings are fairly universal in scope (there are a few things for which I have an adequate sense, one is music) and he gives instructions in his books where a great variety of people can find their suitable method. There are some essentials which everybody has got to master: learn control (Yoga and all the rest); learn the magical language (by becoming familiar with general literature as outlined in the various reading courses; strengthen the Will; keep a diary. Etc. etc. etc. Which are just means to understand the magical language and to carry out your T.W. [True Will].
You may remember A.C. from years way back. Don't imagine that he has stood still in that time. Cefalu for instance was an experience, necessary, perhaps, but one on which he looks back as an attempt carried out in a childish way. At that time he probably still thought along literal lines in carrying out AL and some of the instructions. Since then he has learned to understand AL in a deeper way; and so with many other things.
Many people who lived through those former years with him have got their outlook spoiled. There is no better advice but to be yourself, use your own common sense, be simple and natural, and—if you've got to have a chela—learn patience.
Good luck to you.
Fraternally,
Karl
Write any time you've got a problem. It gives me pleasure to answer.
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