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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Jane Wolfe
S.W.1.
May 9 [1943]
Cara Soror Estai! and dearest Jane!
93.
This, as feeling a bit ashamed of myself for the truly Cephalaedian frankness of my last letter. And I was dictating against time—which beat me, for I was unable to finish the Epistle to Helen [Helen Parsons]. So I cut short: I had meant lots of, love and praise!
What bug us biting me? You'll wonder—This, my child. Not one of you seems to grasp the Central Business Policy.
Let me explain very clearly.
My function is solely to create Wealth. This I do by (a) writing (b) publishing new stuff: and in a subsidiary way, by various means of publicity.
I select as the expediency of the moment seems to indicate: e.g. "Thumbs Up!" when war comes. My Independence Hymn to catch July 4 as it comes round; and so on.
Now there is (at present) nobody else at all who can do any of this work. Note that by "creating Wealth" I do not mean "making a bit of money"; I mean endowing the Order with a property which will constantly increase in value as time goes on. There is also the chance of making a big hit at any moment—and I could do this at once if I only had a colleague with brains, imagination, push, and the ability to organize and manage.
Now you don't help me at all, any of you. I sent specific orders about Liber OZ and that white-livered lunatic Jack Parsons funked it. He would be "quietly eliminated"—Christ! You might call his attention to the N.Y. Times (March 10 or 1, I suppose—probably reprinted in most newspapers of the less yellow type) where the "National Resources Planning Board" proposed a post-war "Mew Bill of Rights" which is simply Liber OZ translated into dull materialistic terms.
Now I do hope that you have got a clear idea of my function in helping the Order on the Economic Plane.
Well, what about the cost of this? I have neither the time nor the talents required to foot the bill. I am become an Hermit: live entirely alone, with no one to help me out, or to add to the domestic Budget. My needs are very small, but imperative, such as they are. My age and health demand certain comforts, and my functions (explained above) would become impossible if I had not got an address, and accommodation, with some sort of decency. But even so I have been fool enough to cut down on food, and worse, on the proper medical attention.
To meet the cost: I should never be allowed to waste a minute thinking about it. At present, all European branches are (naturally) out of touch, in England itself there is no one to whom I can look for contributions of any kind. For one thing, it is against my rule: also, my policy.
As to yourselves, what can I say? Smith's [Wilfred Talbot Smith] raw dishonesty, keeping me always in complete ignorance of the affairs of the Lodge, makes it impossible for me to form any judgment whatever. But it is at least obvious enough that if you can afford to live in a house like 1003 [1003 S. Orange Grove Avenue] you can send $100.00 monthly to Karl [Karl Germer] without serious privation. The stupidity of it is this: that, had you made a regular dependable monthly contribution, I should have been able, long before now, to have put things on such a basis as to make the whole plan a success, and remove the need for any such aid from the Lodges. But meaness and envy are always short-sighted. Smith himself might have been drilled and dressed and taught; he might have been a famous leader, High Priest in a Gnostic Cathedral! But [illegible] and bats are born so.
Apart from this, however, it is quite obvious that you are not running 1003 on business lines. Smith once sent me a batch of photographs of some of the inhabitants. They looked to me like hoboes! Slobbish , slattern, no trace of birth or breeding: I was aghast. How does this go with the quality of the literature? You seem to take no steps at all to attract the right kind of people—altogether, it's a mystery.
Now, dear Jane, you surely realize that I shouldn't write like this unless I had the very deepest and warmest affection for, and the most solid trust in, you.
I want this to sustain and to encourage you!
93 93/93.
Ever yours,
ΤΟ ΜΕΓΑ ΘΗΡΙΟΝ 666 and Aleister.
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