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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Karl Germer
[EXTRACT]
[31 May 1943]
I was very much impressed with Frederic Mellinger's report [24 April 1943]. If it is really true that he becomes inspired when he fulfils the role of priest in the Mass [Gnostic Mass], he ought to be encouraged to continue. To make a good officer, even in a minor capacity, requires very rare qualities. I think that where Smith [Wilfred Talbot Smith] has gone wrong is in allowing himself to be distracted from his True Will by paying attention to a whole lot of things which he should never have been allowed to touch. He is evidently quite incompetent in business, and he has this dreadful faculty of getting himself into sexual messes all the time. I am reminded of Louis Bromfield's book "The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg." If you have not read this book, you ought to do so at once. I think you will see the analogy between the prophet and Wilfred. This should give you valuable hints as how to deal with him, but this prophet lived in a time in the history of the United States when things were very different. In those days there were plenty of great, open spaces; people could take the bit in their teeth and dash off in any desired direction without constantly knocking up against anybody else. You will see from this that my view of Wilfred is that he has not been putting himself too high, but too low. All reports seem to agree that he is absolutely saturated in the Book of the Law and the holy books generally. That example is inspiring, but it is limited to that part of his life which deals wholly with the higher planes. Whenever he is faced with practical problems and has to come down to domestic affairs and business arrangements, he is simply nowhere at all.
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