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Correspondence from David Curwen to Aleister Crowley
Sep. 1st 1944
136 Marylebone Road London NW1
Aleister Crowley Esq., Aston, Clinton, Bucks.
Dear Sir:
Allow me to introduce myself. For years I have tried to understand your books, and I flatter myself I have made sense of most of what you have published. I am aged over fifty years and for thirty of them I have studied occultism. Being able to read Hebrew, can follow you Quabbalistic theories fairly well. I once has as a teacher for six years, a Hindu who claimed to be a friend of your teacher at Madura, India. He taught me the elements of the Bhairavi Diksha. You see I am not quite a beginner. You are thinking; what has all this to do with you?
Well, I have often thought I would like to meet you, just for a chat. I have read so much of your stuff, that sometimes, I feel I know you intimately enough without meeting you. Do you run any kind of school at present? Much of what you have written seems to need a clue at times to make sense. However, at present this letter is not entirely aimless.
I have your Book of Thoth. I am number 56 of the 200. (I have always read numbers singly, money power 5 and 6 is pleasure, your book brings me pleasure or happiness for my money.) I hope this interpretation will bring you pleasure, or at least a smile.
Having your Tarot, may I now have the pack of cards that will be necessary to go with it? If you cannot help me, will you kindly get the card pictures printed on cards by the Chiswick Press Ltd., and tell me what they will cost? Without them, your Book of Thoth is of very little use. It is a great pity, you did not see fit to have the Taro packs to go with the books.
Finally, will you be so kind as to make clear the following on page 251 of your Book of Thoth:
"Count the cards from him in the direction in which he faces" (this of course is quite clear and simple). Now what do you mean by the following: "For knights, Queens and Princes, count 4," "For Princesses, count 7,"
Does this mean, count off 4 cards thus: SITTER 4 7 11 and so on
And what is the meaning of "For small cards, count according to number"?
What number do you mean? I am all in a fog about it. Will you do me a kindness and explain this clearly, by diagram as above if necessary?
I await with eagerness your reply, now that I have at last decided to write you. With thanks and best wishes.
Yours Sincerely,
David Curwen
When you have explained this, other things may become clear; for instance you cannot pair cards unless the significator comes into the middle of a line and what about other times? Page 7 of your book, "The Order of Hidden Masters" is very much alive and has not disappeared at all.
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