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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Louis Umfreville Wilkinson
Dec 30 1944
Dear Louis
Do What Thou Wilt is the Whole of the Law.
Very many thanks for yours of Dec 22nd. I delayed answering it till Miss [Janet] Taylor[1] could come here and help me out. But I have had a bad fit of laziness.
The Oxford day was a stunning success as far as Oxford was concerned, but I have a strong suspicion that things went wrong here in my absence, for a rather important parcel [containing heroin] which I expected from Heppels has got lost or stolen. I think it must have arrived on that day. It is making my situation between now and Monday very precarious unless I can persuade people to act and act quickly.
The continuing fog—God’s still funny with the Germans—prevented McMurtry [Grady McMurtry] from getting across to push them back, so he turned up here again on Christmas day and we had a great and glorious time. Dinner was a wow. Harris [Frieda Harris] put up that stuffed andouille Shinwell to say Grace which nearly caused an international clash as he was passing over the two fully fledged American clergymen. So no sooner had he sat down than McMurtry and I got up and said [Do What Thou] Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law] in a very loud and determined manner. I am proud of the boy for standing up to it like that.
Your Alice in Wonderland journey does seem to have been a case of “all things work together for good”. Anyhow you got there. By the way, I forgot to mention that McMurtry’s remarks about playing Fore and Aft with his brother officers gave me an idea for a P.S. to Education, and I got him to make a list of words familiar to him which they did not know. Some of the things he said were quite remarkable—for instance, though they all knew the word ‘synthetic’, the word ‘synthesis’ means nothing to them. They have no idea that it is the corresponding noun. Again, though they all talk glibly about foreign policy they none of them have the slightest idea of its connotation, or its principles. All this has given me occasion for a P.S. of several pages.
I heard from the budding scion of your honourable house. He gave me three addresses, but I am not very happy about any of them. I don’t really expect to find anything to suit much under a fiver. I will write to him and thank him and explain.
Love Is the Law Love Under Will.
[Secretary’s signature. p.p. Aleister Crowley]
1- Crowley's secretary at the time.
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