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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Grady McMurtry
The Ridge, HASTINGS.
25th September 1945
Dear Grady,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
You will see from this letter how important it is that you should arrange to spend some months with me, if possible. My answers to your questions will bring up new questions, and you will want the replies ek dam (as they say in some parts of India: the Americans have it as P.D.Q. only more so.)
Yours of September 12th: I am amazed at Frieda Harris making such an abominably stupid suggestion, even for her it is fantastic; and yet I should have expected it, because she wrote to me on the same subject sneeringly "I suppose that Yankee friend of yours is all right." She does not appear to have heard of the Mason Dixon Line. If you have anything in writing suggesting that I acted as she says, I should like to have it and I will teach her a lesson which she won't forget for a long time and will put us in funds to get her cards reproduced in colour.
I have always thought that there is a great deal more in this constant thieving from me than any idea of gain. I have even thought that with regard to a great number of MSS it was the Masters themselves who are at the bottom of it, for we too have a censorship. There were a great many entries in some of the diaries, for example, which would no doubt be very dangerous to print. I do not think so myself, but among us there is a strong party whose policy is silence, practically all the Asiatic Masters are on that side.
I do not know how to advise you about a Bell; my own was stolen. When you suggest the West Coast it would be more intelligent if you referred to Africa! Of course the thing for you to do is to get sufficiently in touch with the Masters for them to put these things in your way as you need them. My while life long I have found this to be the case.
Wands and Pantacles should of course be made by yourself, especially the latter. In the case of the Wand the ideal solution is to have it bestowed upon you by your own private Superior in the Order. Please do not confuse the dagger with the sword; they belong to quite different systems.
As to the Lamp, I should think London would be as good a place as any, or perhaps Paris. I had old silver, or silver-gilt lamps from churches. There is an attachment with a ring in which you put a glass which has to be filled with oil. On this floats the cork with a wick: these are quite easy to buy. You certainly should have a Yi King. You had better write to Watkin, John M. or that ilk in Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, and the Atlantis Bookshop, 49 Museum Street, W.C.1. Velum is of course the proper stuff for Talismans, but you will find this very difficult to purchase, even in small quantities. You might possibly get some from my book-binder, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, 1 Poland Street, W.1.
You cannot possibly make a Tarot Pack yourself, what we need is £1500 to have a Pack issued in colour; this would be a very good investment.
You cannot possibly begin the Abramelin operation in your present situation, even if you tried the compressed form given in the Aethyr in "The Vision and the Voice." I have not seen a copy of the original Abramelin for many years. To work out ritual on his lines would be fantastically difficult and expensive. I could tell you a method of carrying out the operation which would be more or less practicable, but I should have to see a good deal of you first. The history of my own performance of the operation would be very useful to you, and though you will find a fairly complete account in the Temple of Solomon the King, I feel that you would need to have the essential parts picked out for you; but make no mistake about it, in any case it is the most terrific job possible to imagine.
There are no genuine correspondences for Caputs and Cauds Draconis, these are merely mathematical points connected with the movement of the Moon and what is generally said about them is that Caput partakes of the nature of Sol and Jupiter, Cauda of the nature of Mars and Saturn. The difference between the ruling planet and exalted one is that the ruling planet covers the whole ground, whereas when it is exalted you get a selection of its best qualities.
About the classic languages, I think it quite sufficient if you get a thorough knowledge of Latin, a little more than a smattering of Greek, and really no Hebrew at all. All that is necessary in that language is to be able to make the computations of the Qabalah. I do not think I know a dozen Hebrew words outside the special technical terms used in the Qabalah.
To conclude, I most sincerely hope that you will concentrate in every possible way on getting a period of at least 3 months of daily intercourse with myself. Give that the first priority in your plans.
Love is the law, love under will.
Yours ever,
Aleister
Lieut. G. L. McMurtry, 1923 Ord. ORD Ammunition Co. (AVN) A.P.O. 149. U.S. Army.
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