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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to John Symonds
The Ridge. Hastings.
25 June 46
Dear John Symonds.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I think this would be a good opportunity to make quite clear in black and white, first of all my relations with my own work, and secondly my relations with you in connection with it.
The mainspring of my life is my Oath in the Order of A∴A∴ to devote myself wholly to the uplifting of the human race. It is fair to say that any other motive which might influence my actions is no more than subsidiary to that great affirmation.
With regard to yourself, I have been assuming hitherto that your most welcome enthusiasm for my work has been actuated by your sense of abstract justice, or even more by your feeling that my work will ultimately take a definite place in English literature; that I have been throughout carrying on the great tradition of Poetry.
It is important to confirm this view, because we are so unfortunate as to live in a world where all sorts of material considerations constantly impinge on the purity of one's actions.
Having put the above 2 and 2 together and made 93 of them, the question which arises first of all is that of ways and means. It seems to me that the first objective is the establishment of a headquarters to be run preferably on the lines of the Abbey of Thelema as carried out with great success in Sicily.
In England the problem is much more difficulty, firstly because of the climate, and secondly because of the complicated spider's web of civilisation in which we are entangled.
I think, however, that this first essential problem may be shelved without so much difficulty as would appear at a first glance.
In conversations with very varies types of people in the last few months I have found that almost without any exception they are agreed on the ideal way of life in relation to present conditions, and that this ideal coincides with remarkable exactitude with the Thelemic idea.
I am not sure whether I have explained to you in any detail what this idea is. It might be described as aristocratic communism, if one were bent on coining epigrams. The plan is to get a number of people together bound by sympathy in relation to the general outlook on life, and for each one to contribute to the community such qualities and abilities (and to a certain extent, resources) as he may possess, and in return receive from that community such things as he actually needs for the purposes of carrying out his True Will.
The sort of place which I am imagining in my present very optimistic frame of mind is a country-house with a farm attached within say 40 miles of London. The first problem which arises with regard to carrying it on, once one had acquired it, is labour trouble. I should like to give you an illustration of how this system may be expected to overcome that difficulty.
One of the members of one of my two organisations has a secretary, who, before he engaged her, was really very near starvation: sitting in a room without a fire, and eating the minimum of food necessary to support her, which was much less than anything like a decent ration. She actually copies out, with pen and ink, not only the whole of The Book of Thoth, but also the Book of Wisdom or Folly, (which by the way I hope a copy has been sent to you by Mr. David Curwen whose name I mentioned to you when you were here).
Now I am of the opinion that the Society which we are proposing to form (did I suggest the Green Lion as a title? I thought it suitable because in alchemy the stage succeeding that of the Black Crow's Skull is so called) would enable us to gather together a sufficient number of people of sufficient enthusiasm to help in the maintenance of the Abbey. There must always be a certain amount of donkey work to be done; but this work would be done by a person whose heart is in it and so would be done in 20% of the time taken by one who is dawdling and disliking the job.
In Sicily, for instance, we had one woman [Ninette Shumway] who was by nature devoted to the care and upbringing of children; another who had been an elementary school-mistress [Leah Hirsig]; another who was an admirable cook of the French school, and so on for every necessary work.
These people were all bound together by a devotion to my work, and therefore considered it a privilege to maintain Headquarters.
(By the way, the only reason it broke up was when Mussolini was planning the murder of Mateotti he expelled from Italy any English or Americans who were in any way connected with literature or journalism).
Until you have tried it you have no idea what a difference it makes in the psychology of people when there is a question of money passing between them to the advantage of one or the other, and when each one is considered as, of natural right, royal. The two sores which gall people most now-a-days is the feeling of inferiority either on one side or the other; and the elimination of the profit motive is, as many people have pointed out, an essential to harmony in any Society.
Another point is that this recognition that every other person in the community is royal tends to raise in a measure almost beyond belief the standard of good manners.
There was another condition of life in the Abbey which I considered essential, and that was complete frankness. There was a short ceremony in the morning and another in the evening,—a kind of matins and compline,—and at such gatherings of the entire community there was an opportunity for each one to bring up in public any cause of friction that might have occurred during the past few hours. In this way we eliminated all possibility of people retiring into their shell and brooding over their grievances. Also, when it came to their turn to speak, they saw how small their grievance was, and were shamed to utter it.
I think that the above short synopsis should give you an adequate idea of what I hope will mature into a definite plan.
Now with regard to 'Olla'—Thank you very much for what you have done, and I shall hope to hear more in due course both from you and Mr Minshall.
As I think I told you, my main object in this renewed burst of activity is to get my principal works published somehow—anyhow, so as to have them in a definite form while I still encumber this planet. If I were to be asked downright "what do you want out of this book?" I should answer that I should like to sell it outright (i.e. the edition) reserving 50 copies for my friends, and also the right to issue a small edition of perhaps 10, but in any case not more than 25 copies printed on some sort of good paper that remains over from The Book of Thoth. In addition to that, if they thought they would like to give me a little cash in case any of the friends aforesaid wanted a drink, I should be glad to have it. But I don't want to bargain and I don't want to have any more concern with the book once I have passed the proofs for press, which I hope to be able to do within a month from now. I want to concentrate next on The Book of Wisdom or Folly.
This is a perfectly straightforward piece of work, requires no editing alteration of any kind, but will need very careful proof reading, because I have adopted, out of innate perversity no doubt, the system of dignifying every noun with a capital letter. Each chapter of the book, with 2 or 3 exceptions, is approximately of equal length. I am having it printed in quarto—roughly speaking 10 x 8. The type is what used to be called "English:" I suppose that corresponds to 14 point, but it may be 12.
Now, with regard to "Magick Without Tears". I hope you explained to your friend that you only had a random selection. I do not know exactly, because in the hurry of your departure I just picked up a package and threw it at you. But my impression is that you could not have had more than 2 0r 30 letters at the outside, whereas there are approximately 75. This volume needs a great deal of editing by some really skilled person like yourself. The book was not written as a consecutive performance—as a subject came up, whether springing fully armed from the brain of this Jupiter or suggested by an actual question from one of my correspondents.
The result was a complete muddle when I came to have about 60 letters under my hand; and I thought it best to try and put them into some sort of logical order. Therefore I shifted them from one place in the book to another,—the result is that you will find a letter which begins "As I told you in my last . . ." when nothing of the sort is the case. That means a good deal of careful reading of each letter, once you have got the general sequence firmly established.
This sort of work is completely beyond my ability; I cannot even contemplate it without at least at least 6 or 7 shudders.
There is also the question of two gaps which must be filled. One on the question of acquiring the knack of performing a Magical Operation; the other on the difference between power and authority, between a formidable sounding title and the actual attainment which it purports to certify.
I have started writing these Letters several times, but I have moods and I now feel I shall never be able to complete those Letters I feel that the devil is at my heels. That is, if I persuaded you to undertake the editing of the work, in which case I should be immediately bound in honour to finish it without delay.
I am coming up to London on Thursday to lunch with Mr Laurence Felkin, and am meeting him at 12.30 in the upstairs bar of Verreys. If you would like to join us there for a drink it would be delightful.
Love is the law, love under will.
With kind regards to yourself and Mrs Symonds.
Yours sincerely.
Aleister Crowley.
(Gawd! what a gush!)
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