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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Jack Parsons
The Ridge, Hastings, England
3/7/46
Care Frater,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Your letter of the 18th ultime filled me with satisfaction which I may say was not unexpected. As soon as I was made acquainted with the facts I wired Frater Saturnus [Karl Germer] that you were evidently the victim of a confidence trick.
As you suggest, I have a great deal of experience of such matters and I know how deeply an obsession of this kind can affect conduct, and even character. It make me very happy that you should have reacted so promptly as soon as the true facts were made evident to you.
It is true that I suggested (by which I do not mean affirmed) that your conduct appeared on the information at that moment at my disposal to look like deceitfulness and dishonourable behaviour. You had promised me from the very first to write full details of this supposed illumination. You did not do so; you kept me entirely in the dark.
If you had kept your promise to me I should have been able to warn you in time to prevent you losing your money.
With regard to the other suggestion that this might go as far as dishonesty, I must insist that you had no right to dispose of the property at 1003 [1003 S. Orange Grove Avenue], the transfer of which to the Order was to be the fulfillment of your obligation to the 7th Degree of O.T.O.
It is true that I have been very lax about enforcing this, but I had at the time very special reasons for extending membership of the Sovereign Sanctuary.
Had you so transferred the property it would not have been lost.
There is however this other point—your obligation to Dr. Wilkinson [Louis Wilkinson]. You ought in any event to have put aside the money owing to him. (By the way you say in your postscript that you have enclosed a cheque for $25. for Wilkinson, but no such cheque was enclosed—perhaps you have transferred the money in some other way?).
There is an apparent mis-print in para. 9 of your page 1—when you say "untrue" you evidently mean "true" and I have taken your letter in that sense.
I like very much the way in which your letter is phrased, the short, concise paragraphs please me exceedingly. It shows that you have taken the matter to heart very seriously.
I hope that you will see Frater Saturnus when he comes down in your direction. I think there is nothing so useful in matters of this kind as a face to face explanation.
Love is the law, love under will.
Yours ever,
John W. Parsons, 1003 South Orange Grove Avenue, PASADENA, California, U.S.A.
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