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Correspondence from to Gerald Yorke to Charles Stansfeld Jones
9 March 1948
Dear Mr. Jones.
Your 4/3/48. I am so glad my letter found you. I would have written before only I did not have your address until I came across it when sorting A.C.'s correspondence and papers.
The last few years of A.C.'s life were pathetic, as "Nemo" in spite of "tending many flowers in his garden" never knew whether one of them had or would bloom, and so carry on the succession. Financially he was looked after by Germer [Karl Germer], and though he lived in much discomfort and some squalor, we found—much to my surprise— over £400 in his cash box when he died. I saw little of him in the last few years of his life. Only the shell remained, and he kept himself going entirely on heroin, etc. duly prescribed by doctors, when his asthma became chronic and was further complicated by a weak heart. He was injecting every few hours or so and was only a pathetic but still lovable shell of his old self. I enclose a photograph taken about six months before he died. I attended his cremation at Brighton, and Louis Wilkinson carried out his last wished by reading most effectively the Hymn to Pan, and parts of the Gnostic Mass and of Liber Legis. Nearly half those present were the Press, and of old friends only Wilkinson, Lady Harris [Frieda Harris], Bailey [James Gilbert Bayley] and myself were there.
Wilkinson, Lady Harris and Germer are the executors, and a young writer called John Symonds is literary executor. The latter is not a disciple, but is writing a Life. I am trying to keep him straight on technical and historical lines, warning him in particular that A.C.'s accounts of his quarrels with almost everyone need taking with more than a mere pinch of salt. My particular purpose is as far as possible to keep him straight when he is dealing technically with A∴A∴ and O.T.O. and Thelema, as far as I am able of course.
After he has finished the Life, the executors, in accordance with the Will, will ship all the papers and books to Germer. Germer has been left by A.C. as his representative both in O.T.O. and A∴A∴ Historically I think you are the X° as Parzival or Tantalus Leucocephalus with a charter from Peregrinus [Theodor Reuss] (with the one exception of a lodge in Denmark, which goes back to Peregrinus's day, but has none of A.C.'s rituals and bases itself on the old 1906 Constitution as published in The Oriflamme). Fra[ter] 132's [Wilfred Talbot Smith] attempt to start lodge work in your jurisdiction, but without your official approval, has I think come to an end. He was finally excommunicated himself. His position and that of his lodge was—and, if the latter survives, is—technically incorrect, but A.C. maintained that you had technically or rather automatically forfeited your position when you joined the Catholic Church and he never troubled to work out the qabalistic conundrums you set him in your later correspondence—personally I am not competent to do so. In any case I do not think you ever sent him the 'Word' you received for the 'Aeon to succeed that of R.[a] H.[oor] K.[huit]' He always admitted your Magister Templi attainment, but unless I misunderstood him he denied your Magus grade, and therefore did not think you qualified to proclaim and identify yourself with a new Word of your own. Anyway rightly or wrongly he left you out of his calculations re his succession, leaving both the O.T.O. and A∴A∴ mantles to Germer. He left me out rightly as I refused to be a starter in the race for the succession, never becoming more than a Neophyte in A∴A∴, due to my motto being Volo Intellegere, and my realising that I am not in the Magister Templi class, and not of the preacher type, while after a time I declined to have further financial or business dealings with the old sinner, and finally I decided that some of the section of Liber Legis were not my cup of tea.
Two further points before I leave the O.T.O.: I think the lodges founded by Windram [James Windram] in South Africa and Bennett [Frank Bennett] in Australia came to an end with the deaths of their respective founders. A.C. gave some sort of Charter to one man [Gerald Gardner] in England with I think only the VII°, and this latter is thinking of starting a lodge over here; he is at present in U.S.A. Lastly A.C. mislaid his only copy of his ritual or lection for VI°, and as far as I can make out neither Germer nor his circle have a copy. If you have it could you send me a copy, or your copy to copy? I can then complete my series, which lacks this one degree, and which I am leaving to the British Museum on my death. To prove that I have "Liber C or The Book of the Unveiling of the Sangraal, wherein is spoken of the Wine of the Sabbath of the Adepts", I quote the opening words of the Oratio in Principii: "MERLIN by the grace of God Triune, and by favour and appointing of the Secret Master . . .", and the closing words of the Valedictio:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. The abiding of the Holy Ghost be within you, Now and for ever more mote it be, Amen.
If you send it to me, I would like to send a copy to Germer, so that they have a complete set as well, but will not do so without your prior permission. I am not myself technically a member of the Order, so please omit passwords or technical keywords, as A.C. did in the copies of the Minerval, I, II, III, Lodge of Perfection and Council of Princes of Jerusalem, and Rose Croix degrees, which he gave me. VII, VIII and IX were not in the form of rituals. I have never seen XI, and doubt whether A.C. ever committed it to writing. Could you confirm this for me.
Now for the A∴A∴ Do you remember A.C. getting out a document called Constitution of the Order of Thelemites?—You are referred to in para. 14, which runs in the original, which Germer is getting:
In the typescript surviving amongst A.C.'s papers the names of the above two brethren and of Alostrael are scratched out, and Fra. Saturnus [Karl Germer] is written in A.C.'s handwriting in place of them. There is also a note in A.C.'s handwriting that Fra. Saturnus should replace Fra. Semper Paratus (who is dead) throughout the document.
Germer is the only one of the old boy's followers to stick to him for any length of time through all the various rows and recriminations of which you and I have personal knowledge, though over different periods. He and he alone kept the old boy in funds in the later years of his life. He has therefore succeeded to both mantles, both O.T.O. and A∴A∴, and does so unwillingly by Faute de mieux. I do not think that he is technically competent in either role, but who am I to judge, as I am not competent myself. I have therefore advised him to organize a period of silence, until the "Secret Chiefs", of whose existence I have no personal knowledge, send a "Magical child" along to pick up the threads of the Order, and do a Saint Paul act. At the moment in his own words Germer is organizing a 'kaaba' in which to receive the old boy's ashes, the Magus ring of Ankh-f-na-khonsu, which I have already sent him, the original MSS of Liber Legis, and the mass of papers, MSS and letters, which I have sorted. This will keep him busy for quite a time, as they have not much money, and they may or may not publish Liber Aleph, etc. when they get it.
Having read the recent letters of Germer and the Californian crowd, I do not think they possess anyone of the calibre required competent to instruct probationers and neophytes, let alone the higher grades, and their attempts to date to put on the Gnostic Mass and O.T.O. ceremonies have led merely to scandals, backbiting and sex intrigues—all the usual rubbish, when things are handed out to people who are not qualified to receive them. Unless the "Secret Chiefs" of the Order take a hand, I doubt their (the Californian crowd) surviving. I am therefore doing my best to form a duplicate collection of the more important rituals, magical diaries and technical typescripts which I shall leave to the British Museum on my death, together with those of A.C.'s published books, which they do not have. I am copying certain items from his papers which go to America. I have bought one small collection of MSS, sending in turn copies of the portions of technical importance to Germer, am negotiating for a block of ten magical diaries in private hands, have secured a copy of another diary dealing with the Cefalù period, and have heard today of yet another cache of diaries in private hands, which I have not yet seen.
I am not and never shall organise in connection with O.T.O. or A∴A∴ I am solely interested in seeing that the material survives, and is as far as possible collected together. If you are prepared, you can help me a lot over this. For instance, I would like from you Liber 31, the O.T.O. VI° ritual or lection, a copy of some magical working of Fra. AUD [Raoul Loveday] in Cefalù, the possession of which you mention in a letter to A.C., and if possible that portion of the typescript of A.C.'s memoirs [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley] or hagiography which deals with his receiving The Book of the Law in Cairo, and in particular the account of his walk through Burma and China. The previous portion was published in 2 volumes by the Mandrake Press, and the subsequent portion beginning "November 18 1905 was my seventh birthday in the Order. . ." survives in typescript. At one time you held about 3/4 of the original typescript, but whether you have still got it, or can find it, is another matter. If you have not time or can't spare the cash to get the above copied, could you send me the originals one by one beginning with the missing part of the memoirs, and I would then return you each original before you sent me the next one, after having had it copied. There is no reason why you should trust me with the whole lot at once.
As I think you can now see, my interest lies in the historical preservation of the material, that is to say as complete an archive as possible to go to Germer in accordance with A.C.'s Will, and myself to form as complete a collection as I can of duplicates of the important technical material, both O.T.O. and A∴A∴, which I shall leave to the British Museum on my death. I send Germer copies of anything important which I come across or acquire. Both with regard to "history", "truth" and "justice". I am also trying to help Symonds with his Life of A.C. I feel sure of your cooperation in view of your "Nemo makes black hands white" attitude in the past.
I apologise for writing at such length, but there has been so much squabbling and jealousy in connection with A.C. in the past (he being primarily responsible), that I thought I would write to you with the utmost frankness and length, and shall be miserable if the only result of my letter is to provide you with ammunition in an internal quarrel with Germer in both O.T.O. and A∴A∴ as to the correct succession.
Yours Truly,
Gerald Yorke.
The documents of which I ask copies do not appear to have survived outside your hands. I know of no present or past members of A∴A∴ in England interested in or in a position to help me in my self-appointed task of preserving technical material re A∴A∴ and O.T.O.
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