Correspondence from Charles Stansfeld Jones to Gerald Yorke

17 March 1948

Care Frater V∴I∴,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law!

The Vernal Equinox draws near. Greetings!

When writing to you on the 15th in response to your letters of the 9th [letter 1 & letter 2], I overlooked the reference to your neophyte's motto and thus did not address you as fraternally as perhaps I should. Also there was one point of your letter I failed to answer.

You referred to XI° O.T.O.: was this ever committed to writing? No, I feel very certain that it never was in any official manner. I think it was only mentioned at all with a view to indicating that A.C. still had "something" which even the X° Brethren knew nothing of, and which could never be discussed. That there is such a secret, beyond anything indicated in the IX°, one may well believe—or even know. But one cannot know, for sure, just what that meant to A.C.—or may mean to anyone else. Therefore I cannot be sure of anything in regard to the matter, so far as A.C. was concerned. It could be that some slight hint or trace of what he meant was intended to be conveyed to me in certain slight passages of Liber Aleph—which, as you know, was written expressly for me as his Magical Son. I certainly did not fully comprehend his meaning at the time, and now, in the light of many further years of Initiation, I still cannot be sure that he fully understood such a formula. Silence, the (the 4th Power of the Sphinx), seems still to be the true guardian of any such further mystery.

I understand, on carefully re-reading your letter, that A.C. himself, at some time, gave you the documents of the degrees of O.T.O. you mention. That is to say, you did not merely come across them among the papers which came into your hands after his death. Please tell me specifically how "C" [Liber Agape Azoth sal Philosophorum] came into your hands. Do you propose to give "C" to the British Museum?—and notebooks more or less clearly indicating the secret of the Sanctuary of the Gnosis? This, I think, is a point of some importance and a great responsibility which seems to rest on your shoulders.

Your having written as you did has caused me to turn my full attention to the many problems involved in the opening up of any such matters as have since been raised for discussion. I had no intention of reviewing A∴A∴ affairs just now, but you have, so to speak, set the ball rolling, and I realize that now is perhaps the true time if possible to get certain things straightened out.

I am inclined to accept you as a sort of providential agent who may be taken as more or less unbiased and working as I am, in the interests of truth and justice. And the fact that you are a Neophyte of A∴A∴ enables me to deal with you as within the Order and not a mere outsider. Your task in sorting A.C.'s papers has also given you a very special position, and much is now fresh in your mind which others do not yet know or perhaps long forgotten. Also you still have the papers before you, so I can deal with you much better than I could with Saturnus [Karl Germer], even were I in direct touch with him. Therefore, for all out sakes, while things have been refreshed in my own memory and I am in the mood to refer to correspondence, etc. here, it would seem fitting that I add to your task by dealing with any important points which occur to me as they arise. I am putting aside, then, my own work to some extent towards that end.

You know I sent A.C. a lot of stuff in 1932—which he very briefly acknowledged, and did not attempt to deal with very seriously. That's O.K.—the puzzles need no sorting just now.

The in 1936 he opened up correspondence. This you have (for the most part) before you. You know that I retired again into the silence. I don't know whether you had any copy of the note from him wherein I discovered that he was holding something against me in his imagination, utterly incorrectly and unjustly, which error in his mind I then told him was the probable cause of his whole work going astray—as he found it was.

Anyway, I remained silent until the Autumnal Equinox of 1943 when some most extraordinary and unexpected developments arose in connection with affairs, which caused me to write up another long section of magical record. This seemed so important that I wrote A.C. a brief note on September 27, 1943 and sent it care of his solicitors. He never acknowledged it—so I never sent his for discussion details of the events which occurred. These closely affected Liber Legis and the matter of the "Key to it all". Did you come across that unanswered note?

The silence was next broken (on my side) on May 15, 1946: not so much by my will as in order that another might fulfil his. A friend named Handel [Albert H. Handel] of New Jersey suddenly got the idea that it was his duty to try to reconcile A.C. and myself. I was not aware that this was necessary, but, afterwards, I wrote a letter to A.C. through him incorporating it into a letter to him (Handel) dated May 15, 1946. This on the understanding that he send the whole letter on to A.C. I then discovered that Handel was not in direct touch with A.C. (as I had been given to understand) but only through Germer [Karl Germer]—to whom he handed my private letter. This resulted in certain correspondence between A.C. and Germer and Handel and myself which showed that a complete muddle and further misunderstanding had resulted. (Germer seemed to me to be possibly to blame, although Handel should never have given me the impression that he could deliver a private message to A.C. if he was really only able to do so through another.) Now have you the Germer correspondence before you in regard to that aspect, and did A.C. get my message in its original form inserted in letter to Handel? Have tried to hold an open mind on this 'muddle'. Obviously I should never have written at that time to A.C. at all had it not been to let my friend Handel have his "true will"; and I should never have thought of doing so through Germer—it was a little private note that only A.C. (if still clear-headed) could understand. Anyway, things happened as they did. But, you will see, I can never have any very satisfactory dealings with Germer in the future unless the facts of just what did occur in that connection are before me. A.C.'s reaction to my gesture was such (from scraps of Germer correspondence which came to me through Handel) that he either completely misunderstood or was in some way badly misinformed. Can you help clear this matter up? It also affects the interpretation of Thelema and world-events.

Further I should be grateful if you will either quote me just what A.C. said in his Will in regard to Germer and the succession, or, better still, get me a copy of the Will from Somerset House. I must have A.C.'s own words in order to try and interpret his mind, will and wishes. My desire (or rather will) is not to try to interfere with A.C.'s Will (in the legal sense) or Will in the Magical sense, in any way; nor to interfere with the Will of Saturnus—or any other—so far as I am able to know what they are or were. So far as Saturnus is concerned he is a complete stranger to me (other than through the indirect mix-up through Handel above referred to and the little you have told me of him). I don't even know what his normal Grade in the A∴A∴ is, or was before A.C.'s cloak descended upon him. (A.C. could not just have made him a Magus out of nothing, so to speak, that is certain.) (106 may represent both "Ashes" and "Attainment", but the ashes without the attainment don't amount to much more than a museum piece.)

Although Liber 31 does not so much show it, when you read my magical diary for 1916 on M.T. [Magister Templi] Grade and what followed—which is included in the typescript which A.C. intended to publish in The Equinox, but now apparently lost or destroyed—you will see that I gave up all thought of A.C.'s cloak—and books and robes and jewels—coming to me, and completely rejected the idea as "glamour". So the fact that they have not actually done so clearly shows how this part of the diary has now worked out so far as I am concerned. For that reason there can be no reaction on my part against another having had them by A.C.'s own Will. On the other hand, there is the fact that I still am just as much A.C.'s magical child, in fulfilment in a very real sense of Liber Legis, as ever I was. I can't get away from that, any more than he could, whether either of us liked it or not. The proofs are overwhelming. Also my magical Initiation has been carrying on all these years—and so continues. That, too, is a fact which no other can "confer" by Will or otherwise.

Then there is another interesting point, the significance of which may further appear if ever the whole question of Liber Legis is rightly evaluated, and the 1943 aspect (of which A.C. knew nothing) be considered. Did A.C. (as a Magus) ever pronounce a Word of his own—in the vibratory sense—as a Magus? Have you ever heard of one? Thelema is the Word of the Law. Abrahadabra is the Word supposedly given him by Aiwas, and transmitted, and to which Parzival was magically linked. But, other than that, as a Logos, what is A.C.'s Word? If none existed, then that of 1926 is the only one reverberating—wherever it came from. And A.C. knew it not (and only as NOT) and neither does his legal successor. Nor does the ring of Ankh-af-na-khonsu—the self-slain prophet—represent it. Nor the Urn of Ashes. It is a living and universal Word—which will never bring harm to anyone. It is so sweet as to tune up the whole being in love and harmony. And it is truly the Key of All—which itself proves.

Now to come to another aspect. I want to be able to discuss with you, as time permits and the spirit moves, whatever is necessary to as clear an understanding as possible to the historical facts of the A∴A∴ It has a history, and that history does include a good deal of stuff which is on record here and quite clear in my mind—and from that angle in no other. Most of it is of actual record in writing—it is the fitting of it together which requires care and inner knowledge.

I am in a somewhat difficult position. My magical life went along in A∴A∴ (and O.T.O.) for a number of years, but my A∴A∴ Motto was all-inclusive. Therefore, in order to fulfil it to the best of my ability, I simply had to take into consideration other Systems—including some knowledge of the Catholic Church from the inside. (one can never form a just estimate from outside reports of enemies of any order or institution.) This course, then, was my true Will. The fact that it did not conform to what A.C. tried to Will for me (while at the same time proclaiming Thelema) is beside the point. My course still continues—largely in Silence; because that represents, in one respect, my special Office in A∴A∴ itself. But I can freely discuss what concerns the A∴A∴ in regard to the historical past. The difficulty is that part of my own magical life deals with matters on which I am supposed to be silent, for other reasons, so that it is hard to write a complete record taking in all angles—other than A∴A∴ Yet I strive ever towards the Integral. And not for myself but for the race. I do not agree with being ANTI-this, or ANTI-that—but wish to AFFIRM the BEST values for myself and all. This sort of affirmation can be briefly formulated (a bit more extensively than in a single Word)—and has been so formulated. The question is rather of Power and Transmission to flood the whole Aether and the sub-conscious minds of the whole race. Preaching has not worked—even radio could not get control of all networks—cannot reach all the human race. And then only by the spoken word (conveying ideas or suggestions). But the Magus speaks Truth and only succeeds in enslaving the souls of those who misunderstand. For truth is also dependant upon the receiver not alone the giver—such as a Magus. Where then can we find some yet higher magic of transmission? Since even Magical Words seem to have failed? What will Saturnus do about it? Just publish Aleph [Liber Aleph]—which is all about A.C.'s magical child, not his legal heir. Meanwhile, look what is happening to the human race! Yet something must be done. Single-handed, if necessary. And probably in Silence. Would that XI° have helped? Who knows?

Yours very fraternally,

Achad.

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