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Correspondence from to Gerald Yorke to Charles Stansfeld Jones
22 March 1948
Dear Mr. Jones,
Your 17/3/48. Personally, I do not like all this Care Frater and Motto business in correspondence. I have a horror of small exclusive societies and the pride which membership engenders: on the other hand perhaps it would be better for me if I affirmed my motto more often.
What you say of XI° is what I expected. Do you remember little Belgacem? In the diaries an operation with him is always called XI°, with Alostrael [Leah Hirsig] IX°.
On my showing in 1928 or so that I knew IX° in theory, A.C. told me that I was correct and gave me a copy of Liber C, also De Nuptiis Secretis, and De Natura Deorum. Some two or three years ago he gave me Minerval and I° to III°. On his death I made up, from duplicate copies in his papers, IV° and Rose-Croix and (the important) De Arte Magica. I told him from the start that I would never join a lodge of O.T.O., as I did not like group working in these matters.
I propose to leave these documents and copies of the magical diaries, which reveal his experimental work on IX° and Amrita, to the British Museum on my death. I have taken no oaths of secrecy in the matter, and the responsibility is mine.
I am not certain whether your brief note of 27/9/43 has survived; I think not, but may have overlooked it. Handel [Albert H. Handel] wrote to Germer [Karl Germer], who though he did not like acting as a link between you and A.C., sent your letter to Handel, and to A.C. the originals of Handel's letters to him. Germer is a man of integrity whatever his faults. He is entirely devoted to A.C. in spite of having had similar private experiences in his dealings with A.C. as you and I have had. He does however incline to accept without reservation A.C.'s accounts of his disagreements with others. Hence his distrust of you.
I have not a copy of A.C.'s Will and am going to the country this evening for a month during my children's holidays. A.C. had, I am afraid, written you off for good, though not until after your discovery of Liber 31. Germer like you did not want the succession. He is not a Qabalist, has never himself done any magical ceremonies, never having even consecrated his weapons, he has done no yoga exercises; he is however a man of considerable spiritual attainment. He knows and works IX°. He will not and would not want to proclaim a word of his own. I do not know what his degree is in A∴A∴ He will do his best to carry on. For heaven's sake do not hinder him by disputing his succession. Carry on your own word independently. History and the "Secret Chiefs" of the Order will look after the matter. If Germer and his following do not forge their own links, they will fade away.
A.C. produced before he had attained the grade of Magister Templi. On attaining that of Magus in America, he regarded Liber Legis as his word, and the attainment of the grade an identification of himself with Liber Legis. He acknowledged that his job changed with this attainment to one of preaching. His referred to his word as THELEMA. He did NOT pronounce one in a vibratory sense as a Magus.
I understand your attitude of wanting to obtain knowledge of the Catholic Church from the inside, and your wish to produce a new word, which would be a result of the union on the positive side of Liber Legis and on the negative side of the Catholic Church. I doubt my competence to judge your result. All attempts to put a new word over quickly are in my opinion illusory. If the word is true it must be misunderstood by all but a few. The very word itself is an illusion. A.C. tackled it in Liber Legis and his three manifestos, etc, etc. It got him nowhere. Germer will devote himself to publishing new, and republishing old works of A.C. in the hopes of putting Liber Legis over. All we can do individually is to carry on with our own true will without lust of result. The world is worth working for. Personally I think there are more and worse tribulations in store. But life remains worth living, so cheer up.
With regard to your "vital message", I do not quite like "and a greater Bliss as the Reward be realised in all things"; I am strong on "without lust of result". Your affirmation is a positive expression of the Mahayana Buddhist oath to redeem all creation, not man alone.
Yours,
Gerald Yorke.
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