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Correspondence from Karl Germer to Frieda Harris
K. J. GERMER 260 West 72nd Street New York 23, N.Y. Endicott 2-6799
November 26, 1948.
Dear Lady Harris,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thank you for your letter of Oct. 20th. Meanwhile at long last Mrs. MacAlpine [Patricia MacAlpine] wrote me and put me up to date on the situation concerning Aleister. As a result I have reassured her that we do assume the responsibility for A.A.'s [Aleister Ataturk] education at a proper school. I have written Louis Wilkinson [Louis Wilkinson] to pay the balance of the school bill that was due at once from the funds still there as there seemed to be some hurry. I Hope I'll be able to pay the next fee for the January term on time, though things are a little tight.
The reason is that I have bought a house definitely. It is 60 miles from New York, 90 minutes driving distance, is of solid field stone, nicely located, in 8 acres of wooded ground, nice view. It requires $3000 for modern installation of heating systems, and other conveniences, plus room for improvements and equipment. How my wife and I are going to finance this remains to be seen.
However, there is also a well built barn 200 feet away, which is ideally suited to converting into a future Kaba. But this takes more money, which I have no resolved to make.
I am enclosing the nice photo of the MacAlpine family. A pity that it does not show the mother.
Re visa: After having gone through my old Belgian papers (which came recently) I have found that it will be utterly futile for me to ever think of trying to get into Great Britain again, nor possibly the British Empire, for that matter, nor will anybody else, however highly flawed, be able to change this. I accept this, and look upon it with slightly humourous amusement at the way the British Government sticks to her hatred of Aleister Crowley and everything he stands for. They will only hurt themselves, because magically, this will lead to the ignoble downfall of the whole.—Please do not make any further attempts in this matter, except that I am curious enough to know what the terrible accusations against me have been, and still are. It began after I testified in public for A.C. in the course of that Constable lawsuit.
I have been forced to stop thinking about finishing Liber Aleph and The Golden Twigs. After they at last consented to send me incomplete galley proofs of both books, I kept corresponding with them, but none of my letters was answered, no further information given. So I have been forced to drop it, and must wait for a more favourable chance to print.—I advise you to ask them for the return of any material (designs etc.) that you have given them without fail!
I do not know how you can entertain such an idea as that "the Customs might seize any of A.C.'s material or MSS., if they were shipped here. Everything has arrived safely so far and there is only one more shipment due in Dec. or Jan. All the stuff that has arrived from London is as yet at the Customs Warehouse, and I will make arrangements to send it to the new H.Q. as soon as I will have taken possession of it. Then at last will I know what is in the cases.
It would be wonderful if you could carry out your plan of going to Hastings at Xmas and collect all original stuff that the printer still holds. This is really important; I had asked John Symonds [John Symonds] to either do this himself or ask Mr. Grant [Kenneth Grant] or someone else to do this very thing, but he did not want to. What I would like you to get from the printer are
(1) all your designs etc., of course.
(2) any electros or blocks, or whatever they call it, which they had from A.C. for the printing of Olla I'm sure, and whatever A.C. handed to them for the two new books. In fact anything they still
(3) have from A.C.
(4) All of the original Manuscripts or typescripts from which they printed the two books off.
(5) I would much like to get from them another two or three sets of galley proofs of the two books they actually set up for printing (Liber Aleph and The Golden Twigs). It is true I have one set of galley proofs for both; but it has proved of vital importance in the past that a spare set is advisable.
Please realize the situation: A.C. paid to them one hundred pounds in cash as an advance. They were supposed to complete the job in Summer 1947. They failed to do this. Immediately after A.C.'s death I wrote them (the day after I got their address from you) on January 13th that I assumed all and every responsibility to the money needed to complete the books, and asked for details. There was no reply from them. After another letter and I think Mr. Symonds' intervention they sent me a Statement, saying that the type was set up and as long as it could not be printed off it cost so much rent for type per month. I was willing to assume to pay for this, and asked them to send me the galley proofs as quickly as possible so that we were in the position to correct the proofs and print. It took until about July 1948 until they finally sent the proofs. I worked hard at correcting, mailed both proofs to Yorke [Gerald Yorke] and Grant, and wrote to the printer to supply a better quality paper than he had sent, and that we wanted to hurry the matter. Since then I have not heard one word from them.
So it is they who have been at fault for the whole year. In fact I would prefer to ask them to return the £100 advance paid by us (because it is really I who sent it for that particular purpose. I know that this is useless, but when seeing them this might be a powerful weapon in your hands to use as a bargaining point to squeeze out from them the points under (1) to (5). I would be really happy to hear from you that you have been successful.
Personally to you I want to say that I do not forget that Aleister Ataturk was conceived in a magic bed for a definite purpose which he will have to accomplish some time in his life. I think you understand these things. All the details that you wrote in your last letter about him are therefore of special interest to me. He does not care to learn to read? What of it! When the sudden impulse comes, at the right moment, he will want to do nothing else but to do just that, and demonstrate the fallacy of our modern conceptions on education, forced education, to those who are able to see. So I do not worry. He wrote me once a few lines that he wanted to have all of his father's books and some day study them. This speaks volumes for me. What will be necessary is that the books are available when he wants them.
Who knows? Some day I may see him here at the H.Q. There will always be a refuge for him here. Interesting that you write he plays the violin with decision! Of course, he is of the artistical temperament—how else could he be being the offspring of his father. But that it happens to be music which his father never understood, or particularly appreciated, is surprising. (Do you know that my wife is a musician of exceptional qualities?)
I shall always be glad to hear about A.A.'s progress. Also, please tell me occasionally what we can do at this end in the way of food parcels, clothes parcels etc. to relieve Mrs. MacAlpine's whole family. Would she be too proud to accept used clothes, dresses, suit for A.C.? We have been sending very much to Europe and they highly appreciate it all.
Love is the law, love under will.
With best wishes,
Karl Germer
P.S. Do you know Gerald Yorke well? Of course, I have known him very well before 1936. A.C. loved him deeply, but kept being to some extent suspicious, because he could not make him pass a certain test.—Since A.C.'s death Yorke has surprised me with a special effort to help me and cooperate with me. I'll see better once I can study the material shipped.—Of course, this could spring from a desire to prove his honesty. For no sooner did A.C. die that he got in touch with John Symonds and helped him sort and list all the most secret and intimate of A.C.'s literary papers, and thereby gain a knowledge to which he really was not entitled. John Symonds would never have grasped the importance or meaning of A.C.'s documents. Yorke does, and as he, strictly speaking was not entitled or appointed by A.C., this is an angle that has given me an uncomfortable feeling right along.—It is delicate to write about this. Would you care to give your candid view? I'd much appreciate it.—This was a situation which I just had to accept.
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