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Correspondence from Jane Wolfe to Karl Germer
5169 1/4 Fountain Avenue Los Angeles, 27, California
December 27, 1949
Dear Karl:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I sent by registered mail this a.m. "Enquiry" and Yorke's [Gerald Yorke] article inside its covers, with the copies of Yorke's notes for Equinoxes 4, 5, 6, 7. Lines at the P[ost].O[ffice]. were so long before Xmas, that I held them over till I wouldn't need to stand in line.
Your letter of Nov. 30. The small unopened parcel which I thought contained 2 copies of The Heart of the Master held instead 4 copies of the Pasadena prints of Liber AL. Therefore I have no copies of the 'Heart' for sale, nor do I have a customer. The copy I loaned was returned with "too unintelligible".
So far I have not found the occasion to write Yorke.
Monty [Gabriel Montenegro] has taken me into his confidence—with the promise not to mention it to anyone—that he proposes joining you for a period of study. Need I say this makes me happy—happy, indeed!
This, of course, brings up Roy [Roy Leffingwell], who is now with Frances Ward in San Gabriel. He eats well, etc., but can only propel himself when a sturdy shoulder is available on which to lean. I have not yet heard how the speech is progressing—if at all!
I saw Phyllis [Phyllis Seckler] a week ago, and was shocked at the "pig-headedness" of the early Winona Boulevard days still showing up; i.e. in adopting wholeheartedly what Roy had told her regarding a few matters. She must confuse the agent with Adonai. This truth came just as I had started the care, and I was too shocked to stop and speak further. Too, it was late. But now I know how to reach her, I think. She will have bitter days ahead of her, but that too is all right, for I believe she has good material deep down. I now have the poems of her later period—that of suffering, and may type out one two for you to see this afternoon, if all goes well.
I am enclosing a bit of Diary re happenings of the past two months. With some of this matter you are already acquainted , but here is the sequence. Hugh [Hugh Christopher] said beginning of November, "Don't be surprised at anything—Keep your eyes open—Take good care of yourself!" I don't know what it is all about, but to my conscious mind there have been a few bits of value.
Have I left myself unguarded?
Are they hurdles I had to take?
As I was last summer impressed with the necessity to breathe more in order to live, it would seem to me the "Battle to live" of Nov. 29 was the correct procedure.
The black waters of Oct. 25 made a deep impression.
Of interest. As her English Course thesis Phyllis is writing her autobiography, and will use her Winona diaries. The whole to be submitted to me when she gets it, chapter by chapter! Jane will get some eye-openers, with some of which I already agree.
Love is the law, love under will.
"Enquiry" p. 29 I never saw the "leopard skin", but did see photographs of its use in the performance of rituals. He himself mentions it in "Moonchild".
I knew Aleister in Cefalu and Paris, and never saw him attempt to hypnotize people.
"Eyes retained a fixed concentration" because of drugs. Is this possible?
The Jupiter robe, 7º=4o A∴A∴, had a hood which could be pulled over the face, and this had holes for the eyes to look through. He some times wore this with the hood always thrown back, though.
I know nothing about "Ruthah". He did like civet. Aleister performed a ritual, or rituals, some years before the Cefalu period to make himself more attractive so that he could always find partners for his thaumaturgy. His diaries are quite frank, as you doubtless know.
p. 30 The Italian climber. Crowley, being English, with their habit of understatement, might say he was bored with this Italian climber to conceal a deep agony over the whole misadventure. (If he said it!) Also as a method to rid himself of questioners.
p. 32 I understood A.C. wrote The Book of Lies in the Café Royal, while drinking brandy and black coffee.
Bottomley's [Horatio Bottomley] weekly journal John Bull, a London rag. One of its flashy headlines for Jane Wolfe read, "We Trap the Temptress!"
p. 33 I thought the American sojourn the Gethsemane that produced the Magus. But Symonds [John Symonds] would know that!
p. 34 I never witnessed a temple ceremony such as described. "Horned One", branded witches, dancing naked, etc. And I am quite sure none such ever took place. We were always robed, simply, for that is all we had. A.C. on a few occasions put on one of his A∴A\ robes, but he wore mostly his red Egyptian abbai shot with gold, which he also wore frequently around the Abbey [Abbey of Thelema]. On a few occasions, a white abbai shot with silver; the one mentioned in the "Cairo Working".
"Thou Spiritual Sun? Thou Satan", etc., etc. is from Liber Samekh, which is not a group ritual. How wonderful if all could have achieved samadhi at the same time! Such a day might come in the future? But it was not possible at Cefalu. We were not ready for anything like that.
(This all sounds quite dull and uninteresting to me, but I have been through strange moods and tenses this fall, unable to do anything creative. May I get myself straightened out as the Sun Moves Northward!)
Jane
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