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Correspondence from Karl Germer to Grady McMurtry
February 28, 1950
Dear Grady,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The last day of February and I don't want to get into March before I at least answer yours of Jan. 30 in which you wrote mostly about Monty's [Gabriel Montenegro] copy of the Tarot [The Book of Thoth]. I had thought he would have come to visit me in March and bring his copy along, but he just wrote that he had had to change his plans; he keeps his house and begins to start his practice anew. I wish him the best of luck; he is a valuable man; has a fine and pure aspiration; perhaps a little dreamy or sentimental which may stem from national Mexican background. He should be cultivated and I hope you'll have a chance to see him from time to time. As he is a Doctor he might, when the time is ripe, be interested in the study of matters connected with "Amrita" and work his way into the higher grades of the O.T.O.
Despite all his devotion, the devotion of the remaining members of Agape Lodge towards paying for this necessary Lodge equipment, and the promises made to him, he was never passed into the I° O.T.O. There were at that time a number of candidates who all urged for action and nothing was done. Montenegro was the one valuable candidate, brought in by Jane [Jane Wolfe], through an O.T.O. affiliate in Germany. We certainly owe him some service.
As to the Tarot copy; I can't imagine it to be spurious. The details you write me don't register. My copy has no imprint of 'bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe' at all, in any shape or form. The bindings, due to the price, was done in batches of 20 or 25, so it is well possible that some series were slightly different. But I have no explanation of the cheaper paper.
Your mentioning Shannon and bed time stories for him: I suppose you know that A.C. at all times suggested for children that a Fairy Tale or Tales like from the Arabian Knights were read at night to a child. They all—the genuine, not the 'improved versions put out by some ignorant females over here—contain deep magical allusions. It is these that remain in the soul of a child, and do their lasting magical work on the higher planes. In this country we have too much forgotten the secret ways in which Nature works.
I enclose the preliminary list of material that I have listed so far. In the first place, I made this for Yorke [Gerald Yorke], who has in many ways a much more complete set of Crowleiana than we have, the reason being that A.C. left many of his things in pawn years ago when he was practically starving, and Yorke traced much of this, bought it, and is sending me copies; the same applies to letters he bought, or knew that someone had from A.C.; of all this he had copies made for . . .
The same applies to the diaries of A.C.'s, Mudd [Norman Mudd], Leah [Leah Hirsig], and others. The tragedy has been that A.C. never had a H.Q., though he longed to have one for many, many years. As a result there is probably more of his work lost than we have been able to save. Much may turn up many years from now as great discoveries.
I wish you would go through the list I'm sending you and return it to me, it is the only copy I have here. Yorke just wrote me that Symonds [John Symonds] will not release the last shipment before May or June. It is only then that I can make a full catalog. Even the list I'm sending is incomplete: it does not contain the many Files of Letters. There is still tremendous work to be done, and I'd welcome help by another type of brain than mine to make suggestions and give advice.
The list also does not contain the stock of books which we have for sale. I trust that the time will come when there'll be a sudden demand. For the time at least all this material is safe, properly filed in steel Filling cabinets, and storage cabinets.
I ought to have a young Thelemite to make typescripts of material, etc. etc. etc. etc. We have a year's work at least.
As I believe I wrote you, one of our Brethren in Germany is holding the flag of Thelema flying. There is an 'Abbey of Thelema' and 'Thelemische Lektionen' are being published in German regularly. Many things have been translated, even LXV with the Commentary, and Eight Lectures on Yoga. There is much devotion there, and those people need help in their uphill fight. I am most eager to make available to them copies of such works as 'Aleister Explains Everything' [Magick Without Tears], and very much material that they have never heard of. The lack of help for this work distresses me deeply.—
I wish you the best of luck in your desire to pass your final exams by the end of this year. Your Jupiter will pass in the middle of March over your radical Uranus and in the latter half of March over important, good aspects of your radical Sun, Mercury, and Saturn, I wonder whether this period will be noticeable. It may be more on the inner planets, and you would get consciously something from this if you have been keeping your magical diary assiduously, and have been doing practices regularly. Otherwise thee is the danger that spiritual gifts pass unnoticed, or are forgotten quietly. You have a good and strong horoscope and should apply what 666 taught you, and make the most of it! Not everybody is so fortunate.
Love is the law, love under will.
Fraternally,
P.S. Jack Parsons was in N.Y. end of January; saw me only twice very briefly; I was generous in every way; offered him to stay as our guest for a few days at H.Q. where I'd show him around. He promised to keep in touch with me and see Jane. He never did. Then I remembered that he made a threat, almost unnoticed at the time, that he would get the Copy rights for A.C.'s abridged Commentary to AL and publish it, no matter whether he had the legal right or not—probably with Smith [Wilfred Talbot Smith] who has a group in L.A. of his Church of Thelema. There is dirty business going on there.
K.
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