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Correspondence from Karl Germer to Phyllis Seckler
West Point, Calif. Box 258
Feb. 3, 1958
Dear Phyllis,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
It is with pleasure that I confirm receipt of your unsigned letter of Jan. 27, received to-day. I want to say a word or two at once so as to make you assured that there is no cloud on our spiritual horizon. I was a little mad on one occasion, when your professional manner was too evident. But, as you say, to be outspoken is the privilege of friends.
We were much relieved to hear that there was nothing serious. I am not relieved to hear that you are so overworked. Sooner or later your great gift for work must be available for things like literary help, preparation for publications, better, for help at headquarters where there is so much to do. You are the intellectual type, which I am not, I regret to admit it. What I want to say is that I'm sure you would find great pleasure and happiness in managing the literary material and organizing it. I always must force myself, which is not proper. If work is in the line for which one is fitted, one never tires of it; the best test is that it makes one happy. For me it is drudgery.
Magical attacks: I think one can say that there are many levels of these. On lower levels it may be hostile waves sent out by another, acutely felt by sensitive persons. Jones [Charles Stansfeld Jones] (Achad) once tried to open my mouth forcibly to make me reveal certain secrets. This was seen clairvoyantly. Then he put a curse on me, as a result he died one year later. (I did feel the effects very acutely at the time of his attacks. But wounds and scars are an honour in battle.)
Then you can go higher and higher, to larger, more general spheres. Why, for instance, could not the phase of acute crisis in which you find yourself with Bill [Wade] (your operation, tax troubles, change of domicile, search for house, etc.) be the result of magical hostilities whose source is as yet unknown to you, partly because you have not trained yourself in this field?
You can still go further and speak of a magical climate which is not favourable at the moment, for any of us. The Three Schools of Magic give pointers of what I drive at. The other schools know just as well what we want and plan. So, if they cannot prevent they can at least sticks into the spokes and make trouble.
Banishing ritual: I think I told you that I have never in my life done anything of that sort myself. Being ignorant of your relation with Culling [Louis Culling], and what he wanted from you, I cannot judge whether there was a magical attack involved. Hardly, I should say. Yet, Culling was possibly one of the more important types I had come out to the West for to test. Did I tell you that, after cultivating his intimacy for many months, I have found him bad, and dangerous for the Work, and for genuine seekers. His magical atmosphere is charged with a sinister poison. I have dropped him completely.
When exactly did Culling approach you? Month or date? What was his object?
Marcelo Ramos Motta's address is P.O. Box 6165. L.S.U., Baton Rouge, La. You are so right: he is so young! Life will trim his cockiness—provided the Gods take an interest in him. I think he has a knack of irritating the female sex especially. He behaved will ill manners to Sascha [Sascha Germer]. too.
Do you remember that I gave Meeka [Meeka Aldrich] $2,500 as a loan in Sept. '56? She has, with another gangster woman this so-called mining scheme near San Bernardino. It looked promising, and she baited me with her pledge that the millions that were expected would to a great extent go to set up a big H.Q., with printing press, etc. etc. In short, she solemnly pledged it for the G.W. [Great Work]. What is the truth? That she and her spiritual master mind, that other female, are out to defraud investors. Well, anyway, I gave her $2,500 against the promise in writing of a second trust deed on her house in the Canyon—never given—and am now unable to get it back. The lawyer whom I consulted asks $250 cash down and 33-1/3 of the net proceeds, if we win, thus a loss of $1,000, always provided that I can raise the $250 cash.
Then I gave, as you know, over $630 to Grady [Grady McMurtry]. I have asked him for the return of the money of which he still owes some $400 to 450, as I need it really badly now. He even takes my giving him that money for granted. I have my grave doubts about his magico-spiritual status, and am wondering whether he can be 'saved'. He is a man. He has gone through college. He should be able and entitled to a good position and income. He is a born American with all the privileges and facilities. Why is it that he is in such a sad state? He has worked as a salesman for cars, failed in San Francisco and lost his last job. This is not a case of magical attack. He has sunk into the bourgeois mentality of his un-Thelemic family. There is one danger greater than any for a Thelemite: to have in his circle an impure element, particles which are hostile to Thelema. It will breed scorpions and poisons.
I must say one thing most emphatically to you: you might construe the above two cases as an un-subtle hint to pay me back the paltry little balance you may still owe me. I say in all truth that this is not so. You have been a shining example of working and succeeding against obstacles and holding up the flag. It has been a pleasure to help you at a time when help was needed.
I believe that my own frustration-period of the last years was caused by passing through a period described in LXV, III, vv. 6-16. If that is so, the cloud should gradually lift, and the Work go forward again. We need it if March 1959 is to initiate a 5 year period of Speech.
Love is the law, love under will.
Fraternally,
Karl
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