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Correspondence from Gerald Yorke to Maurice Bruce
5 Montagu Square London W.1.
Maurice Bruce Esq 166 Yarm Road Darlington Durham
22 March 58
Dear Sir,
John Symonds wrote his two books on my old friend Crowley from my material and has shown me your letter of 18 March. You are of course right over John having mixed up the oil and the incense. In making the oil A.C. used the proportions 8 parts cinnamon, 4 myrrh, 2 galalgal, and 7 olive oil.
Personally I would attribute the 'occult accidents' to the use of sexual fluids and blood added to Abramelin oil in making the 'cakes'. It is the man's personality rather than the instrument used that cause the trouble.
I have got a copy of A.C.'s MS diary of 'The Book of the Operation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, being the account of the events of my life with notes on this operation'—the original is in the U.S.A. He began the working on 21 Feb 1900 and broke off on Apr 2 to help his chief Mathers [MacGregor Mathers] over the revolt of the Isis-Urania Temple of the G.D. [Golden Dawn]. He had not consecrated the talismans of squares when he broke off.
He resumed the operation a year or two later, and consecrated the talismans, which he bound up in a MS book, which I have handled. It is now in America, with the exception of that for Sagalah, which was in his pocket book when he died, and is now in my collection. It is, I think significant that the squares which show clear signs of having actually been used are the following only: CATENA (I, 8 'Let me be discreet in forming CATENA): LEVIATHAN (III, 3 'to discover my forehead square Nov 6 1906): BISEERAH (IX, 6. 'Let me be vigilant'): SEGILAH (XVI, 3 "V.V.V.V.V. commands this talisman to operate for Aleister Crowley, if thereby Venus be aided. It will be used for no other purpose. V.V.V.V.V. 8º=3o): ROKEA (XVIII, 5) ALMANAH (XIX, 5) and significantly all six squares in Chapter XXII, QELADIM, BEHEMOT, MEBASIN, CASED, LEBHAH and QARAK. He wrote them on velum using the Enochian alphabet.
The diary of this renewed Abramelin operation does not survive, but I have always understood that he broke it off before attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the H.G.A. [Holy Guardian Angel]. He claims to have attained the latter consciously when walking through Yunnan, He always identified his H.G.A. with Aiwaz and the Book of the Law as the word of his H.G.A. To my mind he was a pseudo-Messiah. I was very fond of the old sinner.
I have several of Mathers' [MacGregor Mathers] letters to Gardner [F.L. Gardner] dealing with the writing and publication of The Book of the Sacred Magic.
I shall be back in London for June and July and could show you these MS if you came up to London.
I am 'literary advisor' to Rider and Company and am on the look out for suitable MS dealing with magic for publication. Is there any chance of your writing a book on the Abramelin system and your experiences with it?
For years I have been compiling an index of G.D. and Stella Matutina with their mottos and temples for historical purposes. Could you tell me your grandfather's motto and temple. Was he in the G.D. or Stella Matutina? And what were his initials?
Yours sincerely
G.J. Yorke
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