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Correspondence from Phyllis Seckler to Gerald Yorke
7674 Jasmine Ct. Dublin, Calif. 94566
March 16, 1969
Mr. Gerald Yorke Forthampton Ct. Gloucester, England.
Dear Mr. Yorke,
Thank you for your letter of March 2, '69 and its very comprehensive replies to my letter. Also, please excuse me that this must be handwritten as I broke my arm on March 1, and it will be several weeks before I can type again.
When Karl's [Karl Germer] books and manuscripts were stolen from Sascha [Sascha Germer], she immediately sent me a night letter in which she accused [X] [Phyllis Seckler's daughter] of being among the gang of thieves. It just so happens that [X] has absolutely no interest in Thelemic materials and she was also elsewhere on that fateful day and we have eye witness proof t that. I sent a night letter back to Sascha informing her she was wrong. Then I wrote a long letter explaining how she was wrong. The letter was returned unopened. The night letter she had to listen to as that is like a telegram and they phone it in to the recipient. So you see, I would be very grateful if you could let me know the 2 Christian names that Sascha wrote to you when informing you of the event. A week later, she sent a long letter which went on with her accusations and in it she remarked that one of the young men had said he was a member of the O.T.O. So with that clue, I begin to think there may be a group doing in So. Calif., but as I say, my enquiries must remain discreet for the time being as I should hate to have a similar thing happen to me. Sascha's letter stated they had gotten her to open the door to them through "false pretenses." Well, if some of my former fiends had that type of action in mind, I would be a "sitting duck," as I live alone.
Several years before Karl died he had reason to break with the group in So. Calif. and I also had strong reasons. So when I had completed my college training I came to the San Francisco region to do my art teaching and have now been teaching in Livermore for 14 years. I am now 51 and am the Phyllis Seckler Jane [Jane Wolfe] mentions in some of her correspondence. I am nor divorced from Mr. Wade.
Thank you for your offer to take Jane's files and add them to those in the Warburg Institute. As it happens, I promised Jane I would write a book about her and so I need these letters and diaries to fulfill my promise. One does not break a promise—I learned that early in my occult work. When I have written the book—that is another thing. But there are still 3 years before I may retire from teaching and then I hope to plunge into the teaching of Thelema in this area upon my retirement. So it may be several years before I could consider sending these things to the Warburg Institute. In case you are not alive then, could you let me have their address? Understand, please, that I am not making any definite promise for if I did so, I might seriously hamper the efforts of young students here who could profit from these files and especially from the things that Karl Germer wrote. Karl had a great deal to do with my own development when I had taken a different route than Jane was equipped to teach. I think you can see how valuable his letters still are to me. I would offer to make copies of Karl's and Jane's correspondence if I could see my way clear at the moment, but I can't, and since I do not promise anything if there is a chance the promise would be broken—well, I guess you will understand. However, I would like to do this for you if I could.
Several of us here have regretted for years that there was no Tarot pack to accompany The Book of Thoth. Are Frieda Harris' designs for the Tarot available at all? My understanding of years ago was that she wanted a large sum of money for the original designs and no one had that sum, and so the Tarot was never printed into a pack of cards. Is this correct or false? What chance is there today that a pack could be made up from her designs?
I ask all this before we are forced out of desperation to make photo copies of things, enlarge them, color them (I am an artist) and then reproduce them as a pack of cards. Would we be sued if we did this?
I read a copy of Crowley's will which was in Jane's files. In it Frieda Harris, Louis Wilkinson and John Symonds are named as literary executors. Are the first two dead?
Excuse me for being out of touch but Karl was so suspicious and Sascha even more so, of everyone, that I held my peace on many subjects out of respect for them both. I didn't want either one to get suspicious of me, rightly or wrongly, and maybe I have been too quiet. But much of that has ended and I now feel the time has come to ask.
As you can see, I know nothing of the group in S. Calif. except what Karl chose to tell me before he died and I didn't pry, either, for the above reasons. I knew all of them; I was for 2 years at 1946 Winona and stayed twice at 1003 [1003 S. Orange Grove Avenue]. I drew my own conclusions and decided quiet work was better. I am not sorry but I also am now rather cut off. However, now is the time to remedy the situation—up to a point.
I would like to ask you some questions point-blank.
If Israel Regardie was in possession of Karl's books and MSS, or Dr. Montenegro [Gabriel Montenegro], would either of them tip their hand to you or Symonds? Perhaps by asking about copyrights? Are you in contact with Symonds?
I don't know what we would do here if we wanted to start an O.T.O. lodge as no charters that I know of were given out. Perhaps the group in Switzerland could charter us when we were ready? Would you let me know their address please? You see, while planning for the future, I am trying to build on firm foundations, and not on the shaky foundations that existed heretofore in Calif. I feel we must make a new start and proceed without any stumbling blocks out of the past. So your past letter was invaluable for its information and I hope you can help us a little further. Could you let me have Symonds' address, also?
Again, thank you for your very courteous and informative reply.
Sincerely yours,
Phyllis Wade
P.S. I do hope you will be discreet about whom you inform that I have Jane's MSS. and letters. Louis Culling advertised some time ago for information leading to their whereabouts. He is a slippery character and no one has ever been able to trust him. I think you can see my position?
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