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Correspondence from Grady McMurtry to Gerald Yorke
[On O.T.O. Letterhead]
Gerald Yorke Forthampton Court Gloucester, England
O.T.O. Kaaba Clerkhouse 4411 Balboa Street San Francisco, Calif 94121
March 8, 1970
Thank you for your patience in not writing. I would not have imposed.
Your letter of 27 Nov first etc. The only things I asked from [Llee] Heflin of the material he brought back from his visit with you was one copy each of the two xeroxed Comments on Liber AL by A.C., one begins "Nu conceals Hadit..."; the other is the one "copied from a holograph notebook. . . .Dr. Kowal". Jerry Kay has a girl friend who has access to a xerox, and she simply xeroxed everything in sight so I actually got them from Jerry. I have your annotated DRUG FIEND [The Diary of a Drug Fiend] because it was being bandied about. When Bob split taking the publication fund we had at that time (after I had written that letter for him on O.T.O. letterhead) things became terribly confused for awhile so I traded Chuck my copy of DRUG FIEND for yours on a temporary basis so he would have something to work with and your book would be safe. If you advise me to forward your copy to Heflin by return mail, or to you, I will certainly do so, even though, as you can see on the enclosed O.T.O. Publications schedule, it is listed as number 2 on our First Priority List as soon as we have our press operating. The cards will be done commercially. I do not myself for one moment believe his story about wanting it for a movie. Copies of DRUG FIEND are available if that is all he wants. The situation seems to be that Heflin is making me the scapegoat for his own emotional hangups (which I believe to be sufficiently explained in the enclosed sheaf of correspondence LEE—CHUCK—GRADY) and you know what they say about Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, etc. He sees me as keeping Chuck from him. Although all I have ever said to Chuck on the subject was that he should do his own Will, and only he knows what That is. I even spent a day running around with my car helping Chuck to get to Los Angeles to see Heflin that once for all the good it did so far as Heflin's feelings toward me are concerned. In any case, thinking as he does, Heflin may do anything to embarrass me. One thing is to raise this fuss over DRUG FIEND. Another is publishing 666, SEX AND THE O.T.O. That can only be a personal insult to me since he refuses to remain in the O.T.O. under my jurisdiction. My only concern in the whole sorry mess is that through an inadvertence on my part, i.e. unknowingly coming into the situation between Chuck and Lee, that he may cause you embarrassment by publishing the 7th, 8th and 9th degree O.T.O. materials he brought back from your place just to "get back" at me. I know you would not have intended that, as you have been much too careful in the past not to give it to unauthorized persons, and Lee was only a Minerval. So far as I am concerned it is karmic, like the loss of the library at West Point. I do not know why that had to be, but it may be that that is a part of the Old Aeon debris that has to be shucked off so that the New Aeon can start clean. If you did not receive the material from 93 Jermyn Street, as you say in re: the graffiti hangings on the walls there and books with covers with paintings like that of the dust jacket on Symonds [John Symonds] MAGIC OF ALEISTER CROWLEY, then I am certain there is material in that library that can do positive harm to whoever has it. A.C. had some Enochian tablets matted in book form at 93 Jermyn Street that he told me not to touch one evening because "you have no idea what forces you could have set in motion," and something certainly seems to be driving the people of the outlaw "Solar" lodge in Los Angeles, who I believe stole the West Point library, out of their minds. In any case, I only wish Lee Heflin the accomplishment of his True Will. If that is his True Will, then so mote it be.
In addition to your copy of DRUG FIEND, I also have Achad's [Charles Stansfeld Jones] CHALICE OF ECSTASY. Why Heflin thought so little of it he just left it laying around I do not know, but when Bob split and Chuck had to give up the Precita apartments in San Francisco, I was the only one well enough situated to store their library, so I still have it. It is an interesting document and I would like to see it published at some future time, but we have no particular intention of publishing it at the present time. So if you wish it returned to you or Heflin for him to publish I only await word from you.
As for the O.H.O. As you have seen from the dust jacket to the CONFESSIONS, Grant [Kenneth Grant] now rivals Metzger [Hermann Metzger] in claiming the title. Were I feeling facetious I would write him and welcome him to the club, except that I do not claim to be the O.H.O. I claim nothing, but by right of A.C.'s express desire that I should occupy the office of succession after Karl's [Karl Germer] death. I have assumed the Caliphate, which I doubt A.C. ever had occasion to discuss with either of them. I base this on the following documents:
A.C.'s letter to me of Nov 19, 1943, as 777 (you have a copy).
A.C.'s documents to me of March 22, 1946 and April 11, 1946, re my authority from him in the U.S.A. and California (you have copies of both).
A.C. letter to me of Sept 28, 1944 (copy enclosed) in which he speaks of "my plan for your career as my Fides Achates, alter ego, Caliph, & so on."
A.C.'s letter to me of 22 Aug 1944 (copy enclosed) in which he states "You are the only man from the U.S.A. of the younger generation who has been properly blooded, and you know me personally with a remarkable degree of intimacy considering the shortness of our association. You are also quite the most serious and intelligent of the younger lot. This singles you out as the proper man to take charge of affairs when the time is ripe."
A.C.'s official letter to me of Nov 21 '44 (copy enclosed) in which he says "The Caliphate" ... One of the (strikingly few) commands given to me was: "Trust not a stranger; fail not of an heir." ... Frater Saturnus [Karl Germer] is of course the natural Caliph ... he can only be a stopgap, because of his age; I have to look for his successor. ... Your actual life, or "blooding", is the first essential for a Caliph. For—say 20 years hence the Outer Head of the Order must, among other things, have had the experience of war as it is in actual fact today."
A.C.'s official invitation to reside with him dated Feb 8 '46 (copy enclosed).
A.C.'s letter to me on April 7, 1947 (copy enclosed) in which he says " in case of things happening (he had just been discussing the accident of Mar 8 in which he had almost died) you will become a man of very great importance and responsibility."
A.C.'s letter to me of 17 June 1947 (copy enclosed) in which he says "In the event of my death, Frater Saturnus is of course my successor, but after his death the terrible burden of responsibility might very easily fall upon your shoulders. . ."
And it has. Not only has he stated quite explicitly that I am the only man in the Order who has been properly blooded to succeed Saturnus after his death, but that I have been singled out to take charge of affairs when the time is ripe. Saturn is dead. The time is ripe. The position was empty. I have assumed it at A.C.'s express, documented wish that I should do so "as the proper man to take charge of affairs." I am the Caliph. The succession will pass through me. What Grant, Metzger, etc., claim about the O.H.O. is not my concern. Who establishes the Caliphate establishes the continuity of the Order. The position of O.H.O. will be decided at the proper time and in the proper manner. I would prefer that you did not discuss this with others at the present time, just as A.C. told me in strict confidence (letter of 17 June '47). (Metzger and Grant would just say "oh yes, we claim that too" with or without documentation) but of course I leave that to your own good judgment.
Now, for the current situation. In obedience to the command by Horus, III 41, to
"Establish at thy Kabba a clerk-house"
we have rented a store in San Francisco for a printing press, to handle books both retail and wholesale, and to have a place where we can meet people, have classes etc. The address is
O.T.O. Kaaba Clerk-House 4411 Balboa St. San Francisco, Calif 94121
The phone number is (area code 415) 751-7317 The store has an apartment in back and Chuck and his brother Ray are living there at the present time. There will be an office for me to handle business affairs as soon as we can get it furnished. A copy of our first priority printing list is enclosed. Two different people have promised us the money for a printing press. We hope to be in operation printing A.C. material within a month, which is why they are being done commercially. We have a firm commitment for the money, and we hope to have them out by the solstice. Heflin advertising that his set of transparencies are available, regardless of what he may have said to you about taking his set off the market, has caused confusion in the minds of our potential backers, but there is nothing we can do except ignore it, so we are continuing on our own way and allowing him to go his. The second Chico edition of 777 REVISED has been promised to us by the Equinox, and I presume it will be delivered. This one will be bound and we are planning a dust jacket for it. By the way, did you get the saddle stitched Chico 777 REVISED that Mildred [Mildred Burlingame] sent you? You may have told her, but I have not heard.
A.C. seems to be becoming quite a fad on this side of the Atlantic. We are told that Weiser is coming out with a 777, DIARY OF A DRUG FIEND, MOON CHILD, and BOOK OF LETTERS all within the next 6 to 7 weeks. Also that Jerry Kay has published a new Liber AL and has estimates for a TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING, etc. Interesting if true, TUESDAY'S CHILD, a New Youth-Radical Left tabloid in Los Angeles, published the entire 777 REVISED serially and many other things, e.g. from MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, etc. I have a subscription and all back issues, but whether they would send them overseas or not I do not know. We have reason to believe that one staff member may know something of the missing libraries, and we think we know how to contact him privately. It will have to be done cautiously, or I will have the FBI on my neck re the chase after the Braytons, and I am not interested in prosecuting them, only in recovering the missing material. The address is
TUESDAY'S CHILD 1616 North Argyle Ave. Hollywood, Calif 90028
A year's subscription is $6 on this side of the Atlantic. There are others and I am attempting to keep track of them as time allows. p. 114 of the Mar 1970 issue of ESQUIRE features a clipping from the Blythe case. p. 133 of the Mar 1970 issue of McCALL'S mentions A.C. in re a black magic cult in San Francisco, etc.
Would it be possible for you to obtain a copy of the Margaret Bruce catalogue and their other advertising leaflets for us? The address is
Margaret Bruce, Holmington Old Inn, Hunwick, Crook Co., Duram, England
We are told that they have some of the oils and incense A.C. liked to use, but also that they refuse to supply people in the states.
As ever,
Hymenaeus Alpha IX° Ordo Templi Orientis Caliph
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