Thank you for your two letters of April 20. I'll answer at once as best I can. (I received also the letter to you by Mr. Krumm Heller; unfortunately, my knowledge of Spanish is only what I can decipher from French or Italian).

Let me start by saying John Symnonds, the author of The Great Beast, is a young man, a newspaper reporter, who happened to be introduced to the Master Therion about one year before he died, and who agreed to write a sort of book on a subject of which he had never heard in his life. But he had access to all of Crowley's papers, had the help of two men in London who knew something of the subject, helped Symonds to sort the papers, and gave him a little understanding in his utter bewilderment and confusion of thought. He expected to write a sensational book with some suggestions by the publisher to make it more so. With that book written he sank into oblivion. Enough of him! Still factually and historically it is well documented. He did much historical research work. One can say, he studied the man Crowley; he has no idea what "The Beast" is, or means.

Now you thought of writing a book of Rosicrucianism? You should first go back to the true Rosicrucians in Germany (and elsewhere) where the strict rule was that no genuine brother must say that he belonged to the Order. Anybody who claimed to be one of Them, proved by this claim that he was a fake. I presume that this is hard to understand.

How can this be said when there a dozen or more "only genuine" Rosicrucian Societies and Fraternities in the world, (only in Anglo-American countries, please note!)? Well, from my point of view they are all, without exception, commercial enterprises.

In our system there is the order of S.S. which is supreme, and above the Abyss. The Order of the R.C. (Rosae Crucis) reaches up to 7=4, but cannot cross the Abyss. The Order of G.D. (Golden Dawn) goes up to 4=7 only. This may give you an inkling of where the R.C. is placed. The S.S. goes beyond the R.C.

Further about personalities: I never met Parsival Krumm-Heller. But I know the father (Huiracocha) fairly well when I lived in Berlin. He had a limited charter from Dr. Theodor Reuss, who was then the Head of the O.T.O. (Crowley was the Head in all English speaking countries) and Therion gave him some further information and initiated him into certain secrets of the O.T.O. Parsival Krum Heller recently asked for admission in the O.T.O.

I regret I have to be blunt, but it may be better so right from the start. What amazed me was that you planned to write a book on Rosicrucianism without being a scholar on the subject. Our conceptions are very strict and definite. We hate anything that looks like knowledge and isn't. We hate all kinds and types of fake. There is too much of sort of thing in the world, and especially in this commercially-minded country. Besides, you write a book without probably having studied the literature on Rosicrucianism written by deep and earnest scholars, from a historical point of view. I doubt whether any of them would know the deeper significance of the symbolism of the R.C., not to speak of the higher arcana at all.

Coming back to Aleister Crowley and the Master Therion. It is not easy to convey to you even a hint of the stature of the man when you have not read one single book written by him - there are many written on him! You cannot have a notion about his thought. You have in the back pages of Symonds' book a fairly complete bibliography. What are probably of prime interest to you are his magical, spiritual, occult, and technical books on the subject. And as your local library has hardly any of them, it will be difficult. You should enquire if your libraries has for instance a set of the 11 volumes of "The Equinox", with which one should begin a library. I saw last week a set for which the low price of $85 was asked. Usually the price is higher. Mr. Davies of The Coronet Bookstore in New Orleans once bought from me several copies of The Book of Thoth by Crowley; he may have one copy in his private library and could show it to you. I don't know what else to suggest, so that at least you could read a single book by the author himself. The man Crowley is of little interest. What counts is the genius in him, and his thought as expressed in his many works.

I have a few copies of books by Crowley which I keep for serious students. If you can't trace any locally, let me know. The Sacred Magic of Abra Melin is a valuable book to possess in one's library. You should have bought the pirated copy printed from the original by De Laurence. The contents are the same as the genuine book.

What does does FRA stand for? Clymer's outfit?

Beware of titles. They can easily be printed by any printer if you give him the order and pay for it. I happen to be the head of the OTO, yet use no titles whatever. Of other grades I do not speak.

You say you were in New York recently? Will you come to the East soon again? If so, I shall be glad to see you and show you some of the work we are doing. For one thing, Crowley has left the manuscripts of a dozen of some of his most important works which were never printed. I have issued 2 books last year, and am preparing one of his masterpieces now: "Magick Without Tears" giving in 85 Letters to students his instructions on all practical and theoretical subjects. I hope to be able to get this out by July. --