Perdurabo

by Richard Kaczynski

  83 Marriage record, GRO, Wandsworth, Greater London, 1d: 1542. 1920 US Census, Detroit Ward 14, Wayne, MI, district 419, 2A. Tony Stansfeld Jones, private communication.

  84 Anonymous, Memoirs of Kenneth Martin Ward (London: Simpkin Marshall, 1929).

  85 Birth record, Q3 1887, GRO, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 3b: 507. 1901 British Census, GRO, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, RG13, piece 1533, 15: 22.

  Chapter Nine • The Vision and the Voice

  1 For Lord Dunsany’s letters to AC, see Vertical File Manuscript 349, Special Collections, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

  2 Gerald Hume Saverie Pinsent (1888–1976) was educated at King’s School, Canterbury, and Trinity College, Cambridge, with scholarships in mathematics to both institutions; his cousin David Pinsent was a friend of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). In 1909, Pinsent was secretary for the Cambridge University branch of the socialist reform movement, the Fabian Society. Entering the Treasury in 1910, he would go on to work as the Prime Minister’s private secretary, receive his M.A. in 1914, serve as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the Great War, act as commercial attaché and financial adviser to His Majesty’s embassy in Berlin in the late 1930s, and ultimately work as Comptroller General for the National Debt Office during World War II. See: “Mr. Gerald Pinsent,” Times (London), 3 Mar 1976, 59643: 16. Journal of Education: A Monthly Record and Review, Aug 1903, New Series 25(409): 550. “University Intelligence” in Times (London) for 17 Dec 1906, 38205: 7; 23 Mar 1907, 38288: 14; 25 Mar 1908, 38603: 14; 27 Jun 1908, 38684: 14; and 11 May 1914, 40520: 4. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report of the Fabian Society, 31 Mar 1909. Brian McGuinness, Young Ludwig: Wittgenstein’s Life, 1889–1921 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005), 95. “Mr. Asquith’s New Secretary,” Times (London), 24 Nov 1914, 40706: 11. British Army WWI Medal Rolls, Royal Garrison Artillery. “The King’s Birthday Honours List in Full, Commemoratio of the Jubilee,” Times (London), 3 Jun 1935, 47080: 19. The London Gazette 15 Nov 1946, 5632 and 19 Nov 1948, 6084. Hymenaeus Beta, “Notes on Contributors,” appendix to The Equinox (York Beach, ME: Weiser, 1998), 43–4.

  3 AL ii.5.

  4 Confessions, 606.

  5 “Liber XXX Aerum vel Saeculi sub figura CCCCXVIII: (Being of the Angels of the 30 Aethyrs): The Vision and the Voice.” The Equinox 1911, 1(5), special supplement, 11. This was later republished, with Crowley’s commentaries, as Aleister Crowley, Victor Neuburg, and Mary Desti. The Vision and the Voice with Commentary and Other Papers, ed. Hymenaeus Beta (Yorke Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1998).

  6 Salvesen was judge of the Court of Session, Scotland, from 1905 to 1922, and is recalled, amongst various accomplishments, for helping to reform Scottish divorce laws and for his presidency over the Zoological Society of Scotland. See “Obituaries,” Nature, 14 Mar 1942, 149 (3776): 296–7. “Obituary,” Times (London), 25 Feb 1942, 49169: 4.

  7 Several newspapers covered the proceedings, e.g., “Scottish Divorce Suit: The MacGregor Tartan,” Daily Telegraph, 25 Nov 1910, and “Scottish Romance: Entertaining Story of a Kilted ‘Lord’ ” unidentified clipping. These articles are preserved in the Yorke, HRHRC and OTO collections.

  8 Confessions, 621.

  9 My Lord, my Lord, why have you forsaken me?

  10 Crowley, Vision and the Voice, 93; all other quotes regarding this vision are likewise from this source.

  11 Éliphas Lévi, “The Magician,” trans. Aleister Crowley, The Equinox 1909, 1(1): 109. It was also later reprinted in Crowley, The Winged Beetle.

  12 The others, incidentally, included a goat in honor of Bhavani during his tour of India; a toad during his World War I stay in the United States; and a cat, performed at the behest of his students. See Gerald J. Yorke, “Aleister Crowley: A Biographical Note,” Occult Observer 1949, 1(2): 121–4.

  13 The dialogue for this section is drawn from the text of the Tenth Aethyr; see Crowley et al., The Vision and the Voice.

  14 Surah 112 of the Qur’an: “Say: He, God, is One. God is the Absolute Source. He does not beget and is not begotten. And nothing is like unto him.” See also Crowley et al., Vision and the Voice with Commentary, 176.

  15 1(4): 37–8.

  16 Cran was the son of Dr. John Cran, London. He passed his Law Society preliminary exam in 1891, Intermediate Exam in 1895, and Final Exam in 1897, setting up shop at 5 King’s Bench Walk, London. See Scottish Notes and Queries 1927, 141. “The Incorporated Law Society,” Times (London), 18 Jul 1891, 33380: 14. Law Notes 1891, 10: 252–3. “The Law Society,” Times (London), 6 Jul 1895, 34622: 17 and 6 Feb 1897, 35120: 5. Weekly Notes, 13 Feb 1897, 32: 59. Royal Blue Book: Fashionable Directory and Parliamentary Guide 1906, 756. London Phone Book, 1909, 160.

  17 The Rosæ Rubeæ et Aureæ Crucis (“Ruby Rose and Golden Cross”) was the first degree of the Inner Order of the GD, for which all the previous grades were merely preparatory.

  18 Stephensen, Legend of Aleister Crowley, 72.

  19 Editorial. The Equinox 1910, 1(4): 3–4.

  20 Lord Justice Vaughan Williams was the uncle of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), and is credited with suggesting that his nephew be provided with an organ at Leith Hill Place. Baron Moulton, John Fletcher Moulton (1844–1921), was educated at Kingswood and St. John’s College, Cambridge, admitted to the Middle Temple in 1874 and to the Queen’s Counsel in 1885. He served as an M.P. for the years 1885–1886 (Battersea, Clapham) and 1894–1895 (South Hackney), and held the office of Lord Justice of Appeal from 1906–1912. See Michael Kennedy, The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1964), 1992. L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London: Heraldry Today, 1972), 198.

  21 Mosley, Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 106th ed, 1: 57.

  22 “Sir Patrick Rose-Innes,” Times (London), 3 Oct 1924, 43773: 14. Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, William John Lawson, Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen, Who’s Who, An Annual Biographical Dictionary, with Which Is Incorporated “Men and Women of the Time” (London: A. and C. Black), 1849–1919, 1456. The Independent, 11 Jul 1907, 63(3058): 62. New Age Magazine 1920, 28(12): 575.

  23 Birth record, Q3 1858, GRO, Marylebone, London, 1a: 376. “Deaths,” Times (London), 21 Dec 1937, 47873: 1. “Obituary,” The Solicitors’ Journal 1937, 81(pt. 2): 1042. The Law Times (London), 26 Apr 1884, 76: 465.

  24 “Obituary: Mr. Neilson, K.C.: Successful Career at the Bar,” Times (London), 11 Apr 1929, 45174: 11. “The Inns of Court,” Times (London), 27 May 1891, 33335: 8. “Calls to the Bar,” Times (London), 18 Nov 1893, 34112: 8. “Deaths,” Times (London), 15 Apr 1929, 45177: 17.

  25 The headlines are respectively from: Morning Leader, 22 Mar 1910; Morning Leader, 23 Mar 1910; Daily Express, 22 Mar 1910; and Evening News, 22 Mar 1910. In all, some seventeen clippings are preserved in various archives.

  26 22 Mar 1910.

  27 AC to Henri Birven, 8 Oct 1929, New 24, Yorke Collection.

  28 AC to Birven, ibid.

  29 See John Mandelberg, Ancient and Accepted: A Chronicle of the Proceedings 1845–1945 of the Supreme Council Established in England in 1845 (London: Supreme Council 33°, 1995). Similarly, on March 17, 1878, J. M. P. Montagu, Grand Secretary General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the UK, wrote to the Illustrious Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States that Yarker “was expelled by this Supreme Council for Unmasonic and other conduct” (Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives, National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA.)

  30 Yarker was a prolific writer of articles and letters to various journals, and a complete bibliography of his works is beyond the scope of this book. I am working on a history of western esotericism that will take a closer look at Yarker’s work.

  31 John Yarker to AC, 4 Nov 1910, OTO Archives.

  32 Aleister Crowley, “Waite’s Wet,” The Equinox 1912, 1(8): 233–42.
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  33 Confessions, 629.

  34 Francis King, The Magical World of Aleister Crowley (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc., 1978), 61–2.

  35 “Captain G. M. Marston,” Times (London), 5 May 1928, 44885: 14. Birth record, Q1 1872, GRO, Salford, Lancashire, 8d: 35. “From the London Gazette,” Times (London), 12 Oct 1892, 33767: 11 and 1 Jul 1905, 37748: 14. “Naval and Military Intelligence,” Times (London), 18 Jun 1901, 36484: 11; 27 Jul 1901, 36518: 13, and 11 Nov 1910, 39427: 7. “Trawlers and Submarine Cables,” Times (London), 7 Jul 1908, 38692: 16. Richard D. Ryder, The Calcrafts of Rempstone Hall: The Intriguing History of a Dorset Dynasty (Devon: Halsgrove, 2005). Paul Newman, Ancestral Voices Prophesying War: A Tale of Two Suicides (St. Austell: Abraxas Editions, 2009).

  36 AC to Frank Bennett, 9 Feb 1910, New 92, Yoke Collection.

  37 AC to Frank Bennett, 26 Feb 1910, New 92, Yorke Collection.

  38 For a biographical study of Bennett, see Keith Richmond, Progradior and the Beast: Frank Bennett & Aleister Crowley (London: Neptune Press, 2004). For Bennett’s further correspondence with Crowley and members of his circle, see Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett, Charles Stansfeld Jones, et al,. The Progradior Correspondence, Letters by Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett, C. Stansfeld Jones, & Others, ed. Keith Richmond (York Beach, ME: Teitan Press, 2009).

  39 A James Gilbert Bailey was born in Crewe, Cheshire, in 1885 to iron smith James-Bailey and his wife Mary. However, I have been unable to positively identify this as the same J. G. Bailey. Birth record, Q3 1885, GRO, Nantwich, Cheshire, 8a: 320. 1901 British Census, Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire, RG13, piece 4485, 91: 10.

  40 Meredith Starr’s 1910 contributions to the Occult Review include “Transformation,” 11 (May): 241; “The New Creation by Mary Higgs” [review], 11 (Jun): 346; “Maurice Maeterlink by Gérard Harry” [review], 12 (Jul): 57; “The Lost Valley and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood” [review], 12 (Aug): 121; “Reflections on Reincarnation,” 12 (Sep): 158–162. “Maeterlinck’s Symbolism; The Blue Bird; & Other Essays by Henry Rose” [review], 12 (Dec): 399. A complete list numbers over one hundred reviews and contributions, and is beyond the scope of this book.

  41 In a marginal note to the Abbey of Thelema library’s copy of Diary of a Drug Fiend, Crowley wrote, “Anhalonium lewinii … I made many experiments on people with this drug in 1910, and subsequent years” (p. 39, paragraph 3).

  42 From notes written on the sheets of The Equinox 1910, 1(4). HRHRC.

  43 Comment on Close’s oath, Mortlake Collection. See also AC to Henri Birven, 13 Dec 1929, New 24, Yorke Collection.

  44 What’s On, 15 Oct 1910. Quoted in Keith Richmond, “Introduction,” in Aleister Crowley, The Rites of Eleusis, ed. Anthony N. Naylor (Thame, Oxon: Mandrake Press Ltd., 1990).

  45 “Sydney College of Music: Annual Examinations,” Sydney Mail, 10 Dec 1898, 8.

  46 H. J. Gibbney and Ann G. Smith, A Biographical Register, 1788–1839: Notes from the Name Index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (Canberra: Australian National University, 1987), vol. 2, 321. Debby Cramer, Archivist, Presbyterian Ladies’ College, private communication, 28 Oct 2009. Margaret Gillezeau, Archivist, Ascham School, private communication, 9 Nov 2009.

  47 “Bain’s Gaiety Entertainers,” The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania), 18 Jan 1904, 5.

  48 Quotes are from the concert’s review, “Concert at Masonic Hall,” The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania), 22 Jan 1904, 3. Advertisements for the concerts appeared in The Mercury for 11 Jan 1904, 5; 18 Jan 1904, 5; 19 Jan 1904, 5; 20 Jan 1904, 5; 21 Jan 1904, 5. I have been unable to identify Bohm’s “Papillons,” although it is not likely to be a misprint as Crowley also lists Waddell playing this piece in The Rites of Eleusis, see The Equinox I(6): supp. 60. Around the time of this concert, the 1904 Sydney directory (p. 1166) lists a “Miss L. Waddell” living at 166 King Street.

  49 Sydney Mail, 16 Aug 1905, 443. Given the information presented previously, this was not Waddell’s debut, as is sometimes claimed.

  50 What’s On, op. cit.

  51 Evening Post (New Zealand), 29 Dec 1906 72(154): 6. Evening Post (New Zealand), 5 Jan 1907. 73(4): 6. The Colonist 7 Mar 1908, 50(12185): 2. Nelson Evening Mail 7 Mar 1908, 42: 2.

  52 For Waddell’s studies under Sauret and Auer, see “Our Contributors,” Shadowland, Oct 1923, 9(2): 69; [Leila Waddell], “Music,” The International, Apr 1918, 12(4): 128; Leila Bathurst, “An Interview with Leopole Auer,” The International, May 1918, 12(5): 156–7.

  French violinist-composer Émile Sauret was a child prodigy who began performing in Vienna before age eight. His Gradus ad Parnassum du violiniste (Leipzig, 1896) reports that he studied with Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski and played on several occasions to the court of Napoleon III. Although he toured the world, there is no record of him residing or teaching in Sydney; however, from 1908 he settled in London and taught at Trinity College of Music. See Roger J. V. Cotte, “Sauret, Emile,” Grove Music Online, www.oxfordmusiconline.com (accessed Oct 23 2009).

  Hungarian violinist-teacher Leopold Auer studied at the Budapest and Vienna Conservatories from age eight, and went on to a successful career as a performer and orchestra leader. On Anton Rubinstein’s recommendation, he succeeded Wieniawski in 1868 as violin teacher at the St. Petersburgh Conservatory, where he remained until 1917. As one of the most sought-after violin teachers in the world, he taught in London during the summers of 1906–1911, and in February 1918 sailed for New York, where he continued to teach and perform. One of his students, Clara Rockmore, famously went on to become the world’s foremost theremin player. Leila Waddell had opportunity to study with Auer during his summers teaching in London, or possibly after he moved to New York. See Boris Schwarz, “Auer, Leopold,” Grove Music Online, www.oxfordmusiconline.com (accessed Oct 23 2009).

  53 “Music,” Sydney Times, 23 Jun 1909, 47.

  54 “Daly’s Theatre: ‘A Waltz Dream,’ ” Times (London), 9 Jan 1911, 39477: 10. The Play Pictorial 1910, 17(103): 74–96.

  55 “Theatres, &c.,” Times (London), 27 Apr 1911, 39570: 8.

  56 Aleister Crowley, “The Temple of Solomon the King,” The Equinox 1913, 1(10): 95.

  57 Postcard from AC to Sybil Meugens, no date, HRHRC. [Her name is spelled “Meagens” in Crowley’s notes to The Equinox 1910, I(4).]

  58 Louis Marlow [Louis Wilkinson], Seven Friends (London: Richards Press, 1953), 60.

  59 AC to Henri Birven, Oct 1929, New 24, Yorke Collection.

  60 Aleister Crowley, “The Tent,” Occult Review, Mar 1910, 11: 160.

  61 AC to John Quinn, 1 Sep 1913, New 12, Yorke Collection.

  62 A. G. Stephens, “The Bookfellow,” Evening Post, 17 Dec 1910, 80(146): 17.

  63 Stephensen, Legend of Aleister Crowley, 74.

  64 Jacob Tonson, “Books and Persons,” New Age, 13 Apr 1911, 8(24): 566.

  65 D. H. Lawrence to Grace Crawford, 9 Jul 1910, in James T. Boulton, The Letters of D. H. Lawrence, Volume 1: September 1901–May 1913 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979), 169. See also the letter dated July 24, 1910, where Lawrence simply remarks, “I return Crowley: didn’t like it.”

  66 In addition to works previously identified as reprinted in The Winged Beetle, the volume also reproduced from Vanity Fair several poems—including “The Muse,” “The Child,” and “The Jew of Fez”—and poetic translations—including “Le Vin Des Amants,” “Le Balcon,” “L’amour et le Crane,” “Woman,” “Le Vampire,” “Le Revenant,” “Tout Entière,” “En Sourdine.”

  67 Stephensen, Legend of Aleister Crowley, 74.

  Chapter Ten • Aleister Through the Looking Glass

  1 Born in Leamington, Warwickshire, in 1858, Reginald St. John Parry was the third son of Rev. Edward St. John Parry, headmaster of the famous private school at Stoke Popes. Parry attended Charterhouse, where he was a prize scholar, Talbot scholar, and medalist. Matriculating to Trinity College in 1876, Parry received his BA in 1880, MA in 1883, deacon ordination (Ely) in 1884, priest ordination in 1885,
BD in 1903, and DD in 1913. Over the years, he filled various roles at Trinity: He was elected a fellow of Trinity in 1881, was a junior proctor from 1890–1891, a tutor from 1894–1908, and, when Professor Henry Jackson died, Parry succeeded him as vice master in 1919, a post which he held until his death in 1935, His published works include A Discussion of the General Epistle of St. James (London: C. J. Clay, 1903), The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1912; rev. ed. 1916), Cambridge Essays on Adult Education (London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1920), The Universities and Adult Education: Extramural Work (London, n.p., 1920), The Pastoral Epistles (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1920), The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1921), and Henry Jackson, O.M., Vice-Master of Trinity College & Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1926). See “Obituary,” Times (London), 23 Feb 1935, 46996: 14. Alumni Cantabrigienses. “Ordinations,” Times (London), 22 Sep 1885, 31558: 7. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum, Register (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1898), 816.

  2 John Symonds The Great Beast: The Life of Aleister Crowley (London: Rider & Co, 1952), 217.

  3 See Aleister Crowley, “Reviews,” The Equinox 1910, I(4): 239–40. In his personal notes to this issue, he identifies the Parry-lytic Liar as “Rev. R. St. J. Parry.”

  4 Symonds, Great Beasti, 217–8.

  5 “Obituary,” 23 Feb 1935, 14.

  6 Norman Mudd to C. S. Jones, 15 Jan 1923, Yorke Collection.

  7 Aleister Crowley, “Pan to Artemis,” The Equinox 1910, 1(4): 197–8.

  8 Jean Overton Fuller, The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuburg (London: W. H. Allen, 1965), 163.

  9 See, for instance: Algernon Charles Swinburne. 808. Chorus from “Atalanta,” in Arthur Quiller-Couch (ed.), The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900, 1919.