In TNN III.1 & 2 we wrote extensively of Mr. Grady Louis McMurtry, Mr. William Heidrick, and their pseudo-Ordo Templi Orientis. We see no need, therefore, to make any further mention of them here, at this time. However, as an addendum, let me make mention of something which I found most amusing and quite predictable. It concerns their publication, the O.T.O. Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 10-11. 

In the beginning, Mr. Heidrick, "editor" of their newsletter, although briefly, reviewed The Newaeon Newsletter. His words were quite flattering; in private ocrrespondence he sought a closer alliance with Newaeon. Then he began to notice that the Sword strokes were getting uncomfortably close. He became cautious in his reviews. Finally the Sword struck and in this last (though unfortunately not yet the "last") issue he reviewed The Newaeon Newsletter in such a way as to show his pettiness and egocentricity, and called our Work yellow journalism printing naught but pointless insults. He then pointed out that if anyone wished to become notorious, just write to G.M.Kelly...and just about everyone would like to be known as being at least a little notorious! 

Yellow journalism is the printing of unsubstantiated accusations for the sake of boosting circulation by sensationalism. We have more than substantiated our facts and if our objective reporting of those facts has boosted circulation then we prove ourselves good at our job. 

As to pointless insults: we have intentionally insulted no one--we have merely reported the facts for the benefit of would-be aspirants, and they have been anything but pointless. However, if Messrs. McMurtry and Heidrick have not yet gotten the point it is this: neither of these gentlemen are fit leaders of anything, let alone an esoteric brotherhood, nor are they even fit followers; their claims are based upon very insubstantial documents and the elder is being foolishly deceived by the younger. They are quite insincere and therefore they lie outrageously, to themselves and to all others. Is the point now understood? 

"'A wound from that Sword,' answered Adam, 'needs no dressing. It is healing and not hurt.'" 

             - From LILITH by George MacDonald, 
               Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 

Please forgive the Very Honoured Frater M.E.D.'s brevity here, but he had very little else to say about McMurtry at this point and had to move on to more pressing matters, in specific, a very real magical battle from which he cannot take his attention and full concentration at this moment. This gives me, however, a chance to write an article that is easily placed in the Sword of Horus section, and if you will excuse my obvious enthusiasm and the fact that it had to be seriously edited, this article shall follow. 
             - Editor 

TALENTS & GENIUSES by Gilbert Highet, Oxford University Press, 1957 E.V. 

For the purpose of review and to fulfill our Will of Adjustment, we had intended to quote pages 158 to 164 from TALENTS & GENIUSES--a chapter entitled "The Magician", about Aleister Crowley. However, after getting the proverbial run-around we were refused permission to reprint this material. No reason was given, but we wonder: were they afraid of legitimate criticism of a man who criticized A.C. in a most unfair and ungentlemanly manner? So be it then. We wanted to give Mr. Highet's story first, but we have been denied the chance to be fair by the very people who sought to protect his memory. I therefore refer the interested reader to the public library...or, if you wish, you may simply trust us and take our word for the following.  

Mr. Highet begins by giving us a capsulized version of W. Somerset Maugham's early cut and paste book, THE MAGICIAN. On page 161 he really begins and he writes that A.C. had remarkable hypnotic powers (true), then he goes on to write that A.C. employed these powers to use and eventually drive women to drink and death. No woman ever died because of Crowley and the two that were finally overcome by alcoholism were those who were already, before ever meeting Crowley, budding alcoholics. 

Mr. Highet continues to tell us that A.C. attempted to set himself up as the deity of a new religion. (Shades of John Symonds!) However, even a superficial study of any of his works proves that the Beast 666 taught that each and everyone of us are potential gods and goddesses and that it is our duty to discover our own godhood. A.C. never pretended to be more god than anyone else and he scoffed at those who would deify him as the followers of Osiris deified him and as those who would call themselves "Christians" deified the Initiate Jesus. 

Mr. Highet goes on to inform, or rather, I should say misinform the reader that A.C. taught the controlled use of emotion and the total abandoment of reason. This is not exactly true. Emotional control was taught by A.C., as it was taught by Gotama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth and others, but he never taught the total abandonment of reason. Reason, the Magical Sword, is a necessary instrument for comprehending and dealing with things below the Abyss, and must be strictly employed in the endeavour to reach ever Higher, beyond the realms of Things and No-Things, unto the Highest, above the Abyss, where reason, as we know it, does not exist. This is, simply, what A.C. taught. The Magician does not abandon his Magical Sword for it is one of his greatest weapons and his only true defense against the forces of Unreason. 

Mr. Highet claims that A.C.'s poetry was bad, that his prose was meaningless, and that his drawings and paintings were amateurish. 

Question: Was Mr. Highet a competent judge? 

Crowley's poetry speaks for itself in its infinite ways of expressing the heights and the depths of the total being. His prose is loaded with meaning; astounding in its depth and richness. And, though his artwork was indeed amateurish, it is obvious that he recognized this fact, for though he designed and supervised the paintings of the Thoth tarot deck, he employed a professional artist, Lady Frieda Harris, to actually paint the cards. 

Still, on page 161 and slithering over on to page 162, Mr. Highet writes about the so-called destructive effect A.C. had upon others. However, it is an obvious fact that the influence of Crowley's Genius actually raised those about him to their full potential. Neuburg wrote his greatest poetry when influenced directly by Crowley. Leila Waddell became a virtuoso of the violin under his influence. If these people crumbled and fell after parting company with the Beast 666 they have no one to blame but themselves. If these and others were destroyed, it was not because of A.C.'s influence, but rather because they lacked his influence. 

Mr. Highet goes on to tell us that, if not for his destructive effect upon others, A.C. would have been a comic figure, just another silly leader of another absurd religious sect, with gospels written by one of their own number, and who talk about pyramids, weave their own clothing and wear sandals. I personally do not have anything but admiration for a person who can weave his or her own clothing, though I doubt that many Thelemites have had the time, skill or need to do this, and I really do not see what is so awful about wearing sandals. As to talk about the pyramids: the Egyptian and South American pyramids have amazed and astounded great men of science and architecture for thousands of years and probably will continue to do so for thousands more. Just how trite and meaningless does this world appear to be in the eyes of Gilbert Highet? As for the gospels written by one of those who adheres to a particular Way...just who does he expect to write Thelemic gospels? Christians? Did the Sadducees write the gospels in the Christian's Bible, the New Testament? Really. Mr. Highet completely abandons all reason in criticizing Aleister Crowley and his teachings. It is amazing just how much foolishness this one man can pack into so few pages. I only wish I had the space to write this article in full! 

Page 162 misinforms the reader that during World War I Crowley wrote for The Fatherland and The International, not out of admiration for the Germans, but because of mother-hatred. Now Mr. Highet unsuccessfully plays psychoanalyst. First of all, A.C. did respect the pre-Hitler Germans very much. Secondly, he desperately desired to serve his own mother country, England, but they would not have his help. Therefore, employing his legitimate admiration for the German people, he made his way into the German propagandist publications in order to undermine their efforts by making them appear absurd...such as when he likened Wilhelm I to Parsifal! Writing for these magazines also provided him with a means of expressing his magical ideas, which took over much of The International for a time, and it provided for something even more basic in those times when he lacked money for food and shelter--an income. 

We are next told that A.C. failed to make his mark in the world because his writings were poor and his doctrines incoherent. Yet Mr. Highet obviously was not a man of great education and foresight for A.C. has certainly made his mark in the world--the mark of the Beast--and his writing has inspired many while his doctrines continually bring Light to otherwise dark minds. Crowley was a master of the English language and a Teacher who is just now becoming recognized for his greatness. He has influenced many men, like Aldous Huxley and James Branch Cabell, who continually influence many others. Crowley's books are now in great demand and are sold in large numbers at outrageous prices. 

Mr. Highet had found that it is far easier to criticize than to understand. Once more Mr. Highet bungled his criticism due to a lack of intelligence, knowledge and foresight. 

Mr. Highet reverts to the worst kind of yellow journalism when he alludes to the death of one of A.C.'s pupils, implying that Crowley was responsible. He refers, of course, to Raoul Loveday who died of entritis, contracted by drinking impure water in Sicily that Crowley had warned him not to drink. Betty May, Loveday's wife, who was present at the time, and who had urged Raoul to heed the Master's words, kindly explained this in her book, TIGER WOMAN. 

People once associated with, and who greatly admire A.C., are called by Mr. Highet goofy and loony. He has insulted us, my friends, and without even meeting us. 

It is true that the teachings of the Master Therion attracts many "fractured mentalities", but this is equally true of Buddhism, Christianity, and every other religious and/or philosophic movement, and it is true of every field of science, art and business. Obviously it is true of journalism...Mr. Highet proves that. 

A.C. was also called, by the author of TALENTS & GENIUSES, a hater of this world. Is the parent who scolds his child a hater of that child? 

Again Mr. Highet babbles incoherent nonsense. A.C. was in love, passionately, with this crazy world and its inhabitants. His greatest desire was to assist humankind in achieving the Next Step on the Path of Spiritual Evolution, and his greatest sorrow was to see humanity make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. This is all quite obvious to anyone who is capable of objectively studying the writings of the Beast 666, from any and all points of view. 

Quite plainly Mr. Highet claims that A.C. was a failure. Very little needs to be said about this. At this point in history it is becoming more and more obvious just how much of a success Aleister Crowley was, nay, is! Even he himself did not realize how much of a success had he and his Work become. And the future-yet-to-be will surely show just how astroundingly successful was Aleister Crowley, the Beast Six Hundred Three Score and Six. 

Had Mr. Highet written out of jealousy and envy? I wonder... 

The absurdities of Mr. Highet knew no bounds. He continued in his book by writing that A.C. was only a fair magician, not quite as great as Saint-Germain, for example. Question: Did Mr. Highet know the Comte de Saint-Germain personally? The man in question lived and died in the 1700's. Assuming that Gilbert Highet knew A.C., at least slightly, and that he lived as any normal man lives, for an alotted period of time, how can he have actually compared the magical abilities of the two men...reasonably? 

Mr. Highet wrote that A.C. remained a boy, a child, all his life. Is there something wrong with that? What does the Christian Bible say about children and the entering of the gates of heaven? Was not A.C. the Prophet of the New Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child? Was one of Gilbert Highet's problems that of losing the delightful qualities of childhood which keeps the mind flexible and well balanced? 

Mr. Highet goes on to say that this man, Aleister Crowley, who dared to challenge two of the highest and most treacherous mountains in the world, faced social persecution at every turn, battled illnesses that would have killed lesser men, and who faced every demon imaginable, from those evoked in magick circle to those inherent in opium, cocaine and heroin...and beat them all! that this man, Aleister Crowley, lacked courage. 

Just remember who makes this absurd accusation: a man who dared to write such things about Crowley only after he had passed beyond the gates of death and was made incapable of defending himself. 

According to Mr. Highet, A.C. would not study. Yet Crowley was a scholar of indisputable merit and an accomplished magician and poet. He had spent many long hours of study in the reading room of the British Museum and when on even the most dangerous climbs, in exotic and barbaric places, he carried with him his entire library so that his study remained uninterrupted. 

I think it is Mr. Gilbert Highet who would not study! 

Mr. Highet wrote that to the ordinary person Crowley must have seemed wicked and foolish, and since Mr. Highet himself has amply proven that he believed A.C. to have been a wicked and foolish man, he therefore tells us, using reason as our guide, that he is, himself, nothing but a very ordinary person. 

I could actually go on and on in this manner, but I must really stop somewhere. 

My conclusion: Mr. Gilbert Highet was a typical critic of the man that was known to the world as Aleister Crowley. It is a pity that Mr. Highet is not here now to face this criticism of himself, which he has brought upon himself, but then, after all, perhaps this is Justice. 

Our Work is now finished with Mr. Gilbert Highet--may he rest in peace. The Scales of Justice have now been Adjusted just a little better and we can move on to other things. 

Although the mind and the body of our Beloved Beast have passed beyond these earthly realms, his Spirit yet lives on...and in the Spirit of the Beast 666, let Justice be done! 

(TNN.III.4.6-10, 9/23/80 E.V.)