1814th Ord S&M Co (Avn)
APO 149. U.S. Army
16 March 1945
FRANCE

Dear Aleister,

Yours of the 8th March came in today and just in time too as I have finally finished rewriting and re–re–revising my Dynamics of Equilibrium. Was intending to get it off to you tonight anyway. Taking your criticism of “but what does it mean” to heart I have rewritten entire sections of it — leaving off everything I possibly could that might tend to confuse the issue. In addition I have added a general outline in front that should be helpful in orienting yourself if some passage is obscure and you want to know what its relationship is to the subject as a whole — and also added a sheet “Some Notes on Energy” to the back so that many terms you may not be familiar with should now be explained. That “Ab origine ad finem” I took from my notes on Latin phrases which I copied from that book you loaned me. It seemed appropriate considering the range of the subject. I’m not too sure that that quotation from my “Pangenetor!” exactly fits — what do you think? This should clear up that misunderstanding we had some time back when I wrote to you something like “for the next few years I may not have time for your work”. You interpreted that as meaning that I thought Magick was your work — and replied to the effect that Magick was an individual’s work. Perfectly right — only that was not what I had been speaking of. Just as I have pointed out in D of E that even tho the opposition has been removed the work of building remains to be done — just so even tho the state of economics on the North American continent may be as a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked it still has to be plucked. That 90% industrial shutdown must not be allowed to occur because if it does there will be no way to start again. The poor old system will have had so many shots in the arm that there will finally come a time when the adrenaline of government credit will fail to rouse the corpse. To avoid chaos there must be a peaceful transition from an Economy of Scarcity to the Economy of Abundance — that means a lot of work. Campaigning, education, pamphleteering — until finally we have enough electorial strength to call for, and pass, a referendum. So you can see why I look forward to several years passing before I can finally have time to go into Magick wholeheartedly. But when I do! Oh, brother. I’ll want you around just to watch my smoke. It’s something like an ambitious law student holding himself in check for a few additional years in order to completely master his subject while his classmates drop out to take up practice so that they can start making money now. Sure, they’ll make a little money now — but wait until the boy with the big guns moves up. That’s the pay off.

You should the the {sic} two sets of Luxoumburg {sic} stamps by now. The candy you have mentioned several times has as yet failed to appear. Possibly this is because of the new regulations which the girl did not know about. If you have the Stieg you will note that I have affixed a certificate stating that the package was not worth over two pounds sterling — I presume that some such regulation also applies now to merchandise being mailed to the American postal system. Up until a few days before I sent the Stieg no such regulation was in effect.

Will be awaiting your answer on D of E. Want to send it to Jack, Germer, etc, but want to be sure that you understand it before I sent it to them. I want to use it as the basis of actions for intelligently applying our forces to bring about an era of abundance. Once that is done we can apply our full energy to the organization of the Temple. But to give it authority I need your approval.

As ever,

Note: Originally published in Thelema Lodge Calendar, November 2001.

Note: Thank you to William Heidrick for making this image available.