This summer past New York has been plagued by another whacko calling himself "Zodiac". Crudely imitating the original Zodiac killer in California who was never apprehended, and most certainly the NY Zodiac is not the same person, this individual shot four street people, choosing his victims partly because of their zodiac signs. A number of wild theories surfaced as to how he knew the victims' sun signs, mostly involving computers and private files, but in all probability he merely asked them when they were born during a leisurely daytime conversation then returned to shoot the ones he wanted. Out of the four shootings only one man died in the hospital due to complications, turning the Zodiac "shooter" into the Zodiac "killer".
Copying the CA Zodiac, this copycat killer sent taunting letters to the authorities, vowing to kill twelve people for each sign of the zodiac, drawing a crude and inaccurate zodiac wheel on his letters along with the familiar circled cross of the original Zodiac, and occasionally making references to "Faust" and "the seven sisters". One of the theories regarding the circled cross is that it is a Celtic Cross, although what that would have to do with anything is a mystery to me. The circled cross or cross within a circle is also the astronomical symbol for Earth, and that would seem to better fit the symbolism used by the killer. However, I suggested to the Zodiac Task Force that they try to be a little more realistic and down to earth. [No pun intended.] First of all it probably means little to the copycat killer - only that the original Zodiac used it - and that perhaps the CA Zodiac was not drawing a Celtic Cross on his letters, but rather the crosshairs of a rifle scope, as if to say "You are in my sights", "I have my weapon aimed right at you" or "You are under the gun" with a double meaning, even taunting the police by virtually wearing a bullseye over his heart. Of course that does not appeal to police task forces when they cannot come up with a single clue that would lead them to the criminal. The rationale seems to be: If we cannot catch the criminal he must be an evil genius. And so more exotic, often outlandish, explanations and interpretations must be developed. In this case, although the victims were able to describe the NY Zodiac as a black man in such detail that a good police sketch could be drawn and widely shown on television and elsewhere, the police could get nowhere in the case. Therefore, because admittedly it is far more difficult to apprehend a criminal in real life than it is in television cop shows, and to excuse police ineptitude, Zodiac suddenly became an evil occult genius straight out of the pages of an incredibly unrealistic Dennis Wheatley "Black Magic Story"!
First the astrological angle was explored, but that was shot down by individuals like Henry Weingarten, Director of the N.Y. Astrological Centre, who proved that Zodiac really did not know very much about astrology, that he certainly was not an astrologer. Yet while exploring this possibility, WWOR Channel 9's three-hour combination talk show and news program, 9 Broadcast Plaza, invited an "expert" in such matters to talk about Zodiac on the air. Yep. You guessed it. The so-called "expert" was Maury Terry, author of the idiotic and absurdly reasoned book The Ultimate Evil. [See TNN VI.5.3-17 for review and commentary.] I found it particularly amusing when Terry commented upon the mention of "the seven sisters" in one of Zodiac's letters. Despite the fact that Zodiac's motif was astrology, the "seven sisters" then obviously referring to the Pleiades, although the NY Zodiac probably did not even know that much, Terry, without hesitation - for he is an "expert", don't you know! - interpreted this reference mythologically. Then, Terry "reasoned" [cough cough], that since Zodiac referred to the "seven sisters", and these sisters were the handmaidens of the Moon Goddess Diana, the Goddess of Witchcraft, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NY Zodiac is a satanist. Do we see plans for another idiotic book making much ado about nothing? Many things could be said about Terry's [ahum] "reasoning" here, but most outstanding is the leap in logic made when Terry tied Zodiac into Witchcraft - a prechristian rural religion that worships God/dess manifest in Nature, works for the good of the community and does not recognize such an idiotic and repulsive concept as the Judeo-Christian Devil - and said that proves Zodiac a satanist - satanism being an antichristian pseudo-religion that worships the individual ego of the satanist, and seeks only the gratification of ego at anyone's expense, either worshipping the Devil, the Judeo-Christian concept sometimes dressed up in the rags of a hackney interpretation of ancient Egyptian mythology, or simply as a symbol for the greedy and gluttonous false self or ego. Talk about comparing apples and oranges! Using the same insane logic that is common for Maury Terry, one could say that because a man worships Jesus Christ it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a devout Jew!
Astrology was ruled out. However, the idea that Zodiac might be a satanist, no doubt associated with that supposed nationwide satanic organization much talked about in The Ultimate Evil and elsewhere, despite the fact that it is as close to a complete impossibility as is possible in life, if one knew anything about the psychology of a satanist - that idea, that Zodiac might be a satanist, was intriguing. And so, detectives of the Zodiac Task Force headquartered at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, unable to come up with a clue, decided, it seems, to invent one. They went to occult bookstores and came up with a copy of The Law is for All - which is The Book of the Law [Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX] and commentaries by Aleister Crowley. Since it seemed that Zodiac shot every twenty-one days they decided that Chapter II, Verse 21 of that book proved that Zodiac was using it as his bible, his blueprint, because does not that book say "We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. ..."? And were not Zodiac's victims all "wretched" and "weak", "the outcast and the unfit"? And does not the comment advocate weeding out the weak? No. The comment says that "Nature's way is to weed out the weak" and that perhaps we are going against Nature and Her Wisdom by spending too much time and energy saving the weak who then must be carried throughout life by the strong, holding them back. A down-to-earth, logical comment. However, CCXX II.21 also points out that "Compassion is the vice of kings", which is to say that Thelemites, followers of Crowley's teachings who feel that The Book of the Law is a sacred, initiated book, also called by that book "kings of the earth", are "faulted", as it were, by the "vice" of compassion. We know that perhaps Nature's way is best, but we cannot help ourselves and we feel that if anything can be done to help the wretched and the weak then it should be done, ay, it must be done. Besides, those that The Book of the Law refers to as "the outcast and the unfit", "the wretched & the weak", are not the people living in the streets or those who are chronic abusers of the welfare system - not the physically weak and handicapped - because, as Chapter II, Verse 58 of The Book also says "Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder beggar is a King. A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty." Obviously "the outcast and the unfit", "the wretched & the weak", the beggars referred to in The Book of the Law are not those individuals who are physically weak or financially poor as a "king" may choose such a façade; obviously The Book and Crowley are referring to those who are "poor in spirit" - and that is something that cannot be judged by a person's physical and financial situation or appearance. Many, perhaps most, of the world's great geniuses, "kings of the earth", lived and died in porverty, often ill and infirm, and appreciated only after their deaths. Thus can neither Aleister Crowley nor The Book of the Law, nor of course Thelema, be blamed for the irrational acts of an individual who is obviously one of "the outcast" and "unfit".
However, the story that The Law is for All [The Book of the Law] and Aleister Crowley were connected to the Zodiac shootings was spread about by the Associated Press [50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, Louis D. Boccardi, President & General Manager] and rags like The New York Daily News [220 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, James P. Willse, Editor], and I first heard about it a day or so later on 9 Broadcast Plaza [WWOR, Eastern Microwave, 3 Northern Concourse, P.O. Box 4872, Syracuse, NY 13221]. I was shocked! I was infuriated! I reached for my pen to make notes and nearly tore the pocket out of my shirt then popped a blank tape into my VCR to record it just to be absolutely sure I could get everything just right. Checking the talk shows, employing my VCR's automatic function when I cannot be present, for just such a thing is the only reason I had even caught this. When 9 Broadcast Plaza, in its former incarnation as People Are Talking, started to slip and become the same old dull and boring stuff and nonsense day after day, I lost interest in it. In fact, the only really interesting thing during its former incarnation soon became the bikini contests, and now 9 Broadcast Plaza does not do that sort of thing. Too bad.
Adding insult to injury, while the show's co-host, Matt Lauer, [1998 E.V.: currently co-host of NBC's early morning Today show], conspicuously missing shortly afterwards, levelled accusation after accusation against Crowley to indicate how "evil" he was, two gentlemen defended him ... well ... sort of. "Experts". The usual.
Crowley was called a "heroin addict". Forget the fact that he beat the addiction and that it was not, in the first place, caused by his experimentation, but rather because of the dosage prescribed by a doctor. Lauer, checking the "information" sheets in his hand, accused Crowley of being a "homosexual" as if it were the most awful thing in the world to be. I bet the gay community just loved that! Forget the fact that the vast majority of Crowley's relationships were with women. In point of fact, "bisexual" would be a more acceptable term in Crowley's case, and yet if his sexual life and experimentation with "sex magick" be carefully studied, it seems obvious that he was very much "heterosexual" - having only experimented, and mostly with unsatisfactory results, with homosexuality partly as a "scientist" and partly as a psychological means of breaking away from the restrictive mores of Victorian Christianity in England during the turn of the century. Oh, certainly, he no doubt enjoyed certain sensations, but after all, at the expense of sounding crude, a mouth's a mouth. Also Lauer, checking his notes, accused Crowley of having sex with dwarfs. Oh my God! How horrid! How obscene! How much do you want to bet that not only had the gay community been heard from on that one, but so too the little people who are tired of being put down and thought to be somehow subhuman just because of their stature, or lack of it?
Lauer also called Crowley a "criminal", although A.C. was never guilty of nor charged with any crime throughout his entire seventy-two years of life, nor did he spend so much as a day, an hour, behind bars. Thus Mr. Lauer was being very unamerican [or very American, depending upon your point of view] as he was not following the rule that a man is innocent until and unless proven guilty. A.C., as usual, was tried and condemned without any real evidence at all - on the mere strength of rumour, hearsy and provably false statements. For instance, some of the incorrect information about Crowley comes from John Symonds, yet even the words of Symonds defends Crowley when it is alleged that while in NY he advertised for and had sex with dwarfs and physically deformed individuals as some kind of kinky "black magic" sexual act. To wit:
DWARFS, Hunchbacks, Tattooed Women, Harrison Fisher Girls, Freaks of All Sorts, Coloured Women, only if exceptionally ugly or deformed, to pose for artist. Apply by letter with a photograph."
This is from The Great Beast, which otherwise twists and perverts facts to show Crowley in the worst possible light. [See TNN IV.6 and V.1, 3, 4 and 5.] And in Symonds' reworking of that book, now called The King of the Shadow Realm, we find the same ad quoted prefaced by the following:
"By 'art', he meant mainly the painting of genre pictures which he had recently taken up without any training in drawing. As a painter he was ahead of his time. His newspaper advertisement for models is characteristic."
The change in Symonds' tone should be noted, for although he has a long long way to go, he does seem to have grown up just a little in his old age and is forced to recognize more of the merits of the man he still continues to slander and misrepresent for some perverse reason probably hinging upon his own difficulties with the subject of sex and anything related to it. The point here, however, is that while there is nothing at all wrong with having sex, so to speak, with a "dwarf", Crowley did not advertise for and then have sexual intercourse with "midgets" and "geeks" for some obscene form of sexual black magic; he advertised for unusual and interesting subjects to sketch and paint, in part to train himself to see what was there and not what one expected to see, to tax and sharpen his skills as an artist. There was absolutely nothing either sexual or magical about it.
The "experts" called in to defend Crowley were two fellows who took the job on half-heartedly, and most ineptly. Russell Wilfand, owner of the Esoteria bookstore, contributed little to the event, sitting there with his blond hair tied in a ponytail, playing with Tibetan (?) prayer beads the whole time. However, Kevin Wahlen, supposedly a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, dressed in all black [naturally - all occultists wear black all the time, don't you know] and having his dark hair cut into a Mohawk, said quite a bit - quite a bit too much. Almost by accident Crowley was defended, to a degree, although with many inaccuracies. Wahlen pointed out that A.C. had been kicked out of the G.D. for "immoral" and not "criminal" reasons, while, in fact, if anyone had the power to boot A.C. out of the order it was Mathers, the chief adept, and Crowley was defending him against Yeats and the other rebellious upstart dilettanti.
Wahlen spoke of the "channelled entity" [Aiwass or Aiwaz] that A.C. received The Book of the Law from in "1907" while the book was "received" in 1904 E.V., and calling Aiwass a "channelled entity" makes Aiwass seem like another "new age" "master" or aspect of the "channeller's" subconscious when in fact Aiwass was the supraconscious aspect or True Self of Aleister Crowley - not a fraction of the false self or ego.
Wahlen said that A.C. divorced his [first] wife, Rose, because she could not conceive. However, she had in fact conceived a child which later died due to Rose's carelessness while Crowley was not present, and A.C. divorced her because of this and the fact that he could no longer deal with her alcoholism, which she was subject to before meeting Crowley and marrying him.
Wahlen also agreed that Crowley called himself "the Wickedest Man in the World" when in fact he did not refer to himself in that way - it was a manner in which the tabloid rags of Crowley's day referred to him.
Wahlen, in an idiotic attempt to look "holier-than-thou", claimed that Crowley taught how one can acquire power and keep it while he and his group teach how to channel it, which is absurd since any power generaged by magick, Crowley taught, is to be "channelled" towards the discovering and accomplishment of the True Will and that any other goal makes magic/k, thus "channelled" towards the petty gratification of the ego alone, "black magic".
And so it went, more idiocies than this coming out of the mouth of Kevin Wahlen, Lauer checking his notes and accusing Crowley, for instance, of murdering children - an absurd charge against a man who so loved children, in a paternalistic way, that he never used the word "abortion" in his writings but always qualified it as "criminal abortion", taking a personal stand on the issue that is contrary to his professional position which would have to have been "pro-choice".
While the program was being aired, an 800 number was flashed on the screen for those viewers who wanted to call in. Funny thing was, I kept trying to call the program but continually found the lines busy, yet not one call was taken. Obviously the 800 number was given only to give the program the appearance of fairness that it really did not intend to practice. I called the studio directly, at some expense to myself, and was treated with typical New York rudeness. Immediately afterwards I wrote a letter commenting rationally on the program, pointing out the errors, the idiocy, the rudeness, et al, and with it sent a great deal of information about Crowley, Thelema, satanism, Witchcraft, "Sex Magick", and more to educate them, suggesting that the next time they intend to drag Crowley into such nonsense they call me and I would, very reluctantly, speak about these matters by telephone on the program. [No. There is no desire to take centre stage. I have turned down opportunities before, although now I suppose I should not have.]
A few things I pointed out to Mr. Lauer and company were that Crowley's book was not exactly found by the side of Zodiac's bed with the smoking revolver resting on it. It was purchased by desperate detectives and assumed to have some connection to the shootings. Because Zodiac shot every twenty-one days it was assumed that the 21st "commandment" or "revelation", as Lauer referred to the "verse", was connected to this - forget the fact that in the three chapter book there are three 21st verses. Also, it was suggested that the book had influenced Zodiac. Okay. There is a very slight possibility that Zodiac had indeed picked up a copy of the book and misinterpreted a verse to justify his desire to harm innocent people, but that in no way condemns Crowley or the book - no more than has the murderous actions of numerous criminals throughout history misinterpreted and misused passages in the Judeo-Christian Bible to justify their crimes condemned Jesus, the Prophets and that book, or rather collection of books. And finally, in all probability Zodiac had not even heard of Crowley or The Book of the Law until the detectives and the newspapers and television brought them to his attention, and it is highly unlikely Zodiac would have even been interested in them. I have been a student of Crowley and Thelema for over two decades now and I have not yet met a single black person who was interested in either Crowley or Thelema, and remember that all the witnesses described Zodiac as a black man. Surely there must be some, but I have yet to meet them. While blacks are certainly most welcome, it may be that certain things Crowley wrote, in part, which were or may seem to be racist, turn blacks off. I am not going to go into all of this now, but suffice it to say that if indeed Zodiac were interested in both A.C. and his work then it would be the first black person that I have known of to be interested and very unusual. Of course, now, the police, the newspapers and such programs as 9 Broadcast Plaza, may have turned Zodiac's attention to Crowley for the first time, adding a new dimension to his criminal behaviour.
I have spent a great deal of time, energy and money I can ill-afford to spend, counteracting the slanders against Crowley and Thelema since then. Many have heard from Newaeon and I, receiving personal letters and packets of information in the hopes of educating the ignorant so that they may do their jobs more accurately, more efficiently and less slanderously. Over this matter alone, this idiotic connection made between New York's Zodiac and Crowley, the following have heard from Newaeon and I: 9 Broadcast Plaza, The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Associated Press, The Pittsburgh Press [who barely mentioned the matter via an A.P. story], and others including most recently Joan Rivers because a guest on her program mentioned that one of the influences in Zodiac's life may have been "the satanic verses from Aleister Crowley", and since A.C. was not a satanist that issue needed to be addressed.
The addresses I gave in the body of this EL I gave for a purpose. Here are some more: The New York Times, 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, Max Frankel, Executive Editor; and in television: Hard Copy, c/o ABC, 777 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023; A Current Affair, Fox Television Stations, Inc., 205 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10021; Inside Report, c/o WSVN, 1401 79th St. Causeway, Miami, FL 33141; (?) Sally Jessy Raphael, Metro Media, 5746 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028; Phil Donahue, c/o 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 827, New York, NY 10112; The Oprah Winfrey Show, Post Office Box 909715, Chicago, IL 60690; Brandon Tartikoff, NBC Entertainment President, 3000 W. Alemeda, Burbank, CA 91523; and last and certainly least, Geraldo Rivera, Investigative News Group, 311 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036.* The purpose? When you read a story in the newspaper or see one on television that slanders Crowley, Thelema, or what not, respond! Respond as briefly as possible, politely, rationally, neatly, professionally. Be heard! And educate the ignorant.
*1998 E.V. Note: Things have changed since the writing of this article and some of the addresses above may no longer be valid, while some of the individuals and programs are no longer on television. I believe Inside Report has since been cancelled, Phil Donahue's talk show is also gone, Mr. Tartikoff has died, and while Geraldo Rivera can still be seen on TV, as persistent as a cockroach, he has gone through a few programs since this writing, and has at least become more rare, less of a fixture on the boob tube.
And what has all this got to do with the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.? Not very much. That's the problem. The few times anyone has heard from representatives of that group, that person ranted wildly or with an attitude of insufferable superiority, speaking with many gross inaccuracies about Crowley and Thelema, a very bad impression was made which in turn made Thelema and Crowley look bad, as, for all the other parties knew due to their ignorance in these matters, the person raving represents Crowley and his teachings. Mostly, however, the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. [blessedly, all things considered] allows the slanders of Crowley and Thelema to go unchallenged. But, you say, the group is suing so-and-so! Yes. The Caliphate gang went after Peter Straub when in his book Ghost Story, he unwisely used the "O.T.O." and represented them badly, having passages in the book changed. Yes. The gang went after Doubleday and Terry as well for what was said about the "O.T.O." in The Ultimate Evil. [How did that turn out anyway? Billy Breeze ... er, excuse me ... Hymenaeus Beta for some reason declines to communicate with me in any way, probably because I am such a lowly being and he is such a supreme being - or is it that he is afraid of being revealed to be something less than supreme?] And the gang won the law suit against the late Marcelo Motta, who then went ahead and died apparently before sending any money their way, leaving them with large court costs to pay, making one wonder then who really won that case! Motta was such a madman, by the way, that I cannot imagine anyone losing to him no matter what. And now ... well ... a letter dated March 1, 1990 E.V. is being circulated by "Frater Superior" Hymenaeus Beta:
"The Order needs your help. The O.T.O. is committed to securing the freedom of Thelemites everywhere to worship as they will. We are probably the only Thelemic organization willing and able to do so",
it says. It goes on to say that attacks have been made by many people and groups including "Marcelo Motta, Lyndon LaRouche, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Larry Flynt's gutter press and Christian hate groups", and for our sake, of course, please send them money, "Make donation checks payable to O.T.O. and mail to O.T.O. Legal Fund...", reminding us that our donations are tax-deductible "to the extent permitted by law." Crap. It is not our rights they are interested in. They are not protecting our rights to worship as we will. The United States Constitution does that quite nicely, thank you very much. The Motta matter is over. And who can take Lyndon LaRouche seriously? Only his idiotic and fanatic followers, and who cares what they think? Currently the LaRouche people have a table sitting outside of the local branch of the post officer here, trying to sell their propaganda, with a large sign taped to the table saying that "ENVIRONMENTALISM IS SATANISM". Get real. And the Jehovah's Witnesses. Oh brother! And good luck with suing Larry Flynt! He has more than a few dollars to spend on legal defense. [By the way, what did he do to incur the mighty wrath of Highmen'sanus and the inepts of his gang?]
If you ask me, and since you are reading this EL I suppose in a way you are, it is neither your rights nor mine, nor is it Thelema and Crowley's name, nor anything so noble that they are concerned with. I am of the considered opinion that the Caliphate gang is, as usual, interested in nothing but themselves. They are being attacked in print, possibly guilty of some of the things they are being accused of, and they are only interested in covering their asses [pardon my commonness] and getting your help to do it. The Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. should never be confused with the O.T.O., which in all probability died with Crowley in '47 E.V., at least so far as the Thelemic O.T.O. goes, nor should they be confused with genuine Thelemites. The U.S. Constitution protects your right to worship as you will. Certainly law suits filed against those who are guilty of libel and slander may make a very strong, as well as very expensive, point and warn others against such rude and impolite behaviour. However, it may be far more effective to fight fire with fire. If slandered in print, investigate your attacker, for probably there are things he does not wish to have exposed, and expose those things while also pointing out the lies and proving them to be just that. Also educate as many people as you can as to what you, Crowley, Thelema, and so forth are all about.
The key is in educating as many people as possible, as well as the police, the media, religious groups that think of everything "occult" as satanic, and educate the ignorant with tolerance, reason, logic, and in an efficient, patient manner. It is a difficult job, time consuming, but usually taking someone to court further overloads the failing court system, even if you win the law suit you will probably have to pay for it for the better part of your life with money that could be used to educate the masses, and in all probability only a handful of people will even know that the suit was won, you were the victor, and what was said about you, Crowley, Thelema, or whatever was false - or at least not proven true, and those who believed the lies will simply continue to believe them and assume that your winning is only further proof of the inefficiency of our legal system.
In my opinion, Breeze and the Caliphate gang have gone law suit crazy. They think that if they sue here, there and everywhere it will make them look good, righteously outraged, and that they will win case after case, gaining more and more legal power and money, despite the fact that so far their legal antics seem to be putting them into the biggest financial hole ever. Fine! Let them slit their own financial throats!
Most amusing, I find, is that the people eager to sue anyone that has a negative comment to make about them are perhaps good candidates themselves for a law suit filed against them. To combat the articles I have written about them, always presenting the gang with complimentary copies, the members and heirarchy of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. have, behind my back, in print and vocally, slandered me numerous times, spreading rumours and lies to try and make me look like the most loathsome creature on the face of the planet in an effort to discredit me. Here is one I am looking into now. Quoting from a letter I received:
"I am just re-reading the court documentation McMurtry et al against Motta. Phyllis Seckler told the court (and the letter was produced) that she wrote to Bill Heidrick on April 20, 1979, that she thinks that you stole the Crowley-archiv [sic] from her storage in 1979."
Did you get that? In a court case which had absolutely nothing to do with me, Soror Meral, Phyllis Seckler, who misrepresents the A.·.A.·. as well as the O.T.O., accused me of a criminal act - one that, in all probability, was committed by members of the Caliphate gang. Most likely the current highest ranking members. Aside from the fact that Honest Abe looks like a liar compared to me, and that I am very justice oriented and obey both the Law of Thelema and civil laws, whether I agree with them or not, I would hardly dash across the country from Pennsylvania to California for any reason, least of all an illegal one, and Newaeon associates are law-abiding invdividuals, chastised by me if they so much as remove a page slandering Crowley from a library book. If this is true and Seckler did indeed accuse me of a criminal act in a court of law she is guilty of libel. Hmmm.
So what do you think? Should I sue the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. and Phyllis Seckler in particular for libel? The idea really tickles me.
And getting back to New York's Zodiac - what of him? The police and the media widely reported that police officers would be everywhere waiting for Zodiac to strike a fifth time twenty-one days after the last shooting. Is it any surprise that, so far as anyone knows, Zodiac did not strike as expected? Certainly Zodiac is an inept moron - after all, he intended to kill the four individuals he shot and only one died, of complications in the hospital - but apparently he was not stupid. And nothing, to my knowledge, has been heard of him since and Zodiac seems to be quite forgotten in New York. One wonders why the police allowed it to be widely reported that they would be out in force to catch the killer. Were they so stupid that they did not realize that this would most certainly encourage him not to attempt another shooting and probably get caught? Or did they intentionally advertise their action to encourage him to stop and perhaps move to another city and get out of their hair? Hell ... maybe they caught him and were so embarrassed to find that the evil occult genius called Zodiac is indeed a moron that they should have easily apprehended sooner and decided to keep their mouths shut about it. However, I tend to think that Zodiac was not caught and will never be caught - at least in New York.
POST SCRIPT:From the reporter's transcript of the proceedings of the court trial, Civil No. C-83-5434, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California before the Honorable Charles A. Legg, Judge, just received, the Plaintiffs being Grady McMurtry, etc., vs. Defendents, Marcelo Ramos Motta, etc., Tuesday, May 14, 1985 E.V., the following:
"Q. Now, did you ever have any idea or thoughts even real or imagined as to who might have taken the library? A. I had many. I was terribly concerned. Q. I see. What is Document 18? A. Document 18 is a letter from me [Phyllis Seckler, aka Soror Meral] to Bill Heidrick -- That's H-e-i-d-r-i-c-k -- of April 20, 1979. In this letter I tried to pinpoint who might have been interested in stealing the library. Do you want me to read further? Q. Well, I'd like you to tell me who these people are. A. First on the list is G. M. Kelly of New Eon Newsletter (phonetic). I had been subscribing to his Newsletter. Q. All right. A. All of these people, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven, seven of them had gotten my issue of In the Continuum, which told the story of the rescue of the Crowley-Germer material from West Point. And I thought these people might know too much, because I had said in my article that these materials were stored far from my home. ..."
It is rather flattering to know that I am first on the list in the tiny little paranoid mind of this pseudo-o.t.o. inept who also misrepresents the A.·.A.·., and in a backhanded way she is encouraging others to read The Newaeon Newsletter by pointing out that I am apparently privy to inside information, as it were, which implies that, after all, I probably am revealing the truth behind the lies of the Caliphate gang - hardly a surprise to me. Of course, I had nothing to do with the theft, never physically being in the area. I said "physically" because back around 1975 E.V. while I was on my 1st Great Magical Retirement, having attained the "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel", formulating what would be the newsletter, reaching out to the Caliphate gang after becoming aware of them, and travelling astrally [i.e. reaching out through the astral state of consciousness], often perceived by myself and others as a dark, shadowy form, Grady and Phyllis were plagued by a shadowlike form which haunted their house and frightened them badly by its presence. Attempts to be rid of the haunting shadowman were amusingly absurd. This matter was reported by Phyllis in an issue of her publication, In The Continuum
Better watch out, Phyllis, old girl. Big Brother Kelly is Watching!
EXCERPTS FROM A LETTER I RECEIVED:
"...there is just no one printing anything [by Aleister Crowley]. I blame the Caliphate for that; they have everyone leary of infringing copyrights. Swine."
And I have found, understandably, that many students of Thelema feel the same way. Again, the vast majority of Crowley's works were distributed by him without the benefit of a copyright which immediately puts those books in the public domain, which means then that anyone may publish those works, legally. Whether something was copyrighted, or whether an original copyright is still good or not, is not terribly difficult to ascertain.
Also: "I've subscribed to THE MAGICAL LINK... I hate to admit it as it makes me technically an associate member (Horus help me!), which is a sickening thought. I may not re-subscribe as there is never any Crowley in it; at least not last year. There was one article about - who was it - Gernon I believe, dying of a heroin overdose, going on about all the drug use in the Caliphate, and then (and here's the real funny part) the next issue told of the police raiding the Berkley Lodge or whatever on a drug warrant! and they chalked it up to RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION!!! I think you mentioned this, or something very much like it, in TNN at one point. They sound like a bunch of old, and older, hippies. ... No wonder Thelema and Crowley are constantly being misunderstood with dopes like these around. It's a damn good thing you and Newaeon are around to counter such nonsense".
Well, we are trying.
[ENCYCLICAL LETTER, Autumn Equinox 1990 E.V.]