Fraternally yours,
Yawn. Another bit of nonsense similar to the first, but obviously having consumed a good deal more time to produce, came to me from the Westchester, NY post office, dated February 24th, in response to the last EL. I will not flatter the ego that sent it by reproducing it here - besides, the individual has alrady wasted a good deal of money [funds probably collected from others for some high "Thelemic" purpose] to send copies to a number of people, all or at least most of whom were convinced of the sender's idiocy by the action and throught more of me and my opinions as a result. In a way it is rather like when Witches loudly protested the debut of "The Witches of Eastwick" after having come down on Christians for loudly protesting the opening of "The Last Temptation of Christ" - the natural result being that it increased the interest in that which was protested and drew more people to it, or me, in this case.
The six captioned panels on an 8½ x 11 inch sheet of paper are bereft of all sense of genuine wit and creativity, perverting the work of others, perverting even a drawing of Crowley's and one of the Thoth tarot cards he designed. This is common for the pseudo-thelemites who pervert Crowley's work. It shows a pathological twist of mind that both cries out desperately for attention while hiding in cowardly fashion behind anonymity. What a tortured, mean little soul this individual must have. Certainly no "king of the earth".
The inability to intelligently refute and disprove my statements, the childish cowardice and pathological desire for attention, the bankruptcy of creativity, wit and intelligence, and the utter waste of paper, time and money, only serves to prove that everything I have ever said about these individuals who falsely claim to be Thelemites is absolutely correct.
I am neither angered nor frightened. I am not even amused. It is boring. I do not even possess the ego that needs to be proven right. Reason, logic, common sense and honesty dictate what I write and say, and I am not moved by the emotional problems and the temper tantrums of a mentally disturbed and immature moron.
One individual [who had been sent a copy of this nonsense] commenting upon this matter in a letter to me wrote:
"Needless to say, I got a copy of the latest Mouse flyer ... What amazes me is that, in this decade of chrono-contradiction and temporal acceleration (all according to the best New Age doctrine, of course), anyone retains the inclination to waste vast amounts of time (and a moderate amount of money) on something so entirely useless, sophormoric, and meaningless, which amuses and interests no one but the perpetrator. Yawn yawn. It's no different than the little boy who writes 'shit' on the wall in lipstick and invites the neighbor kids over to see it. I can easily visualize the jerk giggling and chortling to himself as he uses what little creative energy he has to produce yet another Kelly put-down, amazing himself with his own brilliance. Get a life, indeed. Oh, well. It's just as well he is thus occupied. I have known similar minds to produce anti-Semitic hate mail, with cartoon drawings of stereotyped Jews."
The so-called "Master" of the Whiskey Rebellion Camp of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. who calls himself Frater Nanivartante 777 II° is really such a silly little worm that he does not deserve any attention, however, he is such a perfect example of the typical Caliphate gang member and so immediately accessible to me that I simply must employ him as a specific example of general statements I have often made. Besides, indirectly he fuels the fire that is burning away the dross that is the Caliphate gang so well that it would actually be a waste to completely ignore his monkey antics.
Recently a long-time friend of mine wrote to Bold, inquiring about the Whiskey Rebellion Camp. When asked how knowledge of his existence was obtained, my friend quite matter of factly explained that a Newaeon Encyclical Letter was the source of the information and up front admitted to enjoying my friendship. There was no subterfuge, no dishonesty upon my friend's part. However, the letter from Bold appalled my friend so much that it was shared with me. The last page of this letter from Bold is reproduced below.
"... Baigent and Leigh's The Temple and The Lodge. But most important of all, one must be of good character to receive sponsorship to initiation. Therefore, if you really want to prove yourself worthy, have absolutely no ties nor business with anyone who has slandered, libeled, harassed, defamed, or threatened the O.T.O. or any of its members, especially if the individual in question has been barred from membership. I cannot stress this strongly enough, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to give anyone reason to think that you may be a poor judge of character, let alone a security risk. After all, you are seeking admission into an organization whose members are pledged, among other things, to help each other, and continuing any relations whatsoever with such charlatans and buffoons could raise very legitimate doubts about your willingness and ability to deliver such aid, your true motives for joining, and whether you could be trusted to keep your initiatory oaths. You needn't publicly denounce such individuals; just don't have anything to do with them. Previous friendships with such people are forgivable, as we all make mistakes; it's what you do from this moment on that matters. If you find this problematic, let me know and I'll promptly cancel your subscription and refund your five dollars.Love is the law, love under will. Fraternally yours,
[1998 E.V. Graphological Note: Of course there is not much to work with here in the way of handwriting, but a brief analysis is possible with the simple signature, "Kevin". The ornate and ungracefully flourished K shows bad taste, vanity, exaggeration, vulgarity and a gauche attempt to attract notice, while the inturned beginning stroke indicates selfishness. The I-"dash" seems to show irritability, probably a normal state of affairs for Bold, exaggerated by him when I am the subject of thought or discussion. The spread out V points to a bizarre imagination, which Bold certainly shows with some of his outlandish conclusions based upon little or no information. In regards to his transliteration of Nanivartante into Hebrew, one might take issue with his use of Beth for V, usually transliterated as B, although it is sometimes used in this way, as well as the arbitrary use of Tau for the second T, usually Th, rather than the Teth he employed for the first T. However, again it is not exactly wrong, and by straining the rules of transliteration a little, Bold manages to make this "magical name" come to the numeration of 777.]
The "Master" of the Whiskey Rebellion Camp, in typical cowardly fashion, does not here refer to me by name, but it is obvious that it is yours truly that he is referring to. From his ignorant and ego-centric point of view, my simple reporting of facts and legitimate editorial commentary for the sake of truth, Thelema, students of Thelema and society in general, is "slander", "libel", "harassment", etc. I am not sure what he is referring to with his reference to "threats" to members of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.. Perhaps this is a reference to the latest silly lie being told about me by two insignificant Typhonian pseudo-thelemites, i.e. that I threatened them with death. It must flatter the ego in some way, but they are not even worth mentioning by name.
Please note the reference to "a security risk". Sounds a bit paranoid to me, and was it not Bold who had falsely accused me of being paranoid? Doesn't Bold know that the whole concept of a "secret society" is not only passe but very unwise in this day and age? Of course not. The entire Caliphate gang, starting with Hymenaeus Beta [William Breeze] at the top, is riddled with the disease of secrecy, forgetting that mystery is the enemy of truth.
The reference to an "individual" who "has been barred from membership" into the Caliphate gang clearly identifies yours truly. I am sure I told the story. Once upon a time, long ago, when the worms of the Caliphate gang first crawled out from under their rocks, I opened up a line of communication with them, sincerely hoping to have discovered the Ordo Templi Orientis, which I have since discovered virtually died with Crowley in '47 E.V. To do this I had to subscribe to the now defunct O.T.O. Newsletter, and of course to inflate their membership list the gang calls their publication's subscribers "Associate Members". [NOTE: When the gang goes down big time and all of its "members" are investigated by the authorities, just because you subscribed to even one volume of their publication you too may be investigated and harassed. Think about that.] There was some cautious praise of me and The Newaeon Newsletter in the gang's newsletter, then they changed their opinion drastically when I had determined that the gang was NOT the O.T.O., not even genuine, sincere Thelemites, and proceeded to expose the lies they are telling. At this point Bill Heidrick started to tell eveyrone I was once a member of the group and had been kicked out, trying to undermine my comments about the group by implying that they were nothing but "sour grapes". In point of fact, I was never a member of their group, only a subscriber to their publication, and I was kicked out of nothing - I simply decided not to renew my subscription. At approximately the same time, Heidrick, who had claimed that I was a member of the Caliphate gang, leaped up fairly frothing at the mouth during a "secret" meeting and suggested that I should be banned forever from joining their little club. This was amazingly absurd not only because of the contradition, but also because it should have been obvious by then to even the most dismally dull individual that I had not the slightest desire to become a member - despite all of the encouragement and coaxing before from Heidrick and others in the gang to try and secure me as a member.
Bold, in his letter, walked a very fine line. While desperately trying to secure a member for his "Camp", trying oh so hard not to offend this person, he was also doing his damnest to destroy the friendship that we have shared for many years now. Further proof that Bold is guilty of the very things he has falsely accused me of. Remember, when I first wrote to him and very matter of factly expressed my opinions of the Caliphate gang to be as up front with him as possible, he chose to interpret this as me tyring to come between him and his "friends". I merely wanted him to know where I stood so that he could decide whether or not he wished to continue communicating with me. Of course, the concepts of honesty and fairness are rather alien to members of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. They are without Understanding.
What most appalled my friend was the fact that this letter from Bold was supposed to have been written by a Thelemite and yet it was perfectly clear that it was not Thelema that was being expressed, but fascism.
It is quite clear that if Bold and the rest of the Caliphate gang do not approve of one's friends one will not get far in the group - one may not even be admitted into the group. They are dictating. If they were truly Thelemites it would not matter in the least who one chooses to call friend. Even if one's friend were the Pope himself it should not matter, so long as the person applying for membership is not himself actively engaged in working against Thelema.
As usual, here is yet another member of the Caliphate gang who does not in the least even understand what Thelema is. Obviously Bold does not comprehend the full import of Liber LXXVII, The Rights of Man, the fourth point of which states that "Man has the right to love as he will". Only the narrow-minded would interpret this in just the romantic or sexual context. Friendship is also a form of love and according to Liber OZ, according to Crowley and Thelema, an individual has the right to choose his friends and not be condemned as a result of that choice.
As I have said, my friend was completely put off by the letter and uncertain as to how to respond. This uncertainty and a great deal of time-consuming work prevented my friend from replying immediately, and as a result Bold felt insulted, ignored, and sent a pissy little letter. He was upset that he did not have a further opportunity to speak ill of me, and his desperate reach for a member for his "Camp" was thwarted. He wrote that
"associating with someone who is unbalanced can be detrimental to your own growth and well-being",
referring to me of course, but my friend and others I have spoken with who have encountered Bold have more or less decided not to associate with him for that very reason - that and the fact that he and his gang are a terribly dull waste of precious time.
In Bold's April 12th letter he concluded with
"The door has not closed; you simply have chosen not to enter. Therefore, let the record state that it was you who have given us the proverbial 'cold shoulder', at least for the time being, and not the other way around, as some would have you and others believe."
This reeks of infantilism and desperation. And with his harping upon how the "wrong" kind of friends might be detrimental to one's career in the Caliphate gang, Bold proves that he and the group are not Thelemites - they are nothing more than petty little fascists.
And finally, a little miscellany on the subject of Kevin Not-So-Bold.
In his uselessly trivial Whiskey Rebellion Camp Newsletter for the Spring Equinox, which he desperately sends to all members of the gang and others in hope of receiving some recognition from people, Bold announced
"we have moved! Our new address is 4885-A McKnight Road, Pittsburgh PA 15237".
Is this supposed to imply that he, a chap in his thirties, is no longer living with mommy and daddy as I have reported? Is this meant to imply that he is no longer "hiding" behind a mail drop, Mail Boxes Etc., which I reported on in the Samhain '92 E.V. EL after he absurdly accused me of "hiding" behind a P.O. Box? Well, in point of fact, 4885-A McKnight Road is the address of another outlet of Mail Boxes Etc. located in the McKnight-Siebert Shopping Centre. So what's the point?
Not long ago another friend and I were talking about the Ozzy Osbourne album "Blizzard of Ozz", in particular the cut entitled "Mr. Crowley", which has a nice sound but idiotically written lyrics that prove that Ozzy really does not know all that much about Aleister Crowley. When Kevin Bold's name came up, the fellow suggested the following lyrics to be sung to the tune, his use of the word "Magic" in quotes being a reference to Bold's idiotic "Magic 101":
"Mr. Kevin,
What goes on in your head?
Mr. Kevin,
Is it true that you're dead?
Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic
With no thrill at all.
You're not fooling me with your 'Magic.'
Yeah, you're waiting on Larson's call."
By the way, Talk-Back With Bob Larson has been taken off the airwaves here in Pittsburgh. When I called WPIT to confirm this I congratulated them upon having the good taste to remove Larson from their program schedule as he is not only an insult to intelligence and Christianity, but also a gross fomenter of ignorance and religious intolerance. It was nice to know that the individual I spoke with at the Christian radio station shared my opinions on Larson. See ... they are not all bad!
Also, in the copy of the WRCN already mentioned, Bold promotes a publication called The Eclectic Mage Journal, primarily because H.J. Mowry, through its pages, publishes Bold's mostly idiotic "Project Witch Hunt Watch". Mowry brags about being an independent satanist and he seems to have nothing but high praise for Michael Aquino, one of the satanists who broke away from Anton LaVey many years ago to set up his own absurd satanic club. So what do we have here? Bold, an individual claiming to be a Thelemite, associating with and promoting a satanist. I do not condemn Bold for his choice in friends, though I question it, however, since satanists pervert and misrepresent Thelema and Crowley [et cetera!] and so thereby work against Thelema, and since Kevin Bold is promoting this - well - think about it. For one thing it shows that while Bold's first concern as a Thelemite should be Thelema, it is primarily his own ego that he is focussed upon - which is typical of members of the Caliphate gang, who, for the most part, are actually only using Thelema as a vehicle for their petty egos. And since Bold is promoting a satanist, all satanists working against Thelema and everything else in an anarchistic manner, can I still call him a "pseudo-thelemite" or would "anti-thelemite" be a more appropriate term to employ?
[1997 E.V. NOTE: According to the Winter 1995 - Summer 1996 E.V. issue of The Magical Link, "COMBINED ISSUE - VOL. IX, NO. 4 - VOL. X, NO. 2" (think about that), the current address of the Whiskey Rebellion Camp is PO Box 101722, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, all pretense of easy accessibility finally being dropped, and the WRCN has been replaced with a biannual newsletter entitled Annuit Coeptis - Latin, "He (God) has smiled on our undertakings": motto adapted from Virgil, on the reverse of the great seal of the United States, showing the usual lack of imagination common to the Caliphate gang. I think of it more as "A New Septic, or Sepsis". Only glanced through a couple of issues. Looks better, but anyone with access to a decent computer can make anything look good, even such a pile of donkey doodoo as Annuit Coeptis.]
It is beginning to look like a regular feature article!
Kevin Not-So-Bold simply cannot help himself. He is compulsively driven to continually provide me with specific examples of everything I have been generally saying is wrong about the Caliphate gang. I have spoken with the owners of some of Pittsburgh's "occult" book shops and each time his name is mentioned I see friendly smiles turn to hard grins, eyes roll, and a look of absolute disgust fall upon faces that were only moments before radiant and beaming as we chatted about this and that. One proprietor mentioned that there seemed to be very little "Peace, Tolerance" and "Truth" in the group that calls itself "the O.T.O.". That is to say that while individuals like the great and powerful [choke] Hymenaeus Beta, William Breeze, are doing their best to misrepresent themselves as the Ordo Templi Orientis, there are others, Bold for one, who are most wonderfully representing the group accurately. These proprietors have encountered Kevin and the dumpy little grey fellow, presenting himself with absolute pomposity, has in each case managed to inadvertantly prove just how mean spirited, petty, intolerant and untruthful the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is. Of course it is then up to me and all genuine and sincere Thelemites, after such damage is done, to point out that this group is not the real Ordo Templi Orientis and that individuals like Bold are not Thelemites, that they are nothing more than very petty fascists. Bold and others like him are grossly misrepresenting Thelema and the teachings of Aleister Crowley and by so doing turning intelligent people away from something that they would find great value in; they are robbing Thelema in many cases of human wealth and so hindering human evolution on this planet.
It has also come to my attention that Kevin Bold, in a typically petty, back stabbing fashion common to the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., has been writing letters to occult publishers ineptly trying to prove that I am a terrible fellow. He constantly claims that I have made malicious and disprovable statements about the Caliphate gang, but of course he never once gives a single example to prove that I have printed anything but the truth. He has warned these publishers that if they associate with me their reputations will suffer horribly, and in these letters he tries to encourage publishers of occult books not to send me complimentary review copies. It is the depths of pettiness and childishness, and of course his mean little ways seem to be backfiring upon him so that he is not taken seriously and the true nature of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is revealed to the very people the gang most wishes to impress and have a working business relationship with.
Recently Mr. David Godwin, author of Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia and Light in Extension, got so fed up with Kevin Bold's nonsense that he told him off in a letter and warned him that he would be sending me copies of the letters he received from Bold for me to play with.
In a letter dated "6 June 1993ev" the odious Frater Nanivartante 777, Kevin Bold, began by claiming that
"Gary 'G.M. Kelly' Martin has occasionally harassed one of my advertisers. Since I sent back his 'complimentary copies', he leaves them there. If Gary shows up again, the advertiser will contact the police and charge Gary with trespassing. (Why it means so much to him for me to know what he says about me is a mystery indeed. I'd hoped you'd agree that no rational or mature person, let alone someone who has crossed the Abyss and uttered a Word, would act in this manner.)"
He loves to call me by a name I have long ago ceased to identify myself with, Gary, but which, by placing G.M. before my chosen name, Kelly, I have not altogether abandoned. It is for him an attempted insult, a means of trying to deny me my identity. It is for the rest of us only one of many examples of his extreme pettiness.
As for the advertiser that I was supposed to have harassed who will have me arrested for trespassing ... well ... I called the fellow. His name is Bob. We had had two pleasant chats in his shop and I had given him complimentary copies of previous Encyclical Letters for his amusement - a simple neighbourly gesture and a means of at least balancing the scales when I know that someone has been mucking about and misrepresenting Crowley and Thelema. What an individual such as Bob chooses to believe is entirely up to that individual, but I feel that a person should always be given the opportunity to make an informed decision. The representatives of the Caliphate gang, whatever they may occasionally say, obviously do not believe as I do in this instance. Anyway ... I quoted Kevin's letter to Dave and asked Bob if he felt harassed and if indeed he did intend to have me arrested for trespassing the next time I entered his shop.
"Yeah, ah, who the hell is Kevin Bold!" Bob said with disgusted irritation, meaning Who does he think he is?"I think the man has gone off his [pause] noodle," Bob, Kevin's 'advertiser' went on to say. "He did tell me that, he said, 'Would you do me a favour', and I'm like yeah, yeah, sure Kevin, you know. He called me up and said, 'If some guy named Kelly comes in, would you mind kicking him out and calling...' It's like, what! No no, absolutely no. I don't know. ... You're welcome to leave your stuff here, man, you know. ... [Bob laughed] I'd say the man needs some help, huh? ... Stop in next week," Bob invited, "I want to talk to you about some books from Weiser." Et cetera.
As you can tell, I record telephone conversations for the sake of accuracy.
Now a friend of mine some time back contacted Kevin. I always invite and even urge people to contact anyone I have spoken about and rather than to rely solely upon my judgments, decide for themselves. This friend of mine was simply doing that, with no intention of spying for me or anything devious, and my friend even came right out and said that she had heard about Kevin and his mostly imaginary Whiskey Rebellion Camp through one of my ELs, stating up front that we were long time friends. There was no deception. Things have not worked out well for Kevin, he proved my judgments valid, he proved his mean pettiness, my friend soon ended the correspondence between them and Bold turned around and rudely referred to this individual as my "stooge" in letters to Mr. Godwin and others.
Now my friend had contacted Kevin Bold on her own, without telling me, following my usual advice to judge matters for herself from an informed viewpoint, hearing both sides of the story, as it were. She only shared that correspondence with me after he had so unnecessarily insulted her in an ungentlemanly fashion and proven himself to be not a Thelemite but in reality a petty fascist. While Bold has falsely accused this lady of being my "stooge," he has turned around and tried to use his "advertiser", Bob, as a "stooge". In other words, he has again proven that he himself is guilty of the things he has falsely accused me of being guilty of! Kevin asked Bob to have me arrested for trespassing and Bob was wise enough to just humour him over the 'phone and brush the whole thing aside as quickly as he could.
It is also interesting to note that Kevin finds ethical, polite behaviour a mystery. [This is not uncommon among the few real members of the Caliphate gang - none of this is, which is the point to what has become "The Bold Truth!"] When one writes an article about an individual or group, the polite and journalistically ethical thing to do is to provide that individual or group with a complimentary copy of what has been written about them. Only a fellow who knows nothing about manners and ethics, to whom these concepts are absolutely alien, would find my actions mysterious. It is furthermore the mature thing to do - rather than to secretly tell lies about a person behind that person's back, or send letters to publishers in an attempt to try and convince them to have nothing to do with someone and stop sending free review copies of books to that person. That is truly immature!
Furthermore, no one forced Kevin to read the Encyclical Letters that were given to Bob. Finally, I would think that my ethical behaviour rather proves my high degree of spiritual advancement. After all, without lies and deception, with nothing but the truth and honesty, I have been able to drag Mr. Bold out from under his rock to reveal him for what he truly is in the light of day - to reveal the truth behind the gang that falsely claims to be the Ordo Templi Orientis.
The letter goes on to claim that I reported a "distorted account" of why he backed out of being on Talk-Back with Bob Larson, but he offers no proof that the account was indeed "distorted" and he told David Godwin that I neglected to say something that without supreme clairvoyant abilities I could not have known in the first place. He claims that he did give Larson his phone number, by the way, although as with individuals like satanist Aquino, we are supposed to believe this without proof while it is on record, on audio tape, having been broadcast over the radio, that he would not give Larson his telephone number for the sake of an on-air interview - all out of absolute paranoia. He went on to then say in this letter:
"by the way, I'm sure Gary would be interested to know that Larson would love to have him on the show, proving my contention that Larson's primary objective is trying to make the Thelemite community look stupid."
Pardon me? Well, in fact, I of course have long known that Larson would love to have me on his program. I have even printed in a previous EL the letter I received from the so-called Bob Larson Ministry. However, while Kevin is flattered by such things, I am not. I turned down the invitation because it would be beneath me to participate in Larson's nonsense. It is obviously not beneath Kevin who seems to be dying to be on Talk-Back while his paranoia overly complicates matters. Meanwhile, it is Kevin's occasional call-in participation on Bob Larson's radio program that has delighted and yet bored Larson so much by seeming to prove that Thelemites are a bunch of ninnies. Having me as a guest would at least provide Larson with a bit of a challenge, some stimulation, and it would make for a lively debate that would excite and interest his listeners and draw in more. I say this in all sincere modesty, for if you have ever listened to Talk-Back you will know that the calibre of his usual interviewees and call-in participants is so abysmally low that it would not take all that much to liven things up. I, however, have no intention of helping Larson in his attempt to make his boring and trite program interesting and boost his ratings. And do not forget that Bob Larson is so egotistical that he believes he could come out on top of a theological debate with God - besides, if things did get dicey for him there is always that cut-off button on the console right in front of him.
Now the letter Kevin sent to Mr. Godwin goes on and on to "prove" that my friend attempted to "infiltrate our camp" by instructing David to compare this letter and that on various photocopies he sent along with his letter of my friend's letters to him, but his "proof" only shows that he was being contacted by a lady who had shown interest in his Whiskey Rebellion Camp of the Caliphate gang, a lady who had been completely up front and honest with him from the very beginning. Then he went on to point out that he and my Wiccan friend
"have some mutual acquaintances" and "To sum it up, Gary has been using her to cause problems in the Wiccan as well as the Thelemite community."
Absurdly rude, to say the least. If I have been causing problems for crackpots and charlatans misrepresenting Thelema and the Craft, as he claims, then it is nice to know that I am having an effect! It is a matter of very public record that I have often defended the Wiccan religion and modern day Witches, despite the fact that many of them have a poor [usually mis- or uninformed] opinion of Crowley and Thelema. Now the only "mutual acquaintances" I can think of that he might be referring to are loonies my friend and I know who run about claiming to be Witches while their words and actions prove otherwise. There is one, for example, a truly spiteful and petty little fellow, who believes that psycho-drama in Wiccan rituals is dangerous. Of course anyone with any sense or knowledge knows that psycho-drama is the guts of Wiccan rituals and it is no more dangerous than anything else. Another fellow whose favourite pastime seems to be trying to hypnotize and then undress ladies [and worse], once tried to make a big show out of a ritualized Great Rite for a local newspaper reporter. The Great Rite is basically the Wiccan version of so-called "Sex Magick", and it is common to symbolize this by plunging a dagger or the athame into a chalice, i.e. the male symbol into the female symbol. This fellow, however, plunged a crystal into the chalice during the sham ritual, perhaps because it had a phallic appearance to him. It is, of course, "bad Witchcraft", so to speak, since crystal is associated with the moon and it is a female symbol, therefore at best the ritual only symbolized lesbianism. [1998 E.V.: This fellow has since died the proverbial "untimely death", and one tends to wonder if this might be a case of "instant karma".] Such is the calibre of Kevin Bold's "acquaintances". And of course I have not "used" my Wiccan friend in any way and to even suggest that she would allow herself to be used is an insult to that Wiccan Priestess. Of course, using people is what Kevin Not-So-Bold and his type do and so they imagine that others are as unscrupulous and rude.
[1997 E.V. NOTE: A more likely candidate for that mutual acquaintance is a strange fellow who is tall and lanky, looks like the late Frank Zappa used to look back in the good old days, dresses all in black, complete with combat boots and beret, wears about five pounds of occult jewlery, acts like a stereotypically gay drag queen, and looks like a militant guerilla occultist. The fellow is almost aways drugged out of his mind and because of this he has a habit of freqently falling down when he walks. This dark harlequin is a gossipmonger and gadfly, and I did hear later that he and Bold were chummy for a time. What a pair they would have made walking down the street - a dark occult version of Mutt and Jeff!]
Kevin goes on to say in his letter to David that I have been "using" him and Llewellyn for free publicity, again judging me and others by his personal standards, and he wrote that he "was willing to sponser [Mr. Godwin's] O.T.O. initiation" but that he would now "have to reconsider" the matter ... after all, Kevin "thought [that Mr. Godwin] would have had enough sense to refrain from discussing O.T.O. matters" with yours truly. Pure fascism and pomposity. How dare a man discuss the Caliphate gang with another man and hear opinions that differ from that gang's opinions! Gosh, what a horrible, terrible - intelligent, Thelemic - thing to do!
Finally the master of pettiness, Nanivartante 777, finished his letter by claiming that it is only because he and his gang do not "believe" my supposedly "wild claims about" myself "or the O.T.O.", that I am "trying to smear me [Bold] and undermine all that we [the Caliphate gang] are accomplishing." But what are they accomplishing? Well, they are grossly misrepresenting Crowley and his Thelemic teachings, turning good, intelligent people away from these, and doing their very best to encourage publishers not to publish and distribute as widely as possible those works by Aleister Crowley that would help to further establish Thelema in society in a crude attempt to "corner the Crowley market" and make as much money as they can off of the work of a man far better than the entire Caliphate gang put together. This and much worse is all that Kevin Bold and the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is accomplishing, and if I can undermine this I will. As for what anyone believes or does not believe about any "wild claims" I may make about myself, I am not concerned. I am not in the belief business. I merely present facts and opinions and leave it up to every individual for her- or himself to believe what they choose to believe. It is Kevin and people like him, it is the Caliphate gang, fundamentalist pseudo-christianity, and their like, that try to force others to believe things - to believe as they believe. I personally believe nothing. I either know from intelligent investigation and personal experience, or I suspend judgment until I do know. I have little respect for people who believe, who rely too much upon blind faith, and yet while the Caliphate gang attacks Christianity, in general, because of its reliance upon blind faith, despite whatever public relations statements made, it is painfully obvious that that gang itself demand blind faith from others.
In this final paragraph of Kevin's letter to David Godwin, the master of pettiness wrote
"if Gary had placed a higher priority on helping you write your book than on being vitriolic and getting free publicity, Light in Extension might not have had some of the small flaws in it that I mentioned in my review - the kind that separate the great books from the merely good ones. I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of those who contacted him after reading Light and Extension [sic] were very disappointed in what they received, and, to put it mildly, wondered what the hell you were thinking when you recommended him. One of these days he will do something that will embarrass both yourself and Llewellyn, and it just might have a negative impact on your career. It's only a matter of time, you know."
Incredible. And wait! Did Bold actually compliment my intelligence and skill by accident? He said that if I had given David more assistance the book would have been better. Aha!
Kevin, you see, was upset that (1) he had not received a complimentary copy of Light in Extension and (2) that David Godwin refused to accept whatever Bold said as gospel truth. This was the motivation behind the "bad" review he gave the book, the "flaws" he found being nothing but idiotic nonsense, by the way. If a publisher would like a reason as to why I should receive complimentary copies of books for review this is it: while most publishers of occult newsletters, magazines, et al, will kiss up and praise even the worst books in a review simply to continue receiving free books, the infamous G.M.Kelly [who has as little money to spend on books as anyone else] ethically presents his uncompromisingly honest opinions with intelligence and without personal bias. Needless to say, since I insist upon being an honest reviewer and not an ass kissing advertising vehicle [like Kevin Bold, to name but one of many in the occult community] there are some publishers who have learned not to deal with me since an honest review is not what they really want. Kevin does not have to write to occult publishers to try and convince them not to send me free review copies since many do not dare to already!
It seems appropriate to say here that two publishers that I seldom agree with, whose books I seldom care for, New Falcon and Llewellyn, consistantly send me books to review and I must here apologize for being behind in my reviews. I had planned to review at least two books from both publishers in this EL, but have simply not had the time to read them. However, I will, and when I review them these publishers may disagree with me, they may even hate me, but they will at least know that my opinion is an honest opinion that may be shared by others. If more publishers of occult newsletters and magazines were as honest as I am in their book reviews it just might help to improve the quality of the "occult" books on the market!
Kevin should not be so "sure" as to what "the overwhelming majority" thinks of me - he just may be wrong. Basing his words and actions upon what he believes could lead him astray.
And note how he tries to frighten Mr. Godwin! Extremely childish, and the only thing that even came close to frightening David was the idea that Bold and associates might be taken seriously by young, inexperienced aspirants.
Whether or not I will one day do something to embarrass David Godwin is hardly something that concerns him - or me for that matter. I have said and done a lot of things that I was later somewhat embarrassed by and like Mr. Godwin, I have found embarrassment easy to endure. To embarrass oneself upon occasion is part of the human condition. A mature, reasonable person realizes this and accepts it. However, with his emphasis upon this, Kevin Bold shows that he is overly sensitive to embarrassment, perhaps because he embarrasses himself so often and has always had charming fellows like me to point out his embarrassing characteristics to him and the rest of the world. And my oh my how Kevin Bold is continually embarrassing the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.!
The Bold Truth is that not only is Kevin Bold a childish, mean spirited and extremely unthelemic petty fascist, but he is also a perfectly accurate representative of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.
In early June of this year the Billy Graham Crusade came to Pittsburgh. Satanist H.J.Mowry Jr., who I am now told admits to an official association with Michael Aquino, dressed in the usual theatrical satanic garb, attempted to slip in with reporters who had legitimate press passes to supposedly interview Mr. Graham. Dressed as he was, without a pass, one wonders if he is witless or if he was simply trying to get some attention - attention which he received when Dennis B. Roddy wrote a small article about the incident which appeared at the bottom of page A-8 of the June 3, 1993 E.V. issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I mention this because Kevin Bold has associated himself with Mowry, a satanist, satanists consistantly misrepresenting Crowley and Thelema, etc., etc., who in turn is associated with Michael Aquino who has in the past even attempted to convince me to assist him in an attempt to create a sham A.·.A.·. that would have further misrepresented Crowley and Thelema. Is it fair to judge an individual by the company he keeps? I would say that it depends upon many things. And I would also say that I would never associate myself with individuals who work against that which I love, fight for and defend. I choose both my friends and professional associates according to their character, and while sometimes we may disagree we yet have respect for one another. Kevin Bold chooses as his friends and associates anyone who will humour his lunacies, masturbate his ego, and if there is anyone low enough, kiss his behind - even if that person is a satanist, an individual of very low character and an active participant in the misrepresentation of Aleister Crowley and his Thelemic teachings, an individual whose sworn duty is to misrepresent all esoteric philosophies, mystery and pagan religions, and in general cause confusion in society to undermine the spiritual evolution of humanity, and by so doing thwart the purpose of Thelema which is to lead humankind to the Next Step on that Path of the Wise.