Confessions of Aleister Crowley

437 refused the water, so he dismounted to find out the reason. The taste told him at once that he had discovered an immensely rich deposit of alkali. His geomancy had not misled him; he had found mineral wealth. He proceeded to exploit his discovery and would have become a millionaire in short order had he not met with the opposition of Burnner, Mond & Co. On the other hand, his clairvoyance was hopelessly bad, so that he could not pass the examination for the Grade of Zelator of A.'. A.'. though in other points entitled to a much higher degree. One of his practical objects in visiting England was to ask me personally to get him over the stile. I did so. At the very first trial I enabled him to use his astral eyesight. Our joint work developed and we resolved to make a series of investigations of "The Watch Towers of the Elements", beginning with that of Fire. The {693} question arose: "Why does the instruction tell us to rise vertically in the astral body for a great distance before penetrating the symbol under examination?" I said, "It seems to me a mere superstition connected with the idea that heaven is above and hell beneath one." To clear up this point, we decided to enter the Watch Tower directly, without rising. Our visions, occupying three successive days, showed no abnormal features. But --- and here one cannot help feeling that Semper Paratus's faculty of making connection with forces in close contact with the material plane is involved --- no less than five fires broke out in the studio during that period. On the third night, Semper Paratus decided to walk home to the house of the friends with whom he was staying in Hampstead. It was late at night when he approached; but his attention was at once attracted by smoke issuing from the house. He gave the alarm and the fire was quickly got under. The mysterious and significant point about the incident is that the fire had got started in the one place in a house where there is no rational explanation for an outbreak --- in the coal cellar! One further illustration of the peculiar qualities of this Brother. I had advised him to evoke the forces of Fire and Air on return to South Africa, they being naturally plentiful in that part of the world. He began with the fiery part of Fire, which includes lightning. When he began his ceremony there was no indication of electrical disturbance; but in a few minutes a storm gathered and his temple was struck. Another Brother similarly evoking the forces of Water, the cistern of his house burst during the ceremony and flooded it. Similar incidents constantly occur to those Magicians whose forces tend to manifest in concrete expression. But such men are rare. In my own case, though many similar phenomena have occurred, as already recorded, I regard them as due to defects of insulation. They warn me to take pains to perfect my circle. The art of producing phenomena at will is a totally different question. The simplest, most rational, and most direct method had been known to me since the summer of 1911; but for some reason, I had never practised it systematically or recorded my results methodically. I believe this to have been due to an instinctive reluctance in respect of the nature of the method. It was not until January 1st, 1914 that I made it my principal engine. {694} 72 I think it proper to devote an entire chapter to the subject of my relations with freemasonry. I have mentioned that I had obtained the 33° in Mexico City. It did not add much of importance to my knowledge of the mysteries; but I had heard that freemasonry was a universal brotherhood and epected to be welcomed all over the world by all brethren.