The 33° Patent of Aleister Crowley

The preceeding Masonic patent (called erroniously a diploma, in the illustrations to Crowley's "Confessions" ed. by Symonds & Grant) can be found in the aforesaid book, now out of print. Bear in mind that document #1 (letter to Ill∴Bro. Noone) the Grand Lodge of England's records show that John Yarker was thrown out of the Masonic Fraternity in 1870. Fourty years later, (1910) we find that he is selling copies of HIS 33rd Degree Patent to anyone he can collect a fee from.

This is one reason for the laborious and sloppy printing that can be seen in the original document.

NOTES & such

We should take note of the following unusual factors:

a.) The document has been obviously altered, in several ways. Upon examination of a reproduction of the original it will be immediately obvious where these alteration occurs, due to the fact that where the original was done in beautiful calligraphic script, the copy which John Yarker altered has the altered sections done in rather sloppy laborious hand printing. The major altered section is in the middle of the body of text, wherin it is impossible to tell what was originally there, but it was obviously altered to list each and every one of the 32 degrees of the "Scottish Rite" of Freemasonry. The obvious reason for this, is that John Yarker's "degree mill" sold the 33rd degree "patents" to men who did not possess any of the legitimate degrees of Freemasonry. So to confirm the 33rd (supposed) degree on some unqualified individual, it was first necessary to make some rationalization for the problem that the supposed "Mason" didn't possess the necessary 32nd degree, as well as the preceeding degrees, including the basic qualification of being a Master Mason. So it was a simple matter to alter the certificate to give the individual all of the necessary qualifying degrees at one time. We can only guess that John Yarker added an extra fee for this service.

b.) The next thing that a qualified expert on Masonry would notice is that the "patent" has been signed and the 33rd degree "Cross of Salem" caligraphed NO LESS THAN six times. However upon closer examination it is seen that only three individuals signed the paper, each of them signing it in TWO different places, with TWO different titles. MOREOVER, one of the individual signers is one EDWARD YARKER who was, I believe, a brother of John Yarker. (Or son, this is unclear) So it becomes more obvious with examination, that the supposed "SUPREME COUNCIL" was in reality a cottage industry, wherein the aforementioned John Yarker and his whole family was involved in the pretended "Masonic Body" which really was a "Degree Mill" ie., a money-making scheme of the lowest and most base effort imaginable.

c.) Crowley » devoted a whole chapter in "THE CONFESSIONS" his so-called "Autohagiography" to Freemasonry, especially the story of his relationship with John Yarker. This may be reproduced as a separate text-file. But the gist of it revolves around Crowley's ideas as to how Freemasonry should be changed in order to make him happy. It is obvious that Crowley had in mind that he would be the best person qualified to be sort of a "Supreme-International-Grand-Master" and since he fancied himself to be "a god" that Masonry as well as every body else should worship him.

This should have all quietly fell into obscurity in the cellars of the occult, however, there has been an unfortunate almost accidental revival of "Crowleyism" and there exists a handfull of meat-headed followers that have tried to revive Crowley's horrible plans for world-domination. Certain rituals, loosely plagerised from the York Rite degrees, with occultism replacing the Hiramic Legend, are once again being palmed off on an unsuspecting public as "genuine" Masonry. More than that they have adapted Crowley's hodge-potch of bits of Masonic Ritual & traditions from different Rites, producing a thoroughly revolting, nasty mess. Further, they have adapted a "mythology" that they seem to take literally, that they are the "true" descendants of the Knight's Templar, and they number all of the Great Men of History, the Philosphers, Great Saints, etc. etc. among the Elect of THEIR order, which is the only "true" Order ad infinitum.

Crowley joined or took over the O.T.O. in 1912, claiming to Head so-called "Masonic Academy" which claimed to teach to its members all the SECRETS of the 33 degree of Freemasonry, and the Secrets of ALL OTHER ORDERS. Crowley claims to have taken the original degrees, obtaining them from Karl Kellner, the founder, and "extensively reworked them into Sublime Perfection". This is not true, as examination shows them rituals to be the more or less "standard" YORK Rite rituals, used in most Masonic Lodges. (This is one of Two types of Ritual, used in the Grand Jurisdictions) To be perfectly clear, I refer to what is commonly known as "Duncan's" Ritual. Crowley has done a charactoristic, "Crowelyized" hack job, still complete recognizable as to the original. That is evidently his intent, as if to revenge himself on the Ritual of the Fraternity that rejected his "bought" 33rd degree. These rituals were published in 1973 by occult writer Francis King in a book titled "The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O." A computer text-file version of these rituals will be forthcoming.

It is our sincere hope that by making THE CRAFT aware of this deplorable situation, that individual jurisdictions will seek to obtain writs of AMECUS CURIAE to halt the performance of these bastardized York Rite rituals, and expose the whole operation of this degree-mill scheme as unwholesome, un-Masonic, an insult to Masonry, and a money-making scheme which is a product of Crowley's deranged mental-illness and black-magic.

LEGAL BATTLES

A case was tried in Connecticut and some testimony was given in the early 1980's. In the course of the trial, the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Connecticut Inc., filed its Petition to Intervene as Amicus Curiae and in its petition made the following assertations: "After careful inquiry and investigation the applicant verily believes and therefore alledges that the defendant body and the defendants as purported Freemasons are illegitimate, spurious and irregular with no legal right or authority to use the name, signs, symbols, emblems, badges, insignia, and other indicia of Freemasonry; and that they are knowingly making false and fraudulent claims and representations as to their legitimacy and regularity in order to defraud the public, and also to the injury and detriment of the petioner and of the plaintiff in this action.

"The petitioner further believes and after due inquiry therefore alleges that despite the pretentions of the defendants to be furthering charitable and worthy objects, they are in fact promoting their illegitimate and irregular organization for the purpose of personal profit. Wherefore the petitioner prays that it may be permitted to intervene in the trial of this case as "amecus curiae" in the public interest and also for the purpose of protecting its property in its names, signs, symbols, emblems, badges, insignia, and other indicia of Freemasonry from the unwarranted, illegal, fraudulent use of the same by the defendant."

There is no place in Freemasonry for placidity, nonchalance, and complacency. Legitimate Masons the world over must join in the fight to be rid of these pests as long as there is one bogus group operating anywhere, under whatever name, or in whatever manner. But -- the fight against these pests is not our work alone. It will take more than the determination and the will-to-do of one body of Masons alone. It must be done through the unified efforts of every legitimate Mason wherever found!

[Source: JSEMTS]