Kenneth Grant:
Outer Head of the Ordo Templi Orientis
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History of a Hoax
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This was a forgery or an April Fool joke,
or both. Obviously Kenneth Grant was not aware of its existence. Where did I come across this document? It was sent to me by Robert Taylor in early 1999 who wrote: Dear Peter, Early in 1998 I received through the STARFIRE mailbox a computer disk accompanied by a letter, which read: The document has recently come to light in peculiar circumstances that dictate the need for secrecy at the present time. It would be prudent, for the time being, not to mention the existence of this document to either Kenneth Grant or Michael Staley, as a premature disclosure may jeopardize an imminent legal action. For this reason, my identity must also remain secret until after the document's publication. Best wishes, A Friend I assumed at the time that the legal action referred to was the never-ending one the Caliphate was engaged in over the Crowley copyright issue, and initially thought that the anonymous sender was either yourself or Antony Naylor! Although I did not mention receiving advance copies of the document to Kenneth [Grant] or Michael [Staley] (and it did not matter after it appeared on your site, anyway), I nevertheless made 3 copies onto disks which I had lying around in my drawer at work (at that time, I worked for a company called TMP Worldwide). I then sent these disks to some friends of mine that I thought would be interested. One of them informed me that they had already received a copy of the document, in the same anonymous fashion as I had. Obviously, I was not the only person to whom it had been sent, and there may have been more. The three people I have referred to have asked not to be identified, however, all admit to forwarding the document to friends of their own, although all insist that they did not send it to you. Clearly, as Michael informs me, the actual disk you received was one of the copies I had made, although it was not I who sent it to you. I cannot explain exactly how it came into your hands, as I simply do not know. I have never received anything further from the anonymous sender, and still do not know his/her identity. A month or so later, the document appeared on your site, and later we published it in Starfire. The rest, as they say, is history. For your information, I counted Frank Letchford as a personal friend, having met him several times and corresponded over a number of years. Despite the fact that he did claim to have known Vernon Symonds, the owner of Netherwood, and that it is true that he and Kenneth Grant did not see eye-to-eye over Spare, I personally cannot believe that Frank would have been capable of anything with malicious intent. Furthermore, although I doubt he would have known about the documents appearance on your site, he was certainly aware of its appearence in Starfire, for he ordered (and insisted on paying for) a copy of that very issue. I hope this clears up the question of my involvement in this matter. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to write. Kind regards, In August 2001, Taylor wrote: I suppose it is possible that someone deliberately used my name, but it seems from the material that Michael showed me that some of the 'hidden' files are definitely from the company I used to work for. I can only assume that either the disks have been copied and recopied several times by several different people (there is no way of telling how many) before you received them, or that they are the actual original copies I made. Incidentally, I think that the reason there are 'hidden files' is that over the course of copies being made, both PC and Mac formats seem to have been used, and one system's files need not necessarily show up on the other. Perhaps it wasn't a deliberate 'forgetting' to delete them, but an inexperienced computer user who didn't realize they were there? I no longer have the original disk or envelope that was sent to me, but I do recall it was posted in London. Five days later, he wrote: About the lack of extension on the files; the Macintosh operating system automatically recognizes file formats, and so does not require an extension to do so. If I create files that are going to be sent to a PC user, then I add the appropriate extension when naming the file. We had quite a primitive server at that particular time (at TMP); due to a forthcoming office move, it wasn't worth upgrading until after the move. As the copywriters worked on PC's, and the art directors worked on Macs, the only way to shift data between them was to copy them onto disks. That sort of data is undoubtedly the material on the disks you have. When I made the copies, it was of no concern to me what else may have been on the disk, as my intentions were entirely innocent. Further enquiries on my part have revealed that the three copies I made were sent on to a further eight people (who are unknown to me). They, in turn, may have sent them on also. The fact you have TMP data on both disks means that you have either two of the original three copies I made, or someone has copied the entire disk, rather than just the relevant files. Alternatively, as you suggested, someone could have received one or more of the copies I made, and finding the extra files, decided to use them to throw suspicion onto me. I'm beginning to wish I'd never seen the damned thing!! At least, if as you suggest, the intention appears to be to destroy Grant's reputation, then that surely proves MY innocence! As a member of the Typhonian OTO, I'd hardly be likely to do that! Your remark seems to indicate that you privately believe the document to be a forgery; is this the case? Despite the confusion over who sent it, and Frank Letchford's alleged involvement, I still believe in it's authenticity... although your 'third analysis sounds intriguing....... Anyway, no doubt more information will be forthcoming; we shall have to wait and see... In July 2001 I received new background info on the alleged provenance of the document in question. In February 2006, Taylor departed from STARFIRE. In 2009, Michael Staley published an apology in STARFIRE II;3 [Date of impressum: 2008]. Please thoroughly study the comments upon below document Document 1: "Ex nemore inferiori [Netherwood] Aretae Porti Novi [Hastings] An Ixxi, Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Capricorn [18th/19th November 1947], Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Knowing my death is near, and knowing that my loyal Frater Saturnus, [Karl Germer] Grand Secretary General of the O.T.O. is capable only of the Office of Custodian, I hereby appoint Frater Aussik 400 [Kenneth Grant] as my successor as Outer Head of the Ordo |
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Document
2 [for research
purposes, the scan of this integral page is of high
quality = 446182 bytes]: Templi Orientis, upon whose acceptance of the X°, Frater Saturnus is to surrender any of my personal papers and belongings that he has Custody of, to Frater Aussik. May Aussik fulfil his part in the Great Work. Love is the law, love under will Baphomet 729 [Aleister Crowley] X° O.T.O." |
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