Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In 1943, Crowley determined to remove W.T. Smith from the headship of Agape Lodge #2 in California. To this end he wrote a curious paper entitled Liber CXXXII vel Apotheosis (132 is the enumeration of V.O.V.N., Velle Omnia Velle Nihil, one of Smith's magical mottoes). In this paper Crowley claims that, after analysing Smith's birthchart and a horary figure drawn up on 22nd May, he came to the unusual conclusion: "Wilfred T. Smith ... is not a man at all: he is the incarnation of some God."
Crowley then went on to discuss at length what this meant; how for example this was to be distinguished between the incarnation of elementals or planetary spirits, from an 'angel' or 'daimon' and from the temporary possession phenomena which occur in some rituals. Smith, he explained, was prevented by his human shell from expressing this divinity and he should immediately go on a Great Magical Retirement to realise his divinity. This would involve cutting off all human contact except for his immediate attendants; obviously an incarnate god could not concern himself with something as mundane as running an O.T.O. lodge. He was replaced initially by Jack Parsons, but Parsons was in turn replaced a few years later by Roy Leffingwell. Smith in the meantime fell for Crowley's trick completely but his Magical Retirement was a complete failure; his last letter to Crowley (quoted by Kenneth Grant in The Magical Revival) is one of utter despair.
A transcript from the typescript of Liber Apotheosis was posted for a while on the Sunwheel site; however, I was then informed by the O.T.O. Assistant Secretary for Internet affairs that O.T.O. had a longstanding agreement with W.T. Smith's widow (Helen Parsons Smith) giving her the first refusal on the publication of this work. Under this arrangement, Liber Apotheosis appears in The Unknown God, a study by Martin Starr of Smith and the Californian Thelemic groups of the 1930s and since (released November 2003 e.v.). As such it is not going to be reposted on this site unless and until I receive specific permission to do so.
Love is the law, love under will.
Frater T.S.