These are amusing. A double Capricorn writing to a judge.

Letter to US District Judge Oct. 21 1956

Dear Sir:

One of my secret ambitions has been to sit on a jury and I felt honored when the summons came yesterday. However, several obstacles stand in the way of my serving at this time.

How long the term might last is of course unknown to me, but each day would be a sacrifice for me right now. I am working from dawn until bedtime to try to get a house ready to move into before the cold weather. My present quarters have no hot water heater or facilities for heating.

For many years now I have found it necessary to live on a diet of raw fruits and vegetables and a sudden change to the greasy devitalized meals of a restaurant would be most undesirable. I have no idea how many meals would have to be eaten away from my home nor if it would be permitted to bring my food from home.

What type of cases come up in the court is also a mystery to me but it might be well to mention the fact that I have long been opposed to capital punishment. It amazes me how long our country will call itself civilized and still cling to it’s gas chambers and collective murders.

Respectfully yours,

Letter to manufacturer of poorly performing electric razor July 22 1974

“…. During my long life I have used many razors including the Schick Flexamatic, Remington, Sunbeam and the Norelco, but this is the first time I ever saw one that actually refused to cut either a whisker or a hair. Again, I have offered it to one of my two granddaughters, who both shave their legs, but they are as disgusted with it as I am.

Regretfully yours,

~~
pictured - Henry standing on his head on top a mountain. I took that picture. I was 10.

Although Henry was had fervent interest in religion, and studied throughout his life, we were never taught anything specific to believe. Stellium in Sagittarius, he was wide open to discuss the subject and people commonly were invited to his house to debate.

They showed up in droves. Young men with bibles showed up. Men and women came in pair or groups, and I specifically remember the Hare Krishna coming by repeatedly. I would have to say they became friends with Henry as did the groups of hippies that lived in the commune type settings that were somewhat common in the era. Henry would travel to visit these various groups…large spiritual families, you might say, frequently spending a night or two with them, discussing philosophy.

For all the exposure, there were only two bits that stuck with me. The idea that the only sin was to hurt someone, I heard repeatedly. It appealed in its simplicity and it made sense to me, but more profound for me personally was the Thomas Paine quote on his desk. Henry did calligraphy and had various quotations framed around his house but the one I absorbed was this:

“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.

This was something I could glom onto immediately. That’s what happened and it has stayed with me all my life. I feel pretty fortunate.

Here are some of Henry’s thoughts on religion:

Letter to “Jones” November 23 1953

“… But I must keep in mind that we must be prepared to give up all things except that little bit of personality that we have been able to develop. I think it is good discipline to teach one’s self to get in the habit of giving things up…

… You are one of the few persons I have been able to talk to of spiritual things. I hope we both have the foundation for spiritual development - a lack of hatred of enmity against any group or individual. That and to only send out good thoughts at all times…”

Letter to “Spencer” May 12 1956

“… I have tried to get [my mother] to use her own mind and make her own decisions. I have seen too many parents try to dictate to their children, especially in the field of religion. Religion is a personal matter and each person should be left alone to make his own choice.

Last night a man on the street (a fundamentalist of wide study) endeavored to prove that I was going to an everlasting punishment because I did not agree with his principals. However, I’ll have lots of good company, he said even Norman V. Peale was as equally doomed.”

Letter to “Webb” April 1 1965

“…That is why I like the Hindu philosophy. Over there they have the knack of being satisfied with very little, while over here in America too often it is always one mad scramble for something always bigger and better…”

Letter to my mother August 21 1956

“…He is a young man who is a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He visited me several times last winter and has been here twice since I got here. Although I cannot agree with him on many points, he is interesting to talk to and he does not cuss or smoke. He would be a very fine young man if he did not pester people with so much theology and dogma…”

Letter to Fichy May 7 1959

“… My brother is a Presbyterian minister and I went to his services while at his home but the material splendor always seemed to crowd out a real spiritual atmosphere. And as I grow older, my conscience bothers me every time I buy something like a typewriter or a radio. It seems that it might be better to do without these things and give the money to those who need it for the necessities of life. Have you ever felt this way? Actually I think we should acquire only those things that aid us in serving our fellowmen better…”

“… All worldly goods are only temporary; all we take with us is the character or personality that we have been able to develop here.”

~~
skip to part nine…

Here’s a quote I missed, related to metaphysics:

Letter to May January 27 1950

“…My brother woke up at two in the morning and said his heart was not working right. His son is going to be a doctor so he came down and listened to it with his stethoscope and it sounded all right. Then perspiration came out on his chest and they called a doctor but he was dead before the man got there. He had Berger’s disease in his foot and has had diabetes for many years but we never guessed there was anything wrong with his heart. I feel his long years of smoking may have had something to do with it.

It was with him in mind that I ordered the reprints from RG. But he will not need one now and I am circulating them here among friends. I am determined to communicate with him next summer if I have to visit every medium out there.”

~~
And for the record, these quotes come from a collection I’ve transcribed from Henry’s letters, of which there are many hundreds. I have them dating from about 1915 but he really started saving all correspondence in the late 40’s, making a carbon copy of everything whether he typed or written longhand.

I vividly recall him postponing answering a letter because he was out of carbon paper, forcing a trip to “town”. Because we lived in the desert, everyone knows that, right?

And at first he stored the letters in boxes but eventually bought a large filing cabinet and kept the letters organized. He was a professor of library science, remember? And he made it very clear that letters were private. He taught us that although he saved everything he composed, it would be highly inappropriate to save a letter someone else wrote.

On being vegetarian:

Letter to my mother October 8 1956

“…I am still getting along without meat and feel just as strong as ever. I think it is wrong to kill and eat animals. I think it is murder to kill any form of life and when we eat what we kill it is actually cannibalism. Over 3 million people in this country eat no meat and among them are some of the strongest people we have. Horses are strong, bulls are strong and none of them ever eat any meat. Meat is an excellent protein food, but there are other protein foods that don’t have the disadvantages of meat…”

Letter to “Ticky” May 7th 1959

“….. Like Albert Sweitzer I have a reverence for life and will not even kill a snake. Did you know that there is a statement that snakes will not bite vegetarians? It is said they know by instinct which person is a meat eater. I have read much concerning the ancient Kahunas of Hawaii and I am inclined to agree with them, that there is only one sin, TO HURT SOMEONE. My only fear in life is that I may hurt someone. I will go to any sacrifice to avoid an altercation.”

skip to part eight…

That’s a picture or an ocotillo cactus in bloom. As you can see, they’re very beautiful. They also make excellent fences.

Ocotillo cactus is very easy to grow (in areas where it is indigenous). If you snip a branch off and stick it in the desert dirt, it will very likely take root and grow. So to make living fence, you only need dig a shallow trench and then hunt up the cactus…respectfully.

By that I mean you don’t find a cactus and cut all its branches, leaving it to die. You do not kill the natural resource that provides you will FREE fencing material! You cut a few, leaving it to recover, stronger and thrive.

Anyway, you stick the ends in the ground, one right next to the other and wire them together. Ocotillo is not terrible thorny so this is challenging, but not incredibly so.

Once you have you fence up, you have to water it to encourage it to root…but not much, because we’re talking about cactus here which doesn’t like a lot of water.

Then the next thing you know, you have a fence that blooms. And they really are beautiful. And they change with seasons. They go from brown (dormant) in the winter, to being covered in green leaves for spring, and then eventually the red flowers bloom on top mid-summer.

That’s a picture of my sister pruning a fence, and me wanting to prune a fence. Like trees, you should prune while the cactus is dormant. This should be done once each season, if you want an orderly looking fence because the branches grow at variable rates and can easily grown six, or eight or ten inches in the few months they are active.

You can also leave it as is, for a more natural, wild look. Personally, I prefer a maintained fence, but really, either way has appeal. The thing is, the branches will eventually sprout arms (new branches) which begin to look like hell after awhile, if completely neglected.

On Metaphysics…

Letter to Gillas June 14 1960

“… One thing that my description does not say is that I am fond of children. In fact, I am beginning to think that it is my most marked characteristic. Wherever I go I am surrounded by a group of children. I love them at all ages and have been told that I am a teacher of children in the new age…”

Letter to Lowe October 28 1959

“I hear Christine XXXXXX is in an institution. She did act funny at the space convention in LA in July. That was the last time I saw her. Zip [Zipporah Dobyns]says that she is under the wrong astrological signs and they will continue to be unfavorable for three years.”

Letter to Webb April 1 1965

“Ever since I returned from Nogales I have been wanting to write you but this is the first opportunity that has come. Don’t think I have ever been so busy in all my life. Sometimes I think that I made a mistake starting this house because I just have too many other things to do. It seems that I am always attempting to do too many things. I promise people to do things and then being a Capricorn, I just can’t let them down…”

Letter to Reed January 3 1962

“I have always been a conscientious person and moral responsibility rests heavily upon me. As a senior in college I had this quotation put under my picture in the Senior Annual: “One life - a little gem of time between two eternities; no second chance to us forever more.” (Now that I believe in reincarnation I guess the second part of that is obsolete)”

Letter to “Howard” February 14 1954

“…I am sure I would like the doctor you went to. He told you the same thing I would have told you. When one’s mind is upset, it is bound to affect the physical body….”

~~
Henry liked astrology but found the study complex and daunting. He said he didn’t think he was smart enough to learn it, however he felt my sister and I might fare better. She was 10, and I was 8. He bought us some books and the rest is history

~~
skip to Henry and his living fences - an interlude

South Node in Pisces asked about my grandmother, Henry’s wife. I only met her once. She was a Cancer with Venus in Cancer, a Gemini Moon and a stellium in Leo. Henry met her when he was in his early thirties…she was nineteen. They fell in love.

They married and he built her a house. An adobe house, this was which is interesting in light of her chart which has the Moon (home) square Uranus (eccentric) and Saturn (dirt)!

So she winds up living in this odd mud house with a double Capricorn…father figure, provider of security to her Cancer sun. And she has a baby…my mother.

But she is unhappy. She’s a city girl, see. And she’s lonely. This is all taken from his letters by the way. Henry chronicled everything in his letters. And he tried to take care of her by building more houses. Get it?

He built her a house and then built some more houses around it so she could have neighbors, (Gemini Moon, rules neighbors) but in the end, she just could not hang.

She was not cut out for motherhood, exactly…look at the chart. She had a Gemini Moon (flighty) square Uranus (rebel) square Saturn (oppressed). So she left when my mother was two, with Henry’s blessing.

Though she remained detached from my mother (with her Sun and Moon in Aquarius) for the most part, she and Henry remained attached for many years. She sent pictures from the city and he forgave her completely, of course.

And he wrote about this extensively. How one person could not and should not hold another back. I absorbed his philosophy around relationship and I don’t think anything I have ever learned from anyone, anywhere at any time has proved more valuable.

skip to part six…

Henry was a very early user of dating clubs. He wrote women all over the country in an effort to find a mate. He wrote dozens and dozens of them over thirty years…

Letter to Essense June 3 1962

“…Altho I think I am a pleasant and agreeable person with a smile for everyone, I have to admit that I doubt if ever I could bring myself to smile into a mirror. In fact, I have grown so old and ugly that I avoid mirrors and never peer into one except when I shave…”

Letter to Wilda September 9 1959

“…I also have a crippled leg, but really it is more like a club foot. When young, I loved to ride motorcycles and broke my ankle twice in the same spot. But I have always hiked long distances and climbed mountains. Two years ago, I took up running. With my foot, I thought I could never run, but a friend up in Colorado encouraged me to try and now I am able to run up to eight miles. And I can take a mountain trail for sixteen or eighteen miles and run half or more of the distance…”

“… I’d rather sleep under the stars than in the finest hotel.”

“…Please don’t worry about your lack of education. You do write a very nice letter and I think you have beautiful handwriting. So many people write so fast, I have difficulty reading what they have written. And the older I get, the more important seem the things of the heart and the things of the head get more and more insignificant. Some of the most cultured and best informed people I have known have had very little or no time in school. I think one should always be a student with an open mind for new ideas and ways to improve himself and help those with who he comes in contact.”

Letter to “Zale” February 6th 1961

“…As to the photo, the only thing I have of recent date is this little “passport” photo and I hate to send it as they always make one appear like a criminal. In general I have found pictures very deceiving. I have seen pictures that represented people to be actually ugly and then when I saw them, I thought they were beautiful. And in other cases it have been the other way around. I would be happy for your kindness in sending a picture and will send this little one if you insist but I am sure it will give the wrong impression. I have had very disappointing experiences. People naturally expect me to be nice and neat like my letters, but I will always be awkward and ungainly in appearance. I am too thin and bald in front. I always try to be nice to every one, but I never count too much on anything until people have a good look at me…”

Letter to “Christal” December 31 1959

“…Did I tell you that I indulge in mountain climbing and distance running? In a week or two, I want to run over to my daughter’s. This is 8 miles from here. I hiked over once, in an hour and a half, but I had to run the last mile to make it in this time. The last part is through the city streets and I imagine those who see me think I’m nuts. But I’ll go early or late so fewer people will be on the streets.”

skip to Henry’s Wife…an Interlude

Henry on relationships:

Letter to Toombs May 6 1959

“… Sorry to hear of your son’s unsuccessful marriage. However, I think your attitude towards the experience indicates motherly wisdom. My daughter and her husband both have hot tempers and bad dispositions. Neither of them believes in divorce, but they have some terrible disturbances at times. When I see either of them in a bad mood and the possibility of trouble, I excuse myself and go elsewhere. My motto is peace at any price. I try to love everyone and will make most any sacrifice to avoid an altercation.

Letter to “Spencer” May 18 1954

“… Hermits are peaceful and live in complete harmony but it is an unnatural life, and I have come to believe that to be at ones best, one should meet and talk to lots of people…”

Letter to “Zale” February 6th 1961

“…. I have always thought that men had the advantage in view of the fact that they can do the asking. About all a woman can do is accept or run away. And as to the lady, things often work out that way. Many people are perfect companions during the day but turn into monsters at home. That is why they say that you never know someone until you have lived with them. Camping or traveling together is also a good way to get to know both sides of a person…”

“… People should know each other thoroughly before thinking of marriage. It is better to be single than to get into a mess. To really be a good companion one must have achieved the Christian principle of trying always to make others happy, and to think of the welfare of his or her companions before his own. The trouble is that usually one person imposes on the good nature of the other.”

And on addiction:

Letter to my mother August 8th 1956
“…I was very proud to announce that Xxxxx has quit smoking. He must never start again. If he does, it will be much harder for him to quit again. The smoking habit is like tying a wicked giant with cord string. Every time you bind him with another string he has less chance to escape. One string does not make much difference (like one more cigarette) but when enough of them are applied he is helpless to break them. It is the same with cigarettes, one does not seem important, but each one binds the person that much tighter, and every day it becomes increasingly harder for him to break the habit. Cigarettes not only take a lot of money, they are bound to affect the health in time.”

~ pictured: Henry building his last house, for himself. He’s about 70 years old there.

With all those planets in Sagittarius, Henry got around…

Letter to my mother Oct.19 1955

“…I am still here in Mazatlan swimming and resting. Now I can walk 30 or 35 feet on my hands. I do this on the beach, just before I swim…”

Letter to Lowther June 7th 1959

“In July I plan to go back to Los Angeles to attend the annual convention of the Vegetarian Society and also another big flying saucer convention. But I am not sure about the race up Pikes Peak yet. It depends on how the pain in my chest develops after I try another climb or two. If it has anything to do with my heart, I may have to stop running up mountains.

Letter to Phyllis Sept. 7 1955

“…Get your courage up for I am coming over to take you to a seance…”

Letter to Weir June 23 1958

“… Basically I will always be a student, hunting for the most significant facts of our existence…”

Letter to Lowther June 7 1959

“… I went to a big flying saucer convention on the way over and brought back a lot of things from Los Angeles. Over there I got a sticker for the windshield. It says “BE NICE I AM A RICH TOURIST!” It is some joke on that old truck painted light blue with orange on the front grill…”

skip to part four…

These excerpts are all from letters to my mother. My mother is a double Aquarius and you can see the Aquarian themes here. He is making sure she knows he is no impinging on her freedom…and “friendship” is an Aquarian concept.

Henry was born in 1900, so it is easy to track how old he was when he wrote these letters. He is 55 when he can walk on his hands, for example.

Letter to my mother June 14, 1954 (My mother is fifteen here)

“…I thought you might want to visit your mother while they came over. I am not telling you what to do, just asking for information; you just do what you want to do.”

Letter to my mother September 21 1955 (She is sixteen, married and pregnant)

“…You say that you and Tiger are lonesome. Then why did you dispense with all your girlfriends (against my advice) when you got married? Friendships should be valued above most other things as they will go right on in the next life. Most things you can’t take with you, but friendships will endure through the ages…”

Letter to my mother October 29, 1956

“…I talked to (her cousin)’s new boyfriend. He is Italian and nice looking. He is psychic and gets information from spirits all the time. He said that some of his ancestors were gypsies and all gypsies believe in spirits…”

Letter to my mother March 14 1956

“…It may be years before you can understand this but you will. As I have told you many times before, the foundation for the beginning of spiritual development is to have a mind absolutely free from hatred, prejudice and ill will of any kind. In this life, the only important thing is spiritual development (all other things are only temporary).

~~
pictured - Henry with my mother on the beach in Mexico and on the street in the desert city where they lived. Henry was a single parent, raising my mother by himself, from the terrible twos on…

skip to part three…