Charles Stansfeld Jones, whom I shall usually mention by the motto V.I.O., which he took on becoming a Probationer of the A∴A∴ ..., made his entry into this World by the usual and approved method, on April 2nd 1886 E. V., having only escaped becoming an April Fool by delaying a day to summon up enough courage to turn out once more into this cold and uninviting World. Having been oiled, smacked and allowed to live, we shall trouble no further about the details of his career until 1906, when, having reached the age of 20 years, he began to turn his attention toward the Mysteries, and to investigate Spiritualism, chiefly with the idea of disproving it. From this year his interest in the Occult seems to date, and it was about this time that he first consciously aspired to find, and get into touch with, a True Occult Order. This aspiration was, as we shall see, fuffilled three years later, when he had an opportunity to become a Probationer of the A∴A∴, and immediately grasped it; but during those three years his researches led him into varied paths:
Spiritualism, Faithism and other Isms on the one hand, and "The Europe," "The Leicester," and "The Cosy Corner" on the other: last, but not least, into Marriage, a difficult thing to put on one side and perhaps best left on the other. Having then plunged wholeheartedly into this final experiment, becoming as it were "Omnia in Uno" for a time, he emerged in a frame of mind well suited to the study of Scientific Illuminism, of which he was much in need, and, having signed the Probationer's Pledge Form on December 24th, 1909, E.V., he took — after careful thought —the Motto "Unus in Omnibus" and has been riding very comfortably ever since.
From this time onward, according to the Rules of the Order, he began keeping a written record of his Work, and this makes our task easier; but since he himself became more serious from that moment, we must to a certain extent follow his example and treat what is recorded as the attempt of a struggling soul to obtain Light for himself and others. Whatever his mistakes, however poor his results, or laughable his failures, there is this much to be said for him, that he never turned back.
