Jack Parsons

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Jack Parsons on the cover of his book "Freedom is a two-edged sword", edited by Cameron

John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons on October 2, 1914 – died June 17, 1952) was an American rocket propulsion researcher at the California Institute of Technology and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet Corp.. An enthusiastic occultist, he was one of the earliest American devotees of English author and occult teacher Aleister Crowley, and a leading member of his organisation, Ordo Templi Orientis.

[edit] Parsons and the Space Age

While his formal education was limited, Parsons demonstrated tremendous scientific aptitude, particularly in chemistry. His rocket research was some of the earliest in the United States, and his pioneering work in the development of solid fuel and the invention of JATO units for aircraft was of great importance to the start of humanity's space age. The noted engineer Theodore von Kármán, Parsons's friend and benefactor, declared that the work of Parsons and his peers helped usher in the age of space travel.^[1] Parsons co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, commonly referred to as JPL.

[edit] Parsons and the Occult

Parsons was also an avid student and practitioner of the occult arts, and a Thelemite. He saw no contradiction between his scientific and magical pursuits, and before each rocket test launch, Parsons would invoke the Greek god Pan.

In 1942 Parsons was chosen by Aleister Crowley to lead the Agape Lodge of the Thelemic Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) in California after Crowley expelled Wilfred Smith from the position.^[2]

Sara Northrup (aka "Sarah Elizabeth" or "Betty" Northrup), began living with Parsons after his wife, Sara's half-sister Helen Northrup, left with Wilfred Smith. Sara Northrup later married author L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology and sometime magical partner of Parsons.

[edit] Babalon Working and Marjorie Cameron

In 1946 Parsons and Hubbard participated in a ritual known as the Babalon Working which is famous in occult circles — loosely, it was an attempt to summon a living goddess and change the course of history. Paul Rydeen writes:

The purpose of Parson's operation has been underemphasized. He sought to produce a magickal child who would be a product of her environment rather than of her heredity. Crowley himself describes the Moonchild in just these terms. The Babalon Working itself was preparation for what was to come: a Thelemic messiah.^[3]

Parsons ended the ritual by declaring it successful. Almost immediately he met Marjorie Cameron right in his own home, and regarded her as the Scarlet Woman, the fulfillment of the ritual.

Parsons, Hubbard, and Cameron then began the next stage of Babalon Working, with Cameron acting as Parsons' magical sexual partner with whom he could sire a Moonchild. The creation of this Moonchild had been previously covered in fictional form in Crowley's novel Moonchild. A child was not conceived, but this did not affect the results of the ritual to that point. Parsons and Cameron soon married.

In January 1946, Parsons, Sarah Northrup, and Hubbard started a boat dealing company named Allied Enterprises. Parsons put in the sum of approximately $21,000, and Hubbard put in $1,200. Hubbard eventually abandoned Parsons and their business plans, leaving a port in Florida with the boat and with Sarah. It is said Parsons retreated to his hotel room and summoned a typhoon in retribution (viz., with an evocation of Bartzabel^[4] - the so-called intelligence supposedly presiding over the planet Mars). A Florida court later dissolved the poorly-contracted business, ordered repayment of debts to Parsons, and awarded ownership of the boat to Hubbard.

The Hubbard/Allied Enterprises relationship lasted until 1947, when Hubbard again defrauded Parsons of a sum of money and ran off again with Sara Northrup.

Parsons resigned his leadership of the O.T.O. in 1946.

[edit] Death

Fritz Zwicky, a member of the original Aerojet team, did not like Parsons, and called him a "dangerous man." This pronouncement proved prophetic.

On 17 June 1952 Parsons was killed in an explosion of fulminate of mercury at his home laboratory. Though gravely injured, he survived the immediate explosion, but he died of his wounds a few hours later. Distraught, Parsons' mother killed herself just hours after he died.^[1]

Unsubstantiated rumors of suicide, murder or magical ritual gone wrong have circulated. However Parsons stored many volatile chemicals and compounds in his laboratory and had been working to finish a contract for a special effects firm.^[1]

[edit] Parsons in Popular Culture

Jack Parsons has an appearance in Anthony Boucher's murder mystery novel "Rocket to the Morgue" (1942) as the character Hugo Chantrelle. The book also includes L. Ron Hubbard as D. Vance Wimpole. His relationship with Hubbard also appears in Paradox's Big Book of Conspiracies, Alan Moore's Cobweb story in Top Shelf asks the big questions, and Jon Atack's A Piece of Blue Sky. He was also one of the characters in the Craig Baldwin collage film Mock Up on Mu. He is also referenced in Philip K. Dick's novel Dr. Futurity, in which the protagonist is named Jack Parsons. A play about Parsons, "Babalon", by Paul Green, was performed in London in December 2005 by Travesty Theatre. There is also an entry dedicated to Parsons in The QI Book of the Dead by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson.

[edit] Honors

The crater Parsons on the far side of the Moon is named after him.^[5]

[edit] Bibliography

• Freedom Is a Two-Edged Sword by John Whiteside Parsons, Edited by Marjorie Cameron and Hymenaeus Beta, ISBN 0972658327 (on-line 1976 Edition Edited by C.R. Runyon)
• The Collected Writings of Jack Parsons: The Book of Babalon, The Book of Antichrist, and other writings" including:
• Three Essays on Freedom by John Whiteside Parsons (2008). With an Introduction by Hymenaeus Beta. The Teitan Press. ISBN 9780933429116
  • The Book of Babalon
  • The Book of Antichrist
  • The Birth of Babalon (poem)
  • We are the Witchcraft
  • The Woman Girt with a Sword
  • Letters to Cameron

Books on Jack Parsons:

• Carter, Jack; Sex and Rockets, Feral House, 1999
• Pendle, George; Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons, Harcourt, 2005
• Testa, Anthony; The Key of the Abyss, Lulu.com, 2006, ISBN 1430301600

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Magical Father of American Rocketry, Reason Online
• Cameron-Parsons Foundation website
• Rotten.com bio
• Feral House's Sex and Rockets mini-site.
• The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Aerojet corporation
• Thelemapedia entry on Jack Parsons
• JPL history video
• Webcomic based on the life of Jack Parsons