from Wikipedia
John "Jack" Whiteside Parsons was an American rocket propulsion researcher at the California Institute of Technology and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Aerojet Corporation. He was also an enthusiastic occultist.
Parsons' rocket research was central to the United States rocket program in the 1930s and 1940s, notably in the development of space-capable rocket fuels and the invention of JATO units for aircraft.
He is less well known than Wernher von Braun or Theodore von Kármán in the rocket program and the origins of JPL. Nonetheless, von Braun remarked that Parsons, and not he, should be regarded as the father of the American space program.
Parsons was also an avid practitioner of the occult arts, and a follower of Thelema. He saw no contradiction between his scientific and magical pursuits: before each rocket test launch, Parsons would invoke the god Pan.
He was chosen by Aleister Crowley to lead Agape Lodge, the Thelemic Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) in California in 1942 after Crowley expelled Wilfred Smith from the position.
Sarah Elizabeth Northrup (AKA 'Betty'), began living with Parsons after his wife (Sarah's sister) Helen Northrup left with Wilfred Smith. Sarah Elizabeth Northrup later married L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology and sometime magickal partner of Parsons. 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.
In January of 1946 Parsons, Betty, and Hubbard started a boat dealing company named Allied Enterprises. Parsons put in a large sum of approximately $21,000--Hubbard put in $1,200, and Betty nothing. Parsons was very jealous of Betty and Hubbard's relationship and so when she devoted herself entirely to Hubbard, Parsons set out to find another partner, his so called "scarlet woman", a magical partner with whom he could sire a "Moonchild." The Moonchild is traditionally the incarnation of a God, as prophesied in Crowley's channeled script 'The Book of the Law' (The creation of this Moonchild was covered in Crowley's novel of the same name).
When Parsons met artist and poet Marjorie Cameron, he regarded her as the fulfilment of his magical rituals. This same year he resigned his leadership of the O.T.O.
The Hubbard/Allied relationship lasted until 1947, when Hubbard defrauded Parsons of a sum of money and ran off with Sarah Northrup. Hubbard used much of this money from Allied Enterprises to promulgate and publish his book Dianetics, which later evolved into and was superseded by Scientology.
Jack Parsons has an appearance in Anthony Boucher's murder mystery Rocket to the Morgue (1942) as the character Hugo Chantrelle. The book also includes L. Ron Hubbard as D. Vance Wimpole.
Jack Parsons died on June 17, 1952 in an explosion of Fulminate of Mercury at his home laboratory which is generally regarded as accidental--he stored many volatile chemicals and compounds in the lab. Though gravely injured, he survived the explosion, only to die of his wounds. Unsubstantiated rumors have suggested that Parsons' death might not have been accidental.
Distraught, Parsons's mother killed herself not long after he died.
Recommended Websites
Babalon
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Ordo Templi Orientis
