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-= THE BABALON WORKING =-
By, Alexander Mitchell
John Whiteside Parsons, a brilliant Rocket fuel scientist,
joined the American branch of Aleister Crowley's cult in 1939.
He struck up an earnest correspondence with the Beast 666, as
Crowley was known by his followers, and soon became his out-
-standing protege in the United States. By January, 1946,
Parsons was impatient to break new frontiers in the occult
world. He decided to take the spirit of Babalon, the "Whore
of Babalon", and invest it in a human being.
But to carry out this intricate mission, Parsons needed a
female sexual partner to create his child in the Astral(Spir-
-itual) world. If this part of the fixture went succesfully
Parsons would be able to call down the spiritual baby & direct
it into a human womb. When born, this child would incarnate
the forces of Babalon. During his magical preparations for
this incarnation Parsons found himself overwhelmed assis-
-tance from a young novitiate named Ron Hubbard.
Parsons wrote to Crowley at the beginning of 1946. "He
(Hubbard) is a gentleman, red hair, green eyes, honest & in-
telligent & we have become great friends. Although he has
no formal training in magic, he has an extraordinary amount of
experienct & understanding in the field. Ron appears to have
some sort of highly developed astral vision. He describes his
angel as a beautiful winged woman with red hair whom he calls
the Empress & who has guided him through many times in his life
He is in complete accord with our own principles. I have found
a staunch companion & comrade in Ron".
But within 3 months, the bonds of friendship were under some
strain; Ron claimed Parsons wrote to Crowley, "She has trans-
-ferred her sexual affections to Ron. I cared for her rather
deeply but I have no desire to control her emotions". As if to
cement their loyalties, Parsons, Hubbard & Betty decided to
pool their finances & form a business partnership.
Meanwhile, preparations for the mystical mission were well
under way.
From Jan. 4th. to 15th. 1946, Parsons & Hubbard engaged in
a nightly ritual of incantation, talisman-waving & other Black
Magic, faithfully described in Parsons Diary as Conjuration of
Air, Invocation of Wand, & Consecration of Air Dagger. With a
Prokofiev violin concerto blaring away, the 2 of them pleaded
with the spirits for "An elemental mate - a girl willing to go
through sexual rites to incarnate Babalon in the spirit world.
Parsons mentions that windstorms have occured on a couple
of nights & one night the power suddenly fialed. But nothing
seriously responsive until Jan. 14th. when Ron was struck on
the right sholder & had a candle knocked out of his hand.
"He called me" Parsons wrote, "and we observed a brownish
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