Marjorie Cameron - Occult and Parsons

Occult and Parsons

Upon her honorable discharge from the service in 1945, Cameron moved to Pasadena where she became a fashion illustrator. Disillusioned with mainstream culture, she became an enthusiastic supporter of jazz, frequenting the black clubs on Central Avenue. Her life was forever changed, however, when an old Navy friend took her to the home of John Whiteside Parsons, better known as Jack Parsons. Instantly struck by Cameron's dramatic red hair and intriguing looks, Parsons was convinced she was his Scarlet Woman, the entity he and L. Ron Hubbard had conjured during their sexual magick experiment called the Babalon Working, an occult rite to manifest the Goddess potential in society and throughout the human race. Cameron identified herself with the Scarlet Woman, as did those around her.

After further magical workings together, Parsons, Hubbard and Cameron felt that they had conceived a Moonchild, as described in the novel of the same name by Aleister Crowley, although no physical child was born. They were referring to a spiritual entity. Cameron said that she had an abortion after conceiving a child within two weeks of meeting Parsons, so clearly a physical child was not the aim. Aleister Crowley thought that their workings were idiocy (although he never met Cameron), and some believers feel that Parsons, Hubbard, and Cameron had unleashed a magical force on the world, the goddess Babalon. Paradoxically, at times Cameron herself was referred to as an incarnation of Babalon by Parsons, and later claimed this identity for herself, saying she had given birth to a spiritual child.