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Jack Parsons and his book of Babalon

To: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org
From: Patrick Crumhorn 
Subject: Re: Jack Parsons and his book of Babalon
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 15:06:11 -0500

93...

At 12:50 PM 7/31/96 -0400, Brendan wrote:

>        Recently I recieved a copy of Jack Parson's The Book Of Babalon and
>The Book of Antichrist off another mailing list. They describe a series of
>invocations to Babalon and the channeling of the "4th chapter of the Liber AL".
>I was wondering if any one knew about these, like if they were done
>perchance for real or if it is the rantings of another wanna-be Crowley
>incarnate.

     Well, the operation was certainly *performed* for real, if
that's what you mean.  Jack Parsons was, among other things, the
head of the Agape Lodge of the OTO in California (Bill Heidrick
can fill you in on that history), and one of the main honchos
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  He performed a series of
operations (along with one L. Ron Hubbard, which is yet another
whole story) for the purpose of incarnating an avatar of
Babalon.
     As for "another wanna-be Crowley," A.C. himself did not
think very much of Parsons' experiment, according to extant
letters.
     My personal opinion is that Parsons was truly an inspired
mage, and the "Book of Babalon" a document with very powerful
magickal content.  Whether it qualifies as the "4th Chapter
of Liber AL" is another thing, but it stands in its own right
(rite?) as an "inspired writing."
     Parsons "accidentally" blew himself to bits a few years
after doing this working...proceed with caution if you plan
to duplicate his efforts.  ;-)
     For Parsons' own writings, I recommend "Freedom is a
Two-Edged Sword," published by New Falcon Publications.
For some background regarding the Babalon Working, there
is a chapter in Kenneth Grant's "The Magical Revival"
(Skoob Books) that gives a good overview.

     93  93/93

                        nogah

                  Patrick Crumhorn          patrik@io.com
                          http://www.io.com/~patrik
                "I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out."
                                 --unknown Hong Kong movie             



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