--- aliases: - Babalon Working - The Babalon Working - Babalon Working 1946 - Book of Babalon - Liber 49 - Liber XLIX category: Esoteric & Historical Concept end: 1946-03-04 location: 1003 South Orange Grove Avenue, Pasadena, California relations: - end: 1946-03-04 fn: 1 reverse: true role: operator; head of Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis; wrote the record later called The Book of Babalon start: 1946-01-04 type: participant_in with: '[[Jack Parsons]]' - end: 1946-03-04 fn: 7 reverse: true role: scribe and seer; Parsons wrote on March 6, 1946 that first instructions were received through him start: 1946-01-04 type: participant_in with: '[[L. Ron Hubbard]]' - end: 1946-02-27 fn: 5 reverse: true role: the woman who arrived on January 19, 1946 and was taken by Parsons as his 'elemental' and magical partner; married Parsons October 19, 1946 start: 1946-01-19 type: participant_in with: '[[Marjorie Cameron]]' start: 1946-01-04 summary: Series of Enochian and sexual-magic rituals performed in Pasadena from January 4 to March 4, 1946 by Jack Parsons, with L. Ron Hubbard as scribe and seer, to incarnate the Thelemic goddess Babalon. tags: - Event - Occult - Thelema - Enochian - OrdoTemplisOrientis - AgapeLodge - JackParsons - LRonHubbard - MarjorieCameron - Pasadena - 1946 --- The Babalon Working was a series of rituals carried out by [Jack Parsons](/people/jack-parsons/) and [L. Ron Hubbard](/people/l-ron-hubbard/) at 1003 South Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena, California, in the first quarter of 1946. Parsons headed the [Agape Lodge](/organizations/agape-lodge/) of the [Ordo Templi Orientis](/organizations/ordo-templi-orientis/) under the authority of [Aleister Crowley](/people/aleister-crowley/); Hubbard, a Naval Reserve lieutenant who had moved into the house, acted as scribe and seer.[^1] ### Antecedents On August 1, 1945, according to the historian Henrik Bogdan, Hubbard first came to the house in the company of the illustrator Lou Goldstone, moved in and began a relationship with Parsons's companion and sister-in-law Sara Northrup, called Betty.[^1] The Agape Lodge member Jane Wolfe wrote to Karl Germer on January 23, 1946 that Betty "has transferred her emotional life into the hands of one Ron Hubbard, a very likeable Irishman, who lives there, and Jack is the platonic friend accompanying the 2 lovers here and there, the genial older brother."[^2] Parsons's own account, in a letter to Crowley of about February 1946, describes meeting "Capt. L. Ron Hubbard a writer and explorer" about three months earlier: "He is a gentleman, red hair, green eyes, honest and intelligent ... Although Ron has no formal training in Magick, he has an extraordinary amount of experience and understanding in the field. From some of his experiences I deduce that he is in direct touch with some higher intelligence, possibly his Guardian Angel." He added that "We are pooling our resources in a partnership which will act as a parent company to control our business ventures" and "I need a magical partner."[^3] ### The Enochian invocation, January 4 to 15, 1946 Bogdan reports that Parsons and Hubbard performed an invocation of the Air elemental from January 4 to January 15, 1946, using the Third Key of the Enochian system of John Dee and Edward Kelly and an Air Dagger, an Enochian Air Tablet on parchment and a talisman, in a ritual of eleven parts; Parsons called the record The Book of Babalon.[^1] Parsons wrote to Crowley on January 21, 1946 that he had followed the Seventh Degree instructions: new orders of beings with talismanic images; an invocation of the Mother Goddess ("Possible connective result: loss of Betty's affections as preliminary to ?"); and an invocation of the Air elemental kerub RZLA, repeated twice daily on January 9 to 13, with the result "wind storm last 3 days, no manifestation, no other result apparent to me."[^4] In the record as Bogdan quotes it, a strong windstorm began on January 5; on January 18 at sunset, while "the Scribe" and Parsons were in the Mojave Desert, "the feeling of tension suddenly snapped" and Parsons said to him, "it is done." He returned home and found "a young woman answering the requirements," with bronze-red hair.[^1] ### Marjorie Cameron, January 19 to February 27 The woman was [Marjorie Cameron](/people/marjorie-cameron/), a painter and former member of the [Navy](/organizations/us-navy/)'s WAVES. According to Bogdan, she and Parsons spent the next five weeks together from January 19 to February 27, during which, in Parsons's words, "I invoked the Goddess BABALON with the aid of my magical partner, as was proper to one of my grade," the grade being the Ninth Degree of sexual magic.[^1] On February 2, 1946 Parsons wrote to Crowley of knocks, a lamp thrown to the floor, a brownish-yellow shape about seven feet high, and Hubbard's astral vision: "Ron appears to have some sort of highly developed astral vision. He described his angel as a beautiful winged woman with red hair, whom he calls an Empress ... Her advice to him is highly Thelemic," and that Hubbard, who had never seen Smith, "described him behind me, clad in a black robe and having an evil, pasty face" and "pinned it to the door with four throwing knives, with which he is expert." Parsons wrote: "Ron and I are to continue with our plans for the Order."[^5] On February 22 he wrote that he had found his elemental: "She has red hair and slant green eyes as specified."[^6] ### Liber 49 and the March 6 letter Cameron left for the East Coast on February 28. Parsons went to the Mojave Desert, where, he wrote, "the presence of the Goddess came upon me, and I was commanded to write"; the result was Liber 49, or The Book of Babalon in the strict sense, seventy-seven verses (verses 5 to 8 lost) presented as a fourth chapter of Crowley's Book of the Law.[^1] On March 6, 1946 Parsons wrote to Crowley: "I can hardly tell you or know how much to write. I am under the command of extreme secrecy. I have had the most important devastating experience of my life between Feb 2 and Mar. 4. I believe it was the result of the 9th working with the girl who answered my elemental summons. I have been in direct touch with One who is most Holy and Beautiful mentioned in the Book of the Law. I cannot write the name [BABALON] at present. First instructions were received through Ron the seer. I have followed them to the letter. There was a desire for incarnation. I was the agency chosen to assist the birth which is now accomplished." He wrote that he was to act as instructor and guardian "for 9 months. Then it will be loosed on the world," and that "A manuscript is prepared which will be released to the proper persons at the right time."[^7] On March 16 he told Crowley, Germer, Grady McMurtry, Wolfe and Roy Leffingwell that Leffingwell would act as executive head of the Agape Lodge "while I carry forward the magical and material tasks which I have undertaken."[^8] ### Crowley's reactions On March 15, 1946 Crowley wrote to Parsons that he was "particularly interested in what you have written to me about the elemental," quoted Eliphas Lévi's aphorism "The love of the Magus for such things is insensate and destroys him," and wrote: "Any experience that comes your way you have a tendency to over-estimate."[^9] On April 19 and May 19 he wrote that Parsons's remarks about "the danger of discussing or copying anything" left him "completely puzzled."[^10] The Agape Lodge member Louis Culling wrote to Germer on May 12 that Parsons had "signed a partnership agreement with this Ron and Betty" and that they "have bought a boat for themselves in [Miami](/places/miami/) for about $10,000."[^11] Germer wrote to McMurtry on May 24 that Crowley's cabled reply had been "SUSPECT RON PLAYING CONFIDENCE TRICK JACK EVIDENTLY WEAK FOOL OBVIOUS VICTIM PROWLING SWINDLERS."[^12] In a letter of June 14, 1946 to McMurtry, Crowley wrote of Parsons that "apparently he, or Ron or somebody, is producing a Moon Child."[^13] ### Miami, July 1946, and the break Bogdan names the partnership Allied Enterprises, formed in January 1946 to buy yachts on the East Coast, sail them to California and sell them; he gives Parsons's contribution as $20,970.80 and Hubbard's as $1,183.91.[^1] On July 5, 1946 Parsons wrote from Miami: "Here I am in Miami pursuing the children of my folly. I have them well tied up: they cannot move without going to jail." He estimated he might salvage three to five thousand dollars, and reported that Hubbard "attempted to escape me by sailing at 5 p.m." and that a "full invocation to Bartzabel within the circle" followed at 8 p.m., after which, "as far as I can check, his ship was struck by a sudden squall off the coast, which ripped off his sails and forced him back to port, where I took the boat in custody."[^3] Crowley's letter to Parsons of July 3, 1946 said he had told Germer that Parsons "was evidently the victim of a confidence trick."[^14] Parsons resigned from the Ordo Templi Orientis on August 20, 1946 and married Cameron on October 19, 1946.[^15] Sara Northrup stated in a 1951 complaint that she married Hubbard at Chestertown, [Maryland](/places/maryland/), on August 10, 1946.[^16] ### Later accounts [The Sunday Times](/organizations/the-sunday-times/) of London published on October 5, 1969 an account by Alexander Mitchell headed "The Odd Beginning of Ron Hubbard's Career," based on papers owned by "a former admirer of Crowley," whom the article describes as an expert on Crowley's magic. It says that from January 4 to 15, 1946 Parsons and Hubbard held a nightly ritual, "faithfully described in Parsons' diary," played a Prokofiev violin concerto and later Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead, and that Hubbard served as high priest in a series of ceremonies in which Parsons and the girl shared sex. It quotes the Parsons record: "The Scribe (Hubbard) said ... She is the flame of life, power of darkness, she destroys with a glance, she may take thy soul." The owner of the papers is quoted as saying that Parsons "was completely under Hubbard's domination." A clipping of the article is in the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/)'s [Church of Scientology](/organizations/scientology/) file (see the page on Hubbard).[^17] The Church of Scientology, which according to Bogdan paid a settlement to the newspaper, made a statement, printed in the issue of December 28, 1969, saying that the Ordo Templi Orientis practiced "savage and bestial rites" and that Hubbard had been "sent in to handle the situation" at 1003 Orange Grove: "Hubbard's mission was successful far beyond anyone's expectations. The house was torn down. Hubbard rescued a girl they were using. The black magic group was dispersed and destroyed and has never recovered."[^1] Bogdan writes that Hubbard never spoke publicly about Parsons or the Working.[^1] In a letter of May 1951 to the [Attorney General](/organizations/us-attorney-general/), preserved in an FBI file, Hubbard wrote that Sara Northrup "had attached herself to a Jack Parsons, the rocket expert, during the war and when she left him he was a wreck."[^18] The FBI opened its own file on Parsons in September 1950; the released file does not mention Hubbard.[^19] [^1]: Bogdan, Henrik, "The Babalon Working 1946: L. Ron Hubbard, John Whiteside Parsons, and the Practice of Enochian Magic," Numen 63 (2016), pp. 12-32, citing The Book of Babalon (typescript), Parsons's letters to Crowley, Alexander Mitchell, "The Odd Beginning of Ron Hubbard's Career," The Sunday Times, 1969, and the Church of Scientology statement of December 28, 1969, archive.org/details/l.-ron-hubbard-john-whiteside-parsons-the-practice-of-enochian-magic-the-babalon-working-1946. Sole source for the August 1, 1945 arrival date, the dates January 4 to 15 and January 18, the quoted Book of Babalon passages, the name Allied Enterprises and the investment figures. [^2]: Wolfe, Jane, letter to Karl Germer, January 23, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-01-23-Wolfe-to-Germer.htm. [^3]: Parsons, John W., letters to Aleister Crowley, circa February 1946 and July 5, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-02-00-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm and 1946-07-05-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm. The timeline site's transcription of the July 5 letter reads "Hubbard attempted to escape me by sailing at 5 p.m. and performed a full invocation to Bartzabel within the circle at 8 p.m."; Bogdan (Numen 63, pp. 27-28, quoting the letter with the date July 26, 1946) prints "and I performed a full invocation to Bartzabel within the circle at 8 p.m." The body therefore does not say who performed it. [^4]: Parsons, letter to Crowley, January 21, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-01-21-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm. [^5]: Parsons, letter to Crowley, February 2, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-02-02-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Parsons file 65-59589, Part 2, report of March 1951 on the marriage of Parsons and Marjorie Cameron (WAVE, Navy and Veterans Administration records), archive.org/details/JohnParsons. [^6]: Parsons, letter to Crowley, February 22, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-02-22-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm. [^7]: Parsons, letter to Crowley, March 6, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-03-06-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm. [^8]: Parsons, letter to Crowley, Germer, McMurtry, Wolfe and Leffingwell, March 16, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-03-16-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm. [^9]: Crowley, letter to Parsons, March 15, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-03-15-Crowley-to-Parsons.htm. [^10]: Crowley, letters to Parsons, April 19 and May 19, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-04-19-Crowley-to-Parsons.htm and 1946-05-19-Crowley-to-Parsons.htm. [^11]: Culling, Louis T., letter to Karl Germer, May 12, 1946 (extract), aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-05-12-Culling-to-Germer.html. [^12]: Germer, Karl, letter to Grady McMurtry, May 24, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-05-24-Germer-to-McMurtry.htm. [^13]: Crowley, letter to Grady McMurtry, June 14, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-06-14-Crowley-to-McMurtry.htm. [^14]: Crowley, letter to Parsons, July 3, 1946, The Ridge, Hastings, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-07-03-Crowley-to-Parsons.htm. [^15]: Parsons, resignation from the Ordo Templi Orientis, August 20, 1946, aleistercrowleytimeline.com/Correspondence/1946/1946-08-20-Parsons-to-Crowley.htm; FBI Parsons file 65-59589, Part 2 (marriage October 19, 1946, San Juan Capistrano). [^16]: Newspaper account of the complaint of Sara Northrup Hubbard, 1951, in FBI headquarters file "Hubbard, L. Ron HQ-1," archive.org/details/HubbardL.RonHQ1. [^17]: Mitchell, Alexander, "The Odd Beginning of Ron Hubbard's Career," The Sunday Times (London), October 5, 1969, clipping in FBI file "Church of Scientology/L. Ron Hubbard," Part 6, forwarded by the FBI Washington Field Office in June 1974, archive.org/details/churchofscientologyl.ronhubbard. [^18]: Hubbard, L. Ron, letter to the Attorney General, Wichita, Kansas, May 1951, FBI file "Church of Scientology/L. Ron Hubbard," Part 5, archive.org/details/churchofscientologyl.ronhubbard. [^19]: FBI Parsons file 65-59589, Parts 1 and 2, archive.org/details/JohnParsons. --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*