John Whiteside Parsons
John "Jack" Whiteside Parsons (born October 2, 1914 , † June 17, 1952 , maiden name Marvel Whiteside Parsons), was an American rocket propulsion researcher at the California Institute of Technology and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Corporation . He also studied magic and the thelemic teachings of Aleister Crowley .
Career
Parson's rocket research was an important part of the US missile program of the 1930s and 1940s, as it made a significant contribution to the development of solid, space-capable propellants and the invention of JATO units for aircraft.
As part of the history of space travel, he is far less known than Wernher von Braun or Theodore von Kármán . Even so, von Braun noted that Parsons, and not von Braun, should be viewed as the father of the US space program.
occultism
Jack Parsons was, besides his scientific work, a follower of the occult teachings of Aleister Crowley and practiced his " Magick ". He saw no contradiction in this and performed an invocation of the god Pan before each rocket launch .
He was appointed director of the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in California by Aleister Crowley in 1942 after Crowley removed the previous director of the Agape Lodge, Wilfred Smith, from his position. Parson's name within the OTO was Frater Jopan 210, he did not get to know Crowley personally, but was in contact with him through letters.
After his wife Helen Northrup left him with Wilfred Smith, he moved in with her half-sister Sara Elizabeth Northrup, called Betty.
In the mid-1940s, Parsons and his wife met the adventurer, writer and later Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard . The three planned to perform a ritual from Crowley's OTO, which would take almost a year: the creation of a moonchild , a child with a magically predestined soul. Crowley expressed anger when he heard of this venture. But he didn't throw Parsons out of the order.
In January 1946, Parsons, Betty, and Hubbard had started a ship trading company called Allied Enterprises . Parsons invested a large sum of about $ 21,000, and Hubbard contributed $ 1,200, while Betty made no contributions. In 1947 one of the boats and some of the money they had earned were stolen from Betty and Hubbard. Parsons is said to have conjured up a storm in his hotel room, the boat with Hubbard and Betty was actually capsized by a storm. A Florida court later terminated the contract, ordered Parsons to repay the debt, and gave Hubbard ownership of the ship. Hubbard and Betty were married on August 10, 1946 in Chestertown, Maryland , while Hubbard's marriage to Louise Grubb, his first wife, did not divorce until December 24, 1947.
In March 1946, Parsons, Betty and Hubbard carried out the so-called Babalon Workings in the Mojave Desert in California, during which Parsons received a text and dictated Hubbard as scribe, which he called Liber Babalon and which he called the fourth chapter of the Liber AL vel Legis understood.
During these Babalon Workings , Parsons met Marjorie Cameron , who Parsons' idea of Babalon as a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes (although her eyes were blue-green) so matched that he persuaded her to do magical work and finally her in the imagination came up to be Babalon.
She starred in Kenneth Anger's film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome , the Kali and the scarlet whore Babalon. After Parsons met Cameron, he resigned from the OTO. The two later married.
In Anthony Boucher's novel Rocket to the Morgue , published under the pseudonym HH Holmes , both Parsons (as Hugo Chantrelle) and Hubbard (as D. Vance Wimpole) appear.
Death and aftermath
Jack Parsons died on June 17, 1952 as a result of an explosion of fumed mercury . His Liber Babalon prophesied an end in flames, later exponents of thelemic ideas such as Kenneth Grant see this fulfillment of the prophecy as proof of the authenticity of the book, even if it is not generally accepted as the fourth chapter of Liber AL .
Not long after Parson's death in flames, his mother committed suicide.
A moon crater has been named after Jack Parsons.
The television series Strange Angel , produced by CBS Corporation since 2018, is about the life of Jack Parsons.
literature
- John Carter: Sex and Rockets. The Occult World of Jack Parsons . Feral House, Venice CA 2000, ISBN 0-922915-56-3 (German published as: Raumfahrt, Sex und Rituale. Die occult Welt des Jack Parsons . Hadit Verlag, Albersdorf 2003, ISBN 3-9808560-1-1 ).
- George Pendle: Strange Angel. The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons . Harcourt, Orlando FL 2005, ISBN 0-297-84853-4 .
- Curt Rowlett: Labyrinth 13. True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy . Lulu Press 2006, ISBN 1-4116-6083-8 , Chapter 2: The Strange Case of John Whiteside Parsons .
- Kenneth Grant : Hecate's Fountain . Skoob Books, London 1992, ISBN 1-871438-96-9 ( Skoob esoterica series ), part one, 3: Parsons in Mauve .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Imfernsehen GmbH & Co KG: Strange Angel. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Parsons, John Whiteside |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Parsons, Jack |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rocket engineer, occultist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 2, 1914 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 17, 1952 |