Jack Parsons

Considered by many Magicians and Occultists to be as close as we have to a Rockstar, John Whiteside Parsons lived perhaps one of the most interesting and captivating lives of any resident of the Fools Gallery. A gifted chemist, many have said that he is one of the most important figures in the history of space exploration; some even going so far to say that without Jack Parsons, humanity would not have made it to the moon. And yet going hand in hand with his rocket chemical brilliance was a fanatical obsession with Western Magic, particularly that of Aleister Crowley’s Thelema. Consider this an introduction to one of the most fascinating humans to grace this planet in the last 100 years- Jack Parsons.

My guest for this episode is none other than Steve R! Steve has been an amazing supporter of the show as well as one of my favourite people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting since starting my Podcast. An active member of the WMiT? Discord community, his magical takes are some of my favourite and many of them have been mentioned on previous episodes of the show. Always good for a laugh and some amazing advice, Steve is an absolute treasure. Below is the face of a man who said that they would “bring down a thousand curses of every unleashed demon of hell upon the host of WMiT? if they didn’t get to talk about Jack Parsons on the show.”

Show Notes

• Sex & Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter – My favourite biography of Jack, although it also has some weird stuff in it which is not substantiated. Still worth a read!
• Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle – Less Occult-oriented than the book above but still a captivating read about Jack’s life and exploits
• The Two Antichrists by Peter Grey – An excellent and truly fascinating book that delves into the legacy of Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard. Peter is the most interesting and important magician writing about Jack Parsons today
• The Red Goddess by Peter Grey – Has a fantastic chapter Jumping Jack Flash which deals with Parsons
• Babalon Rising: Jack Parsons’ Witchcraft Prophecy by Erik Davis – And essay about Jack’s Magickal Feminism. Worth a read certainly
• The Babalon Working 1946: L. Ron Hubbard, John Whiteside Parsons, and the Practice of Enochian Magic by Henrik Bogdan
• The Cameron-Parsons Foundation
• Jack Parsons Articles and works at The Hermetic Library
• From Rockets to Spacecraft: Making JPL a Place for Planetary Science
• Wormwood Star: The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron by Spencer Kansa
• The Final issue of KAOS Magazine edited by Joel Biroco has lots of Parsons and Babalon
• The Brazen Vessel by Alkistis Dimech & Peter Grey – Includes essay Strange Suppers & Spells Diverse about The Babalon Working. This book is a personal fav of mine
• The Babalon Working and Beloved of Babalon by Michael Staley
• GALCIT Projects: The Birth of US Rocketry
• From Chorazin to Carcosa. Fiction-Based Esotericism in the Black Pilgrimage of Jack Parsons and Cameron
• Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword
• The Witchcraft by Jack Parsons – Peter Grey does a wonderful reading of this work as well
• Songs For the Witch Woman by John W. Parsons and Marjorie Cameron
• The Marvel: A Biography of Jack Parsons by Richard Carbonneau and Simon Ng – Graphic Novel
• “The Eyes of Goats and of Women”: Femininity and the Post-Thelemic Witchcraft of Jack Parsons and Kenneth Grant
• Jack Parsons and the Fall of Babalon by Paul Rydeen – A somewhat old and kinda shoddy bio of Jack but has some interesting bits from a Typhonian perspective
• We Are The Witchcraft 3 Part Unexplained Podcast Series – Well worth listening to for a more stylized retelling of Jack’s Life – Part I – Part II – Part III
• Her Banner Is Unfolded: Babalon and Scarlet Femininities in the Writings of Jack Parsons – Chapter within the excellent book The Eloquent Blood
• Babalon dot Net – WaybackMachined
• Strange Angel – TV series based on Jack Parsons
• Final Events & the Secret Government Group on Demonic UFOs & the Afterlife by Nick Redfern – An…. Interesting read
• UFOs, Occultism and Multiple Realities: The Rocketeer That Tried to Scape the Men in Black: The strange case of John Jack Parsons by Kenneth Arnold