Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (20 page)

Parsons continued to invoke Babalon. On February 28, he went
out to the Mojave on his own, and “was commanded to write” a “communication”
from Babalon, supposedly the fourth chapter of the
Book of the Law
. This
rambling “communication,” similar in style to Crowley's “inspired” writings,
describes Babalon, and the tribute she seeks to exact. Further, it describes
the ritual which Parsons is to perform. Babalon is to provide a daughter, and
Parsons is charged with a significant task:

In My Name shall she have all power, and all men and excellent
things, and kings and captains and the secret ones at her command ... My voice
in thee shall judge nations ... All is in thy hands, all power, all hope, all
future ... Thy tears, thy sweat, thy blood, thy semen, thy love, thy faith
shall provide. Ah, I shall drain thee like the cup that is of me, BABALON ...
Let me behold thee naked and lusting after me, calling upon my name ... Let me
receive all thy manhood within my Cup, climax upon climax, joy upon joy.

During the first two days of March 1946, Parsons prepared an
altar and equipment according to the instructions he had just received. Hubbard
had been away for a week, but: “On March 2 he returned, and described a vision
he had that evening of a savage and beautiful woman riding naked on a great cat
like beast.” Hubbard and Parsons set to work immediately. As Parsons described
it, “He was robed in white, carrying the lamp, and I in black, hooded, with the
cup and dagger. At his suggestion we played Rachmaninoff's 'Isle of the Dead'
as background music, and set an automatic recorder to transcribe any audible occurrences.
At approximately 8 PM he began to dictate, I transcribing directly as I
received.”

Hubbard launched into a stream of suitably mystical
outpourings, for example: “She is flame of life, power of darkness, she
destroys with a glance, she may take thy soul. She feeds upon the death of men.
Beautiful - Horrible.” Hubbard continued, instructing Parsons:

Display thyself to our lady; dedicate thy organs to
Her, dedicate thy heart to Her, dedicate thy mind to her, dedicate thy soul to
Her, for She shall absorb thee, and thou shalt become living flame before She
incarnates. For it shall be through you alone, and no one else can help in this
endeavor.

... Retire from human contact until noon tomorrow.
Clear all profane documents on the morrow, before receiving further instructions.
Consult no book but thine own mind. Thou art a god. Behave at this altar as one
god before another...

Thou art the guardian and thou art the guide, thou art
the worker and the mechanic. So conduct thyself. Discuss nothing of this matter
until thou art certain that thine understanding embraces it all.

Using a mixture of his earlier desert inspiration, Hubbard's
instructions, and a large helping of Crowley, Parsons began the rituals to incarnate
the daughter of Babalon.

The next day, Hubbard once more acted as Babalon's medium,
and gave instructions for the second and third rituals. During the second
ritual Parsons was to gaze into an empty black box for an hour when a “sacred
design” would become apparent which he was to reproduce in wood. Then, robed in
scarlet (“symbolic of birth”) with a black sash, Parsons was to invoke Babalon
yet again.

The third ritual was to start four hours before dawn.
Parsons was to wear black, and to “lay out a white sheet.” Hubbard's
instructions continued:

Place upon it blood of birth, since she is born of
thy flesh, and by thy mortal power upon earth ... Envision thyself as a cloaked
radiance desirable to the Goddess, beloved. Envision her approaching thee.
Embrace her, cover her with kisses. Think upon the lewd lascivious things thou
couldst do. All is good to Babalon. ALL ... Thou as a man and as a god hast
strewn about the earth and in the heavens many loves, these recall,
concentrate, consecrate each woman thou hast raped. Remember her, think upon
her, move her into BABALON, bring her into BABALON, each, one by one until the
flame of lust is high.

Preserve the material basis ... The lust is hers, the
passion yours. Consider thou the Beast raping.

A commentator has noted that the “material basis” was
probably an admixture of semen and menstrual blood. On March 6, Parsons sent an
excited letter to Crowley:

I am under the command of extreme secrecy. I have had
the most important - devastating experience of my life between February 2 and
March 4. I believe it was the result of the 9th [degree] 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 at present.

First instructions were received direct 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. I do not yet know the vehicle, but it will come to me, bringing a
secret sign I know. Forgetfulness was the price. I am to act as instructor
guardian guide for nine months; then it will be loosed on the world. That is
all I can say now. There must be extreme secrecy. I cannot tell you the depth
of reality, the poignancy, terror and beauty I have known. Now I am back in the
world weak with reaction ... It is not a question of keeping anything from you,
it is a question of not dwelling or even thinking unduly on the matter until
the time is right. Premature discussion or revelation would cause an abortion.

Parsons obviously thought Babalon was gestating in Marjorie
Cameron's womb; it all smacks of horror tales like
The Omen
and
Rosemary’s
Baby
. Crowley thought so too, and said as much to Parsons: “You have me
completely puzzled by your remarks about the elemental - the danger of
discussing or copying anything. I thought I had the most morbid imagination, as
good as any man's, but it seems I have not. I cannot form the slightest idea
who you can possibly mean.” A curious admission from the author of
The
Moonchild
, and the “IXth degree magic,” of which “Of the Homunculus,” is a
major part.

Crowley wrote to his deputy in New York: “Apparently he
[Parsons] or Ron or somebody is producing a Moonchild. I get fairly frantic
when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts.”

Crowley's “IXth degree” ritual, which was performed by
Parsons, Hubbard and Cameron, says this of the homunculus: “Now then thou hast
a being of perfect human form, with all powers and privileges of humanity, but
with the essence of a particular chosen force, and with all the knowledge and
might of its sphere; and this being is thy creation and dependent; to it thou
art Sole God and Lord, and it must serve thee.”
¹⁶

None of the accounts of “The Babalon Working,” performed by
Parsons and Hubbard, say whether or not a child was born. Nor do they fully
explain the phrase “the essence of a particular chosen force.” Crowley viewed
the gods not as distinct individuals, but as representations of particular
energies, which could be tapped. In his own words: “Gods are but names for the
forces of Nature themselves.” The “IXth degree” magic is concerned with
embodying such an energy or force.

In May, OTO member Louis T. Culling wrote to Crowley's
deputy, Karl Germer, suggesting that Parsons should be “salvaged from the undue
influence of another.” He spoke of a partnership agreement signed by Parsons,
Hubbard and Sara Northrup “whereby all money earned by the three, for life, is
equally divided.”

There was disquiet in the Ordo Templi Orientis. In a cable
to his US deputy, dated May 22, Crowley said, “Suspect Ron playing confidence
trick Jack evidently weak fool obvious victim prowling swindlers.” On the 31st,
he added, “It seems to me on the information of our Brethren in California that
(if we may assume them to be accurate) Frater 210 [Parsons] has committed ...
errors. He has got a miraculous illumination which rimes with nothing, and he
has apparently lost all of his personal independence. From our brother's
account he has given away both his girl and his money - apparently it is an
ordinary confidence trick.”

Parsons and Hubbard had indeed agreed to pool their funds
immediately after the original ceremonies. They set up Allied Enterprises to
buy yachts in Florida and sell them in California. Parsons put up $20,970.80,
and Hubbard $1,183.91. The third partner, Sara Elizabeth Northrup (“Betty”) made
no financial contribution.
^{17, 18}
In May, Ron and Betty went to Florida
and started buying yachts.
¹⁹

Parsons worried when Hubbard failed to give any account of
the expenditure of Allied Enterprises. In June, Parsons travelled to Florida,
writing to Crowley, “Here I am in Miami pursuing [sic] the children of my
folly. I have them well tied up: they cannot move without going to jail.
However I am afraid that most of the money [in the joint account] has already
been dissipated. I will be lucky to salvage 3,000-5,000 dollars. In the interim
I have been flat broke.”
²⁰

On July 1, 1946, Parsons filed suit against Hubbard. He
charged that his partners had failed to present him with any accounting, and
though using money from the company bank account, had paid nothing into it.
¹⁸

A receiver was appointed by the court to wind up Allied
Enterprises, and a restraining order was placed on the boats involved, all of
Hubbard and Bettys' personal property, and any bank accounts in their names.
Hubbard and Betty were also ordered to remain in Miami.
²¹
On July
11, the partners signed an agreement dissolving Allied Enterprises.
²²
A settlement was approved by the Court on July 16.
²³

Parsons took two of the boats, a schooner, the Blue Water II
and the yacht Diane, and Hubbard a two-masted schooner called the Harpoon.
Hubbard also gave Parsons a promissory note for $2,900 secured against the
Harpoon, and paid half of Parsons' costs. The Parsons affair was over.
Hubbard's affair with black magic was not.

Parsons and Hubbard went their separate ways after their
legal settlement, in July 1946. In October 1948, Parsons repeated the “Babalon
Working,” as it has come to be known, and in 1949 wrote
The Book of the
Antichrist
, and proclaimed himself “Belarion, Antichrist” (“Belarion” was
his OTO name). In
The Book of the Antichrist
, Parsons alluded to his
dealings with Hubbard:

Now it came to pass even as BABALON told me, for after
receiving Her Book I fell away from Magick, and put away Her Book and all pertaining
thereto. And I was stripped of my fortune, (the sum of about $50,000) [sic] and
my house, and all I Possessed.

Parsons was fatally injured by the blast of an explosion in
his laboratory in 1952.
²⁴
Parsons has the distinction of being the
only 20th century magician to have had a crater on the moon named after him
(though for his contributions to rocketry).
²⁵
Appropriately, it is
on the dark side.

Hubbard continued the practice of Magick after leaving
Parsons. During the Armstrong case, portions of Hubbard's “Affirmations” were
read into the record,
²⁶
much to the protest of Mary Sue Hubbard's
attorney, who said “this particular document is ... far and away the most
private and personal document probably that I have ever read by anybody.”
²⁷
Armstrong's lawyer, Michael Flynn, tended to agree: “most Scientologists ... if
they read these documents would leave the organization five minutes after they
read them.”
²⁸

The “Affirmations” are voluminous. The introduction alone
runs to 30 pages. They are in Ron Hubbard's own hand. Only a tiny portion was
read into the court record, and the originals were held under court seal. In
the “Affirmations” or “Admissions,” Hubbard hypnotized himself to believe that
all of humanity and all discarnate beings were bound to him in slavery: “All
men are my slaves ... All elemental beings are my slaves.”
²⁹
Mary
Sue Hubbard's attorney claimed these statements were part of Hubbard's
“research.”
³⁰

Also under court seal was a document with the tantalizing
title “The Blood Ritual.”
³¹
The title was Hubbard's own. This
document was apparently sensitive that no part of it was read into the record.
The Scientology lawyer asserted that the deity invoked in “The Blood Ritual” is
an Egyptian god of Love.
³²

Parsons had mentioned Hubbard's “Guardian Angel,” “The Empress.”
Nibs Hubbard says his father also called his “Guardian Angel” Hathor, or
Hathoor. Hathor is an Egyptian goddess, the daughter and mother of the great
Sun god Amon-Ra, the principal Egyptian deity. She was depicted as a winged and
spotted cow feeding humanity. A Goddess of Love and Beauty. But she had a
second aspect, not always mentioned in texts on Egyptian mythology, that of the
“avenging lioness,” Sekmet: a destructive force. One authority has called her
“the destroyer of man.”
³³
This is the “God of Love” to whom “The
Blood Ritual” ceremony was dedicated. Since doing my research I have seen a
copy of the “Blood Ritual,” and it is indeed addressed to Hathor. Nuit, Re, Mammon
and Osiris are also invoked. The ceremony consisted of Ron and Betty mingling
their blood to become one.

Arthur Burks has left an account of a meeting with Hubbard
before the Second War, where Hubbard said that his guardian angel, a “smiling
woman,” protected him when he was flying gliders.
³⁴
One early
Dianeticist asked Hubbard how he had managed to write
Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health
in three weeks. Hubbard said it was produced
through automatic writing, dictated by an entity called the “Empress.”
³⁵
In Crowley's Tarot, the Empress card represents, among other things, debauchery,
and Crowley also associated the card with Hathor.
³⁶