Parsons and The Occult
Parsons saw no contradiction between his scientific and magical pursuits. Before each rocket test launch, Parsons would chant Crowley's hymn to the Greek god Pan. In 1942 Parsons was chosen by Aleister Crowley to lead Agapé Lodge of OTO in California following Crowley's expulsion of Wilfred Smith from the position.
Parsons and Helen Northrup were married in April 1935.
Sara Northrup (aka "Sarah Elizabeth" or "Betty" Northrup), began living with Parsons and Parsons' wife, Sara's half-sister Helen Northrup; later, Parsons and Sara started an affair, which caused strife with Helen and eventually led to Helen leaving with Wilfred Smith.
Parsons' 11-room home, nicknamed "The Parsonage", became a boarding house for a variety of artists and eccentrics, including journalist Nieson Himmel, physicist Robert Cornog, and author and future Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard became involved with Parsons' mistress Sara Northrup and they later married.
Read more about this topic: John Whiteside Parsons
Famous quotes containing the words parsons and/or occult:
“Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely without a continuous and healthy development and application of science such a society cannot function properly.”
—Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)
“The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)