scientology & celebrities

i'm just like 20 pgs in, and a slow reader in that it takes me a while to get through stuff because once it sinks in i am like whoa and have to stop reading to let it sink in all the way. right now i am enjoying thinking about the various ways that scientology intersected with all the drug-damaged freaky 70s people looking for community.

i'm also wondering how florian fricke became involved because that has always made me kinda sad, but i'm not sure about the exact connection or how zealous he was or w/e

a lot of people drifted in and out

does the book talk about fricke at all?

(just curious, will keep reading regardless)

sorry cant tell u, gotta read it

this is how it starts, isn't it

Read a bunch of this over lunch and between meetings today

fancy businessman over here

ok, I lied, I pretended to be checking email on my phone and read it during meetings. just try to pay attention during three straight hours of meetings, I dare you

ok discussion topic (i am on page 50 or something -- super duper slow reader over here, was busy this weekend)

l ron hubbard's son links the cosmology of s to black magic(k); parsonage sex cult

whaaaa?! is there more detail about this era? i certainly hope so, i haven't read much about crowley/occultists but i know i should because wtf @ parties where "women in diaphanous gowns...would dance around a pot of fire, surrounded by coffins topped with candles"

recommendations? (honestly i have not read this entire thread, so maybe it's discussed upthread, my apologies if so)

Where are these parties...?

The Parsonage!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/John_Whiteside_Parsons.jpg

Hi, I design rocket fuel and have a crazy sex commune http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whiteside_Parsons

This is just part of it

Parsons, a science fiction fan, had read in the fantasy pulp magazine Unknown the 1940 original version of Jack Williamson "Darker Than You Think". Parsons identified the redheaded female love interest of the protagonist with Babalon or the "Scarlet Woman", whom Crowley had prophesied would usher in and help fulfill the Aeon of Horus and end the Aeon of Osiris represented by Christianity, other patriarchal religions, and male-dominated social institutions. In 1946, Parsons and Hubbard (whose works Fear and Typewriter in the Sky, among others, had appeared in Unknown) participated in a work of ceremonial magic known as the Babalon Working. In simple terms, the Babalon Working was a ritual to summon this Scarlet Woman. Paul Rydeen writes:

The purpose of Parson's [sic] operation has been underemphasized. He sought to produce a magickal child who would be a product of her environment rather than of her heredity. Crowley himself describes the Moonchild in just these terms. The Babalon Working itself was preparation for what was to come: a Thelemic messiah.[8]

Crowley, who lived in England at this time and had little say over the matter, disagreed strenuously. Though he had never met him, Crowley had no love for Hubbard and considered him a con artist.

Almost immediately, he met Marjorie Cameron right in his own home and regarded her as the Scarlet Woman and the fulfillment of the ritual. Parsons, Hubbard, and Cameron then proceeded to the next stage of the Babalon Working in which Cameron acted as Parsons' magical sexual partner with whom he could sire a Moonchild. The creation of this Moonchild had been previously covered in fictional form in Crowley's novel Moonchild. Parsons ended the ritual by declaring it successful. A physical child was not conceived, but this did not affect the results of the ritual. Parsons and Cameron soon married.

In January 1946, Parsons, Sarah Northrup, and Hubbard began a boat dealing company named Allied Enterprises. Parsons put in the sum of approximately $21,000 of which Hubbard contributed $1,200. Just as Crowley had predicted, Hubbard eventually abandoned Parsons and their business plans, leaving for a port in Florida with the boat and with Sarah. Parsons retreated to his hotel room and attempted to summon a typhoon in retribution (viz., with an evocation of Bartzabel[9]—an intelligence presiding over the astrological forces associated with the planet Mars). A squall developed at sea and ripped the sails from the boat, forcing the ship back to port where Hubbard and Sarah were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard.[10] A Florida court later dissolved the poorly-contracted business, ordered repayment of debts to Parsons, and awarded ownership of the boat to Hubbard. Parsons resigned his leadership of the Agapé Lodge and sold The Parsonage in 1946.

there's quite a lot of stuff in Bare Faced Messiah abt the Hubbard/Crowley/Parsons connections - and there are at least two biogs of Jack Parsons out there which presumably go into more detail abt this

the Lawrence Wright bk has not been published in the UK for fear of litigation :-(

Gd review by David Thomson here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/30/going-clear-lawrence-wright-review

and there are at least two biogs of Jack Parsons out there which presumably go into more detail abt this

If anyone can recommend the best (most detailed and trustworthy) one, I would be much obliged! In the meantime, onward with Elrond. Reading this at night is giving me the weirdest dreams!

I was fascinated by the Parsonage/Crowley stuff as well! I'm also only about 50 pages in, but I would love to find out more.

Hubbard seems like such an abusive creep towards women, I'm puzzled as to how he ended up attracting so many of them in the first place.

I think he hung out with "the James Dean of the occultists" at the parsonage and talked a good talk because
the babalon bunch has a standout hunk

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/01jan/babalonbunch.jpg

total abusive creep so far, yes for sure!!

His stories sound so far-fetched too, it seems so strange to me that people were taken in by them.

its like that cliche about big lies being easier to sell than small ones

but one of the eeriest realizations of the book for me is not how many people were totally sold, but how many people were brought up in the church, taught nothing but LRH's teachings, many of whom who've never been outside it at all... it's like a mini-north-korea operating in the united states

is there even anything comparable to scientology in the 20th century? i don't know of any cults or independent religious movements that have so successfully formalized and institutionalized themselves.

many of whom who've never been outside it at all... it's like a mini-north-korea operating in the united states
i can't wait to get to that part!!!

Aum Shinrikyo. xp

In 1995, the group claimed they had over 9,000 members in Japan, and as many as 40,000 worldwide.

Hope Wright's bk mentions L Ron's in-house floating 70s funk band:

http://x-rayvisions.blogspot.com/2007/08/apollo-stars-power-of-source.html

I finished Going Clear over the weekend, and it does spend some time comparing Scientology to some other groups that popped up, although most were Christian offshoots and late 1800s.

many posts to La Lechera: I read Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons a few years back and enjoyed it a lot - definitely worth reading.

It's an unbelievably weird story - I was kinda hoping when The Master was announced that it would be about the relationship between analogues of Hubbard and Parsons. Still hoping that someday someone makes a movie about those two.

for real -- thanks so much! going on my list

just thinking - any relation to z man from beyond the valley of the dolls?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Y800s8y9Zg

The superbowl ad was super creepy too.

omg that WAS super creepy
wow

even after reading that Inside Scientology and now this one, the scope of Operation Snow White just blows my goddamn mind

Of course they also send people forth, to infiltrate/provide attractive role models, re the celebrity aspect.

"Comments have been disabled for this video." I'll bet.

Should've ended with "I'm Tom Cruise, and I approve this message."

Think this bk might be an interesting companion read to the Wright - England has always been Scientology's other big stronghold, and for a while Neil Gaiman's father was basically running it in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Church-Fear-Inside-Weird-Scientology/dp/1909269034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359994241&sr=1-2

I've got a copy of that - can't wait to get stuck in. I think I'm addicted to the collision between high weirdness and blatant thuggery that Scientology represents.

John Sweeney is good. Here he is going nuts about Scientologist harrassment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIg3Dtu14vs

re: Parsons, I've read the "Sex and Rockets" bio, which was v interesting

Remember seeing that John Sweeney thing, he comes across as a bit of a dick imo. I may be influenced by the fact that I went to school in East Grinstead which is Scientology central for the UK. The ones I've met were okay and I only ever got approached to watch one of their 'come join us videos' one time (they seemed okay with my refusal)

lol i can only imagine the chorus of groans that rang out across this great land when the scientology.org type finally popped up on the screen

We have a thread here that talks about Parsons and other SoCal kooks.

Eden Ahbez, etc

!!!

hubbard is a world class all time bullshitter

I should have googleproofed that. jack booted sciti thugs are probably already en route.

tell the world my story

From LA curbed, a list of S properties in SoCal. They're done very well for themselves.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/02/mapping_15_of_scientologys_most_notable_socal_properties.php

I read Sex and Rockets and the other Parsons biog <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y";>Strange Angel</a> years ago, and remember the latter being better sourced and a more complete picture of his world especially in relation to rocketry (which, as the book tells it, was only slightly more respectable than black magick moonchildren at the time). Both are worthwhile, but SA is the one still on my shelves.

So based on Going Clear it seems The Master was set during or just after the year Dianetics became huge, I think? Joaquin being a still-recent veteran, L. Ron still being with Sara (Amy Adams?) but being drawn more toward Mary Sue (Laura Dern?) Plus the sessions being geared towards creating trance states, no e-meters, travelling by ship but staying close to the US, no Sea Org yet. And according to Wright Hubbard's libido was more of a source of agony during this time than once they started cruising the Mediterranean. But I haven't seen the movie since it was first out.

I dislike that John Sweeney interview, everybody knows the scientologist will have this exact reaction and it leads to nothing. Plus him saying that he is a british subject with freedom of speech was just ridiculous in that context.

To think that people somewhere were likely swayed by that super bowl ad is frightening to me.

Is it common for them to be spending that much money on sneaky ads or is this a recent ramp up? I'm thkning also of that sponsored article linked to above that got pulled as soon as the site in question realised what'd happened.