Opus Diaboli Review: Strange Angel – the life of John Parsons
If you created a fictional character that was a rocket scientist by day, but an acolyte of Aleister Crowley and leader of a Thelemite order by night, you might well be accused of stretching the imagination too far. John Whiteside Parsons was both of these things, and spent his (too short) life stretching his imagination in every conceivable direction.
In the 21st century the combination of occultism and rocket science seems to be a profane mix… surely science and the occult haven’t mixed since Newton’s time?
But in pre-WW2 America when there was considerable interest in the occult, both were considered outsider pursuits. Rocketry was considered a foolish interest at best: in 1941 an unnamed amateur scientist was mocked in congress as a “crackpot with mental delusions that we can fly to the moon”. The congressmen roared with laughter, but a scant 20 years later when JF Kennedy said exactly the same thing to congress no-one laughed.
The change in the esteem in which rocketry was held was, of course, greatly caused by the Nazi use of V2 rockets to devastating effect in the war in Europe. But it was also in part due to the work of Parsons and his extraordinary ambitions toward rocketry (despite never having a formal science degree). Strange Angel, by George Pendle, is a brilliant account of the life and times of ‘Jack’ Parsons.
Not many men can sustain two obsessions of this magnitude, but Parsons did, combining his ambitions to conquer outer space with an equal drive towards the mysteries of inner space through the use of magic.
He joined and then quickly moved up the ranks to lead the Californian Agape lodge of the OTO and set up a proto-60s style commune where free love and Crowleyan magic was practised. As well as corresponding with Crowley, Parsons was also friends with L. Ron Hubbard, who at that time was still writing science fiction. Never unambitious, Parsons sought out no feat less than the creation of a magical child – the Babalon working that would bring into the world the woman that would ride the great beast of revelation.
Like many who followed Crowley, Parsons did not come to a happy end, but Pendle describes Parsons’ life as one led to the full and without compromise. The book will be as interesting to those seeking facts about the early days of rocketry as well as an important footnote in the history of the OTO and Crowley. Written in an easy narrative style, Strange Angel has a full listing of sources and is indexed.
Strange Angel, by George Pendle is published by Harcourt.
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