#jack parsons
ATOMIC CALIFORNIA
A strange desert road trip on the trail of Jack Parsons, the father of American rocketryHappy and proud to have a story up at travel & photography site RoadsAndKingdoms.com, illustrated lavishly by photos from Bradley Garrett, Joel Childers, and myself.
3000 word feature on a 2400 miles of tearing hell round the desert in pursuit of mushroom clouds, magic rituals, and failed utopias.
“That this trip opened with an echo of the bomb was only too appropriate. Parsons’ life blended science and magic, utopia and destruction—not as conflicting philosophies but facets of a greater whole, a thrilling yet knowable universe that man could systematically control. In this vast ambition, there seemed no one more Californian.”
Read it here.*
The story continues: part II, The Ghost Grid of California City.
For an introduction to Jack Parsons, you want the George Pendel biography ‘Strange Angel’ - or his essay 'The Last Of The Magicians’ in VICE.
For more detail on the Babalon Working ritual, read Strange Suppers & Spells Diverse by Peter Grey, from a talk at Treadwell’s Bookshop on 2nd October 2015, celebrating Jack Parsons’ 101st birthday.
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Kenneth Grant. Hecate’s Fountain. London: Starfire Publishing Ltd., 2022. Hardcover edition. 297 pages.
Shop link in bio.
“Freedom is a two-edged sword of which one edge is liberty and the other responsibility, on which both edges are exceedingly sharp; and which is not easily handled by casual, cowardly or treacherous hands.” - Jack Whiteside Parsons
I’ve been thinking about prominent occultists from around the 20th century a lot lately. I may draw Pamela Colman Smith next.
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