Via this blog post, I discovered Jack Parsons, a key figure in the development of the American space program who also was an occultist with a particularly keen interest in Aleister Crowley. He participated in a sex magick ritual with a red headed woman who he related to a character in the classic Jack Williamson novel, Darker Than You Think, and was friends with L. Ron Hubbard for awhile, until Hubbard turned out to be less than a loyal friend. Parsons was killed by an explosion in his home laboratory. All this took place in California. Kind of a surprise, I know, but there you go. Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter features a long introduction by Robert Anton Wilson.
3 comments:
I found these videos very interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9bq6f7lkC0
In a 1990 issue of Magical Blend mag, RAW reviewed Parsons' book _Freedom Is A Two-Edged Sword_.
Other SF related to Parsons/Hubbard/Pasadena/LA scene in the 1940s/50s: see an Anthony Boucher roman a clef, of which title I at present forget.
The common ground between Wilson and Parsons is that both had a profound understanding of Magick.
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