In any format (whether book, pdf, article, dvd, anything), how to I get to know more about these two and their works?
I'm aware than a lot of information and writings/artworks from both Parsons and Cameron where lost for various reasons but even the stuff that is meant to be publicly released seems hard to track down?
I am aware of the Cameron/parsons website and a few biographies but, as for their actual work, does anyone have some advice?
I'm moreso interested in Cameron's work (artwork, writings and letters too), if anyone has some help.
93 93/93
And yes, I've read most stuff I can access about the Babylon Working (and Liber 49)
After Parson's death Cameron got involved with Kenneth Anger and had an important role in his 30min short film "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome". She took a lot of hallucinogens and smoked a lot of grass and tried to create a Moonchild....like several Thelemic Scarlet Women she sailed a little close to the edge
There's a bio of her in Wikipedia:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Cameron
And imdb has a bio too:-
"Red haired, blue eyed Marjorie Cameron was born April 23, 1922, in Belle Plain, Iowa, and grew up in Wisconsin. Her parents were Hill Lislie Cameroun and Carrie V. (Ridenour) Cameroun. She was in the Navy in WWII, and served in Washington as an aide to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a photographer. After the war she moved to Los Angeles. There she was introduced by a friend to the Agape Lodge of the OTO, where she met future husband John W. (Jack) Parsons. He was a pioneering genius in rocketry, an author, and very involved in the occult. He was associated with Aleister Crowley. Parsons considered her to be an "elemental" and in early 1946 she, Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard undertook the famous "Babylon Working", a long complex magical working attempting to create a magical child. She married Jack Parsons on October 19, 1946 in San Juan Capistrano, California. They were friends of many science fiction writers. Jack was killed in a mysterious explosion in Pasadena in 1952. At the time they were living with several artists and actors, and the house was reputed to be a hotbed of occult and sexual behavior not in keeping with Pasadena's image. She later married Sharif Kimmel. She saw a flying saucer in 1953 and became very interested in them. She painted and was involved in the Los Angeles art world. Her works have been shown at several major art museums. In 1954 she appeared as the Scarlet Woman and as Kali in Kenneth Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954). In 1957 she won an obscenity trial when one of her drawings caused a raid on the art gallery. She was a friend of Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell, and appeared with Hopper as the Water Witch in _Night Tide (1963)_. She died in 1995, at age 73."
Cameron was an interesting woman.
"Inauguration Of The Pleasure Dome" is one of my favorite movies, as is Kenneth Anger is one of my favorite filmmakers, so I'm already well acquainted with that (and her appearance in Curtis Harrington's "The Wormwood Star" portrait short-film)
I know there is the "Songs For The Witch Woman" project/book that was released a few years ago, but it seems hard to obtain for some reason.
Does anybody have this? What does it actually contain?
If you google "Songs for the Witch Woman" there are a lot of hits:-
and:-
You can buy a copy on Amazon for £271 GBP
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cameron-Songs-Witch-R-Ed/dp/0692289526#customerReviews
Parsons was well educated and intelligent, he had security clearance to work in the US military-industrial complex and he was able to find a woman like Cameron. On the other hand he was fooled by one of the best con artists of the 20th Century, lost a lot of money - and his previous partner. He died in a fulminate of mercury explosion in his own private laboratory. Do be careful if you try anything like a Babalon Working to attract your own elemental....
Having a little bother with posting the google links....
He died in a fulminate of mercury explosion in his own private laboratory.
This is a historically-correct statement. Most people know the deeper story, but I'll summarize it again ... just in case someone has not heard it.
Parsons leaked some secret rocket info to Israel. The US Gov shat a brick and yanked his security clearance. . He and Cameron were packing up to "go to Mexico where he could do some experiments without getting permits or clearances." Something blew up. Most folks thought he dropped the fulminate. Usually not included in this well-known tale was that they already had tickets/plans to use Mexico as a stop-over on their way to Israel (where he would undoubtedly get a new security clearance and be able to work again). The rumor is that Big Brother didn't want him to go to Israel and leak more info. As a high-ranking White-Houser told me, "They usually disguise an assassination as a stroke or a heart attack" [or as a case of clumsy fingers?].
“For Parsons to have disposed of such materials in that manner, ” said Santmyer, “ would be the same as for a highly trained surgeon to operate with dirty hands . It’s completely out of character for him . “ Criminologist Harding, when asked admitted that Parson’s supposed sloppiness seemed “ incongruous .” Harding also said that enough cordite and fulminate of mercury were found in the trash to blow up the garbage truck and drivers who would have picked up the can.”
pg 183 Sex and Rockets
Arnold told investigators that Parsons was extremely safety-conscious. Said Arnold, “ He worked carefully, had a thorough knowledge of his job and was scrupulously neat. “
pg181 Sex and Rockets
The book concludes that Parsons would have noticed those things and that most likely it was accidental but that murder could not be ruled out .
“Cameron appeared with Hopper in the 1961 Curtis Harrington horror film Night Tide playing a Lovecraftian “Deep One” “
pg191 Sex and Rockets
Fulminate of mercury is known to be highly shock-sensitive. Large quantities are unstable and should be stored carefully. Parsons knew this, he was highly experienced in working with such materials. You can't rule out human error on his part, but I think it's unlikely.
https://archive.org/details/JohnParsons
This is a link to the original (but redacted) FBI file on Parsons. He was thoroughly investigated, including checking his qualifications, his resume (CV) his political beliefs and much else. Professionally, he knew what he was doing. He had published many papers in peer reviewed learned journals and had seven patents in his name.
He lost an arm and the side of his face in the explosion - which sounds like it happened on a bench, not on the floor. Where does the idea that it was mercuric fulminate come from? Any number of high energy materials can explode like that, including "mother of satan" which the jihadi's use in terrorist outrages
Now that a few people have weighed in on the explosive subject, let me remind you of cardinal rule #1 ...
If your security clearance has been yanked, and you're going to Israel via Mexico, and you blow up ... your relatives and friends should first look to Big Brother.