Editing Jack Parsons (section)

===Loss of FBI clearance, Red Scare Marxist and espionage accusations and acquittal: 1946–1952===
[[File:Navaho launch.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Parsons worked on developing the [[SM-64 Navaho]] missile (pictured launching in 1957).]]

Parsons was employed by [[North American Aviation]] at [[Inglewood, California|Inglewood]], where he worked on the [[SM-64 Navaho|Navaho Missile Program]].{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 158–159|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 275}} He and Cameron moved into a house in [[Manhattan Beach, California|Manhattan Beach]], where he instructed her in occultism and esotericism.{{sfn|Pendle|2005|p = 275}} When Cameron developed [[catalepsy]], Parsons referred her to [[Sylvan Muldoon]]'s books on [[astral projection]], suggesting that she could manipulate her seizures to accomplish it.{{sfn|Kansa|2011|pp=48–49}} They were married on October 19, 1946, four days after his divorce from Helen was finalized, with Forman as their witness.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 158|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 277|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3p = 39}} Parsons continued to be seen as a specialist in rocketry; he acted as an expert consultant in numerous industrial tribunals and police and [[United States Army Ordnance Corps|Army Ordnance]] investigations regarding explosions. In May 1947, Parsons gave a talk at the [[Pacific Rocket Society]] in which he predicted that rockets would take humans to the Moon.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 159|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 277–278}} Although he had become distant from the now largely defunct O.T.O. and had sold much of his Crowleyan library, he continued to correspond with Crowley until the latter's death in December 1947.{{sfn|Pendle|2005|pp = 277, 279}}

At the emergence of the [[Cold War]], a [[Red Scare]] developed in the U.S. as the Congressional [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] began investigating and obstructing the careers of people with perceived communist sympathies. Many of Parsons' former colleagues lost their security clearances and jobs as a result, and eventually the FBI stripped Parsons of his clearance because of his "subversive" character, including his involvement in and advocacy of "sexual perversion" in O.T.O. He speculated in a June 1949 letter to Germer that his clearance was revoked in response to his public dissemination of Crowley's ''[[Liber OZ]]'', a 1941 tract summarizing the individualist moral principles of Thelema. Declassified FBI documents later revealed that the FBI's primary concern was Parsons' former connections to Marxists at Caltech and his membership of the also "subversive" ACLU. When they interviewed Parsons, he denied communist sympathies but informed them of Sidney Weinbaum's "extreme communist views" and [[Frank Malina]]'s involvement in Weinbaum's communist cell at Caltech, which resulted in Weinbaum's arrest for perjury since he had lied under oath by denying any involvement in communist groups. Malina's security clearance was withdrawn as well.<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |last1=MacDonald |first1=Fraser |title=Frank Malina and an overlooked Space Age milestone |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2015/oct/14/frank-malina-and-an-overlooked-space-age-milestone |access-date=June 25, 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=October 14, 2015}}</ref> In reaction to this hostile treatment, Parsons sought work in the rocket industry abroad. He sought advice to do so in correspondence with von Kármán; whose advice he followed by enrolling in an evening course in advanced mathematics at USC to bolster his employability in the field—but again he neglected attendance and failed the course.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 159|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 281–284|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 46–47}} Parsons again resorted to bootlegging nitroglycerin for money, and managed to earn a wage as a car mechanic, a manual laborer at a gas station, and a hospital orderly; for two years he was also a faculty member at the USC Department of Pharmacology.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 161, 166|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 284}} Relations between Parsons and Cameron became strained; they agreed to a temporary separation and she moved to Mexico to join an artists' commune in [[San Miguel de Allende]].{{sfnm|1a1 = Pendle|1y = 2005|1p = 283|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 48, 51–52}}

Unable to pursue his scientific career, without his wife and devoid of friendship, Parsons decided to return to occultism and embarked on sexually based magical operations with prostitutes. He was intent, informally following the ritualistic practice of Thelemite organization the [[A∴A∴]], on performing "the Crossing of the [[Abyss (Thelema)|Abyss]]", attaining union with the [[Universal mind|universal consciousness]], or "All" as understood in the context of the [[Great Work (Thelema)|Great Work]], and becoming the "[[A∴A∴#The Order of the S∴S∴ (Silver Star)|Master of the Temple]]".{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 160–169|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 284–285}} Following his apparent success in doing so, Parsons recounted having an [[out-of-body experience]] invoked by Babalon, who astrally transported him to the biblical [[Chorazin|City of Chorazin]], an experience he referred to as a "Black Pilgrimage". Accompanying Parsons' "Oath of the Abyss" was his own "Oath of the AntiChrist", which was witnessed by Wilfred Talbot Smith. In this oath, Parsons professed to embody an entity named ''Belarion Armillus Al Dajjal'', the [[Antichrist]] "who am come to fulfill the law of the Beast 666 [Aleister Crowley]".{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 160–169|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 284–285}} Viewing these oaths as the completion of the Babalon Working, Parsons wrote an [[Illeism|illeist]] autobiography titled ''Analysis by a Master of the Temple'' and an occult text titled ''The Book of AntiChrist''. In the latter work, Parsons (writing as ''Belarion'') prophesied that within nine years Babalon would manifest on Earth and supersede the dominance of the [[Abrahamic religions]].{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 160–169, 189|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 284–285}}

During this period, Parsons also wrote an essay on his individualist philosophy and politics—which he described as standing for "[[liberalism]] and liberal principles"—titled "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword", in which he condemned the authoritarianism, censorship, corruption, [[antisexualism]] and racism he saw as prevalent in American society.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 160–169|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 284–285}} None of these works were published in his lifetime. Through Heinlein, Parsons received a visit from writer [[L. Sprague de Camp]], with whom he discussed magic and science fiction, and disclosed that Hubbard had sent a letter offering him Sara back. De Camp later referred to Parsons as "An authentic mad genius if I ever met one", and based the character Courtney James on him in his time travel short story "[[A Gun for Dinosaur]]" (1956). Parsons was also visited by Jane Wolfe, who unsuccessfully appealed for him to rejoin the dilapidated O.T.O. He entered a brief relationship with an Irishwoman named Gladis Gohan; they moved to a house in [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo Beach]], a building known by them as the "Concrete Castle".{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 171|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 288|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 51–53}}{{sfn|Pendle|2005|pp = 277, 279}} Cameron returned to Redondo Beach from San Miguel de Allende and violently argued with Parsons upon discovering his infidelity, before she again left for Mexico. Parsons responded by initiating divorce proceedings against her on the grounds of "extreme cruelty".{{sfn|Pendle|2005|p = 288}}

[[File:Jack Parsons FBI.jpg|thumb|upright|left|November 1950 [[FBI]] synopsis of espionage allegations against Parsons]]
Parsons testified to a closed federal court that the moral philosophy of Thelema was both anti-fascist and anti-communist, emphasizing his belief in individualism. This along with references from his scientific colleagues resulted in his security clearance being reinstated by the [[Industrial Employment Review Board]], which ruled that there was insufficient evidence that he had ever had communist sympathies. This allowed Parsons to obtain a contract in designing and constructing a chemical plant for the [[Hughes Aircraft Company]] in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]].{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 161|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 286–287}} Von Kármán put Parsons in touch with [[Herbert T. Rosenfeld]], President of the Southern Californian chapter of the [[American Technion Society]]{{mdash}}a [[Zionism|Zionist]] group dedicated to supporting the newly created State of Israel. Rosenfeld offered Parsons a job with the Israeli rocket program and hired him to produce technical reports for them.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 169–170|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 286–287}} In November 1950, as the Red Scare intensified, Parsons decided to migrate to Israel to pursue Rosenfeld's offer, but a Hughes secretary whom Parsons had asked to type up a portfolio of technical documents reported him to the FBI. She accused Parsons of espionage and attempted theft of classified company documents on the basis of some of the reports that he had sought to submit to the Technion Society.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 170–172|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 291–293, 296|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 54–55}}

Parsons was immediately fired from Hughes; the FBI investigated the complaint and were suspicious that Parsons was spying for the Israeli government. Parsons denied the allegations when interrogated; he insisted that his intentions were peaceful and that he had suffered an error of judgment in procuring the documents. Some of Parsons' scientific colleagues rallied to his defense, but the case against him worsened when the FBI investigated Rosenfeld for being linked to Soviet agents, and more accounts of his occult and sexually permissive activities at the Parsonage came to light. In October 1951, the U.S. attorney decided that because the contents of the reports did not constitute state secrets, Parsons was not guilty of espionage.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1pp = 170–172|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 291–293, 296|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 54–55}}<ref name="Anderson">{{cite web|last=Anderson |first=Brian |title=The Hell Portal Where NASA's Rocket King Divined Cosmic Rockets With L. Ron |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/hunting-the-hell-portal-where-the-founder-of-nasa-s-jpl-divined-cosmic-rockets-with-l-ron/ |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |access-date=March 31, 2014 |date=October 29, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407100222/http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/hunting-the-hell-portal-where-the-founder-of-nasa-s-jpl-divined-cosmic-rockets-with-l-ron |archive-date=April 7, 2014 }}</ref>

The Review Board still considered Parsons a liability because of his historical Marxist affiliations and investigations by the FBI, and in January 1952 they permanently reinstated their ban on his working for classified projects, effectively prohibiting him from working in rocketry.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 172|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 296|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3pp = 63–64}} To make a living he founded the Parsons Chemical Manufacturing Company, which was based in North Hollywood and created pyrotechnics and explosives such as fog effects and imitation gunshot wounds for the film industry, and he also returned to chemical manufacturing at the Bermite Powder Company in Saugus.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 177|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2pp = 294, 297|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3p = 57}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Doherty|first=Brian|title=The Magical Father of American Rocketry|url=http://reason.com/archives/2005/05/01/the-magical-father-of-american|website=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]|access-date=April 20, 2014|date=May 2005}}</ref>

[[File:Dark Angel.png|thumb|right|upright|''Dark Angel'', a painting by Marjorie Cameron portraying Parsons as the "Angel of Death"{{sfn|Carter|2004|p = 219}}]]
Parsons reconciled with Cameron, and they resumed their relationship and moved into a former coach house on Orange Grove Boulevard. Parsons converted its large, first-floor laundry room into a home laboratory to work on his chemical and pyrotechnic projects, homebrew [[absinthe]] and stockpile his materials.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 169|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 293|3a1 = Kansa|3y = 2011|3p = 57}} They let out the upstairs bedrooms and began holding parties that were attended largely by bohemians and members of the [[Beat Generation]], along with old friends including Forman, Malina and Cornog. They also congregated at the home of Andrew Haley, who lived on the same street. Though Parsons in his mid-thirties was a "prewar relic" to the younger attendees, the raucous socials often lasted until dawn and frequently attracted police attention.{{sfnm|1a1 = Pendle|1y = 2005|1pp = 294–295|2a1 = Kansa|2y = 2011|2pp = 57–63}} Parsons also founded a new Thelemite group known as "the Witchcraft", whose beliefs revolved around a simplified version of Crowley's Thelema and Parsons' own Babalon prophecies. He offered a course in its teachings for a ten-dollar fee, which included a new Thelemic belief system called "the Gnosis", a version of [[Christian Gnosticism]] with [[Sophia (wisdom)|Sophia]] as its godhead and the Christian God as its [[demiurge]]. He also collaborated with Cameron on ''Songs for the Witch Woman'', a collection of poems which she illustrated that was published in 2014.{{sfnm|1a1 = Carter|1y = 2004|1p = 99|2a1 = Pendle|2y = 2005|2p = 295}}<ref name="Nelson">{{cite web|last1=Nelson|first1=Steffie|title=Cameron, Witch of the Art World|url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/cameron-witch-art-world#|website=lareviewofbooks.org|publisher=[[Tribune Publishing]]|access-date=November 14, 2014|date=October 8, 2014}}</ref>