I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net

matter, smearing his sperm on talismans as proscribed by Crowley. Often,
these autoerotic rites, which Parsons gingerly characterizes as "replenishing
material basis" in his Book Of Babalon, a brief account of the Working, were
carried out two times daily But no clear sign of the erotic elemental he had
asked for manifested itself. Despite the intensity and frequency of the sexual
invocation, the only immediately noticeable results were a few freakish
windstorms, poltergeist phenomena, unexplained rapping and a "great
pressure and tension in the house"; Parsons was disappointed, but was soon
to be elated, as he described:
311
"The feeling of tension and unease continued for four days. Then on January
18 at sunset, whilst the Scribe [Hubbard] and I were on the Mojave Desert,
the feeling of tension suddenly stopped. I turned to him and said "it is done",
in absolute certainty that the Operation was accomplished. I returned home,
and found a young woman answering the requirements waiting for me. She is
describable as an air of fire type with bronze red hair, fiery and subtle,
determined and obstinate, sincere and perverse, with extraordinary
personality, talent and intelligence."
The striking twenty-four year old artist whom Parsons understood to be the
result of his invocation was Marjorie Cameron (1922—1995), who exactly
like Hubbard, had come to the Parsonage in search of a room while on leave
from the U.S. Navy. This brash, Iowa-born All-American gal type, still in her
Navy uniform, would at first seem like an unlikely Scarlet Woman for the
dreamy Parsons, whose taste had previously been for sylph-like girlish
blondes. By all accounts, whatever Cameron may have lacked in magical
experience was made up for in the mutual erotic magnetism that instantly
drew the two strangers to each other. Within a few days of arriving, Cameron
became his magical student, and agreed to participate in the next stage of the
Babalon Working, which according to Crowley's instructions De Homunculo
Epistola required that "the man and woman copulate continuously ... in a
ceremonial manner in a prepared temple." For Parsons, Cameron was the
Helene to his Simon, the Sophia to his Logos, the invisible thought of Shiva
made real in the flesh of his Shakti. Some of Parsons' long-time friends, such
as Jeanne Forman, wife of the scientist's best friend and fellow rocketeer Ed
Forman, told us that the brazen manner and almost mannish demeanor of
Cameron (known as Candy) made for a startling contrast with Parsons' own
soft-spoken and introverted manner. As is frequently the case in magical
biographies, apocryphal anecdotes created to validate seemingly arbitrary
details of the magician's profile abound. The subject of Marjorie Cameron's
nickname of "Candy" is no exception to this rule. Some accounts claim that
Parsons gave Marjorie Cameron the name Candy as an abbreviation of her
magical name of Candida. Conversely, Jeanne Forman told us that Cameron
was already known as Candy when she first arrived at the Parsonage.
Whichever the case may be, Marjorie Cameron referred to herself simply as
Cameron, and it is under that name that she has been remembered.
On February 23, 1946, Parsons jubilantly wrote to Crowley: "I have
my elemental! She turned up one night after the conclusion of the Operation,
and has been with me since ... She has red hair and slant green eyes as
specified ... She is an artist, strong minded and determined, with strong
masculine characteristics and a fanatical independence." Considering that the
Babalon Working had been directly influenced by Crowley's own writings on
312
the sex-magical creation of elementals and homunculi, and in light of the
legendary status this operation has gained in recent years, it should be
mentioned that the Great Beast was not at all pleased by the elaborate
operations being carried on in his name. The first chilly words of Crowleyan
admonition that came back from England could not have been warmly
welcomed by Parsons, prophetic though they later turned out to be: "I am