Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

your behalf . . .'
Towards the end of February, Ron went on a trip to the East Coast, perhaps to investigate the yacht
market on behalf of Allied Enterprises. On 28 February Parsons drove alone into the lonely reaches
of the Mojave Desert to perform an invocation of the goddess Babalon. During this invocation, he
said, the presence of the goddess came upon him and commanded him to write a mystical
communication, couched in picturesque biblical terminology and beginning: 'Yea, it is I, Babalon.
And this is my book . . .'
The seventy-seven clauses Parsons excitedly scribbled in his notebook became the centrepiece of
the 'Book of Babalon'. He believed he was taking instructions for the impregnation of his scarlet
woman, although it would not have been immediately obvious to nonbelievers: 'Now is the hour of
birth at hand. Now shall my adept be crucified in the Basilisk abode. Thy tears, thy sweat, thy blood,
thy semen, thy love, thy faith shall provide . . .'
Some of the message was also suspiciously contemporary: 'Thou fool, be thou also free of
sentimentality. Am I thy village queen and thou a sophomore, that thou should have thy nose in my
buttocks?'
Parsons returned to Pasadena in a state of considerable agitation which was greatly increased
when his magical partner arrived back the next day and announced he had had a vision of a
'savage and beautiful woman riding naked on a great cat-like beast' and had an urgent message to
deliver.
That night, in the temple at South Orange Grove, the two magicians made preparations to receive
the message. Candles were lit, incense burned and a magical altar was laid with flowers and
wine. Hubbard, the scribe, wore a white-hooded robe and carried a lamp; Parsons, the high priest,
wore a black robe and carried a cup and dagger. An automatic tape recorder was set up and at
Hubbard's suggestion Rachmaninoff's 'Isle of the Dead' was played as background music.
At eight o'clock, Hubbard began to intone his message from the astral world: 'These are the
preparations. Green gold cloth, food for the Beast, upon a hidden platter, back of the altar. Disclose
only when the doors are bolted. Transgression is death. Back of the main altar. Prepare instantly.
Light the first flame at 10 pm, March 2, 1946. The year of Babalon is 4063 . . .'
After a few minutes, Parsons noticed that his scribe was pale and sweating profusely. Hubbard
rested for a few moments, then continued: 'Make a box of blackness at ten o'clock. Smear the
vessel which contains flame with thine own blood. Destroy at the altar a thing of value. Remain in
perfect silence and heed the voice of our Lady. Speak not of this ritual or of her coming to any
person . . .
'Display thyself to Our Lady; dedicate thy organs to Her, dedicate thy heart to Her, dedicate thy mind
to Her, dedicate thy soul to Her, for She shall absorb thee, and thou shall become living flame
before She incarnates . . .'
When Hubbard finished dictating, the scarlet woman, naked under a crimson robe, was brought
into the temple. 'Oh circle of stars,' the high priest informed, 'whereof our Father is but the younger
brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space . . .'
Marjorie Cameron had been well rehearsed in the necessary response. 'But to love me is better
than all things . . .' she chanted. 'Put on the wings and arouse the coiled splendour within you.