{"id":3869,"date":"2012-02-25T20:48:46","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T03:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3869"},"modified":"2012-02-25T20:48:46","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T03:48:46","slug":"the-babalon-working-and-the-rise-of-new-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3869","title":{"rendered":"The Babalon Working and the Rise of New Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today I listened to a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/the-hermetic-hour\/2012\/02\/03\/jack-parsons--rocket-scientist-and-magus\"> podcast by California ceremonial magician Carroll &#8220;Poke&#8221; Runyon about Jack Parsons<\/a>, himself a magician and rocket scientist of the 1940s.<\/p>\n<p>Runyon argues that the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Babalon_Working\">Babalon Working<\/a> of 1946 in which<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Whiteside_Parsons\"> Parsons<\/a> participated prefigured on the astral plane the rise of Goddess-centered contemporary Paganism in North America.<\/p>\n<p>If you are not familiar with this corner of American occult history, including Parsons&#8217; connections with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/L._Ron_Hubbard\">L. Ron Hubbard<\/a>, Aleister Crowley,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Philip_K._Dick\">Philip K. Dick<\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/\">Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/a>, the podcast will bring you up to speed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I listened to a podcast by California ceremonial magician Carroll &#8220;Poke&#8221; Runyon about Jack Parsons, himself a magician and rocket scientist of the 1940s. Runyon argues that the Babalon Working of 1946 in which Parsons participated prefigured on the astral plane the rise of Goddess-centered contemporary Paganism in North America. If you are not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75,72],"class_list":["post-3869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-california","tag-magick"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-10p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1020,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1020","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":0},"title":"Another Serving","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 A body-art slideshow, beginning with the signs of the Zodiac. (Probably NSFW.)\u00b6 Read the comments and see where you fit in. \u00b6 For your polytheistic bookshelf: Dancing In Moonlight: Understanding Artemis Through Celebration, via Executive Pagan, who is reading it and other books.\u00b6 Info on an article on Jack\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":973,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=973","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":1},"title":"Review: Beyond Lemuria","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine that cult film director Ed Wood was also a ceremonial magician.Or imagine a merger of Dion Fortune and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. She would be perfect to introduce this film.Imagine giant caverns underground filled with degenerate descendants of the Lemurians, accessible from the lower slopes of Mount Shasta.If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001186Y1Y","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10422,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10422","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":2},"title":"A Festschrift for Ronald Hutton","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Magic and Witchery: Celebrating the Twentieth Anniversary of 'The Triumph of the Moon' will be published in September by Palgrave Macmillan. I love rolling the word Festschrift around, and if you are not used to it, this is what it means: \"In academia, a Festschrift\u00a0 (plural Festschriften) is a book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/magic-and-witchery-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11101,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11101","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":3},"title":"&#8220;Pagans,&#8221; a Short Documentary Film","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"? Oooh, scary Pagans! We spend a lot of time with the curtains drawn, gazing at candles, right. We wear black robes . . .\u00a0 Seriously, there is some good stuff here: Pagans, a short documentary. To tell the story of the dramatic rise of neo-paganism in America, though, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1692,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1692","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":4},"title":"Anglican Priest Decides Pagans are &#8216;Connected&#8217;","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Via The Wild Hunt, a story of another Anglican priest with an attraction to Druidism. I'm actually a priest of the Church of England \u2013 but with a difference. Though I'm still in \"holy orders\", I now work full time as a magician, writer and retreat leader. I've been described\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=christianity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13965,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13965","url_meta":{"origin":3869,"position":5},"title":"My Thoughts on Pagan Studies, in Podcast Form","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In February I was interviewed by Robin Douglas, an independent scholar in London who has published in various places, including The Pomegranate, and is the co-author of a new book, Paganism Persisting: A History of European Paganisms since Antiquity.1 So you can hear a sort of scratchy-voiced me (winter respiratory\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Religion-off-the-Beaten-Track.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Religion-off-the-Beaten-Track.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Religion-off-the-Beaten-Track.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3871,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions\/3871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}