Hubbard and the Occult Jon Atack Preface
This article is the first in a series of articles based upon
research into the roots of the Hubbardian philosophy that gave birth
to the "Sacred Scriptures" of the Church of Scientology
The Office of Special Affairs, the elite Secret Intelligence unit
of the Church of Scientology, was well aware that this report was
reaching its final stage and in the recent months they have launched
lawsuits and a massive propaganda campaign to discredit FACTNET
Director, Lawrence Wollersheim and the researcher, Jon Atack
Scientology is using many Hollywood celebrities to promote its
agenda. But most Scientologists, celebrity and non-celebrity alike;
as well as the general public , are ignorant of the Satanic/Black
Magic background of its Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and how he used
these materials to form the core of his secret "Sacred Scriptures"
The ransacking of the FACTNET files and data base by the OSA Raid
Team was not unexpected and the timing of the raid, not
surprisingly, corresponded to the scheduled release date of this
material. FACTNET Co-Director Arnie Lerma's computers and personal
files were also ransacked by OSA raiders.
FACTNET hopes these series of articles will create meaningful
dialogue and that all readers will give this report, and future
reports, the widest distribution on the Internet and other areas of
Cyberspace, and amongst the general public.
Hubbard and the Occult
I stand before you having been accused in print by L. Ron
Hubbard's followers of having an avid interest in black magic. I
would like to put firmly on record that whatever interest I have is
related entirely to achieving a better understanding of the creator
of Dianetics and Scientology. Hubbard's followers have the right to
be made aware that he had not only an avid interest, but that he was
also a practitioner of black magic. Today I shall discuss these
matters in depth, but I shall not repeat all of the proofs which
already exist in my book A Piece of Blue Sky (001).
Scientology is a twisting together of many threads. Ron Hubbard's
first system, Dianetics, which emerged in 1950, owes much to early
Freudian ideas (002).
For example, Hubbard's "Reactive Mind" obviously derives from
Freud's "Unconscious". The notion that this mind thinks in
identities comes from Korzybski's General Semantics. Initially,
before deciding that he was the sole source of Dianetics and
Scientology (003),
Hubbard acknowledged his debt to these thinkers (004).
Dianetics bears marked similarities to work reported by American
psychiatrists Grinker and Spiegel (005)
and English psychiatrist William Sargant (006).
The first edition of Hubbard's 1950 text Dianetics: the Modern
Science of Mental Health (007)
carried an advertisement for a book published a year earlier (008).
Psychiatrist Nandor Fodor had been writing about his belief in the
residual effects of the birth trauma for some years, following in
the footsteps of Otto Rank. In lectures given in 1950, Hubbard also
referred to works on hypnosis which had obviously influenced his
techniques (009).
The very name "Dianetics" probably owes something to the, at the
time, highly popular subject of Cybernetics. (010)
By 1952, Hubbard had lost the rights to Dianetics, having bailed
out just before the bankruptcy of the original Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation. He had also managed to avoid the charges
brought against that Foundation by the New Jersey Medical
Association for teaching medicine without a license (011).
In a matter of days in the early spring of 1952, Hubbard moved from
his purported "science of mental health" into the territory of
reincarnation and spirit possession. He called his new subject
Scientology, claiming that the name derived from "scio" and "logos"
and meant "knowing how to know". However, Hubbard was notorious for
his sly humour and "scio" might also refer to the Greek word for a
"shade" or "ghost". Scientology itself had already been used at the
turn of the century to mean "pseudo-science" and in something close
to Hubbard's meaning in 1934 by one of the proponents of Aryan
racial theory (012).
Other possible links between Hubbard's thought and that of the Nazis
will be made clear later in this paper.
Scientology seems to be a hybrid of science-fiction and magic.
Hubbard's reflections on philosophy seem to derive largely from Will
Durant's Story of Philosophy (013)
and the works of Aleister Crowley. Aleister Crowley is surely the
most famous black magician of the twentieth-century. It is
impossible to arrive at an understanding of Scientology without
taking into account its creator's extensive involvement with magic.
The trail has been so well obscured in the past that even such a
scholar as professor Gordon Melton has been deceived into the
opinion that Hubbard was not a practitioner of ritual magic and that
Scientology is not related to magical beliefs and practices. In the
book A Piece of Blue Sky, I explored these connections in
detail. The revelations surrounding Hubbard's private papers in the
1984 Armstrong case in California makes any denial of the
connections fatuous. The significance of these connections is
of course open to discussion.
The chapter in A Piece of Blue Sky that describes
Hubbard's involvement with the ideas of magic is called His
Magickal Career. I hope I shall be excused for relying upon it.
I shall also here describe further research, and comment
particularly upon Hubbard's use of magical symbols, and the
inescapable view that many of the beliefs and practices of
Scientology are a reformulation of ritual magic. (014)
In 1984, a former close colleague of Hubbard's told me that
thirty years before when asked how he had managed to write
Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health in just three
weeks, Hubbard had replied that it had been automatic writing. He
said that the book had been dictated by "the Empress". At the time,
I had no idea who or what "the Empress" might be. Later, I noticed
that in an article printed immediately prior to the book
Dianetics, Hubbard had openly admitted to his use of
"automatic writing, speaking and clairvoyance" (015).
However, it took several years to understand this tantalising
reference to the Empress.
In the 1930s, Hubbard became friendly with fellow adventure
writer Arthur J. Burks. Burks described an encounter with "the
Redhead" in his book Monitors. The text makes it clear that
"the Redhead" is none other than Ron Hubbard. Burks said that when
the Redhead had been flying gliders he would be saved from trouble
by a "smiling woman" who would appear on the aircraft's wing (016).
Burks put forward the view that this was the Redhead's "monitor" or
guardian angel.
In 1945, Hubbard became involved with Crowley's acolyte, Jack
Parsons. Parsons wrote to Crowley that Hubbard had "described his
angel as a beautiful winged woman with red hair, whom he calls the
Empress, and who has guided him through his life and saved him many
times." In the Crowleyite system, adherents seek contact with their
"Holy Guardian Angel".
John Whiteside Parsons, usually known as Jack, first met Hubbard
at a party in August 1945. When his terminal leave from the US Navy
began, on December 6th, 1945, Hubbard went straight to Parsons'
house in Pasadena, and took up residence in a trailer in the yard.
Parsons was a young chemist who had helped to set up Jet Propulsion
Laboratories and was one of the innovators of solid fuel for
rockets. Parsons was besotted with Crowley's Sex Magick, and had
recently become head of the Agape Lodge of the Church of Thelema in
Los Angeles. The Agape Lodge was an aspect of the Ordo Templi
Orientis, the small international group headed by Aleister Crowley.
Parsons' girlfriend soon transferred her affections to Hubbard.
With her, Hubbard and Parsons formed a business partnership, as a
consequence of which Parsons lost most of his money to Hubbard.
However, before Hubbard ran away with the loot, he and Parsons
participated in magical rituals which have received great attention
among contemporary practitioners.
Parsons and Hubbard together performed their own version of the
secret eighth degree ritual (017)
of the Ordo Templi Orientis in January 1946. The ritual is called
"concerning the secret marriages of gods with men" or "the magical
masturbation" and is usually a homosexual ritual. The purpose of
this ritual was to attract a woman willing to participate in the
next stage of Hubbard and Parsons' Sex Magick.
Hubbard and Parsons were attempting the most daring magical feat
imaginable. They were trying to incarnate the Scarlet Woman
described in the Book of Revelation as "Babylon the Great, the
Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth ... drunken with the
blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (018)
During the rituals, Parsons described Babalon as "mother of anarchy
and abominations". The woman who they believed had answered their
call, Marjorie Cameron, joined in with their sexual rituals in March
1946.
Parsons used a recording machine to keep a record of his
ceremonies. He also kept Crowley informed by letter.The
correspondence still exists. Crowley wrote to his deputy in New York
"I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts".
Crowley was being disingenuous. His own novel The
Moonchild describes a ritual with a similar purpose. Further,
the secret IXth degree ritual of the Ordo Templi Orientis (019)
contains "Of the Homunculus" in which the adept seeks to create a
human embodiment of one of the energies of nature - a god or
goddess. The ritual says "to it thou art Sole God and Lord, and it
must serve thee."
In fact, Hubbard and Parsons were committing sacrilege in
Crowley's terms. Crowley respelled "Babylon" as he respelled
"magic". His magick was entirely dedicated to Babalon, the Scarlet
Woman. Crowley believed himself the servant and slave of Babalon,
the antichrist, styling himself "the Beast, 666". For anyone to try
to incarnate and control the goddess must have been an impossible
blasphemy to him. Crowley, after all, called Babalon "Our Lady" (020).
Hubbard and Parsons attempts did not end with the conception of a
human child. However, just as Crowley said that "Gods are but names
for the forces of Nature themselves" (021),
so it might be speculated that Hubbard embodied Babalon not in human
form, but through his organization.
Parsons sued Hubbard in Florida in July 1946, managing to regain
a little of his money. The record of their rituals was later
transcribed and has since been published as The Babalon
Working (022).
Parsons made a return to Magick, writing The Book of the
Antichrist in 1949 (023).
Parsons pronounced himself the Antichrist. In a Scientology text,
Hubbard spoke favourably of Parsons, making no mention of their
magical liaison (024).
A Piece of Blue Sky covers Hubbard's involvement with Parsons
in much greater detail than I have given here.
Hubbard's interest in the occult was kindled long before he met
Parsons. It dates back at least to his membership of the Ancient and
Mystical Order Rosae Crucis or AMORC, in 1940. Hubbard had completed
the first two neophyte degrees before his membership lapsed, and
later there were private complaints that he had incorporated some of
the teachings he had promised to keep secret into Scientology (025).
Having stolen Parsons' girl and his money, Hubbard carried on
with magical practices of his own devising. Scientology attempted to
reclaim documents which recorded these practices in its case against
former Hubbard archivist Gerald Armstrong. Some $280,000 was paid to
publishers Ralston Pilot to prevent publication of Omar Garrison's
authorised biography of Hubbard. However, Garrison retained
copies of thousands of Hubbard documents and showed me one which had
been referred to in the Armstrong trial. The Blood Ritual is
an invokation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, performed by Hubbard
during the late 1940s. As the name suggests, the ritual involved the
use of blood. Hubbard mingled his own blood with that of his then
wife (the girlfriend he had stolen from Parsons and with whom
Hubbard contracted a bigamous marriage).
In a 1952 Scientology lecture, Hubbard referred to "Aleister
Crowley, my very good friend" (026).
In fact, the two black magicians never met, and Crowley expressed a
very low opinion of the man who he saw had tricked his disciple Jack
Parsons. Even so, Hubbard had a very positive regard for Crowley,
calling his work "fascinating" (027)
and recommending one of his books to Scientologists. Having referred
to Crowley as "The Beast 666", Hubbard said that he had "picked a
level of religious worship which is very interesting" (028).
He also made it clear that he had read the fundamental text of the
Crowley teaching, The Book of the Law (029).
In his 1952 lectures, Hubbard also referred to the Tarot cards,
saying that they were not simply a system of divination but a
"philosophical machine". He gave particular mention to the Fool
card, saying "The Fool of course is the wisest of all. The Fool who
goes down the road with the alligators barking at his heels, and the
dogs yapping at him, blindfolded on his way, he knows all there is
to know and does nothing about it ... nothing could touch him" (030).
The only Tarot pack which has an alligator on the Fool card is
Crowley's (031).
When I interviewed Gerald Armstrong, Hubbard's archivist, in 1984,
he told me of a Hubbard "scale" dating from the 1940s. At the base
of the scale was the word "animals". It then ascended through
"labourers, farmers, financiers, fanatics" and "the Fool" to "God".
Hubbard seems to have seen himself as the Fool and was perhaps
trying to create a trampoline of fanatics through whom he could
achieve divinity. Indeed, if Scientology could live up to its
claims, then Hubbard would be a "godmaker".
Of course, the Tarot pack also contains the Empress card and
knowing this it is finally possible to understand what Hubbard
believed his Guardian Angel to be.
Crowely examined the Tarot in The Book of Thoth (032).
Of the Empress card he said "She combines the highest spiritual with
the lowest material qualities" (033).
Crowley identifies the Empress as the "Great Mother", and indeed on
her robe are bees (034),
the traditional symbol of Cybele. Crowley is not alone in the belief
that different cultures give different names to the same deities.
The worship of Cybele goes back to at least 3,000 B.C. She entered
Greek culture as Artemis and to the Romans was Diana, the huntress.
Crowley also identified the Empress with the Hindu goddess Shakti (035),
and the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Hathor. Crowley directly
identified Isis with Diana (036).
More usually, Crowley called the Empress by the name Babalon (037).
Contemporary New Age groups see the Great Mother in the aspect of
Gaia the Earth Mother. This is far from Crowley's view. Diana, the
patroness of witchcraft (038)
was seen by Hubbard rather through the eyes of Crowley than as a
benevolent, loving mother. Hubbard made no reference for example to
Robert Graves' White Goddess, but only to Crowley and
peripherally to Frazer's Golden Bough and Gibbon's Decline
and Fall, both of which give reference to the cult of Diana. To
Crowley the Great Mother, Babalon, is, of course, also the
antichrist.
While Crowley's path was submission to the Empress, Hubbard seems
to have tried to dominate the same force, bringing it into being as
a servile homunculus. Hubbard's eldest son, although a questionable
witness, was insistent that his father taught him magic and
privately referred to the goddess as Hathor. The Blood Ritual
confirms this assertion if nothing else.
Publicly, Hubbard was taken with the Roman name of the goddess,
Diana, giving it to one of his daughters and also to one of his
Scientology Sea Organization boats. Curiously, this boat had been
renamed from The Enchanter and before Scientology he had
owned another called The Magician. Hubbard had also used Jack
Parsons' money to buy a yacht called Diane (039).
"Dianetics" may also be a reference to Diana. Shortly before its
inception, another former US Navy officer and practitioner of the
VIIIth degree of the Ordo Templi Orientis had formed a group called
Dianism (040).
When The Blood Ritual was mentioned during the Armstrong
trial in 1984, Scientology's lawyer asserted that it was an
invokation of an Egyptian goddess of love (041).
Hathor is indeed popularly seen as a winged and spotted cow which
feeds humanity. However, there is an important lesson about
Scientology in the practice of magicians. The teachings of magic are
considered by many practictioners to be powerful and potentially
dangerous and therefore have to be kept secret. One of the easiest
ways to conceal the true meaning of a teaching is to reverse it. By
magicians Hathor is also seen as an aspect of Sekmet, the avenging
lioness. One authority on ritual magic has revealed the identity of
Hathor as "the destroyer of man." (042)
The important lesson is that Scientology has both a public and a
hidden agenda. Publicly it is a Church, privately as the record of
convictions shows, it is an Intelligence agency. Many public Hubbard
works speak of helping people. In his largely secret Fair Game
teachings, however, Hubbard is outspoken in his attack upon either
critics of himself or of his work. For example, in What is
Greatness? Hubbard says "The hardest task one can have is to
continue to love one's fellows despite all reasons he should not.
And the true sign of sanity and greatness is so to continue." In one
statement of the Fair Game Law, however, Hubbard said that opponents
"May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed" (043).
Of practitioners unlicensed by him Hubbard said "Harass these
persons in any possible way" (044).
Nor did he exclude the possibility of murder against those who
opposed him (045).
The harassment of critics, may explain the dearth of academic
research into Scientology. Hubbard's use of contradiction to
captivate and redirect his followers is worthy of a separate study
(046),
but it has its roots in his study of magic. Perhaps he related his
"Dianetics" also to Janus, the two-faced god whose name is sometimes
spelled "Dianus".
While Hubbard was supposedly researching his Dianetics in the
late 1940s, he was in fact engaging in magical rituals, and trying
out hypnosis both on himself and others. During the 1984 Armstrong
trial, extracts from Hubbard's voluminous self-hypnotic affirmations
were read into the record. The statements, hundreds of pages of
them, are written in red ink and Hubbard frequently drew pictures of
the male genitalia alongside the text (047).
Among his suggestions to himself we find: "Men are my slaves",
"Elemental Spirits are my slaves" and "You can be merciless whenever
your will is crossed and you have every right to be merciless" (048).
Black magic is distinguished from white in the desire of the
practitioner to bring harm. "Maleficium" is the traditional word for
such magic. The "Suppressive Person declare" and the "Fair Game Law"
speak reams in terms of Hubbard's intent.
Scientology is a neo-gnostic system, which is to say that it
teaches the attainment of insight through a series of stages. These
stages are called by Scientologists "the Bridge to Total Freedom".
The Bridge currently consists of some 27 levels. These levels might
be compared to the initiations of magical systems. While the stages
appear dissimilar to those of Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis, it is
worth noting that both systems consist of stages, that both have
secret levels and that both are numbered with Roman numerals.
Hubbard also shared with Crowley a numbering system which begins at
0 rather than 1.
The Scientology Bridge has as its end the creation of an
"Operating Thetan". Hubbard used the word "thetan" to identify the
self, the spirit which is the person. He claimed that the word
derived from an earlier Greek usage of the letter theta for "spirit"
(049).
I have been unable to find such a usage, but can comment that the
theta symbol is central to the Crowley system where it is found as
an aspect of the sign used for Babalon. To Crowley, the theta sign
represented the essential principle of his system - thelema or the
will. (050)
By "Operating Thetan", Hubbard meant an individual or "thetan"
able to "operate" freely from the physical body, able to cause
effects at a distance by will alone In Hubbard's words "a thetan
exterior who can have but doesn't have to have a body in order to
control or operate thought, life, matter, energy, space and time" (051).
Hubbard used the term "intention" rather than "will" (052),
but the goal of Scientology is clearly the same as that of the
Crowley system. The Scientologist wishes to be able to control
events and the minds of others by intention. This seems to be
exactly what Crowley called "thelema". In a 1952 lecture, Hubbard
recommended a book which he called "The Master Therion" (053).
This was in fact one of Crowley's "magical" names. I have been
advised by an officer of one of the Ordo Templi Orientis groups that
the reference is most likely to Crowley's magnum opus Magick in
Theory and Practice. In that work, Crowley gave this definition
"Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in
conformity with Will" (054).
So the aim of both Crowley and Hubbard seems to have been the same.
As a recovering Scientologist, I must raise an ethical objection
to the desire to control the minds of others without their consent.
This is the purpose of many Scientology procedures (055),
and can be seen either as deliberate "mind control" or as the black
magician's contempt of others. Scientology is a curious hybrid of
magic and psychology. After all, Hubbard boasted "we can brainwash
faster than the Russians - 20 seconds to total amnesia" (056).
At the centre of Crowley's teaching is the notion that we can
each control our own destiny: "Postulate: Any required Change may be
effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of Force
in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper object"
(057);
further "Every intentional act is a Magical Act" (058);
"Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate
have not been fulfilled" (059).
Hubbard taught that everything is down to the intention of the
individual. He called such intentions "postulates". The victim of
any negative event is said to have "pulled it in". Hubbard taught a
contempt for "victims" and regarded sympathy as a low emotional
condition (060).
As Crowley put it "Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being
and powers ... He may thus subjugate the whole Universe of which he
is conscious to his individual Will" (061).
Hubbard was to employ or parallel so many of Crowley's ideas and
approaches that it is impossible, especially with Hubbard's
references to Crowley, to avoid comparison. For example, in his
Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, Hubbard laid
much emphasis on the recollection of birth. Crowley had earlier
insisted that the magician must recall his birth (062).
Crowley spoke of "A equals A" (063),
where Hubbard, again in Dianetics spoke of "A equals A equals
A". Both men were noisy in their contempt for psychotherapists (064).
Both Hubbard and Crowley spoke of "past lives" rather than
"reincarnation" (065).
Indeed, the notion of past lives and their recollection is essential
to both systems, as Crowley wrote "There is no more important task
than the exploration of one's previous incarnations" (066).
Scientology and Dianetics also rely upon the supposed recollection
of previous incarnations. Crowley called this the "magical memory"
(067).
Hubbard gave as the fundamental axiom of his system "Life is
basically a static. A Life Static has no mass, no motion, no
wavelength, no location in space or in time." (068)
Crowley was more succinct, calling the self "nothing" (069).
Hubbard was to say that even an "Operating Thetan" could not
"operate" alone, and Crowley said "Even in Magick we cannot get on
without the help of others" (070).
The first essential teaching of Scientology is that "reality is
basically agreement" (071)
or "reality is the agreed-upon apparency of existence" (072),
which Crowley expressed as "The universe is a projection of
ourselves; an image as unreal as that of our faces in the mirror ...
not to be altered save as we alter ourselves" (073).
The controlling power of thought, or will, is evident in both
systems, Crowley has it "we can never affect anything outside
ourselves save only as it is also within us. (074)"
Both men believed that truth is unobtainable in the material
world. Crowley expressed it thus "There is no such thing as truth in
the perceptible universe" (075).
Hubbard said "The ultimate truth ... has no mass, meaning, mobility,
no wavelength, no time, no location in space, no space." (076)
Hubbard's concept of the "thetan exterior" - operating apart from
the body is found in Crowley's "interior body of the Magician" which
can "pass through 'matter'" (077).
Both systems seek to get the spirit "out of the body" (078).
Crowley said "Evil is only an appearance ... like good"(079),
where Hubbard said that "goodness and badness ... are ...
considerations, and have no other basis than opinion" (080).
Each spoke of a personal "universe" (081).
Hubbard also followed in Crowley's footsteps with the insistence
that the meaning of words should be clarified or "cleared" (082).
Crowley announced that Christ was "concocted" (083)
which tallies exactly with Hubbard's assertion that Christ was a
hypnotic "implant" (084).
Here the major difference between Crowley and Hubbard becomes
apparent: Crowley was publicly outspoken about his views, Hubbard
was careful to keep negative material secret. Scientology claims to
be eclectic and non-denominational. Only in secret teachings is
Hubbard's contempt for Christianity apparent (085).
The long series of lectures in which Hubbard called Crowley his
"very good friend" and recommended his writings, centres on a
technique called "creative processing" by Hubbard. It is
unsurprising that this technique is common to magicians. Nowadays it
is more usually known as "visualisation".
Scientology surely has the distinction of containing the largest
collection of teachings produced by one man. There are more than a
hundred books and over 2,500 recorded lectures. But there are also
thousands of registered trademarks, including many symbols.
Many of these symbols have possible magical significance. It
seems highly unlikely given his study of the occult that Hubbard was
unaware of the earlier use of these symbols. The Scientology cross
which Hubbard claimed to have seen in an old Spanish church in
Arizona (086)
is markedly similar to the Rosicrucian cross (087)
and also to Aleister Crowley's OTO cross. Hubbard had been a member
of the Rosicrucians. He had also commented on Crowley's Tarot which
carries the OTO cross on the back of every card. Hubbard cannot have
been ignorant of these uses.
The Scientology cross could also be seen as a crossed out cross,
with potentially Satanic implications. It seems strange that Hubbard
who called Scientology a "better" activity than Christianity (088),
called Christ an invention (089)
and said that the "Creator of Heaven" would be found "with beetles
under the rocks" (090),
should have adopted the exclusively Christian word "church", the
garb of Christian ministers and the use of the cross as a symbol.
But Scientology is based upon deceptions and contradictions.
The Rosicrucians and the Freemasons share a ritual called the
"grave of fire" (091).
A senior Rosicrucian who had also studied Scientology told me that
the initiate lies on a carpet within a pattern of lapping flames. He
claimed that Scientology's Religious Technology Center - or RTC -
symbol was very similar. (092)
The RTC symbol contains the Dianetics triangle, which is a common
magical symbol, representing the door of the Cabala, the letter
Daleth. Hubbard indeed assigned it to the Greek equivalent of
Daleth, Delta. The triangle on its base is also the symbol of Set,
the Egyptian god called by some "the destroyer of man". The male
equivalent of Babalon. Indeed, Crowley equates Set with Satan (093).
The triangle is universally recognised as a sign of malign power.
Alexandra David-Neel commented upon its use as such among the
Tibetans. Her best-selling books of the 1930s contain many other
possible comparisons with Hubbard's work.
The "S and double triangle" is a major symbol found throughout
Scientology. The "S" supposedly represents "Scientology" and the two
triangles Affinity-Reality-Communication and
Knowledge-Responsibility-Control. There is another possible
interpretation. The "S" seen on its own can easily be seen as a
snake. To Crowley, indeed, the "S" represented the tempting serpent,
Satan. Perhaps Hubbard's "thetan" is pronounced to match with a
lisped "satan"? He was after all wry in his humour. The two
triangles can be assembled differently to form the Star of David,
called the Seal of Solomon by magicians (094)
This symbol allegedly represents "tetragrammaton", the holy name of
God which must never be spoken. Perhaps breaking it apart is similar
to hanging the Christian cross upside down.
Next we see the Sea Organization symbol. The five pointed star,
or pentacle is the most commonly known symbol of magical power. It
is held between two thirteen-leaved laurels. Armstrong told
me in 1984 that judging by the papers in Hubbard's archive the
creator of Scientology was more interested in numerology than any
other aspect of magic.
Among the more seemingly fanciful claims of Hubbard's oldest son,
L. Ron, junior, was that his father was the successor to the
magicians who created Naziism. Naziism was certainly an
authoritarian group, a prototypical destructive cult. Recent
revelations about leading Scientologist Thomas Marcellus
long-running direction of the Institute for Historical Review can
only add to speculation (095).
Dusty Sklar has said that had she known about Hubbard she would have
used him in the last chapter of The Nazis and the Occult
rather than Sun Myung Moon (096).
L. Ron, junior, was sure that the teachings of the Germanen Orden
and the Thule Society had passed directly to his father by courier.
In this light, the white circle on a red square of Scientology's
International Management Organization (097)
can be readily compared to the Nazi flag. The four lightning flashes
or "sig runes" are also common to Naziism. No explanation is given
for these sig runes by Scientology. They also appear on the RTC
symbol. At the time that both of these symbols were introduced,
Hubbard also created the International Finance Police, headed by the
International Finance Dictator. An unusual choice of word.
Hitler too had been aware of the power of occult symbols and
rituals. Speaking of the Freemasons, he said: "All the supposed
abominations, the skeletons and death's heads, the coffins and the
mysteries, are mere bogeys for children. But there is one dangerous
element and that is the element I have copied from them. They form a
sort of priestly nobility. They have developed an esoteric doctrine
not merely formulated, but imparted through the symbols and
mysteries in degrees of initiation. The hierarchical organization
and the initiation through symbolic rites, that is to say, without
bothering the brain but by working on the imagination through magic
and the symbols of a cult, all this has a dangerous element, and the
element I have taken over. Don't you see that our party must be of
this character ...? An Order, that is what it has to be - an Order,
the hierarchical Order of a secular priesthood." (098)
Having shown many comparisons between Crowley's work and
Hubbard's, and having shown the common intent of both systems, I
shall now move on to the secret rituals of Scientology. The attempt
to obtain magical powers is certainly not unique to Hubbard and
Crowley. Every culture seems to have had its own approach.
One common element to most cultures is the belief in disembodied
spirits. Disembodied spirits can be found in the teachings of all of
the major religions (099).
Crowley shared with many the belief that such spirits can be used in
the practice of magic (100).
Most of the secret teachings of Scientology concern such disembodied
spirits.
Towards the end of his life, Hubbard wrote some chirpy pop songs
which were recorded under his direction (101).
One of these songs, The Evil Purpose, begins "In olden days
the populace was much afraid of demons / And paid an awful sky high
price to buy some priestly begones". The song goes on to explain
that there are no demons, "just the easily erased evil purpose". In
fact, the Operating Thetan levels are concerned almost entirely with
"body thetans" or indwelling spirits or demons.
Hubbard first floated the idea to his adherents in spring 1952,
during his first Scientology lectures (102).
He spoke of "theta" as the life-force and went on to describe "theta
beings" and "theta bodies". Mention was made again that June in the
book What to Audit, which is still in print - minus a chapter
- as Scientology: A History of Man. Here Hubbard said that we
are all inhabited by seven foreign spirits, the leader of which he
called the "crew chief". The idea did not find favour, so it was
abandoned for fourteen years.
In December 1966, in North Africa, Hubbard undertook "research"
into an incident which he claimed had occurred 75 million years ago.
In a tape recorded lecture given in September 1967, Hubbard
announced his revelation to Scientologists. On the same tape he
boasted about his wife Mary Sue Hubbard's use of "professional
Intelligence Agents" to steal files. His wife, the controller of all
Scientology organizations subsequently went to prison. Scientology
continues to claim that its creator knew nothing of the events that
put his wife in prison, but also continue to sell this tape.
Armstrong, Hubbard's former archivist has said that the Hubbard
archive contains letters written while he was creating Operating
Thetan level three. In his lecture, Hubbard claimed to have broken
his back while researching. Armstrong told me in 1984 that Hubbard
had in fact got very drunk and fallen down in the gutter. A doctor
had been called out to him to deal with a sprain. Hubbard also
detailed his drug use in this correspondence. In February 1967,
Hubbard flew to Los Palmas and the woman who attended him there has
told me that he was taking an enormous quantity of drugs and was in
a very debilitated state.
The result of Hubbard's "research" was a mixture of
science-fiction and old-fashioned magic. According to Hubbard, 75
million years ago, Xenu, the overlord of 76 planets, rounded up most
of the people of his empire - some 178 billion per planet - and
brought them to Earth. Here they were exploded in volcanoes using
hydrogen bombs and the spirits or thetans collected on "electronic
ribbons". Disorientated from the massacre, the disembodied thetans
were subjected to some 36 days of hypnotic "implanting" and
clustered together. From seven indwelling spirits per person
Hubbard's estimate had gone into the thousands. The "implants"
supposedly contained the blueprint for future civilizations,
including the Christian teaching, 75 million years before Christ.
Operating Thetan level three has to be kept secret, according to
Hubbard, because the unprepared will die within two days of
discovering its contents. The story has in fact been published in
many newspapers without noticeable loss of life. Hubbard was so
taken with his science fiction, that he finally wrote a screenplay
called Revolt in the Stars about the "OT 3" incident,
ignoring his own warnings.
It is often the case with Hubbard's work that he has simply taken
other ideas and dressed them up in new expressions. Careful study
shows that Dianetics is largely a rewording of existing work. The
original language of Dianetics included such words as "operator",
"reverie" and "regression" common to hypnotic practitioners at the
time. On leaving Scientology, most people cannot see that the "body
thetans" of Operating Thetan levels three to seven are in fact the
demons of Christian belief. The "OT levels" are factually the most
expensive form of exorcism known to man. Unfortunately, such beliefs
and practices can have a severe effect upon practitioners, who take
Hubbard's warnings to heart and come to believe themselves multiple
personalities. I have been called in to help several times in such
instances.
Indeed, the whole process of "auditing" can be seen as an update
of magical ritual. Scientology is a mixture of occult ritual and
1950s style psychotherapy. The adherents travel through increasingly
expensive initiations with the hope of attaining supernatural
powers. There are badges, symbols and titles for almost every stage
of the way.
Other links with ritual magic have emerged. A peculiar event
occurred aboard Hubbard's flagship, the Apollo, in 1973.
Those aboard ship responsible for overseeing the management of
Scientology organizations were involved in a ceremony called the
Kali ceremony after the Hindu goddess of destruction. The whole was
staged very seriously, and the managers were led into a dimly lit
hold of the ship and ordered to destroy models of their
organizations. A few years before, a high-ranking Sea Organization
officer claims to have been ordered to Los Angeles where he was
meant to mount an armed attack on a magicians' sabat. He did not
mount the attack but claims that the meeting happened exactly where
Hubbard had told him it would.
In 1976, Hubbard ordered a secret research project into the
teachings of gnostic groups. He had already carried out a project to
determine which of his ship's crew members were "soldiers of light"
and which "soldiers of darkness". The latter group were apparently
promoted. Jeff
Jacobsen has provided insight into a possible connection between
Hubbard's OT levels and gnostic teachings (103).
Jacobsen quotes from the third century Christain gnostic Valentinus:
"For many spirits dwell in it [the body] and do not permit it to be
pure; each of them brings to fruition its own works, and they treat
it abusively by means of unseemly desires". Jacobsen goes on to cite
the gnostic Basilides, man "preserves the appearance of a wooden
horse, according to the poetic myth, embracing as he does in one
body a host of such different spirits." Jacobsen points out that
multiple possession seems to have been considered normal by these
gnostics. Possession equates to madness in orthodox Christianity,
and examples of multiple possession are rare (the Gadarene swine for
example). Jacobsen draws other interesting parallels between
gnosticism and Scientology.
Another former Sea Organization member affidavited a meeting in
the 1970s with an old man whose description fitted Hubbard's. She
claimed to have been taken to the top floor of a Scientology
building by high-ranking officials and left there with this man, who
performed the sexual act with her, but very slowly (104).
Indeed, in the way advocated by Crowley and called karezzo. No
outside witness has corroborated this statement.
I have already said that the public and private faces of
Scientology are very different. The vast majority of Hubbard's
followers are good people who genuinely believe that the techniques
of Scientology can help the world. Most are ignorant of the hidden
Fair Game teachings. Hubbard presented himself as a messiah, as
Maitreya the last Buddha, but in fact he was privately a highly
disturbed and frequently ill man. There are a number of reports of
his drug abuse. He advocated the use of amphetamines (105).
He admitted to barbiturate addiction (106)
and was also at times a heavy drinker. His treatment of those around
him was often deplorable. Although holding himself out as an
authority on child-rearing, his relationship with his children was
genuinely dreadful. He disowned his first son, barely saw his first
daughter, denied paternity of his second daughter, and Quentin, the
oldest son of his third marriage, committed suicide. Quentin had
reached the highest level of Scientology twice. He was a
Class XII auditor and a "cleared theta clear", but he was also a
homosexual. Hubbard was publicly homophobic - saying that all
homosexuals are "covertly hostile" or backstabbers. I have received
alarming reports of his sexual behaviour. I must emphasise that
these reports are not corroborated, so can only stand as
allegations. One Sea Organization officer claims to have witnessed a
sexual encounter between Hubbard and a young boy in North Africa.
Another claims that Hubbard admitted to a sexual relationship with
one of his own children. It is impossible to substantiate such
reports. But such behaviour would be in keeping with an extreme
devotee of Aleister Crowley who said that in the training of a
magician "Acts which are essentially dishonourable must be done." (107)
In conclusion, I believe that Hubbard was a classic psychopath.
Some trauma in infancy separated him from the world and made him
unstrusting of other people. This developed into a paranoia, a need
to control others. He created a dissociated world, inhabited by the
Empress. Bear in mind that he actually saw the Empress in
full colour, and that she spoke to him (108).
From his comments about automatic writing and speaking, it could be
averred that Hubbard was in fact "channeling" the Empress. Hubbard
separated off a compartment of himself calling it the Empress and
gave in to its urgings. He lived a life of dreadful contradiction.
He claimed expertise in all things, but factually was a failure at
most. Some will see him as having a psychiatric complaint, others
will believe that he invoked the very devil, or Babalon, and was
possessed. Hubbard's own belief lives on with all of its
contradictions in his teachings. Ultimately, as Fritz Haack put it,
Scientology is twentieth-century magic.
Footnotes
- Atack, Jon, Lyle Stuart Books, New Jersey,
1990.
- Sigmund Freud, Clarke Lectures 1-3, in Two
Short Accounts of Psycho-Analysis, Penguin Books, London,
1962. Cf Hubbard, "Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health"
and "The Dianetic Auditors Course".
- Hubbard, HCO Policy Letter "Keeping
Scientology Working", 7 February 1965.
- e.g., acknowledgments lists in Hubbard's
"Science of Survival", 1951, and "Scientology 8-8008", 1952.
Phoenix Lectures, p.264.
- Grinker and Speigel, "Men Under Stress",
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1945.
- Sargant, "Battle for the Mind", Heinemann,
London, 1957. Hubbard had a copy of this book on his library shelf
in Washington DC in 1958. It also has relevance to other aspects
of Scientology.
- Hermitage House, 1950.
- Fodor, "The Search for the Beloved - a
clinical investigation of birth and the trauma of prenatal
conditioning", Hermitage House, 1949.
- Wolfe & Rosenthal, Hypnotism Comes of
Age, Blue Ribbon, NY, 1949; Young Twenty-Five Lessons in
Hypnotism, Padell, NY, 1944. Both recommended by Hubbard in
Research & Discovery, volume 2, p.12, 1st edition.
- Jeff
Jacobsen has written two interesting papers relevant to any
discussion of the origins of Scientology. Dianetics:
From Out of the Blue, The Skeptic, UK, March/April 1992, which
discusses the origins of Dianetics and The
Hubbard is Bare, 1992, a more general discussion including
comments about Crowley and gnosticism. I have worked for some time
on a set of papers which discuss Hubbard's plagiarism, as yet
these are unavailable.
- A Piece of Blue Sky, pp.119
&125-126..
- A Piece of Blue Sky, p.128.
- See particularly the chapters on Bergson and
Spencer.
- See also Jacobsen's The Hubbard is Bare
and Bent Corydon's L.Ron Hubbard, Messiah or
Madman? Corydon relied upon excellent research by Brian Ambry
but also upon L. Ron Hubbard jnr, whose credibility is
questionable. See also L. Ron Hubbard, jnr., A Look Into
Scientology or 1/10 of 1% of Scientology, manuscript, 1972.
- Hubbard, "Dianetics: the Evolution of a
Science" originally printed in Astounding Science Fiction,
May 1950. Republished by AOSH DK Publications Department, 1972,
quotation from p.56, see also p.59.
- Burks, "Monitors", CSA Press, Lakemount,
Georgia, 1967.
- King, Francis, The Secret Rituals of the
OTO, C.W.Daniel, London, 1973.
- Revelation, chapter 17.
- Secret Rituals of the OTO.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and
Practice, Castle Books, New York, p.88.
- Magick in Theory and Practice, p.120.
- There is contention between the various OTO
groups about the Book of Babalon. Its existence is
sometimes denied, and the OTO New York have claimed that only a
fragment exists (published in Parsons, Freedom is a Two-Edged
Sword, Falcon, Las Vegas, 1989). I have read three versions of
the manuscript, oneis the Yorke transcript, another is un-named.
The third was published in vol.1, issue 3 of Starfire,
London, 1989.
- published by Isis Research, Edmonton,
Alberta, 1980, ed. Plawiuk.
- Professional Auditors Bulletin no.110,
15 April 1957.
- Author's interview with 15th degree
Rosicrucian, 1984.
- Hubbard, Philadelphia Doctorate
Course, lecture 18 "Conditions of Space-Time-Energy".
- Philadelphia Doctorate Course, lecture
18.
- Philadelphia Doctorate Course, lecture
35.
- Philadelphia Doctorate Course, lecture
40.
- Hubbard, Philadelphia Doctorate
Course, lecture 1, "Opening: What is to be done in the
Course".
- Thoth Tarot Deck, US Games Systems, NY, ISBN
0-913866-15-6.
- Crowley, The Book of Thoth, Samuel
Weiser, Maine,1984. First edition 1944.
- Book of Thoth, p.75.
- Book of Thoth, p.76.
- Francis King, The Magical World of
Aleister Crowley, Arrow Books, London, p.56.
- Crowley, Confessions, Bantam, New
York, 1971, p.693.
- e.g., Book of Thoth, pp.136ff.
- Cavendish, The Magical Arts, Arkana,
London, 1984, p.304.
- A Piece of Blue Sky, p.99.
- Francis King, Ritual Magic in England,
Spearman, London, 1970, p.161.
- Litt, in Church of Scientology v Armstrong,
vol.26, p.4607.
- Hope, Practical Egyptian Magic,
Aquarian, Northants, 1984, pp.39 & 47.
- HCO Policy Letter, Penalties for Lower
Conditions, 18 October 1967, issue IV.
- HCO Executive Letter, Amprinistics, 27
September 1965.
- e.g. HCO Policy Letter, Ethics,
Suppressive Acts, Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists,
The Fair Game Law, 1 March 1965. The offending part of the
text was read into an English court judgment (Hubbard v Vosper,
November 1971, Court of Appeal). In USA v. Jane Kember &
Morris Budlong, in 1980, Scientology lawyers admitted that despite
public representations Fair Game had never truly been "abrogated"
(sentencing memorandum, District Court, Washington DC, criminal
no. 78.401 (2) & (3), p.16, footnote). The Policy Letter which
did eventually cancel it, of 22 July 1980, was itself withdrawn on
8 September 1983. Unknown to most of its adherents, Fair
game is still a scripture, and according to Hubbard's
Standard Tech principle binding upon Scientologists.
Hubbard issued a murder order in 1968 under the name "R2-45" (The
Auditor issue 35). Thankfully, this order was not complied with.
- See for example the technique called False
Data Stripping and Hubbard's comments on controlling people
through contradictory instructions.
- Interview with Robert Vaughn Young, former
Hubbard archivist, Corona del Mar, April 1993.
- Affirmations, exhibits 500-4D, E, F & G.
See Church of Scientology v Armstrong, transcript volume 11,
p.1886.
- Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology
Dictionary, Church of Scientology of California, L.A., 1975,
"theta", definition 6.
- The Babalon sign with a theta at the centre
of a 7-pointed star is found in many of Crowley's works, e.g.
The Book of Thoth. The winged sign of the OTO and the use
of the theta sign can be found in various places, e.g. Equinox
- Sex and Religion, Thelema Publishing Co, Nashville, 1981.
- Dianetics and Scientology Technical
Dictionary, definition of "Operating Thetan".
- e.g., PAB 91, The Anatomy of Failure,
3 July 1956. See also definition of "Tone 40" in the Dianetics
and Scientology Technical Dictionary: "giving a command and
just knowing that it will be executed despite any contrary
appearences"..
- Philadelphia Doctorate Course, lecture
18.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.xii.
- e.g., Dissemination Drill, CCHs, Opening
Procedure by Duplication, Mood TRs & Tone Scale drills, TRs
6-8 , TR-8Q , the FSM TR "How to control a conversation".On the
OTVII practi sed upto 1982, the student was expected to
telepathically implant thoughts into others.
- Technical Bulletin of 22 July 1956.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.xiii.
- ibid, p.xiii.
- ibid, p.xiv.
- e.g The Tone Scale. For a discussion of
Scientology beliefs, see A Piece of Blue Sky, pp.378ff.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.xvi-xvii.
- ibid, p.419.
- ibid, p.9.
- e.g., Crowley, Magick in Theory and
Practice, p.xxiv.
- e.g. Crowley, Magick in Theory and
Practice, p.228. Hubbard Have You Lived Before this
Life?, Church of Scientology of California, L.A., 1977, p.3.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.50.
- ibid, pp.50 & 228.
- Hubbard, Phoenix Lectures, Church of
Scientology of California, Edinburgh, 1968, Scientology Axiom 1,
p.146.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.30.
- ibid, p.63.
- Phoenix lectures, p.175
- Phoenix Lectures, , pp.173ff,
Scientology Axioms 26 & 27.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.110.
- ibid, p.121.
- ibid, p.143-144.
- Phoenix Lectures, p.180, Scientology
Axiom 35.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.144.
- e.g., ibid, p.147.
- ibid, p.153.
- Phoenix Lectures, p.180, Scientology
Axiom 31.
- Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.251. Hubbard, PAB 1, General Comments, 10 May 1953.
- Crowley, Magick Without Tears, Falcon
Press, Phoenix, Az, 1983, pp.xii, 26, 407 & 440. Hubbard,
Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary, definitions
of "word clearing". Korzybski also advocated understanding of
words.
- Crowley, Magick Without Tears, p.11.
- HCO Bulletin, Confidential - Resistive
Cases - Former Therapies, 23 September 1968.
- e.g. Hubbard, HCO Policy Letter Routine
three - Heaven, 11 May 1963 and the original preface to The
Phoenix Lectures, Hubbard South African Association of
Scientologists, Johannesburg, 1954: "God just happens to be the
trick of this universe", p.5. In HCO Bulletin Technically
Speaking, of 8 July 1959, Hubbard said "The whole Christian
movement is based on the victim ... Chrisitanity succeeded by
making people into victims. We can succeed by making victims into
people."
- What is Scientology?, Church of
Scientology of California, first edition, 1978, p.301.
- H. Spencer Lewis, Rosicrucian Manual,
AMORC, San Jose, 1982.
- Modern Management Technology Defined,
definition of Church of American Science.
- HCO Policy Letter, Former practices",
1968.
- HCO Policy Letter, Heaven, 1963.
- cf Hubbard's use of "wall of fire" to
describe OT III & OT V. These may also be compared to gnostic
ideas.
- The RTC symbol is frequently used, e.g.,
What is Scientology?, 2nd edition, 1992, p.92.
- Magick Without Tears, p.259.
- Cavendish, p.243.
- Paul Bracchi, The Cult and a
RIght-Winger, Evening Argus, Brighton, England, 4 April 1995.
- Letter to the author. Sklar's book was
published by Crowell, NY, 1977. It was originally released as
Gods and Beasts. See also Gerald Suster Hitler and the
Age of Horus, Sphere, London, 1981.
- This symbol is frequently used, e.g. What
is Scientology?, 2nd edition, 1992, p.358.
- Suster, Hitler and the Age of Horus,
p.138.
- Francoise Strachan, Casting out the
Devils, Aquarian Press, London, 1972. See also Alexandra
David-Neel Initiates and Initiations in Tibet, pp.168-169.
- e.g., Magick in Theory and Practice,
p.16.
- The Road To Freedom, BPI records,
L.A., 1986.
- The Hubbard College Lectures.
- The Hubbard is Bare.
- Affidavit of Ann Bailey, p.34.
- e.g., Dianetics: the Modern Science of
Mental Health, Bridge, L.A., 1985, p.389 or AOSHDK, Denmark,
1973, p.363. See also the Research and Discovery Series.
- The Research and Discovery Series,
vol.1, first editon 1980, Scientology Publications Org, p.124.
- Magick in Theory and Practice, p.339.
- Hubbard ordered that new dust sleeves should
be put onto his books after he'd released OT3, in 1967. These book
covers are supposedly meant to depict images from the 36 days of
implanting and will supposedly compel people to buy the books. The
cover for Hubabrd's Scientology 8-80, Publications
Department, AOSH Denmark, 1973, shows a winged couple. The woman
could well be the Empress. A similar design was used on the dust
sleeve of Hubbard's Scientology 8-8008 in the 1990 Bridge,
L.A., edition.
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