Devil's Gate: Scientology's L. Ron Hubbard

Michael Cervin (ArroyoMonthly.com, 7/1/17); Stephen A. Kent, Journal of Contemporary Religion; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Occult connections: JPL, Northrup, L. Ron Hubbard/Scientology

Devil's Gate, Arroyo Seco, JPL/Hahamongna Watershed Park, Pasadena

Cult leader/founder L. Ron Hubbard

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...In 1936 the Arroyo Seco was just a 25-mile-long swath of land with a seasonal river running through it. But in October of that year, three scientists gathered in the Arroyo to perform their own secret experiments. “The ‘rocket boys’ were an unusual bunch,” according to Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s website (jpl.nasa.gov).

• "Strange Angel: producers on how Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard fits into the show’s sex cult (indiewire.com)

“Frank Malina was studying aerodynamics, Jack Parsons was a self-taught chemist and Ed Forman was an excellent mechanic. They scraped together cheap engine parts, and on Oct. 31, 1936, drove to the Arroyo Seco. Four times that day they tried to test-fire their small rocket motor. These were the first rocket experiments in the history of JPL.” Caltech had purchased land in the Arroyo to build JPL, but it was Jack Parsons who turned Devil’s Gate into an urban legend.

 

[L. Ron Hubbard claims to be Maitreya Buddha in The Hymn of Asia.]

• Cult founder Hubbard claims Scientology related to Eastern religious traditions

By all accounts Parsons was a brilliant, self-taught rocket scientist, though he’s been written out of most of JPL’s history due to his obsession with the occult, his affiliation with Scientology’s Hubbard and rituals involving sex, blood, and classical music. Parsons was also a devotee of controversial British occultist Aleister Crowley, joining Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) society in 1941. Parsons lived at 1003 South Orange Grove Ave., which became notorious for its “sex magick” ceremonies.

In his 1946 essay, The Book of Babalon, Parsons writes: “I had been engaged in the study and practice of Magick for seven years, and in the supervision and operation of an occult lodge for four years.”

Part of Crowley’s Thelemic beliefs involved goddess worship, specifically of Babalon, a.k.a. the Mother of Abominations. Parsons, like Crowley, believed it was possible to summon Babalon into human form via the use of sexual rituals, leading to the overthrow of Judeo-Christian civilization and the rise of Thelema, exhorting followers to “do what thou wilt.”

 

In August 1945, Parsons met former Navy man and writer of lurid fiction, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. Parsons wanted to include L. Ron Hubbard in the rituals and wrote to [Satanist Aleister] Crowley:
 

“I deduced that [L. Ron Hubbard] is in direct touch with some higher intelligence. He is the most Thelemic person I have ever met and is in complete accord with our own principles.”
 

Using background music from Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, Parsons sought to invoke Babalon through incantations and blood sacrifice. At the end of one ritual, Parsons wrote, “And thus was I Antichrist loosed in the world; and to this I am pledged, that the work of the Beast 666 shall be fulfilled, and the way for the coming of Babalon be made open and I shall not cease or rest until these things are accomplished.”
 

We [Arroyo Monthly] contacted the Church of Scientology to clarify Hubbard’s involvement. They did not respond... More

Is Scientology like Buddhism?
Stephen A. Kent, University of Alberta, Canada (skent@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca), Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1996, p. 21

I'm the new Buddha, man!*

Scientology's founder, L. [Lafayette] Ron Hubbard, frequently made claims that Scientology was related to or shared significant similarities with Hinduism, Theravada Buddhism and Taoism. However, careful examination of Hubbard's claims indicates that he had only a superficial acquaintance with Eastern religions, and most of his attempts to associate Scientology with these faiths are unwarranted. Moreover, social and political pressures against his organisation's alleged healing practices probably provided the catalyst for Hubbard's attempt to portray his creation as a religion with Eastern overtones. More

 

*Hubbard's boldest attempt to legitimise Scientology by associating himself with Buddhism appears in his 1974 publication, The Hymn of Asia (1974a), which he wrote a number of years earlier in 1956 [6]. He strongly implies that he is Maitreya or Metteya [the Sanskrit and Pali spellings of] the Future Buddha, whom the Buddha himself purportedly discoursed upon. The "editors" to the volume, who may have been Hubbard himself, made five claims about the "Metteya Legend" which were that:

1. He shall appear in the West.
2. He shall appear at a time when religion shall be waning, when the world is imperiled [sic] and convulsed in turmoil.
3. He will have golden hair or red hair.
4. He will complete the work of Gautama Buddha and bring in a new golden age of man by making possible the attainment of spiritual freedom by all beings.
5. Although the date of his advent is variously forecast, the nearest date places it 2,500 years after Gautama Buddha -- or roughly 1950.... (Editors in Hubbard, 1974a: [n.p.]).