The Cameron Film: Wormwood Star

At the Cameron-Parsons Foundation, Marjorie “Cameron” (her maiden name) Parsons is described as “A maverick follower of the esoteric mysticism of Aleister Crowley and his philosophical group, the O.T.O. (Ordo Ternpli Orientis), Cameron was also an accomplished painter and draftsman and mentor to younger artists and poets such as Wallace Berman, George Herms, David Meltzer, and Aya.”

After Parsons’ death in 1952, she retreated to the desert of Beaumont, California living in an abandoned canyon without water or power devoting herself to art and magick, doing extensive astral work and completing 21 drawings for the book of poetry and art that she’d worked on with Jack during his lifetime. Her time in Beaumont is, in part documented, in extensive correspondence with Jane Wolfe.  Upon her return to Los Angeles in 1953, she became an active participant in the avant-garde arts scene starting with a series of paintings called the Parchments. You can read a fuller account here: http://www.cameron-parsons.org/cameron.html.

She also acted in a series of early avant garde films including Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and Curtis Harrington’s Wormwood Star (named after a mystical child she concieved psychically with Jack from beyond the grave while she was in Beaumont), which was a study of her art (much of it subsequently destroyed on purpose by Cameron) and magical practice. You can view it here:

https://vimeo.com/102233333

Frater Lux Ad Mundi

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