Parsons was also an avid practitioner of the occult arts, and a follower of "Thelema". He saw no contradiction between his scientific and magical pursuits, and before each rocket test launch, Parsons would invoke the name of the Greek god Pan.
Parsons was chosen by Aleister Crowley to lead the "Agape Lodge", the Thelemic "Ordo Templi Orientis" ("O.T.O.") in California, in 1942, after Crowley expelled Wilfred Smith from the position.
Sara Northrup (aka "Sarah Elizabeth" or "Betty" Northrup), began living with Parsons after his wife, Sarah's half-sister Helen Northrup, left with Wilfred Smith. Sarah Northrup later married L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology and sometime magical partner of Parsons. Parsons and Hubbard participated in a ritual known as the Babalon Working which is famous in occult circles — loosely, it was an attempt to summon a living goddess and change the course of history.[citation needed] They were aided in this work by Sampson Bennetts of the Rosicrucian Order and his wife Sara Melian Gabriel, a spiritualist from India.
In January 1946, Parsons, Sarah, and Hubbard started a boat dealing company named Allied Enterprises. Parsons put in the sum of approximately $21,000— Hubbard put in $1,200, and Sarah nothing. Hubbard eventually abandoned Parsons and their business plans, leaving a port in Florida with the boat and with Sarah. It is said Parsons retreated to his hotel room and summoned a typhoon in retribution (i.e. with an evocation of "Bartzabel"[2] - the so-called "intelligence" supposedly presiding over the planet Mars). A Florida court later dissolved the poorly-contracted business, ordered repayment of debts to Parsons, and awarded ownership of the boat to Hubbard.
The Hubbard/Allied Enterprises relationship lasted until 1947, when Hubbard again defrauded Parsons of a sum of money and ran off again with Sarah Northrup. Hubbard used much of this money from Allied Enterprises to promulgate and publish his book Dianetics, whose "teachings" later evolved into and was superseded by so-called "Scientology".