Cameron:

Songs for the Witch Woman

Yael Lipschutz

with a contribution by
William Breeze and Susan Pile

Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
 Contents

7 Foreword
Philippe Vergne

9 Beacon in the Darkness: The Transcendental Art of Cameron

Yael Lipschutz

19 Plates

73 Jack Parsons
William Breeze and Susan Pile

76 Acknowledgements

77 Works in the Exhibition

Untitled “Peyote Vision,” 1955

 Foreword

There was a time when boundaries and disciplines did not constrain art or artists—
a time when the word “art” brought together painting, poetry, music, choreography,
and moving images. Art was once synonymous with freedom and liberation from
convention and from fetishisms. There was a time when art was an assault on what art
was, and practices were motivated by an elated passion for regions of the mind that
amaze the vision more than the eyes.
Cameron was of a time of heedless belief in the power of art to invent and celebrate
new ways of representation and being. Her work oscillates between the psychedelic
and surreal and defies a conventional understanding of modernity as a logical notion
of progress in art. She reminds us how little we perceive of our existence and how much
our mind, if fully explored, awakens an alternative knowledge.
Her life and her art parallel with some of the greatest creative minds of our time
including Kenneth Anger, Wallace Berman, William Blake, Bruce Conner, George
Herms, Henri Michaux, and Unica Zurn. With intellectual chemistry, a different history
of our time can be written. If not written, a history that can be hallucinated is the
only strategy to overcome the gruesome cruelty of a culture that has neglected the values
of humanity for too long, a culture that might leave the negative trace of systematic
erosion, destruction, and obliteration.
From Cameron’s work, a museum can learn courage—the courage of a woman who
defied the conventions of her time and followed so many women who remained in
the shadow of patriarchy but who have often taken more revolutionary risk than their
seminal husbands, lovers, and friends.
I am proud that MOCA is the location of the exhibition Cameron: Songs for the Witch
Woman, the first survey of Cameron’s work in an American museum. MOCA follows
a long legacy of historical experimentation and research and a tradition of institutional
independence. Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman also invites us to contemplate our ethos
as a museum, our commitment to other disciplines, and a history that was born and
that blossomed in a place in this country where creativity is synonymous with freedom.
I am extremely grateful to Yael Lipschutz for curating this exhibition for MOCA,
and to Alma Ruiz, MOCA Senior Curator, who is a strong advocate of voices that are
often an antidote to the status quo. This exhibition would not have happened without
the participation of MOCA’s able staff, especially Catherine Arias, Director of Education;
Sandy Choi, Associate Registrar; Gladys-Katherina Hernando, Curatorial Assistant;
Rosanna Hemerick, Director of Collections; Susan Jenkins, Director of Exhibition
Management; Clarissa Morales, Administrative Assistant to Exhibition Management;
and Jang Park, Director of Exhibition Production. I am also extremely grateful to
MOCA’s Board for their support, their trust, and their commitment to build and foster
a courageous and unique institution. Their patronage makes it all possible. Heartfelt
thanks also go to the lenders as well as to the Cameron Parsons Foundation and its
director Scott Hobbs for their assistance. I would also like to thank Charles S. Cohen
for his generous support of MOCA Pacific Design Center.

Philippe Vergne
Director
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Untitled, 1955

6 7
 Beacon in the Darkness:The Transcendental Art of Cameron Yael Lipschutz

“Rise up! I have surpassed the tomb you dreamed for at the newly established Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
me,” declared Cameron in 1956. An exhortation to and she worked as a fashion illustrator for local
her deceased husband, rocket scientist and occultist Southland newspapers. Originally from a small
Jack Parsons (1914–1952), Cameron’s prose implied rural town where she had grown accustomed
a spiritual breakthrough and a fearless resolve to living as a social outcast, in Los Angeles Cameron
to continue on the magical path Parsons had intro- quickly sought out fellow renegades, immersing
duced to her in 1946. Originally published in Wallace herself in the city’s flourishing jazz scene on South
Berman’s avant-garde art journal Semina, today Central Avenue.
Cameron’s words resonate not only as mystical Long drawn to experimentation, her life was
poetry, but as a shot across the bow of time: that her soon transformed by a chance encounter with an
art not be buried with her body, that we see her art old acquaintance from the navy, who in February
undead and always alive. This retrospective, the of 1946 brought her to a rollicking party at a mansion
first posthumous survey of Cameron’s work since on so-called Millionaire’s Row in Pasadena. This
her passing in 1995, reveals the seminal role she dark, rundown, eleven-bedroom mansion at 1003
played within the development of Los Angeles’s S. Orange Grove was the home of Jack Parsons,
midcentury counterculture. co-founder of Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Born in 1922 in Belle Plaine, Iowa, Cameron (J.P.L.) and a follower of the esoteric mysticism
emerged as an artist, performer, poet and occult of Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) and his religious
practitioner in the mid-1940s, uniquely bridging Los order, the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis). A haven
Angeles’s flourishing spiritual and art worlds. for new age thought and free love, the abode,
A visionary painter, unparalleled draftsman, and often referred to as “the Parsonage,” was home to
mentor to younger artists and poets such as Wallace the Agape Lodge, the sole American outpost of the
Berman, George Herms, and David Meltzer, O.T.O. Instantly attracted to Cameron and her
Cameron arrived in Los Angeles in 1946 after serving striking red hair, Parsons identified her as a fabled
the U.S. Navy in World War II, drawing maps and “Scarlet Woman,” an incarnation he had been trying
laboring in the naval photographic unit. After the to invoke in a series of magical rituals. The two
war, she joined her family, who had settled in married shortly thereafter in October 1946, and their
Pasadena; Cameron’s father took an engineering job mystical bond transformed Cameron’s life and art.
Since childhood Cameron had experienced
intense visions that were so vivid she was unsure
whether they were real or imaginary, and during
her marriage to Jack, she increasingly devoted
herself to translating such episodes into art. Jack,
in turn, began to instruct Cameron in his Crowleyite
traditions, divulging that he believed their union
was an outgrowth of a magical operation he had
begun with then science fiction author L. Ron
Hubbard, a boarder at the Parsonage. Venturing out
to the Mojave Desert in January of 1946, the two
men conducted what Parsons termed “The Babalon
Working,” an elaborate magical operation intended
to summon an elemental mate.1 Cameron,
he explained, was his destined partner—fated, he
believed, to become a vehicle for the spirit of
Babalon on earth. Initially uninterested in the occult,
with time Cameron came to believe that she
personified Babalon, and her series of watercolors
Above: George Herms, portrait of Cameron, n.d. and drawings entitled Songs for the Witch Woman
Courtesy George Herms, James Fee and Craig Krull Gallery
Right: Cameron during World War II (c. 1951–55)—a body of work created in response

8 9
 Soon after Jack and Cameron married, he sold room for three weeks, experiencing a series of visions
the Parsonage, severed his ties with the Agape Lodge, and experiences that she described as a mental
and took a job at North American Aviation. The “revolt of some kind.”5
couple rented an apartment a block from the beach, Ultimately abandoning her hermetic adventure,
and during off hours, Jack introduced her to astrol- Cameron left Lugano for the U.S.; Jack wired her
ogy, the I Ching, and the Tarot. money for passage and met her ship in New York.
Determined to find her own destiny, in 1947 Cameron, however, soon took off again, this time for
Cameron went off without Jack into the “unknown,” Mexico, where she would live until 1949. Establishing
first to Paris to study art at the Academie de la herself in San Miguel de Allende, a city that attracted
Grande Chaumiere, where she was admitted with artists such as David Alfaro Siqueiros and Leonora
a recommendation letter from Lorser Feitelson, then Carrington as well as former U.S. soldiers traveling
a professor at Art Center in Pasadena. No record of on the G.I. Bill, Cameron settled in and became
Cameron’s attendance at the Academie exists, and fascinated by the town’s history. The community had
after a short while she left Paris for London intend- been an important seat of the Spanish Inquisition
ing to meet with Aleister Crowley. Discovering that in the New World, and Cameron was particularly
Crowley had passed away a short while before her interested in the atrocities endured there by women
arrival in Britian, Cameron made her way to the small and those deemed witches. Earlier, the Spaniard
Swiss town of Lugano, a site where artists and Francisco Goya had also examined the Inquisistion,
authors ranging from Hermann Hesse to some of the whose violence and irrationalism the artist critiqued
original members of the O.T.O. had been headquar- in works such as Witches Flight (1798). Part of a series
tered during World War I. Cameron considered
4
of six paintings related to witchcraft, Goya joined
to a book of poetry that Jack had begun writing entering the local Lugano convent to “retire from the his preoccupation with traditions deemed supersti-
before they met—reflects the mystical manner in world,” but instead locked herself alone in her hotel tious to his more general interest in the grotesque
which she started to view herself. Peopled by and mythology in paintings such as Saturn Devouring
seductive, elongated women bathed in moonlight, His Son (1819–23). Over one hundred years later,
lithe dashing men, and fantastic horned creatures, Cameron’s own mystical concerns found fertile
the works comprising Songs for the Witch Woman soil in the rich past of San Miguel, and in her regular
double as portraits of her and Jack. correspondence with Jack, who during this time
Their myth-steeped relationship fueled much wrote Cameron a series of letters instructing her in
of Cameron’s early art. Her first known canvas, the arts of the occult. Delving deeper into magic
Dr. Dee (1946), depicts the sixteenth-century mathe- while in San Miguel, Cameron began practicing what
matician, astronomer, and occultist John Dee that dramatically affected the development of she referred to as “blood rites.”
(1527–1608/9). An advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, Abstract Expressionism. While its formal qualities— Cameron’s psychical explorations were enriched
Dee devised what he referred to as the Enochian large-scale mark making (Franz Kline), immediacy by the flourishing local art scene, where she
magic system for communicating with angels, a of gesture (Willem de Kooning), and uninterrupted gravitated toward friendships with fellow expatriates
school of theurgy later embraced by Crowley in the fields of color (Mark Rothko)—have come to Renate Druks, a Viennese painter, and Paul
development of his own religious philosophy of define Abstract Expressionism within art history, Mathison, an art director and scenic designer; she
Thelema. A gestural, heavily lacquered composition, the movement’s earlier, Surrealist stream, with its would later appear with both in Kenneth Anger’s
Cameron’s Dr. Dee emerges from a sea of black, his focus upon the subconscious, was a pivotal touch- film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954). Her home
face glowing in garish hues of turquoise and burnt stone for artists ranging from Grace Hartigan away from home, Mexico as a whole was a hub for
orange. On its backside, Cameron signed Dr. Dee to Adolph Gottlieb. It is from this Surrealist current the development of postwar Surrealism and consti-
“Candida,” a name given to her by Jack. Other dark, that Cameron’s art sprang. “We were what I call the tutes an important art historical matrix for the
brooding works followed, such as Witches Diptych Freudian generation,” Cameron later remarked. analysis of Cameron’s work. Her world of mythical
(n.d.) and Bride of Christ (n.d.), in which figures “Psychology sort of released us.”2 Like those of Carl creatures was in line with the Surrealist preoccupa-
similarly materialize from an abyss of black paint. Jung, Cameron’s psychological pursuits were tions of other Mexico-based artists such as Leonora
These thickly painted, expressionistic canvases, tied to ideas of universal archetypes and mythology. Carrington (1917–2011), Frida Kahlo (1907–1954),
purchased in 1955 by nuclear physicist and “As I have come so well to realize,” she wrote, Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012), and Remedios
engineer Robert Cornog (1912–1998), a resident Varo (1908–1963), whose canvases similarly feature
at the Parsonage and a key figure in the atomic bomb the myths are not remote fables for entertainment, haunting, fantastical figures. Ithell Colquhoun
development team for the Manhattan Project, were but the real archive of the human race and (1906–1988), a British Surrealist who like Cameron
in line with wider, mythology rooted trends in when conscious mind and the unconscious mind was heavily involved with the occult, is another point
American art at the time. Jackson Pollock’s The Moon synchronize—the legendary adventure becomes of reference.6 Like the figures depicted by these
Woman (1942), Male and Female (1942–43), and The the real, concrete present—and perhaps these artists, Cameron’s seldom have a direct gaze and
She-Wolf (1943), for example, were all influenced incredible maps of the plights of Gods are in truth, frequently appear to be off in their own worlds:
by the painter’s experiences with Jungian analysis the only guide signs for the hero who ventures out Opposite page, left: Cameron’s astrological chart for Jack Parsons, n.d. we see them as otherworldly doubles, sorcerers,
Opposite page, right: Jack Parsons’s astrological chart for Cameron, n.d.
and his fascination with Surrealism, a movement beyond safer regions—the unknown.3 Above: Aleister Crowley, Book of Thoth, 1944 shamans, or animals.

10 11
 Returning to Pasadena in 1949, Cameron spent The pregnancy, as you understand, was not
the next three years with Jack, who during this the actual growth of a human child but the
time found himself under surveillance by the FBI spiritual child of a psychic union, as in the case
due to his alledged affiliation with communists of Cupid and Psyche—this child was female—
and the occult. While working at Hughes Aerospace, called Pleasure—or the birth of Babalon—
Jack was caught by the FBI as he attempted to which is a symbolical—but most real birth
remove classified documents he planned to use in of the age of the Goddess of Pleasure—being
a proposal for a rocket facility in Israel (reaserch he the union of the mind and body.8
had completed at J.P.L. and Aerojet). As a result,
Hughes revoked his security clearance and termi- During this period of intense astral work in the
nated him on September 26, 1951. Now unemployed desert, Cameron returned to Songs for the Witch
and unemployable, Jack pursued other work, Woman, the book of poetry and art she and Jack had
including designing explosives for the film industry. created together, adding twenty-one drawings to the
Cameron, meanwhile, longed for San Miguel watercolors she had completed while Jack was alive.
de Allende. She took Jack there for a preview in Reminscent of the thin Victorian figures of Aubrey
the spring of 1952; a photograph from their trip Beardsely (1872–1898), Cameron’s drawings, all done
shows Jack conspicuously uncomfortable in in black ink on white paper, reveal an acute, orna-
the unaccustomed surroundings. On June 17, 1952, mental, even antiquarian sense of the body and line.
at 5:08 p.m., the evening before he and Cameron Going forward, her work would vascillate between
were to leave again for Mexico, Jack was killed in an this tight, graphic, illustrative sensibility, and the
explosion when he dropped a vial of fulminate of softer, more painterly expressionistic contour that
mercury in his garage laboratory. Though not on the characterizes her early oil paintings.
premises when the accident occurred, Cameron had
been working on a massive fifty-pound painting
of an angel carrying a sword, which was destroyed Returning to Los Angeles in 1953, Cameron Lawson, and Cameron, who played a mysterious
in the explosion. found herself at the center of what we now refer woman in black.10
Devastated by her husband’s death, Cameron to as the counterculture. Cameron’s film activity was a part of her
drove his ashes to the Mojave Desert, scattered increasing stature within the city’s art world.
them there, and settled into the nearby, nondescript, When I came back here, I went out to stay In 1955, she attracted the attention of Beat artist
high desert town of Beaumont, California.7 From in Malibu for two or three months, and I met Wallace Berman with her just-completed drawing
Lambs Canyon, an abandoned area south of Beaumont Kenneth Anger there in 1953. They all wanted Untitled “Peyote Vision,” which depicts a woman
with no water or power, Cameron devoted herself to meet me. At that time, I was being very and an alien-like being having sex. The drawing
to art and magic for the next year. In a voluminous dramatic. I was saying that the world was coming was hung in the window of Books 55, a store
correspondence with Jane Wolfe (1875–1958), to an end, the apocalypse. I was also studying specializing in esoteric philosophy and owned
a former silent film star and disciple of Crowley who Crowley a great deal and reading from his work by Norman Rose, who let Cameron live in the
became an important mentor, Cameron describes publicly. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome back room. The work, created after hearing Aldous
the cosmic epiphanies she experienced in Beaumont. came out of that.9 Huxley speak, was a result of what Cameron
For example, in 1953 Cameron wrote to Wolfe that described as a “revolution in the unconscious.”
she had engaged in a ritualistic process and brought Starring Cameron as the Whore of Babylon,
about a mystical child with Jack from beyond the Anaïs Nin as the Moon, Paul Mathison as Apollo, I heard Huxley speak in 1954. That’s when I first
grave, a so-called “wormwood star”: Renate Druks as Lilith, and Samson de Brier as took peyote…I wrote to this botanical garden
Shiva, Anger’s 1954 film included images of Crowley, in Texas and ordered it. They sent it to me in the
whose works Cameron recalls introducing to the mail. I didn’t even know how to take it. I got nine
young filmmaker. According to Anger, Cameron’s big, juicy, green buttons as big as apples, and
“magical powers” displaced Nin, who he had originally I cooked them and ate them like vegetables. The
cast in the lead. walls disappeared. What I got was Huxley’s “grey
Cameron’s participation in Hollywood’s mush- world.” At this time I did the drawing. Peyote
rooming avant-garde film movement extended to her causes a revolution in the unconscious. Once
social circles—which included filmmakers such these things have surfaced and become conscious,
as Maya Deren, an initiated voodoo priestess with you have to adjust your life to it. You have to make
whom she shared an interest in ritual, mythology, tremendous alterations.11
and spirituality—and to collaborations with auteurs
such as Chick Strand and Curtis Harrington, who Psychedelic experiences such as these were
Right: Unknown, photograph of Cameron as the Scarlet Woman cast Cameron in two of his films, The Wormwood Star of great interest to Berman, who connected with
in Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1956 (1956), a documentary on Cameron’s art, and Night Cameron over their shared love of jazz and mysticism.
Following page, left: Postcard sent by Wallace Berman to Cameron, 1955
Following page, right: Poster for Night Tide, 1961 Tide (1961), a thriller starring Dennis Hopper, Linda Berman featured Cameron as the cover girl for the

12 13
 Over the next two decades Cameron devoted a range of desolate desert locales such as Velarde,
herself to her art, its development moving in concert New Mexico, where they lived in an adobe shack,
with her mystical studies. In 1964, she completed bathing and washing clothes in local watering holes.
Black Pilgrimage, a book of poetry and small-scale The shack was located near the Drop City commune,
paintings published by her friend Robert Alexander, whose residents would sometimes visit Cameron
the Los Angeles-based artist and founder of Baza after hearing through the grapevine about her
Press and the Temple of Man, a nonsectarian eccentric ways. The rugged reality of New Mexico
sanctuary for poetry, music, spirituality, and art. living necessitated that Cameron, a single mother,
Increasingly drawn to mythology—as evidenced by carry a gun for protection. For a short time she also
pieces such as Lion Woman (n.d.) and Sphinx (n.d.)— lived in Santa Fe near the sculptor John Chamberlain
she began a correspondence in the 1960s with (1927–2011), who in 1969 featured Cameron
renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell, whose 1949 (sporting white kabuki makeup and smoking a joint)
The Hero with a Thousand Faces was a book to which and Crystal in an experimental, unfinished film
Jack had originally introduced her. “You seem to be called Thumbsuck, which concerned the behavior
the only authority left to me,” Cameron wrote to of children around their parents. In the early 1970s,
Campbell, sending him a box of slides of her work.15 Cameron moved to Pioneertown, California, the
Responding, Campbell wrote back, “I have at last small high-Mojave desert town built as an Old West
had the pleasure of viewing properly your magical movie set, where she lived out of what was once
series of slides. Going through them, over and over; the Pioneertown post office. Photographs taken at
enjoying them, each round, with new discoveries, this time reveal Cameron and Crystal alongside other
and always marveling at the little shock of enchant- friends who had moved to the desert, such as
ment that each one emitted, each time.”16 Norman Rose and Allen Midgette, an actor who
Living a bohemian existence marked by hardship starred in the films of Andy Warhol as well as those
and poverty, during these years Cameron moved of Italian directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Pier
with Crystal back and forth between Los Angeles and Paolo Pasolini. Snapshots feature Cameron at desert

inaugural issue of his landmark journal Semina filmmaker Bruce Conner, who created a series
(1955–1964), including a small reproduction of her of mandalas in the 1960s. One may also think of
“Peyote Vision” inside. Printed on a hand press, the paintings and collages of Jess Collins, which have
Semina combined Surrealist collage with Kabbalistic alchemical, occult-centric themes. Cameron was
mysticism and contained inserts featuring engraved exhibiting her work more regularly during this
poems by William Blake, W. B. Yeats, and Hermann period, and in October 1956 curator Walter Hopps
Hesse, as well as photocollages by Berman depicting included her in a group show with Ed Kienholz
everything from a besieged Lenny Bruce sprouting at Hopps’s gallery Syndell Studio.13 In 1957, Berman
fauna from his cranium, to Jack Ruby shooting asked her to participate in a poetry reading at the
Lee Harvey Oswald, to images of jazz figures Charlie Stone Brothers printing shop on Sawtelle Boulevard,
Parker and Billie Holiday. along with artists ranging from Edmund Teske
Cameron gave birth to her first and only child to John Reed, Alexander Trocchi, and David Meltzer.14
Crystal (b. 1955) and then moved to Topanga Canyon That same year Berman displayed Cameron’s Peyote
in 1956 with her second husband, the eccentric Vision as an altarpiece in his exhibition at the legend-
artist Sheridan “Sherry” Kimmel. There Cameron ary Ferus Gallery—her sexually provocative
grew closer to Berman, his wife Shirley, and their son subject matter prompted the LAPD vice squad to shut
Tosh, who also lived in Topanga at the time.12 Not down the show for containing lewd material.
far away were artists, poets, and photographers such Disenchanted by the reactionary tenor of the
as George Herms, Diane Di Prima, Aya (Tarlow), city, Cameron abandoned her short-lived affair with
and Charles Brittin, who all became friends of the commercial art world. Taking Crystal, together
Cameron. Flourishing as an artist, poet, performance with Norman Rose and David Meltzer, she drove
artist, actor, and spiritual guide, Cameron’s concerns north in her black hearse for San Francisco where
echoed and amplified those of the Beatnik culture she immersed herself in the local art community.
at large, which, with bases in San Francisco and New A 1957 film by Ed Silverstone Taylor called Street Fair
York, gravitated toward Eastern religion, the San Francisco captures Cameron selling her paintings
philosophy of free love, and sexual experimentation. at a bustling fair on Upper Grant Avenue with
Cameron’s friend, the Bay Area Beat painter Paul Wallace and Shirley Berman, who, equally embittered
Beattie, for instance, shared her interests in outer by the conservative culture of Los Angeles, had Opposite page, left: Unknown, Night Tide, 1961
Opposite page, right: Wallace Berman, Portrait of Cameron, n.d.
space, the cosmos, and mystical occurrences. So did also moved north. Above: Cameron, “June 2, 1962,” printed poem and drawing published in Semina 8, 1963

14 15
 Notes
locations such as Landers, home of the Giant development, the role of female power within such
Rock UFO airport and the Integratron, a geodesic bodies of thought was integral to her sense of 1. For Crowley, Babalon was a feminine spiritual principle
domelike structure built by George Van Tassel, self, from her fascination with Raleigh’s theories that personified the extinguishing of the personal ego
through the submersion of the individual life in the
a UFO enthusiast who claimed that his architectural and her belief that she was Babalon incarnate, to universal life, symbolized by the voluntary surrender of the
creation was capable of producing rejuvenation, the intrepid, rebellious nature that fueled her lifelong last drop of the blood of the aspirant into the Cup of
Babalon. In Crowley’s system of spiritual attainment, this
anti-gravity and time travel.17 According to journey into the unknown. In 1994, Cameron is achieved by the transcendence of reason through
the crossing of the Abyss, which is fixed just below the
Midgette, who was likewise fascinated by extrater- was diagnosed with brain cancer. The following year, feminine sephiroth Binah (number 3) on the Tree of Life,
restrial theories, “UFOS provided Cameron with at the Veterans Hospital in Westwood, a high which corresponds to Babalon, rather than Babylon.
The name has roots in Revelation, i.e. the Whore of
a trans-dimensional link with Jack.”18 priestess in the O.T.O. was called upon to perform Babylon, but also references the Elizabethan Enochian-
language words “babalon,” meaning “wicked,” and
Indeed Cameron’s cosmic consciousness, the last rites, and Cameron eventually died in the “babalond,” meaning “harlot.”
something developed with Jack in the 1940s, arms of her granddaughter Iris. Her ashes were
2. Taped, unpublished interview with Cameron by Sandra
increased rather than dissipated with time. In 1978, scattered across the Mojave Desert, just as she had Starr, c. late-1980s. Getty Research Institute.

she began a series of drawings called Pluto done for Jack decades earlier. 3. Cameron, letter to Jane Wolfe, August 23, 1953.
Transiting the Twelfth House, a reference to an area in This reexamination of Cameron’s work comes
4. Unpublished interview with Cameron by William Breeze,
an astrological chart in which the planet Pluto at a time when the careers of a number of her female c. late-1980s. O.T.O. Archives.

passes though the twelfth house of the zodiac; such contemporaries—Jay De Feo, Niki de Saint Phalle, 5. Unpublished interview with Cameron by William Breeze,
a period is thought to entail reflection on death, Dorothy Iannone, and Barbara T. Smith—are being c. late-1980s. O.T.O. Archives.

rebirth, and transformation. As Jack had long rediscovered as well. While the recent surge of 6. Rejected by the Golden Dawn (the occult order to
which Crowley belonged), Colquhoun joined the Typhonian
ago instructed her, “Astral work is the most import- museological interest in these figures coincides with Order.
ant part of practical magic, all magical effects a hyperactive international art market, the attention
7. Cameron always believed that Jack’s death was
and magical knowledge are gained, one way or to them is significant on a deeper level. The type not an accident, and suspected that the FBI was perhaps
behind it.
another, by its media.”19 Cameron lived by the moon of intensely personal, visionary explorations spear-
and the stars, and the hundreds of drawings that headed by artists like Cameron is rare today, and 8. Cameron, letter to Jane Wolfe, August 23, 1953.

constitute this series, to which she devoted herself her reemergence into the light indicates how hungry 9. Sandra Starr, Lost and Found in California: Four
Decades of Assemblage (Los Angeles: James Corcoran
until 1986, can be thought of as electrocardiograms young artists and intellectuals are for a more vital Gallery, 1988).
of her psyche.20 Executed in black ink on white path. It is this exhibition’s aim that, like a beacon
10. Chick Strand featured Cameron in the film Loose Ends.
paper, the drawings read as odd abstract shapes in the darkness, Cameron’s transcendental art will
that quiver and shake, suggesting spiritual illuminate this road. 11. Starr, Lost and Found in California.

metamorphosis. Like many of her drawings, the line at the time out of a small West Hollywood bungalow 12. Sherry Kimmel was Ken Kesey’s inspiration for the
character of McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
is critical. Its nervous and electric quality is and her health declining, she embarked on a Nest. See, Scott Hobbs, “Scarlet Woman,” The Huffington
reminscent of the expressionism of Egon Schiele series of watercolors called the Lion Path, a reference Post (April 25, 2012); [Link]
scott-hobbs/scarlet-woman_b_1447843.html.
(1890–1918), though without his line’s start- to Egyptian astrology and, like Pluto, a meditation
13. Syndell Studio presents a group show (October 6–31,
stop quality. There is an anxiousness and elegance on the mystery of death. Musing on what she felt 1956) that includes work by Cameron and Ed Kienholz
to Cameron’s line, her concentric curls evoking were her past lives, she came upon the figure (see Kristine McKenna, The Ferus Gallery: A Place to
Begin [New York: DAP, 2008], 35); in 1954 Walter Hopps
the topographic, perhaps a response to her earlier Hildegard von Bingen, the eleventh-century bene- opens Syndell Studio in a storefront at 11756 Gorham
Boulevard in Brentwood with Craig Kauffman, Michael
career in the navy, where she drew maps that were dictine abbess and mystic. While she had long been Scoles and Ben and Betty Bartosh. Open by appointment,
ultimately used in battle, always feeling that she fascinated by figures such as Joan of Arc, Cameron the gallery introduces Bay Area Abstract Expressionism
to Los Angeles (see The Ferus Gallery, 119).
had a karmic connection to the men that died felt cosmically bound to von Bingen, whose
14. Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna, Semina
and that the later tragic events in her life were the liturgical music she thought sounded uncannily like Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle (Santa Monica:
result of her participation in their deaths.21 her own singing. Cameron also learned at this Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2005), ii.

Demanding deep contemplation, the buried time of the Edwardian-era text Woman and Superwoman 15. Cameron, letter to Joseph Campbell, October 2, 1961.

aspects of her inner world that surfaced as a result (1916), by Dr. A. S. Raleigh (1881–?), who signed 16. Joseph Campbell, letter to Cameron, 1965.
of Pluto transiting her twelth house were, for himself, “The Official Scribe of the Hermetic
17. Conversation with Crystal Kimmel by Yael Lipschutz,
Cameron, akin to the meditative nature of drawing Brotherhood and Hierophant of the Mysteries June 2014.

itself—a crucial aspect of her practice. Unlike many of Isis.” Raleigh’s treatise examined feminism from 18. Spencer Kansa, Wormwood Star: The Magickal
artists who create in response to the history and a mystical standpoint, charting the evolution Life of Marjorie Cameron (Oxford, U.K.: Mandrake, 2014,
Kindle version), section 13 “Thumbsuck.”
culture of art, believing their work to be part of art’s of society during which the masculine and feminie
19. Jack Parsons, letter to Cameron, 1949.
larger unfolding, Cameron’s art was a personal took turns as the dominant power principle, in
and direct response to her own life’s journey. In the accordance with the cycles of the zodiac.22 Cameron 20. Conversation with Victoria Ballesteros by Yael
Lipschutz, June 2014.
end, Cameron’s commitment to live her life as art taped herself reading from Raleigh’s book, and
21. Michael Duncan, Cameron (New York: Nicole
itself constitutes a rare, avant-gardist approach, one her recordings of Woman and Superwoman were Klagsbrun Gallery, 2007), 40.
that makes separating her biography from the broadcast for years on the local public radio station
22. Kansa, Wormwood Star, section “1984–1995.”
thousands of drawings, paintings, and sketchbooks KPFK-FM throughout the 1990s.
she left behind a near impossibility. While the philosophical fields of magic, mythol-
In the late 1980s, Cameron, now a grandmother, ogy, and astrology may have been the strongest
Opposite page: Aya Tarlow, Cameron at a street fair, San Francisco, 1959
devoted herself increasingly to her family. Living touchstones for Cameron’s spiritual and artistic Above: Unknown, torn photo of Cameron, n.d.

16 17
 Pages 19–23:
Cameron and Jack Parsons, Songs for the Witch Woman, 1951

19
20 21
22 23
 Left: Witch Woman (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Autumn (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Right: Lesbians (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

24 25
 Opposite page, clockwise from left:
Sabat (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Night (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Passion Flowers (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Garden (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Above, left to right:
Sorcerer (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Farewell Unknown (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

26 27
Left: Stonehenge (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Right: Neurosis (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Punch (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

28 29
 Opposite page, clockwise from left:
Star [The Fool] (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Harpocrates (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Pan (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
King David (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Above: Merlin (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

30 31
Hand print, n.d. Alien Assemblage, n.d.

32 33
Sun Horse, 1952 The Elixir, n.d.

34 35
Witches Diptych, n.d. Untitled, n.d.

36 37
Dr. Dee, 1946 Bride of Christ, n.d.

38 39
Witches Diptych, n.d. Spanish Ghost, 1958

40 41
Buried Doll, 1955 Portrait of George Herms, 1967

42 43
Night Tide, 1958 Fossil of Raven, 1958

44 45
Untitled, n.d. Walking Bird, n.d.

46 47
West Angel, n.d. East Angel, n.d.

48 49
Samson de Brier, 1962 Untitled (portrait of Crystal), 1959

50 51
Untitled, n.d. Holy Guardian Angel according to Aleister Crowley, 1966

52 53
Sebastian (Imaginary Portrait of Kenneth Anger), 1962 Man with Sphere, 1963

54 55
Untitled (mirrored women with hoop), 1964 Black Pilgrimage, 1964

56 57
Both: Anatomy of Madness, 1956

58 59
Prince of the Serpents, 1965 Black Egg, n.d.

60 61
Sphinx, n.d. Hekas, Hekas, este Bebeloi, 1959

62 63
Top: Untitled, n.d.
Bottom: Martyr, n.d. Untitled, n.d.

64 65
Pages 66–68:
Pluto Transiting the Twelfth House, 1978–86

66 67
 Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d.

68 69
 Opposite page, top and bottom: Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d.
Above: Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d.

70 71
 Jack Parsons William Breeze and Susan Pile

John Whiteside Parsons—who usually went by Jack followed in the footsteps of scientists like
Jack—was born Marvel Whiteside Parsons in Los Roger Bacon, Galileo, Giordano Bruno, John Dee,
Angeles a century ago, on October 2, 1914. He and Isaac Newton by seeking hidden (literally,
grew up in Pasadena reading Jules Verne and dream- “occult”) knowledge and mystical insight to extend
ing about a future in which men would go to the his knowledge of the world and its workings. He
moon and far beyond. The Méliès Brothers, Fritz devoured texts on alchemy and astrology, practiced
Lang, and H. G. Wells fired his imagination, and ceremonial magick and meditation and learned
he believed in his heart that such things were really to travel on the astral plane. He became a member
possible. He came of age in the golden era of and eventually the leader of the Pasadena lodge
science fiction and dedicated the rest of his life of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), the religious order
to making them a reality. led by the British poet Aleister Crowley.
Despite having little education beyond high In August 1941, the Suicide Squad flew an
school, his intuitive genius for explosives chemistry aircraft by rocket power alone, the first practical test
and his knack for practical rocketry gained him of the castable composite solid fuel Jack had
acceptance as a founding member of the experimen- invented. This became the first rocket propulsion
tal rocket research group formed at the California system used by the U.S. military and led to the
Institute of Technology (Caltech) by the world- intercontinental ballistic missile, the space shuttle,
renowned aeronautics expert Theodore von Karman. and the JPL interplanetary exploration program. Its
Their early experiments with rocket propellants core concepts are still in use today. The firm Jack
were held on campus, but were so dangerous that co-founded in 1942, Aerojet Engineering Corporation,
they became known as “the Suicide Squad” and were is now Aerojet Rocketdyne, one of America’s leading
banished to the Arroyo Seco, a dry riverbed above aerospace manufacturers.
Pasadena near Devil’s Gate Dam. Their first success Jack met Cameron in 1946—an epic story
with a static rocket motor on October 31, 1936, is still well beyond the scope of this essay and best explored
celebrated every year as the foundation day of the through their biographies. Their relationship is
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). incomprehensible without some reference to
Crowley’s religious philosophy of Thelema (Greek
for “will”). It teaches magical methods to enable
its adherents, called Thelemites, to shed the
complexes and societal strictures that inhibit their

Left: Unknown, wedding photo, 1946

Dark Angel, n.d. Right: Jack Parsons’s dagger, n.d.

72 73
ability to reinvent themselves. The liberation He died in an explosion at his Pasadena home
of sexuality is held to be one of the keys to releas- laboratory on June 17, 1952. It was officially ruled
ing the inner genius and tapping the latent an accident, but its timing—on the eve of
wellsprings of creativity. In psychoanalytic terms their departure for Mexico and ultimately Israel—
this entails the free but controlled release of is viewed by some as suspiciously convenient.
unconscious content into a consciousness trained Cameron carried on in his spirit to create her
to translate it into concrete terms, whether science own enduring legacy as a painter, poet, and visionary.
or art. The aim is individuate, a process Thelemites Despite her many wanderings, she managed to
call the accomplishment of the True Will, i.e., preserve much of his archive, including the poems
finding one’s purpose on earth. Most of Jack’s prose that inspired the title drawings of this exhibition.
writings are devoted to expounding aspects She always kept and treasured Jack’s profound and
of this philosophy. Thelema is countercultural by moving letters written when their work separated
design, and has coexisted easily with artistic them. The letter quoted below, from January 1950,
countercultures since its inception. It was a major is characteristic. Jack encourages Cameron to go
factor in the development not only of Cameron, out on her own, to wander the wasteland of the
but of artists as diverse as the dancer Rudolf Laban, everyday world seeking “strange truths in undiscov-
the painter Xul Solar, the polymath Harry Smith, ered lands” in the spirit of Shelley’s romantic epic
and the filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Alastor, or, The Spirit of Solitude: to be no man’s woman,
Though Jack was less than eight years older least of all his; to fully realize her artistic genius,
than Cameron, their relationship was sometimes in which he believed unquestioningly; but above all
that of mentor and student. He trusted her and to show the world—especially the women of the
encouraged her to honor her impulses—including world he considered to have been unjustly held back
those that are traditionally considered destructive by millennia of patriarchal power—just how it is
to marriages. His idealism tried him terribly at done and just what freedom looks like.
times, but he made a virtue of these trials, as part
of his own spiritual development. You, Cinderella of the Wastelands,
Jack lost his government security clearance have chosen the way of the hero—
twice. The last time, in September 1951, was for and the gods alone may guess the end of your path.
attempting to pass copies of his rocketry papers to You are, as Bolitho says, “Camped out with Mystery”
the American Technion Society, who acted for the with only Karma-Maya
Israeli university the Technion (now Technion- and the archetypes for your companions.
Israel Institute of Technology), which was working All the eyes of the secret world are on you,
to establish a department of aerospace engineering wondering and hoping.
as well as an Israeli defense industry. He and May you win through.
Cameron dreamed of moving to the new state of
Israel to raise a family. With the loss of his govern- In 1972, the International Astronomical Union
ment work, Jack was reduced to working as an named a crater on the moon after him.
explosives special effects consultant for Hollywood.

Left: Aztec (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

Cremation wrapping materials, 1952 Right: Aradia (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

74 75
 Works in the Exhibition
Acknowledgements All works by Cameron unless otherwise noted.

Alien Assemblage, n.d. Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d. Lesbians (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Mixed media Watercolor on paper Ink on paper
14 × 14 in. 14 × 11 in. 10 × 8 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Lorraine Wild, Los Angeles Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York

Black Egg, n.d. Untitled (Self-portrait), n.d. Merlin (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Paint on cardboard Paint on paper Ink on paper
11 × 8 in. 19 ¾ × 13 ½ in. 10 × 8 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York

Bride of Christ, n.d. Walking Bird, n.d. Neurosis (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Oil on canvas Ink and watercolor on paper Ink on paper
16 × 12 in. 14 × 11 in. 10 × 8 in.
Collection of Jason Vass, Santa Monica Collection of Aya Tarlow, Mt. Shasta, California Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York

Dark Angel, n.d. West Angel, n.d. Night (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Ink, paint on paper Graphite, ink, and gold paint on paper Ink on paper
34 ¾ × 23 ¾ in. 23 ¾ × 36 ¾ in. 10 × 8 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York

East Angel, n.d. Witches Diptych, n.d. Pan (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
It has been wonderful to work with The Museum of Contemporary Art as guest curator Graphite, ink, and gold paint on paper Oil on canvas Ink on paper
23 ¾ × 36 ¾ in. 12 × 16 in. 10 × 8 in.
of Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman, which expands on MOCA’s legacy as a forerunner Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Jason Vass, Santa Monica Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
in presenting the work of postwar Los Angeles artists. Though a central figure in the
Hand print, n.d. Witches Diptych, n.d. Passion Flowers (from Songs for the Witch Woman),
development of Los Angeles’s midcentury experimental art and film movements, until Ink and paint on paper Oil on canvas 1955
11 × 8 ½ in. 16 × 12 in. Ink on paper
recently Cameron was relegated to an underground, if mythic status within art history. Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Jason Vass, Santa Monica 10 × 8 in.
I was first introduced to Cameron’s work in 2007, on the occasion of her solo exhibition Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Martyr, n.d. Dr. Dee, 1946
at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in New York, which ran in conjunction with New Ink and colored pencil on paper Oil on canvas Punch (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
16 ½ × 12 ½ in.
York University’s Grey Art Gallery presentation of Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His 6 ¾ × 11 ½ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
Circle. Organized by Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna for the Santa Monica Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Sphinx, n.d. Sun Horse, 1952
Museum of Art, Semina Culture also included Cameron’s work, which stood out from Ink on paper Oil on fiberboard Sabat (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955

the group on account of her singular attention to line and her focus on the idea of spiritual 23 × 34 in.
Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica
49 × 34 in.
Collection of Barbara Guggenheim and Bert Fields,
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
metamorphosis. Revelatory exhibitions such as these motivated me to bring Cameron’s Malibu Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Untitled, n.d.
visionary output to light. When given the opportunity to do so, I proposed Cameron’s story Ink, watercolor, and gouache on black paper Aradia (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Sorcerer (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
to MOCA. 10 × 5 ½ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
My deepest thanks are due to Philippe Vergne, Director, and Alma Ruiz, Senior Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Untitled, n.d.
Curator, who have passionately believed in this undertaking from the outset. Working side Cut paper on board Autumn (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Star [The Fool] (from Songs for the Witch Woman),
by side with me in realizing this exhibition, Alma’s astute eyes have been key to my 7 ½ × 12 ¾ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
1955
Ink on paper
thought process throughout. The entire MOCA staff has likewise been crucial, particularly Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York 10 × 8 in.
Untitled, n.d. Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Catherine Arias, Director of Education; David Bradshaw, Technical Manager; Sandy Sketchbook Aztec (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Choi, Associate Registrar, Gladys-Katherina Hernando, Curatorial Assistant; Rosanna 12 × 9 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
Stonehenge (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Ink on paper
Hemerick, Director of Collections; Susan Jenkins, Director of Exhibition Management; Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York 10 × 8 in.
Untitled, n.d. Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Jessica McCormack, Interim Public Relations Coordinator; Clarissa Morales, Administrative Ink on paper Buried Doll, 1955
Assistant to Exhibition Management; Jang Park, Director of Exhibition Production; 11 × 8 ½ in. Oil on board
56 ¼ × 13 ¼ in.
Untitled, 1955
Collection of Beth De Woody, New York Ink, gouache, and watercolor on poster board
and Emma Reeves, Creative Director of MOCA TV. My selection of works for the exhibi- Collection of Andrea Leonelli, Malibu 17 × 14 in.
Untitled, n.d. Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State
tion would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the Cameron Parsons Ink on paper Danse (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 University, Logan, Utah, Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Foundation and especially its director, Scott Hobbs, who has labored to save and preserve 11 × 14 in. Ink on paper Gift
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica 10 × 8 in.
Cameron’s work. I would also like to thank all of the lenders and artists, including the Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York Untitled “Peyote Vision,” 1955
Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d. Ink, paint on paper
Ordo Templi Orientis and George Herms, who so generously shared their memories Watercolor on paper Farewell Unknown (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 17 ½ × 22 ¾ in.
of Cameron with me. Lastly, this catalogue would not have happened without Stephanie 15 × 11 ½ in. 1955 Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Ink on paper
Emerson, who edited its pages, and Marina Mills Kitchen and Lorraine Wild of Green 10 × 8 in. Witch Woman (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955
Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d. Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York Ink on paper
Dragon Office, for their discerning book design. Watercolor and gold on paper 10 × 8 in.
5 × 7 in. Garden (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Ink on paper
10 × 8 in. Anatomy of Madness, 1956
Untitled (from Lion Path), n.d. Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York Two mixed-media folios
Watercolor on paper 26 × 20 in. each
9 × 6 in. Harpocrates (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Ink on paper
Yael Lipschutz 10 × 8 in. Fossil of Raven, 1958
Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York White ink on paper
18 3  ⁄8 × 11 ½ in.
King David (from Songs for the Witch Woman), 1955 Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Ink on paper
10 × 8 in.
Collection of Ordo Templi Orientis, New York

76 77
 Ephemera

Night Tide, 1958 Portrait of Cameron, n.d. Photographic still from Night Tide, 1961
Casein on paper Photograph 8 × 10 in.
8 × 10 in. 5 × 5 ½ in. Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Cartin Collection, Hartford, Connecticut Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Poster for Night Tide, 1961
Spanish Ghost, 1958 Cameron’s astrological chart for Jack Parsons, n.d. Heavy paper
Casein and ink on paper Ink on paper 12 × 14 in.
8 × 8 in. 8 × 8 in. Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Collection of Philip E. Aarons and Shelley Fox Aarons, Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
New York Unknown
Jack Parsons’s astrological chart for Cameron, n.d. Night Tide, 1961
Hekas, Hekas, este Bebeloi, 1959 Ink on paper Photograph
Watercolor on parchment 11 × 8 ½ in. 17 × 11 in.
14 × 12 in. Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Jack Parsons’s dagger, n.d. Letter from Joseph Campbell and slides, 1965
Untitled (portrait of Crystal), 1959 Knife in leather pouch Ink on paper and slides
Ink and gold paint on fiberboard 5 × 14 in. 11 × 8 ½ in.
43 ½ × 11 ¾ in. Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica
Unknown Victoria Ballesteros
Samson de Brier, 1962 Torn photo of Cameron, n.d. Sword Form, Pisces Moon, 1994
Paper and copper Photograph Photograph
12 × 6 in. 3 × 4 in. 8 × 10 in.
Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica

Man with Sphere, 1963 Aleister Crowley

Parchment on board Book of Thoth, 1944
11 × 7 in. Leatherbound book
Collection of Scott Hobbs, Santa Monica 7 ¾ × 10 ½ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Black Pilgrimage, 1964
Book Jack Parsons
11 × 5 in. Handwritten draft of The Book of Babalon, 1946
Estate of Samson de Brier, Los Altos, California Graphite on paper
8 ½ × 11 in.
Untitled (mirrored women with hoop), 1964 Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Sketchbook
11 × 17 in. Unknown
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Wedding photo, 1946
Photograph
Prince of the Serpents, 1965 6 × 9 in.
Casein on mat embossed paper Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
7 ½ × 4 ¾ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Joseph Campbell
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949
Holy Guardian Angel according to Aleister Crowley, Book
1966 9 ¼ × 6 ½ in.
Casein and gold lacquer on board Cameron Parsons Foundation
29 ½ × 19 ¼ in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Cremation wrapping materials, 1952
Paper and string
Portrait of George Herms, 1967 10 × 10 in.
Casein on paper Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
12 × 8 in.
Collection of George Herms, Venice, California Wallace Berman
Semina #1 (cover), 1955
Pluto Transiting the Twelfth House, 1978–86 Photo and ink on paper folder with insert
Ink on paper 7 ¼ × 4 1  ⁄16 in.
12 × 9 in. each Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
Postcard sent by Wallace Berman to Cameron, 1955
Cameron and Jack Parsons Paper
Songs for the Witch Woman, 1951 5 × 3 in.
Watercolor and ink on paper Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica
9 × 11 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica Unknown
Wallace Berman Photograph of Cameron as the Scarlet Woman in
Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome,
1956
Photograph
5 × 3 in.
Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica

Untitled, possibly for Songs for the Witch Woman

78 79
 This catalogue was published in conjunction
with the exhibition Cameron: Songs for the Witch
Woman, organized by Yael Lipschutz, and presented
at MOCA Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles,
California, October 11, 2014–January 11, 2015.

Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman is made possible

by the Cameron Parsons Foundation and its
directors George Herms, Scott Hobbs, Susan Pile,
and Jason Vass.

Editor: Stephanie Emerson

Designer: Lorraine Wild with Marina Mills Kitchen,
Green Dragon Office
Typeset in Stanley by Ludovic Balland
Color Separations: Echelon Color, Santa Monica, CA
Printer: F&W Druck und Mediencenter GmbH,
Kienberg, Germany

Cover: Night Tide, 1958

Frontispiece: Untitled (Self-portrait), n.d.

Credits: Pages 2, 4, 10, 11, 24, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42,
45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 58 59, 61, 62 63, 72, 73, 78:
Photo by Alan Shaffer; p. 80: Photo by Victoria
Ballesteros © 1994

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may

be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any other information
storage and retrieval system, or otherwise without
written permission from the publisher.

Published by
Cameron Parsons Foundation
229 San Vicente Boulevard, Suite G
Santa Monica, CA 90402-1520
[Link]

in association with
The Museum of Contemporary Art
250 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tel 213-626-6222
[Link]

ISBN: 978-0-692-28952-5

Victoria Ballesteros, Sword Form, Pisces Moon, 1994