Jack Parsons

[Jim Eshelman]

Jack Parsons was one of the nation's most important rocket fuel specialists. His fuels primarily led us through the entire Space Race and beyond - as of at least a few years ago, his fuels were still in use as the primary (or perhaps exclusive) propellant for our national space fleet. He helped found JPL, and is one of the legendary names recognized among those who commit their lives to aerospace.

He also has become recognized as an important occult figure. He became lodge master of O.T.O.'s lodge in Los Angeles, the only continuing, working lodge of Ordo Templi Orieintis in America at the time of Aleister Crowley's death in 1947. He inadvertently founded the startup of Scientology (after L. Ron Hubbard ripped him off financially). His life is quite a tale, and I'm surprised nobody has committed to telling it in film until Ridley Scott took up the task in the new CBS drama, Strange Angel, which is getting Parsons a great deal of new attention.

The story is mostly fiction, e.g., Parsons himself is the only real-life character - everyone else is constructed for the sake of the drama. However, it seems to be capturing his spirit rather well.

According to his birth certificate, he was born October 2, 1914, 8:45 PM, in Los Angeles. Those around him during the 1940s thought he was born at 11 PM, so I assume that's what he thought also - that would have given him Moon on MC. But the birth certificated is a public record, and it says 8:45 PM.

I personally knew both of Jack's wives (Helen and Cameron) fairly well (I was at both of their homes, and both of them in mine; Helen stayed with us a couple of weeks once after showing up on the door step sick one night while passing through town). Both of them thought I reminded them of him - Cameron with hope and Helen with dread. This is likely astrological resemblance, starting with our shared Virgo Suns. When I thought Jack had Moon on MC, I assumed the shared angular Moon was a factor, even though his was in Pisces and mine in Aquarius; but I'm sure much of it was also our shared close Mars-Neptune square. This aligns with the reasons both of Cameron's hope I was Jack returned to her and Helen's worry that I was Jack returned. (I'm not, BTW.)

I knew other people who knew him and am separated by one degree from nearly everyone else in the real life story. None of that particularly matters with respect to the current aired stories, though, because they made all the other characters up.

[Jim Eshelman]

Virgo-Pisces certainly shows the two arenas for which he was best known - rocket science and occultism - as well as the character traits that underlay them - his keen, clever, always-searching intellect, his passion and profound wanderlust.

His Mercury-Mars conjunction is obviously important - as are the squares of both to his Neptune. His 0°02' conjunction of Saturn to a stationary Pluto is gigantic, and these also trine his Mercury-Mars. (Saturn-Pluto also squares his Moon.) Sun trines a moderate Jupiter-Uranus conjunction (another similarity of my chart, though his was much wider).

Several other traits are obvious, including Moon trine Venus on one side and Neptune on the other (12' from their midpoint), showing his devilish charm - and these two planet are dignified in his Moon-sign, amplifying the effect. Moon semi-squares Jupiter 0°03'.

[Jim Eshelman]

Jack died June 17, 1952 in Pasadena, CA, in a way as volatile as his life: an explosion in his laboratory officially credited to his having accidentally dropped a container of mercury fulminate, which exploded on impact.

When he had a crater on the back side of the Moon named after him, the dark joke at the time was that this was the second Parsons Crater - the first one being in Pasadena.

I think it was about 10 AM (just to get a rough time of day, from memory), but I can't find a record of it. It's a good enough working time for most purposes.

The actual cause of death is extremely controversial. Almost everyone who knew him voiced the objection that Jack had handled explosive, volatile chemicals for years and knew what he was doing - he would never have simply dropped or bumped a container of fulminate. Cameron told me quite a lot that is not in the public record, which leads me to agree with her that it was a murder (though I think by the U.S. government or a competing government; she had other ideas about the "who").

Public record says that Jack and Cameron were headed to Mexico for a brief vacation. She told me that Jack told her to pack everything that mattered to her and gather provisions for a long stay. She told me of black limousine meetings he had in their driveway with what she thought were foreign figures (and remember, this was 1951-52 and he was America's leading rocket fuel specialist). She believed they were going to Mexico as a route to be lifted to Israel, to work for the Israeli government.

Furthermore, her uncle was fire chief in Pasadena and was present at the house after the explosion. (Cameron had been sent off to shop for their trip; the explosion happened while she was gone.) Her uncle told her they found evidence of two separate explosions, one originating under the floor followed by the fulminate explosion above the floor (the simplest theory being that a planted explosion under the floor led to the dropping of the fulminate in the lab). Jack lived in the hospital for a while, but was too horribly damaged to be able to communicate with Cameron (he kept trying).

One theory, then, is that he died from accident; one that he committed suicide; and one that he was murdered. In any case, he died from extraordinary damage caused to him by an extraordinary explosion of fiery, volatile chemicals.

[Jim Eshelman]

Here is Jack's final Sidereal Lunar Return for three days before his death. The message of the explosion is utterly clear. With natal planets, it is even more volatile. It's one of the best SLRs I've ever seen.



Here is the breakdown:

r Mars on MC -5°26'
t Uranus on Dsc -3°14'
r Mercury on MC -2°54'
t Mars on MC -2°32'
r Neptune sq. MC -1°37'
r Sun sq. Asc -0°16'
------------------------------------
t Saturn sq. Asc 1°11'
t Mercury on Dsc +5°57'
r Saturn on Dsc +6°46'
r Pluto on Dsc +9°47'

r Saturn-Pluto conj. 0°02'
t Uranus sq. r Mercury 0°20' in mundo
t Mars conj. r Mercury 0°22' in mundo
t Mars sq. r Neptune 0°37'
t Mars-Uranus sq. 0°42' in mundo
t Mercury conj. r Saturn 0°49' in mundo
r Mercury-Neptune sq. 1°07'
r Mercury-Mars conj. 1°15'
t Saturn conj. r Sun 1°27'
t Mars conj. r Mars 1°45'
t Uranus sq. r Mars 2°12' in mundo
r Mars-Neptune sq. 2°22'
t Uranus sq. r Sun 3°17'
t Mercury conj. r Pluto 3°50' in mundo

This... is... pretty amazing.

So, what happened? Well, an explosion happened, of course, but what else can we see?

Was it an accident, suicide, or a murder?

I'm skeptical of suicide, but can't rule it out. The potentially pro-suicide factors in the SLR are the highlighting of his natal Mercury-Neptune square and the great pressures his acutely angular Sun was under (though the closely angular Sun itself is a vitalizer, even with the Saturn transit). Though Jack was certainly subject to extreme mood swings, he has only a mildly suicidal chart, less so than most of the population.

Accident or murder? Well, the same things that would show as "accident prone" are the factors that show the explosion - so it's hard to tell. What I do notice, though, is that both transiting and natal Mars are angular (and conjunct). This is not a mark of self-damaging, but a conflict, a struggle, and violence as much from without as from within.

So yes, to me, the chart shows murder as the most likely scenario, though not decisively. It does look to me like a man fleeing his native country (technically as a traitor, given his importance to the national effort) to join another nation - Uranus setting and square his Sun, his natal Saturn-Pluto foreground, and all under the weight of Saturn on his Sun on an angle, etc. But there are enough factors that could be read multiple ways that I can't say decisively.

Uranus square his Mercury is enlightening, awakening, and (in a man like Jack) consistent with discoveries, stimulated curiosities, and new horizons. Uranus square his Mars could be an accident but, that being less likely, it is also a sense of adventure and taking risky moves with your life. Uranus square his Sun is self-reinvention, progress, rebellion - intolerance of authority and a love of personal freedom. These are all consistent with Marjory Cameron's report of what she thought they were really doing.

Mars to his Mars may just be showing the event, though it is marked with conflict. Mars to Neptune normally means fear - acute, exacerbated excitement and emotional drama - though, having lived his life with this aspect, there is a tendency to just buckle down and make your way through by whatever direct or devious path is available to you. Mars to Mercury has so many ways it could manifest (but I doubt "nervous hands" was one of them), and we can't miss that he was prone to arguments and disagreements under this influence.

Mercury conjunct his Saturn is one of the closest, and thus most important, aspects of the SLR. It looks like plans got impeded, perhaps a trip delayed. It isn't playful, isn't fun - certainly not consistent with a vacation compared to a "work trip." Mercury more widely conjoined his Pluto in the foreground, which is confrontational.

[Jim Eshelman]

The only transit of note at the time of the explosion was transiting Mars conjunct natal Mercury (16'). - If one considers the static transit of Saturn trine natal Uranus (05'), one would have to interpret it as something like "no freedom" - a background chronic condition, or something tied into the event.

The one progression of note is progressed Venus conjunct natal Descendant (33'), 23' from sextile natal Jupiter. This is much more consistent with a mindset of leaving the country with one's lover to start a new life than with ending one's life.

His prior Solar Return was far less dramatic than the lunar, but was a bit dramatic nonetheless. Moon is 3°19' below Ascendant, Pluto 6°46' east of MC, so they are in 3°28' mundane square. Sun is partile opposite Jupiter in the immediate background, and that rising Moon squares natal Jupiter within minutes (and natal Uranus a little more widely). SSR Ascendant also squares natal Jupiter-Uranus. Though dramatic and even "departing" (leaving town), this is a very upbeat SSR, and utterly consistent with expatriation.

For a change, the Tertiary Progressions are of real interest (though, actually, they usually come through pretty well for angles, as in this case). Tert Ascendant conjoins tert Uranus 09'. A very strange aspect I don't know how to interpret is tert Jupiter exactly conjunct his natal Saturn-Pluto (that actually could be expatriation).

[Danica]

Thank you. Amazing charts and excellent analysis.

[SteveS]

Outstanding SLR, thanks for posting.

[Jim Eshelman]

I think it was about 10 AM (just to get a rough time of day, from memory), but I can't find a record of it. It's a good enough working time for most purposes.

A friend acquired Parson's death certificate. It gives time of death at 5:45 PM and indicates the explosion occurred 37 minutes earlier, at 5:08 PM.

Cameron was vague about some of the particulars when I talked with her about it (Cameron had a tendency to be vague ), and I'm inclined to go with the official record as a matter of policy. Something seems off to me, but nothing I can document - just a sense of how she talked about their preparations to leave town. Since I didn't take notes and narrow the my questions, it's best to go with the record.