The Ritual

The Babalon Working was an application of Parsons personal philosophy, his motivation described in his own words:

She will come girt with the sword of freedom, and before her kings and priests will tremble and cities and empires will fall, and she will be called BABALON, the scarlet woman....And women will respond to her war cry, and throw off their shackles and chains, and men will respond to her challenge, forsaking the foolish ways and the little ways, and she will shine as the ruddy evening star in the bloody sunset of Gotterdamerung, will shine as a morning star when the night has passed, and a new dawn breaks over the garden of Pan. (Freedom is a Two Edged Sword)

The rituals performed over a period of 11 days, intending to invoke a vessel to give birth to the incarnation of the Goddess Babalon, a force or spirit that is described in the Revelation of John:

1 And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters;
2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication,
5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder.
(Revelation 17 : 1 – 7 ASV)

Crowley’s understanding of Babalon was largely formulated by his scrying of the Aeons or Aethyrs of the Enochian system of magick:

Let him look upon the cup whose blood is mingled therein,
for the wine of the cup is the blood of the saints. Glory unto the
Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, that rideth
upon the Beast{SUP:4}, for she hath spilt their blood in every corner of
the earth and lo! she hath mingled it in the cup of her whoredom.
the world. Therein is manifested the glory of my Father, who is truth.
(This wine is such that its virtue radiateth through the cup, and I
reel under the intoxication of it. And every thought is destroyed by it.
It abideth alone, and its name is Compassion. I understand by
"Compassion," the sacrament of suffering, partaken by the true worshippers
of the Highest. And it is an ecstasy in which there is no trace of pain.
Its passivity (=passion) is like the giving-up of the self to the beloved.)
The voice continues: This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of
abominations, and this is the mystery of her adulteries, for she hath
yielded up herself to everything that liveth, and hath become a partaker in
its mystery. And because she hath made herself the servant of each,
therefore is she become the mistress of all. Not as yet canst thou
comprehend her glory.
Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast given
thyself to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their
strength{SUP:1}. For in that union thou didst _understand_. Therefore art
thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the Night!
This is that which is written, "O my God, in one last rapture let me
attain to the union with the many.{SUP:2}" For she is Love, and her love
is one, and she hath divided the one love into infinite loves, and each
love is one, and equal to The One, and therefore is she passed "from the
assembly and the law and the enlightenment unto the anarchy of solitude and
darkness. For ever thus must she veil the brilliance of Her Self.{SUP:3}"
O Babylon, Babylon, thou mighty Mother, that ridest upon the crown'd
beast, let me be drunken upon the wine of thy fornications; let thy kisses
wanton me unto death, that even I, thy cup-bearer, may _understand_.
(Liber 418 - the Vision and the Voice, 87-8)

For Crowley, Babalon was a force or being that transcended the lower parts of the Universe and so could grant liberation by the shattering of the Ego, a process described as the “pouring out” of the Magician’s blood thus freeing the eternal part of the one who performs the rite from bondage in the material universe making it possible to return to the Pleroma or higest heaven. It was this god that Parsons intended to incarnate in the body of a child created through ritual magick.

In the Book of Babalon, Parsons summarizes the rituals performed in the first part of the Working, in order to 'summon' an appropriate host for his Moonchild.

In The Babalon Working Alexander Mitchell discusses Parson's and Hubbard's relationship which is a key to deciphering the Will (or neuroses ) of Parson's that underlie the operation:
Parsons wrote to Crowley in July, 1945, "About three months ago I met [Hubbard], a writer and explorer of whom I had known for some time [because he wrote science fiction]...He moved in with me about two months ago, and although Betty and I are still friendly, she has transferred her sexual affections to him...We are pooling our resources in a partnership that will act as a limited company to control our business ventures. I think I have made a great gain, and as Betty and I are the best of friends there is little loss...I need a magical partner. I have many experiments in mind..."
Mitchell then quotes Grant, the recognised (though controversial even among Thelemites) authority on such matters:
Having lost confidence in women, Parsons decided to attract an Elemental Spirit to take Betty's place..." These spirits are called Elementals because of their association with the four elements of the ancients. To summon one requires a large amount of magical energy, the kind generated by an 8th Degree working. The practice of the 8th Degree is a solo sexual rite.
and also:
The instructions that accompany the eighth Degree of the OTO contain methods for evoking an Elemental, or familiar spirit. It is said to be an easy matter to attract such a spirit because the souls of the elements desire constantly to be absorbed into the cycle of human evolution, this being the only way in which they can achieve salvation and perpetuity of existence. On being appropriated by a human organism, the elemental finally becomes absorbed in the immortal principle in man.
finally there is a quote from The Magical Revival (Grant, Skoob Esoterica) pg 164:
(1) That he choose wisely a reasonable soul, docile, apt, beautiful, and in all ways worthy of love.
(2) That he fall not away from love of the Great Goddess into love of this inferior, but give only as a master and of his mercy, knowing that this also is service to the Goddess.
(3) That of such familiar spirits he have but four [one for each element?]. And let him regulate their service, appointing hours for each.
(4) That he treat them with kindness and firmness, being on his guard against their tricks.
"This being said, it is enough; for to have them is but the pains to call them forth from their homes. And the Spirits of the Elemental Tablets given by Dr. Dee and Sir Kelley are the best..."

It may be useful to consider Parson's record of this opening phase of the operation:

In January 1946 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, having been initiated into the Sanctuary of the Gnosis by the Beast 666, Fra. 132, and Fra. Saturnus. At this time I decided upon a Magical operation de- signed to obtain the assistance of an elemental mate. This is a well known procedure in Magick (cf. Ch. VIII in Magick in Theory and Practice), consisting of the invocation of a spirit or ele- mental into tangible existence by various magical techniques.

I decided upon the use of the Enochian Tablets obtained by Dr. Dee and Edward Kelley, employing the *n*n*n square of the Air Tablet. The technique was approximately as follows:

(January 4, 1946, 9:00 PM)

1. Prepared and consecrated Air Dagger. (The other magical weapons were previously prepared. This dagger served as the special talisman of the operation.) 2. Prepared Enochian Air Tablet on virgin parchment. 3. Prepared Parchment Talisman 4. Rituals as follows: (a) Invoking Pentagram of Air. (b) Invocation of Bornless One. (c) Conjuration of Air. (d) Consecration of Air Dagger. (e) Key Call of third Aire. (f) Invocation of God and King of Aire. (g) Invocation of Six Seniors. (h) Invocation of (RZDA) by *n*n*n and (EXARP), to visible appearance. (i) Invocaton of wand with material basis on talisman. (j) Invocation with dagger. (k) License to depart, purification, and banishing. I followed this procedure for eleven days, from January 4 to 15, with the following entries in my record: January 5. A strong windstorm beginning suddenly about the middle of the first invocation. Jan 6. Invoked as before. Wind storm continued intermittently all day and night. Jan 7. Invoked twice. Wind subsided. Used Prokofief Violin Concerto No. 2 as musical background. Jan 8. Invoked twice, using blood. Jan 9. Invoked twice, replenishing material basis. Jan 10. Invoked twice. I retired about 11 PM, and was awakened at 12 PM by nine strong, rapid knocks. A table lamp at the opposite corner of the room was thrown violently to the floor and broken. There was no window in this corner, and no wind was blowing at the time.

(Note. I have had little experience with phenomena of this sort. Magically speaking, it usually represents "breaks" in the operation, indicating imperfect technique. Actually, in any magical operation there should be no phenomena but the willed result.)

Jan 11. Invoked twice, using blood.

Jan 12. Invoked twice. A heavy windstorm.

Jan 13. Invoked twice. Windstorm continued.

Jan 14. The light system of the house failed about 9 PM. Another magician who had been staying at the house and studying with me, was carrying a candle across the kitchen when he was struck strongly on the right shoulder, and the candle knocked out of his hand. He called us, and we observed a brownish yellow light about seven feet high in the kitchen.

I banished with a magical sword, and it disappeared. His right arm was paralyzed for the rest of the night.

Jan 15. Invoked twice. At this time the Scribe developed some sort of astral vision, describing in detail an old enemy of mine of whom he had never heard, and later the guardian forms of Isis and the Archangel Michael. Later, in my room, I heard the raps again, and a buzzing, metallic voice crying "let me go free." I felt a great pressure and tension in the house that night, which was also noticed by the other occupants. There was no other phenomena, and I admit a feeling of disappointment.

The feeling of tension and unease continued for four days. Then, on January 18, at sunset, while the Scribe and I were on the Mojave desert, the feeling of tension suddenly snapped. I turned to him and said, "it is done," in absolute certainty that the operation was accomplished. I returned home, and found a young woman answering the requirements waiting for me. She is describable as an air of fire type with bronze red hair, fiery and subtle, determined and obstinate, sincere and perverse, with extraordinary personality, talent, and intelligence.

During the period of January 19 to February 27 I invoked the Goddess BABALON with the aid of my magical partner, as was proper to one of my grade.

(Book of Babalon, Conception)

The rites are fairly typical of the kind used and taught by Crowley. There are examples of other rituals in the documents of the A.A. and explanations of the key concepts in his magnum opus Magick in Theory and Practice. The theory of sex-magick that was the inner 'secret' of the OTO is given in the instruction titled De Arte Magica which Crowley wrote. It is note worthy that while Parsons clearly did know the secret, he was not then (or for that matter, after) an initiate of the 8th and 9th degrees where the formulae are revealed.It is, however, the result they were intended to produce that interests here.