In the first ever biography written about her, Wormwood Star traces the extraordinary life of the enigmatic artist Marjorie Cameron (1922-1995), one of the most fascinating figures to emerge from the American Underground art world and film scene. Illuminating her early childhood and wartime experiences, the book also offers a fresh perspective on her role in the infamous Babalon Working magick rituals, that were conducted by her husband, the maverick rocket scientist and Aleister Crowley disciple, Jack Parsons, and the future founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard. Following Parsons death in 1952 from a chemical explosion, Cameron inherited her husband's magickal mantle and embarked on a lifelong spiritual quest, a journey reflected in the otherworldly images she depicted, many of them drawn from the Elemental Kingdom and astral plane. As well as her artistry, the biography also takes an in-depth look at Cameron's film appearances, and features reminisces from the many artists, poets and movie star friends she inspired along the way. With so much of her life and work shrouded in mystery, Wormwood Star sheds new light on this most remarkable artist and elusive occult icon.
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"Wormwood Star is a superb effort on every level, incorporating impeccable research and very well observed viewpoints. It brought Cameron alive for me. This very well written, entertaining and exciting work deserves to be widely regarded as one of the best books of 2010!" Stephen Sennitt, author of The Infernal Texts: Nox and Liber Koth.
Review
"Wormwood Star describes a magickal woman and artist, not as a tragedy but as a true Babalon. A woman and creative being in her own right who, rather than change to the dictates of oppressive society, became a defining part of a changing one. Fabulous!" Charlotte Rodgers, author The Bloody Sacrifice.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the countless bios that I've read of Aleister Crowley, Marjorie Cameron was almost a mere footnote, being associated with Crowley's American follower Jack Parsons.
In the meager writings by and about Jack Parsons Cameron was elevated somewhat to celebrity by osmosis, being that she was Parsons' 'scarlet woman' for a bit.
When Parsons died tragically in an explosion Cameron was not heard from again, by me anyway, and I yearned to learn about her life after Parsons.
This startlingly good bio from Spencer Kansa has put put Cameron back into the public eye.
I imagine that it's a daunting task to write a bio of a woman as mysterious as Cameron.
Since so little was written about her there is no chance of doing a hack job, a book that is a mere rewriting of other books and newspaper items.
Writing about Marjorie Cameron's life would take research and Spencer Kansa did just that, and then some.
Just the right amount of time is spent on Cameron's interesting childhood and early adulthood which led to her meeting Parsons and taking part in the occult rituals that he was performing in 1940s California. It was also interesting to learn that Cameron also did a stint in the military during WW2.
After Parson's death the life that Cameron led was astounding from her early beatnik days of living alone in a remote shack, to her time in the art scene of 50s California, her continual dabbling in the occult and her unsuccesful trip to Europe to meet Crowley. He died before she got there.
Through all her changes Cameron stayed true to her art and painted extremely interesting and frightening works, many of which she destroyed for reasons of her own. All data that I was totally unaware of before reading this book.... Read more ›
In the meager writings by and about Jack Parsons Cameron was elevated somewhat to celebrity by osmosis, being that she was Parsons' 'scarlet woman' for a bit.
When Parsons died tragically in an explosion Cameron was not heard from again, by me anyway, and I yearned to learn about her life after Parsons.
This startlingly good bio from Spencer Kansa has put put Cameron back into the public eye.
I imagine that it's a daunting task to write a bio of a woman as mysterious as Cameron.
Since so little was written about her there is no chance of doing a hack job, a book that is a mere rewriting of other books and newspaper items.
Writing about Marjorie Cameron's life would take research and Spencer Kansa did just that, and then some.
Just the right amount of time is spent on Cameron's interesting childhood and early adulthood which led to her meeting Parsons and taking part in the occult rituals that he was performing in 1940s California. It was also interesting to learn that Cameron also did a stint in the military during WW2.
After Parson's death the life that Cameron led was astounding from her early beatnik days of living alone in a remote shack, to her time in the art scene of 50s California, her continual dabbling in the occult and her unsuccesful trip to Europe to meet Crowley. He died before she got there.
Through all her changes Cameron stayed true to her art and painted extremely interesting and frightening works, many of which she destroyed for reasons of her own. All data that I was totally unaware of before reading this book.... Read more ›
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Bretonista
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Spencer Kansa describes this biography of Marjorie Cameron as a 'labour of love' to which he dedicated four years of his life. It certainly contains a wealth of material about Cameron, including original research and many quotes from interviews with those who knew her. Kansa clearly has an enthusiasm for and rapport with his subject. That's the good news...
The bad news is that Kansa is such an appallingly slapdash writer that this book will annoy anyone who expects so much as a minimum standard of competency in their reading matter. The typos, like the daemonic denizens of the astral realm, are legion - and would have been easily picked up, in most cases, by the use of a simple spell checking and grammar checking tool. Kansa's style is a queasy mixture of outdated West Coast slang, name dropping, and cliché. He reproduces the many interviews that punctuate the text almost verbatim, and has an annoying high school habit of rendering an interviewee's laughter in the form of the words 'ha ha', which he sprinkles liberally throughout the transcripts.
Nor does Kansa at any point take a step back from his subject and attempt any sort of overview. There is no attempt to assess Cameron's importance either as a practitioner of magic or as an artist. On the latter point, the (perhaps understandable) refusal to permit the author to include Cameron's drawings and paintings in the book hardly helps.
Equally disappointing is the production quality of the book. The font and layout suggest that it was put together using Word and simply imported into a bespoke online printing engine, while the photos are for the most part smudgy grey scans.... Read more ›
The bad news is that Kansa is such an appallingly slapdash writer that this book will annoy anyone who expects so much as a minimum standard of competency in their reading matter. The typos, like the daemonic denizens of the astral realm, are legion - and would have been easily picked up, in most cases, by the use of a simple spell checking and grammar checking tool. Kansa's style is a queasy mixture of outdated West Coast slang, name dropping, and cliché. He reproduces the many interviews that punctuate the text almost verbatim, and has an annoying high school habit of rendering an interviewee's laughter in the form of the words 'ha ha', which he sprinkles liberally throughout the transcripts.
Nor does Kansa at any point take a step back from his subject and attempt any sort of overview. There is no attempt to assess Cameron's importance either as a practitioner of magic or as an artist. On the latter point, the (perhaps understandable) refusal to permit the author to include Cameron's drawings and paintings in the book hardly helps.
Equally disappointing is the production quality of the book. The font and layout suggest that it was put together using Word and simply imported into a bespoke online printing engine, while the photos are for the most part smudgy grey scans.... Read more ›
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
7 reviews
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lady Babalon As Herself
28 Oct 2010
By Mark Newbold
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
For fans of Kenneth Anger's 'Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome', John Carter's 'Sex and Rockets' and 'Strange Angel' by George Pendle who have long awaited a biography on Marjorie Cameron (1922-1995), Jack Parsons' divine consort, wife and magickal partner. The Aeon has arrived with this work by British artist and occultist Spencer Kansa. Kansa is to be commended for his on-site research conducted throughout the U.S. crossing and crisscrossing the places Cameron knew, lived and loved.
From her early years in rural Iowa where her artistic and eccentric temperment was formed, to her service during WW2 and her move to California where her family had relocated. We see an initially reluctant student of Magick who only gradually assumed her occult life through the tutelage of aerospace pioneer and Thelemite Jack Parsons. With his untimely and tragic death in 1952, Cameron embarked on a singular path as Magician, lover, artist and actress who never looked back in regret on her chosen path in life.
Kansa is correct when he says Cameron easily stole the show and became the central image in Anger's phantasmagorical film 'Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome'(1954). Her appearance as the Scarlet Woman burns itself into the mind of the viewer forever. Interviews with those friends and students who knew her best provides a three demensional figure fully human and noble in her refusal to compromise her views on the inner life and tragic in her lack of common sense. She remained a tenacious survivor through all that life threw at her. Interviews with Curtis Harrington and Dennis Hopper on Cameron's appearance in the 1961 cult movie classic 'Night Tide' is revealing as to her powerful presence on camera though she appears for less than 10 minutes on screen.
If I have any complaint about this book it is that Kansa fails to provide details or analysis on her magickal practices and her personal thoughts on the Thelemic system of magick developed by Aleister Crowley. Tantalyzing hints are in the book of an extensive correspondence between Cameron and Jane Wolfe, silent film star, OTO member and resident at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu, Sicily with Crowley. These letters and any surviving magickal diaries kept by her may yet see the light of day and would provide further insight into this remarkable magickal woman.
From her early years in rural Iowa where her artistic and eccentric temperment was formed, to her service during WW2 and her move to California where her family had relocated. We see an initially reluctant student of Magick who only gradually assumed her occult life through the tutelage of aerospace pioneer and Thelemite Jack Parsons. With his untimely and tragic death in 1952, Cameron embarked on a singular path as Magician, lover, artist and actress who never looked back in regret on her chosen path in life.
Kansa is correct when he says Cameron easily stole the show and became the central image in Anger's phantasmagorical film 'Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome'(1954). Her appearance as the Scarlet Woman burns itself into the mind of the viewer forever. Interviews with those friends and students who knew her best provides a three demensional figure fully human and noble in her refusal to compromise her views on the inner life and tragic in her lack of common sense. She remained a tenacious survivor through all that life threw at her. Interviews with Curtis Harrington and Dennis Hopper on Cameron's appearance in the 1961 cult movie classic 'Night Tide' is revealing as to her powerful presence on camera though she appears for less than 10 minutes on screen.
If I have any complaint about this book it is that Kansa fails to provide details or analysis on her magickal practices and her personal thoughts on the Thelemic system of magick developed by Aleister Crowley. Tantalyzing hints are in the book of an extensive correspondence between Cameron and Jane Wolfe, silent film star, OTO member and resident at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu, Sicily with Crowley. These letters and any surviving magickal diaries kept by her may yet see the light of day and would provide further insight into this remarkable magickal woman.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not The Definitive Biography
28 Dec 2010
By Blyss Korybas
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Over the years I've developed a small obsesssion with Marjorie Cameron and her work - so I eagerly ordered this book when it came available. I really wanted to like it, but ultimately I was disappointed. This book does indeed fill in some pieces of the puzzle and I did come away knowing more about Marjorie Cameron than I did when I started the book. What I continued to be frustrated about as I was reading it is how poorly written it is. There are a few times that events are told out of order and other events that would seem to elicit more information or explanation are glossed over. There are some good images of Cameron and people that she knew in the book, but many others are enlarged beyond recognition. What is the point of supplying images of people that supposedly knew Cameron that are essentially shapeless blobs? The writing and the presentation made me question whether or not the book was well researched. Hopefully there will be another Cameron biography in the future that will be the definitive biography.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Info, Poorly written
21 Sep 2012
By The Passionate Ornithologist
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have to be thankful a bio on Cameron has been written, but the writing suffers from a lack of a proofreader and editor. I'd hate to read Kansa's novel. The photos in the book are so badly reproduced one must wonder if anyone even looked at the layout of the book before it went to the printer. Truly horrendous, pixelated crap. Now for the positive part: despite its obvious shortcomings this is a much-needed book on an intriguing, influential West Coast artist/occultist. I truly enjoyed reading about Cameron's exploits, the details of her life, her art, and her associations with Jack Parsons and other underground art/literary folks. Highly recommended for interested parties.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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