16 Jan 9 Famous and Infamous Los Angeles Occultists
One would expect LA to have over-the-top and charismatic occult celebrities, and these characters who also took prominence on the world stage do not disappoint. All have fascinating biographies which would be worth your while to explore further:
Kenneth Anger (February 3, 1927 – present) Most well known for his popular celebrity exposes Hollywood Babylon I and II, Anger is an openly gay underground filmmaker who has produced close to forty works. A devotee of Aleister Crowley, the films Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (starring Marjorie Cameron) and Scorpio Rising (1964) deal with occult themes. “Of course,” Anger is quoted as saying, “my definition of evil is not everybody else’s.”
Marjorie Cameron (April 23, 1922 – June 24, 1995) A serious occult practitioner, Cameron and her husband, Jack Parsons, were students of Aleister Crowley and performed magickal rituals meant to herald in a new age. A retrospective of her work, Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman was held in 2014 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) which finally gave Marjorie Cameron her due as an important figure in the history of LA art.
Paul Foster Case (October 3, 1884- March 2, 1954) The author of numerous books on the occult who founded the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.). Still headquartered in LA today, B.O.T.A. is a correspondence school covering practically all of the Western Mystery Tradition: Tarot, Kabbalah, metaphysics, magic, and alchemy.
Manly P. Hall (March 18, 1901 – August 29, 1990) Best known for his book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928), Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles (see page xxx). He wrote over 150 books and essays and gave approximately 8,000 lectures on the occult in the US and abroad.
Sybil Leek (22 February 1917 – 26 October 1982) wrote Diary of a Witch (1968) and over 60 other books which brought Wicca and the metaphysical arts to the mainstream. The BBC named her “Britain’s most famous witch” before she moved to LA due to, she said, “too many people visiting me to see what a witch looks like.” She appeared on many TV and radio programs including the popular 60s show, To Tell the Truth.
Maja D’Aoust, the White Witch (1974 – present) Popular today, written about in LA Weekly and LA Magazine, Maja is a full-time occultist who has studied widely and earned her MA in transformational psychology. She leads tours, lectures, and gives readings based on astrology, Jung, and ancient Greek and Hermetic philosophies.
Jack Parsons (October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) Finally, a real “rocket scientist” who was one of the principal founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena as well as associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Along with his wife, Marjorie Cameron, he was a serious student of the esoteric, and may have blown himself up performing an occult ritual (see page xxx). As handsome as a movie star, Parsons is one of the most intriguing and charismatic of characters in LA occult history, or in all of LA history for that matter.
Israel Regardie (November 17, 1907-March 10, 1985) While living in Studio City, Regardie practiced as a chiropractor, neo-Reichian therapist, and as a Jungian trained in psychoanalysis. He wrote 14 books, some of which exposed the secrets of Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn, much to their dislike. He is widely considered to be one of the major occultists of the 20th Century.
Carroll Righter (February 2, 1900 – April 30, 1988) One of the first celebrity astrologers who was reputed to be an advisor to President and Nancy Reagan. Righter wrote a daily astrology column that was syndicated to 166 newspapers around the world. He was the author of Astrology and You and other best-selling astrology books, and his Foundation has had ongoing astrology classes in Hollywood every Tuesday night since 1964.
© 2020 Catherine Auman
This is an excerpt from Catherine Auman’s book Guide to Spiritual L.A.: The Irreverent, the Awake, and the True
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