Songs for the Witch Woman

by John Whiteside Parsons, Marjorie Cameron, William Breeze (Foreword)

There are few modern love stories as passionate and poignant as the relationship between rocket scientist Jack Parsons and his artist lover, Marjorie Cameron. At once a muse, occult student and primal force of nature—a woman he proclaimed as his ‘elemental’ in a letter to Aleister Crowley—Cameron fascinated, troubled and inspired Parsons.

Songs for the Witch Woman is a project born from this turbulent love story. A series of poems written by Parsons reveal his feelings toward his often absent lover. And beside these words are images from the hand of Cameron, illustrating and echoing the intimate themes.

After Parsons’ tragic death in June 1952 we find the notebook in which this work was recorded continues, as a bereaved Cameron keeps a diary of her magical working in Lamb Canyon, California. In the dark desert her words become a raw lament as she attempts to gain contact with her Holy Guardian Angel. And throughout the working, the memory of Jack is never far from her mind.

Now published more than sixty years after it was written, Songs for the Witch Woman stands as a testament to lasting power of love and loss.

Genres: Poetry, Art, Thelema, Occult, Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 20, 2014

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the descriptions of this book, what I was expecting was a primary-document account of the relationship between John Parsons, an occultist, physicist, and poet, and his wife, Marjorie Cameron, an artist, who Parsons had intended to make into his Thelemic Scarlet Woman before dying in a home lab explosion in 1952. Unfortunately, most of this book was about Parsons, with second- and third-hand accounts of Cameron, mere suppositions about her life, with only a few letters written by her to a friend to give insights into her experience. The bulk of the book is Parsons' poetry, which I found kind of amateurish and embarrassing, and the few diary entries of his added in even moreso. The highlight -- the only reason to buy this book, really -- is Cameron's art, which is reminiscent of Beardsley in its clean, spare, black lines and flowing motion. I'd love to see more of her art and read more about her, but unfortunately, the only biography on her currently out there -- The Wormwood Star -- is apparently very poorly written. Such a shame.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cameron's art is singular, gorgeous, witchy and intriguing. I only wish that Parsons' and her poems were printed in their entirety, and in readable print. The pictures from the original Songs for the Witch Woman exhibition at MOCA just have some photographs of selected pages, and I had to bust out a magnifying glass to read the words. Otherwise, this is a fantastic collection of an artist's work who should have been better known during her lifetime.

[Erica Stratton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give it something more like a 4.5. Don't expect great poetry, but do expect a glimpse into the psyches of a couple that probably captured a lot of people's imaginations. Certainly mine, anyway, so here I am reading this book.

[Ashley Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

.w.o.w.