Liber 49, also known as The Book of Babalon, is an occult text dictated in 1946 by Jack Parsons through L Ron Hubbard during the ceremonial operation known as the Babalon Working.
The document is composed of seventy-seven short verses and purports to contain the dictated words of the Thelemic goddess Babalon. Parsons proclaimed the communication to be the fourth chapter of The Book of the Law.
Origin and Creation
The text emerged from the second phase of the intense magical operation known as the Babalon Working, conducted by Parsons and Hubbard from late 1945 to March 1946. Parsons, acting as the chief magician and Priest, was commanded to write the communication during an invocation of Babalon in the Mojave Desert, which took place on 28 February 1946.
The final dictation occurred on 2 March 1946 at the Parsonage, Parsons’ Pasadena mansion. Parsons, robed in black and carrying the cup and dagger, prepared the altar and equipment in accordance with instructions received in Liber 49.
Hubbard, robed in white and carrying a lamp, acted as the seer and scribe. Hubbard channelled the dictations, which Parsons immediately transcribed, while background music, specifically Rachmaninov’s Isle of the Dead, was played and an automatic recorder was set to transcribe audible occurrences.
The title, Liber 49, references the number 49, which is sacred to Babalon, and connects to the symbolism found in Aleister Crowley's earlier works. Specifically, Crowley's account of the 27th Aethyr describes the symbol of Babalon as a blood-red rose of 49 petals, stained red with the blood of the Saints.
Theological Content and Purpose
The central declaration of _Liber 49_ is that it constitutes the fourth chapter of The Book of the Law. Parsons justified this claim by relating it to the Tetragrammaton (IHVH), the fourfold sacred name. Parsons argued that the Father-Mother-Son formula (IHV) was incomplete without the Daughter (the final H), and Babalon represented this crucial complement. Parsons believed that the existing era, the Æon of Horus, was defined by "blind, terrible, unlimited force" and required Babalon to be invoked as a feminine complement to balance the age with love and understanding, preventing annihilation.
The text itself provided instructions for subsequent rituals intended to facilitate the earthing of Babalon in the form of an avatar, daughter, or physical manifestation. The text prophesied that Babalon's physical incarnation upon humanity would appear in nine months, implying Parsons had prompted her conception.
The communication contains passages characterised by fierce, intense beauty and forceful sexual expression. One key instruction within the Working, linked to the text, was the prophecy that Parsons would become living flame before Babalon incarnated, a statement that proved tragically prophetic upon his death in a laboratory explosion. The text also commanded Parsons to seek Babalon in the Seventh Aire, leading to further Enochian workings.
Aftermath
Following the transcription of Liber 49, Parsons believed the operation was successful, viewing his subsequent relationship with Marjorie Cameron as the manifestation of the elemental he had invoked. The dictates and Parsons’s subsequent actions, including his attempts to share the contents of the text, were met with severe disapproval from Aleister Crowley.
Crowley deemed the working unconventional and criticised Parsons for his impulsive decision-making, which accelerated Parsons's removal from his position as head of the Agape Lodge. Parsons was later challenged at a special lodge meeting for producing a text claiming to be the fourth chapter of The Book of the Law, which was considered an act of heresy.
In terms of style and inspiration, Liber 49 exhibits no continuity with the previous three chapters of The Book of the Law. The American Ordo Templi Orientis. today does not regard Liber 49 as canonical. The letters and a typescript copy of Liber 49 were preserved in the Gerald Yorke Collection at the Warburg Institute, University of London.