By Tony Ortega (via VigilantCitizen)

Last June, we brought you the first review of The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion by Ohio State professor Hugh Urban, and then the first interview with the good professor himself.

During that interview, Urban told us that he was planning to continue his research into Scientology, and would be looking into a variety of areas. But we didn’t know that one of those interests included a closer look at L. Ron Hubbard’s wild occult history that preceded his publication of 1950’s Dianetics.

Longtime Scientology watchers will be at least somewhat familiar with the tale: that after his involvement in WWII, Hubbard shacked up with Jet Propulsion Lab rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a man heavily into the occult, and in particular the teachings of The Great Beast, British occultist Aleister Crowley. You may even know something about the kinky things Parsons and Hubbard did trying to create a “Moonchild.” But what Urban does in a new piece for the journal Nova Religio is produce a thorough, academic study of the ways that Crowley’s “magick” found parallels in what would become Hubbard’s most famous creation, Scientology.

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See also: Factnet Report: Hubbard and the Occult

Hannah Thomas - 9 March 2011

The quaint cul-de-sac of Kidwelly in west Wales has been stirred by news that a satanic cult has been carrying out sexual assaults and a string of child rapes over the past several decades within the small community.

Self-styled high priest, Colin Batley, was yesterday found guilty of conducting quasi-religious sex sessions involving children with his wife Elaine and fellow cult members Jacqueline Marling and Shelly Millar.

Batley began the sordid rituals by reading from The Book Of The Law, written more than 100 years ago by occultist Aleister Crowley, to brainwash his victims before ordering hooded cult members to have sex.

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Kidwelly sex cult victim breaks silence to tell of childhood horrors