Jimmy Page and Aleister Crowley: deciphering the mage

 

“I have been accused of being a “black magician.” No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it. ”

- Aleister Crowley

Page’s interest in Crowley would be, like Crowley himself, grossly misrepresented and misunderstood. Perhaps even maligned.

In the early 1970s, Jimmy Page owned an occult bookshop and publishing house, “The Equinox Booksellers and Publishers” in Kensington High Street, London, eventually closing it as the increasing success of Led Zeppelin resulted in his having insufficient time to devote to it. In “I’m With The Band,” Pamela Des Barres recalls one of the more interesting aspects of her relationship with Page: scouring Hollywood for rare occult literature to ship back to the Guitar God.

The infamous Boleskin House, (purchased by Page, formerly owned by Aleister Crowley) lies on the edge of Loch Ness in Scotland. Sections of Page’s fantasy sequence in the film The Song Remains the Same were filmed at night on the mountainside directly behind Boleskine House.

Jimmy Page interview below, from Guitar World January 2008:

(Guitar World) Could we talk a little about the meaning behind your Sequence [in The Song Remains The Same movie]?

(Page) To me, the significance is very clear, isn’t it?

(GW) Well, I find it interesting that you were choosing to represent yourself as a hermit at a time when you were really quite a public figure.

(Page) Well, I was hermetic. I was involved in the hermetic arts, but I wasn’t a recluse. Or maybe I was… The image of the hermit that was used for the [inside cover] art-work on Led Zeppelin IV and in the movie actually has it’s origins in a painting of Christ called The Light of the World by the pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. The imagery was later transferred to the Waite tarot deck [the most popular tarot deck in use in the English-speaking world]. My segment was supposed to be the aspirant going to the beacon of truth, which is represented by the hermit and his journey toward it. What I was trying to say through the transformation was that enlightenment can be achieved at any point in time; it just depends on when you want to access it. In other words you can always see the truth, but do you recognize it when you see it or do you have to reflect back on it later?

(GW) There was always a certain amount of speculation about your occult studies. It may have been subtle, but you weren’t really hiding it.

(Page) I was living it. That’s all there is to it. It was my life - that fusion of magick and music.

(GW) Your use of symbols was very advanced. The sigil [symbols of occult powers] on Led Zeppelin IV and the embroidery on your stage clothes from that time period are good examples on how you left your mark on popular culture. It’s something that major corporations are aggressively pursuing these days: using symbols as a from of branding.

(Page) You mean talismanic magick? Yes, I knew what I was doing. There’s no point in saying much about it, because the more you discuss it, the more eccentric you appear to be. But the fact is - as far as I was concerned - it was working, so I used it. But it’s really no different than people who wear ribbons around their wrists: it’s a talismanic approach to something. Well let me amend that: it’s not exactly the same thing, but it is in the same realm. I’ll leave this subject by saying the four musical elements of Led Zeppelin making a fifth is magick into itself. That’s the alchemical process.

The Crowley quotes that revolutionized occult thinking for Page and countless other seekers of truth:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

“Love is the law. Love under will.”

“Every man and every woman is a star.”