Jimmy Page: Encyclopedia II - Jimmy Page - Aleister Crowley

Jimmy Page - Aleister Crowley

Page had a fascination with the poet, novelist, artist, occultist and founder of Thelema, Aleister Crowley. He pressed Crowley's motto "Do What Thou Wilt" (along with "So Mote Be It" on the reverse side), into their album, Led Zeppelin III, and he bought Crowley's rural retreat, 'Boleskine House'. When their untitled fourth album was released, there were some interpretations of the song "Stairway To Heaven" that claimed it had satanic reverse-audio messages in the verse 'If there's a bustle in your hedgerow'.

Page was commissioned to write the soundtrack music for another Crowley admirer, Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising, but eventually the project was shelved. Bootlegs of the project exist and are highly prized and admired by Jimmy Page fans. The introduction to Led Zeppelin's "In the Evening" is said to be taken from the unfinished soundtrack, most of which was recorded by running a guitar through a synthesizer.

What made people particularly curious about Page's connection with the occult was the appearance of four symbols on the jacket of Led Zeppelin's fourth album. It was generally accepted that the four symbols represented each member of the band. During tours and performances after the release of Led Zeppelin IV, he often had zodiac symbols embroidered on his clothes (those of Capricorn, Scorpio and Cancer which are probably his Sun, Ascendant and Moon signs, respectively) along with the so-called "ZoSo" symbol. This fuelled the curiosity of many fans who went to great lengths to find out what the symbols meant.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aleister Crowley", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki