112 replies to this topic

[Ace5150]

Im new here, and am enquiring as to whether Jimmy still has a fascination with Aleister Crowley and the occult?
I did read years ago Jimmy had the largest collection of Crowleys works, estimated to be worth a fortune at the time.
Thanks

[SteveAJones]

Im new here, and am enquiring as to whether Jimmy still has a fascination with Aleister Crowley and the occult?
I did read years ago Jimmy had the largest collection of Crowleys works, estimated to be worth a fortune at the time.
Thanks

Fascination with? Perhaps at this point more like an affinity for, but I would say yes, absolutely. One need look no further than the slipcase of his book for an affirmation of this. The cover of the Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes album (2000) would be another tangible example.

[planted]

Im new here, and am enquiring as to whether Jimmy still has a fascination with Aleister Crowley and the occult?
I did read years ago Jimmy had the largest collection of Crowleys works, estimated to be worth a fortune at the time.
Thanks

Welcome to the board, Ace5150! You will find more information and fun facts here than you could possibly imagine about LZ. I mostly come here to read and absorb. Enjoy!

And, the guy above me here^^ is an incredible source of those facts.

Look forward to hearing from you!

[Texas Melanie]

Fascination with? Perhaps at this point more like an affinity for, but I would say yes, absolutely. One need look no further than the slipcase of his book for an affirmation of this. The cover of the Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes album (2000) would be another tangible example.

I am so very curious to know how, or if at all, his affinity for Crowley changed over the years. Now that he is older and a bit wiser, what are his feelings toward the "wickidest(?) man on Earth".

[SteveAJones]

I am so very curious to know how, or if at all, his affinity for Crowley changed over the years. Now that he is older and a bit wiser, what are his feelings toward the "wickidest(?) man on Earth".

I didn't see Ace5150's post until now...IIRC Jimmy's Crowley collection is the world's second largest, not the largest.

It's been awhile since he's made any public comments concerning Crowley; he's never renounced him, his teachings or anything like that.

[Texas Melanie]

I just would like to learn what about this man and his philosophy interests him. I have done light research on Crowley and so far, I am not impressed. I guess I want someone who understands Crowley to help me understand the fascination. I know he has an intellectual approach to Crowley, I just wonder what he thinks of Crowley's views on women, etc.

[SteveAJones]

I just would like to learn what about this man and his philosophy interests him. I have done light research on Crowley and so far, I am not impressed. I guess I want someone who understands Crowley to help me understand the fascination. I know he has an intellectual approach to Crowley, I just wonder what he thinks of Crowley's views on women, etc.

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.

[Texas Melanie]

Thanks Steve. Hmmmm.... Maybe I am dense but I did not get from his fantasy sequence all of what he explained. I love that he is so intense. It makes me want to know more.

[SteveAJones]

Thanks Steve. Hmmmm.... Maybe I am dense but I did not get from his fantasy sequence all of what he explained. I love that he is so intense. It makes me want to know more.

It is intense, intricate and insightful. Perhaps we'll discuss it at length one day, as well as the fourth album graphics...the hermit towering over the steeple in the valley below, the light from his lantern illuminating the darkness...

[FireOpal]

It's interesting that in the 2008 interview Jimmy is speaking about magic in the past tense, as if it is no longer a part of his life.

[SteveAJones]

It's interesting that in the 2008 interview Jimmy is speaking about magic in the past tense, as if it is no longer a part of his life.

I didn't perceive it that way at all, rather he's reffering to a specific era in his past. Remember, his sigil is on the slipcase to his book.

[Texas Melanie]

It is intense, intricate and insightful. Perhaps we'll discuss it at length one day, as well as the fourth album graphics...the hermit towering over the steeple in the valley below, the light from his lantern illuminating the darkness...

That would be cool. It confuses me and at the same time I think of it as a puzzle that I want to solve. So many questions but how do I find the answers? I knew I should have knocked on his door when I had the chance.

[FireOpal]

What a beautiful painting.

[Laura_Page]

Interesting. Thank you for the interview.

As it's seen in a interview of 90's, Jimmy wore a t-shirt with the words "recovering catholic".
This is the link:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Wdmyg259ECA

I think now he's not so obssesed with occultism as in the past, but I really don't think that the t-shirt means he left it. Catholicism has a part of occultism (though it's supposed to be refused), I know catholic people who believes in tharot and tries to contact with dead people, for instance. Or probably the t-shirt is only a joke.

But, I guess how such a intelligent person like Jimmy could be so involved in those kind of things in that depth. I don't want to be misunderstood, don't want to offend, I respect everyone beliefes, but it's hard to me to believe in magic. Well, I'm the first who has always interested in it, I heard lots of "strange" stories in my family, and stuff like that, but... well, maybe I'm too sceptical.
However I have to admit that if you search, you finally find. If you want to see, you will see. He might wanted to search and see, we don't know why, and he probably finished to find it.

Anyway, I'd like to know more about Jimmy and "his" symbolisms.


Yes, beautiful painting. I love pre-Raphaelites.

Edited by Laura_Page, 05 May 2011 - 03:17 PM.

[SteveAJones]

I think now he's not so obssesed with occultism as in the past, but I really don't think that the t-shirt means he left it. Catholicism has a part of occultism (though it's supposed to be refused), I know catholic people who believes in tarot and tries to contact with dead people, for instance. Or probably the t-shirt is only a joke.

Perhaps interesting to note the very first picture in his book shows him as a choirboy singing in St. Barnabas Catholic Church. This
affirms whatever religious/spiritual paths he followed in life Catholicism was a part of his formative years. Personally, I'd say he is a Thelemite.

[Aquamarine]

Perhaps interesting to note the very first picture in his book shows him as a choirboy singing in St. Barnabas Catholic Church. This
affirms whatever religious/spiritual paths he followed in life Catholicism was a part of his formative years. Personally, I'd say he is a Thelemite.

He was wearing a T-shirt suggesting as much on his Cambodia trip a couple of years ago with Halfwit.

[Laura_Page]

Perhaps interesting to note the very first picture in his book shows him as a choirboy singing in St. Barnabas Catholic Church. This
affirms whatever religious/spiritual paths he followed in life Catholicism was a part of his formative years. Personally, I'd say he is a Thelemite.

That's true, I didn't remember that picture.
Yes, probably he is... One day I was messing around in the web and I found a webpage of Thelema religion in which his name was included in a member list.

[Texas Melanie]

I would think that the Thelema's teachings go against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Plus, didn't Jimmy say once in an interview that his parents were not religious or go to church?
That's it! Enough confusion already. I am going to have to sit this man down and get the answers out of him.

[SteveAJones]

I would think that the Thelema's teachings go against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Plus, didn't Jimmy say once in an interview that his parents were not religious or go to church?
That's it! Enough confusion already. I am going to have to sit this man down and get the answers out of him.

Thelema and Catholicism are most certainly divergent from one another. His parents weren't particularly religious or church
going, but my point is his path leads from Catholicism to Crowley to Thelema. The fantasy sequence arguably presents this journey towards truth and enlightment under free will.

[FireOpal]

Jimmy was Catholic?! Wow, never knew that. Like Melanie, I only remember Jimmy saying he didn't come from a religious background and I assumed that meant they weren't affiliated with any faith at all. So cool that he was a choirboy too Keith Richards & Chris Squire were choirboys as well. Squire went so far as to say his choirmaster taught him everything he knows about music.

P.S. Steve (or anyone else who has Jimmy's book), does the photo specifically identify St. Barnabas as a Catholic church? 'Cause when I googled it, it came up as Church of England. So James Patrick would have been an Anglican. Dang.

Edited by FireOpal, 06 May 2011 - 08:45 AM.