That Led Zepplin Devil Worship Discussion

hmm, how about The Doors? I don't think that Led Zeppeling was satanic really. You also have to realize that in the 1960s and 1970s there was a lot of right-wing conservatism, and a witch hunt for anti-capitalists and anti-conservative leaders. Today USA is more liberal, and even though some rock bands are even more satanic than The Doors and Zeppelin we don't see them labeled as satanic by the mainstream media

nanovapor

Originally posted by FlyersFan
(I named the thread like that in honor of 'That 70's Show'
- same time frame for Led Zepplin)

There is an urban legend about Led Zepplin.
Well … supposedly an urban legend.

Allegedly Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin is a devout devil worshipper. He was obsessed with Edward Alexander “Aleister” Crowley, going so far as to purchase Crowley’s home and some of his clothing. Included in that clothing was one of Crowleys long black robes in which Page would walk around the Crowley/Page home in.

Many claim that the reverse speech of Stairway to Heaven reveals the Satanism. Many also claim that the forward speech of Stairway to Heaven reveals Satanism and that the ‘lady’ is the consort of the devil.

Crowley taught this saying – “Do what thou wilt shalt be the whole of the law.” Jimmy Page had inscribed in the vinyl on the third Zeppelin Album “Do what thou wilt. So mete it Be.”

During Led Zepplin concerts, Page would do Crowleys Devil Worship rituals without the crowd knowning.

Anyways – I present to you the reverse speech Stairway to Heaven.
I LOVE THIS STUFF. I don’t believe it means anything.
But it’s still creepy fun to look into.

You Tube of Reverse Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven reverse speech

More music reverse speech
(some cuss words)

Jimmy Page was only one member of the band. However, the other members must have been aware of what he was doing in regards to what he was doing with the music and albums as well as what he was doing on stage.

So was Jimmy Page a devil worshipper?
Was Led Zepplin a band of co-horts?
Was it all just 70's style anti-establishment fun?
Was it serious or just a big joke?

Does it matter if we are all singing along to songs, and having school proms named after the songs, when the songs are songs that are demonic?

Does it matter?

I really do not think it would be 'devil worshiping', it may seem to them, but it is not Satanism.

'Devil Worshiping' is a false concept conceived by the Middle Aged Church, and subsequently, taken in by moderns to be Satanism. Even though Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' and 'The Divinci Code' are works or fiction, they contain true elements, which I have looked into.

He was correct on his explanation of Satanic cults. The church accuses heretics and scientists of being Satanic Cults (aka the Illuminati!) Satanic Cults, were in fact, a organization against the CHURCH, not GOD. These were perfectly smart men who saw through the dogma of the Church.

The modern church, putting a spin on it, puts Devil Worshiping as crazy Neo-Nazi Goths (lol), and well, you know....

Satanic Cults are not actually Satanic, they are 'against the church', not 'against god'

Some quotes and interviews I could dig up:

An Interview Very long but interesting. Worth the read.

Utter nonsenes. Led Zeppelin was just good music and much much more. I'd suggest you play some christian songs backwards. I am not gonna do it, wuahhhh...but I am sure you'll find messages. Just pure coincidences. You always find something when you're looking for it. About the occult inclinations of Led Zeppelin, sure, good marketing strategy. But for me, christianity is as occult as is devil worship. And I don't beleieve in any of it. Now let me get back to play Led Zeppelin songs in church, please.

I think Page and the others are into the occult but,are not the devil worshipers that many seem to think they are.

Very interesting, there are some weird things like Jimmy Page buying Aleister Crowley's house when he died and the Beatles and all of that mess...

I have also seen some pictures of Jimmy Page and Paul wearing Magick Wizard outfits with stars and moons on them.

Speaking of musicians i was looking into the whole Jay-Z, Kanye West illuminati argument and found this rapper named "time". Pretty interesting, here is the link:

www.youtube.com...

I wouldn't equate Crowley or thelemic teachings to Satanism per say, although I am far from any kind of expert on the topic I do find the subject fascinating and I have been trying to read up on the Golden Dawn and a lot of the works of Crowley.

It seems that he was more of the ego maniac than some evil demon as many portray, although there is no question he was involved in some pretty dark practices.


Cool topic and cool thread, I will continue to follow and see where it goes

I couldn't really care if they were or not.

They could at least sound like Deicide instead of annoying rawk.

Originally posted by asmeone2

I've heard somebody trying to explain that "Do what thou wilt" actually means if everyone follows their god-given destiny, things run like clockwork, but people tend to convalute that into "Do whatever the hell you want." But I really do not know the finer details of Thelema or Crowley's writings so I didn't want to elaborate.

You look like your on to something.
Typically people only know the first part of something and totally distort what is being said. (Its more sensationalist this way.)

Here is the full quote, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" - "Love is the law, love under will"

The latter part tends to be ignored, as it makes Crowley sound like a Christian - no?
Infact, Im sure his image in the minds of Christians is much exaggerated compared to reality - and of course in a negative direction. (You know, "see the glass half empty" mentality.)

Peace

dAlen

Originally posted by dAlen

...Here is the full quote, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" - "Love is the law, love under will"...

dAlen

Actually, dAlen, that's not entirely accurate....

Here is where the phrase "Love is the law, love under will" first appears in Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law):

57. Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.

Here is where the phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." first appears in the same document:

40. Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Link (scroll to #57 and #40)

Both quotes also appear in the Comments on The Book of the Law. So one quote isn't really the missing half of the other. There are 75 numbered 'phrases' or whatever in The Book of the Law. Click the link and read some of the others. Some are interesting, some are just weird, like:

54. Bahlasti! Ompehda! I spit on your crapulous creeds.

and

49. I am in a secret fourfold word, the blasphemy against all gods of men.

50. Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!

51. With my Hawk’s head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross.

52. I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed & blind him.

53. With my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.

Pretty full on, really.



[edit on 17/12/2008 by Batmanatee]

Originally posted by Benarius
good marketing strategy.

That's what I thought for a long time. This was all just marketing strategy for Led Zepplin to sell albums to rebellious youth of the 1970s. The kiddies would see albums with those symbols on it and hear the rumors and think they were bad-a$$ if they bought them.

However, Page seems to have gone beyond that marketing strategy.

read this

It discusses some of his collection and why he bought Crowleys house.
He talks about a fire that killed everyone in the house.
He talks about a beheading on the property.
He talks about the bad vibes that are there.
Those are the reasons he bought the place.
That definately goes beyond just market strategy.
At least for him. I don't know about the rest of the band.

So I think we have come to this about Jimmy Page - he was/is an avid Crowley fan. So much so that he changed his life drastically in response to his being a fan. We don't know if Page had/has any belief system other than that espoused by Crowley.

We still have to figure out the other Led Zepplin band members and find out if they were avid fans of Crowley as well, what their belief systems are, or if they just went along as a marketing ploy.

We also need to know exactly what Crowley believed.

This site gets into that. It looks like Crowley made up his own religion, I believe it's called - The Law of Thelema. He called himself 'the beast'. His religion leaned toward the Satanic and he 'delighted' in the fact that his mother said the Devil was directing him.

But I have not found any quote saying that Crowley was a devil worshipper. He could have been and didn't know it. Sometimes we humans worship things/beings and we don't really know who or what is on the other end of our worship. But I haven't found anything (YET) in his words that he knowingly worshipped Satan. I'll keep looking.

Great thread!
I don't have much to offer regarding the symbolism or the occult that hasn't already been said.

I can just share my memory of manually reversing Stairway to Heaven on my portable Welcome Back Kotter record player. My parents wouldn't let me mess with their console stereo phonograph in reverse. My buddies and I would gather around Horshack and Epstein trying to get the speed just right and somebody would blurt out " Holy S*** I think I heard it"

If you would like to hear from someone who has direct experience, read on:

When I was 16-25 years of age, I was heavily into the occult, drugs, and the like. I was also very into Led. (Even got a Led Zep Tattoo). I know- immaturity at it's peak.

One evening during a thunderstorm, me, 2 of my best friends who were also heavily into Led, and 2-3 girls were sitting around listening to Led when the discussion of the backmasking on Stairway came up. My friend, Craig, had a tape deck where it was possible to play it backwards or we took the tape apart and reversed the reels, I can't really remember how we did it.

Anyway, we listened. We definately heard "......Satan- here's to my sweet Satan...."- and immediately lightning struck a pine tree right outside the house we were in, the tape deck shut off, (as all power did), and the stereo kicked back on playing the radio on a local station. AT THAT INSTANT- the DJ said here's some more Zep for ya- and started playing another Zep song. ok WEIRD!

The next day, we went outside and looked around in the light. The pine tree that was struck had a ribbon of exploded bark from the top to the bottom in a perfect barber pole design going into the ground.

From then on, bad things happened in that house to people. Bad luck, fights, theft, hatefulness, just a real weird thing. And my father, who happens to be a Pastor and is a very spritual and good man and always warned me and took me to task about "playing around with things you don't understand", swears one night he saw several shadowy shapes dancing around that tree. (which died instantly by the way and was cut down a few months later)

Coincidence? Maybe. Enough of a fear to know to stop messing around with things I don't fully understand. YEP.

Originally posted by Angry Potato
I couldn't really care if they were or not.

They could at least sound like Deicide instead of annoying rawk.

Sorry, Junior...with out Zep, there'd have been no 'Deicide'.

And I'll bet they worship Jimmy Page. My favourite part of the recent movie 'Metal' is when Alice Cooper talks about all of these fierce Norwegian Death Metal types that ask him for his autograph 'for their mothers'. Haw, haw, haw.

Hey hey, my my. Rock and roll wil never die!

Crowley wasn't a devil worshipper. He created (some claim he copied a lot from others) what he called Thelema, which is supposed to mean "will". It is not so much a religion as a set of teachings taken from most major religions and mixed with occult practices. His aim was to find the truth without all the religious baggage. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" is sometimes misunderstood to mean run around doing whatever crazy evil crap you want and screw everyone else. Thelema is a little difficult to understand without extensive study, it's very confusing because it's filled with a lot of symbolism. In studying Thelema, one is supposed to find their "true will". This is supposed to be you deep inner spiritual purpose, not your every whim. This is the "will" you are supposed to do.

Crowley called himself the Great Beast, not because he thought he was the devil, at least not in the evil horned Christian sense. He believed The Beast was one who would bring about a new understanding and enlightenment into the world. Change. The serpent in the garden of eden gave man knowledge and enlightenment. This was apparently perceived as evil by god and followers of him. If you think about it, did he really do something evil to man? (rhetorical question, I don't want to debate that).

Crowley supposedly received what he named "The Book of the Law" dictated from a spirit names Aiwaz, which he believed to be a coded message for future generations. He tried without luck to "figure it all out", though right in the book itself it said he would not, that someone else in the future would.

Crowleys devil worshiping rap came from a misunderstanding of his studies, teachings, and words. His experimentation with drugs, eventually leading to him becoming a drug addict didn't help his reputation either.

reply to post by MajesticJax


I had a similar experience. When I was around 12 or 13 me and my two cousins were having the same curiosity about this backward message rumors in stairway so we decided to play it backwards to see for ourselves. In their basement in a little corner he had a turntable. We put on the record and manually turned it by hand backwards. Because we were doing it by hand it was distorted and all but we definitely heard it say something about satan. At that exact point the needle went up and moved over to the resting point like it does when it reaches the end of a record and the player shut off. Sorry, no lightening strikes or dancing shadows but it scared a bunch of 12 year olds. We vacated the basement rather quickly and didn't go back down for a day or so.

Good lord folks, its all about marketing. Nothing exists that we did not create ourselves. Which is more attractive and generates more sales to rebellious, teen record buyers drunk and on acid? It is not the nerd with the pocket protector. It's the guy in the flaming outfit whose record you spin backwards & speaks of Satan. It is certainly better entertainment then Tiny Tim creepily fondling his ukulele.

Did these acid lickers delve into the occult innocently? I will say yes. Did they keep rolling with it when the dollars began pouring in? Absolutely!! From bell bottoms to parachute pants we have all been there. The only reason debates like this exists is the sheer fact the we do not want to admit that we ourselves were stupid. Do I own led zeppelin albums and sing them in shower with all my heart? Hell yes! On occasion I can also be caught singing "karma chameleon", "you spin me right round baby" and "my balls are always bouncing from the left and to the right". It's hard to get ahead of the flock when all you see is ass............



~Hyp

I FOUND SOME GREAT QUOTES ...

"I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff." - Aleister Crowley

So that that is what Aleister Crowley believed about the Devil.

Jimmy Page is a devotee of Crowley and this is what he said about him -

Read here

"My house used to belong to Aleister Crowley. I knew that when I moved in. Magick's very important if people can go through it. I think Crowley's completely relevant today. We're still searching for the truth. The search goes on. Crowley didn't have a very high opinion of women and I don't think he was wrong. ...."

"My interest in the occult started when I was 15. I do not worship the devil but Magick does intrigue me. Magick of all kinds"

What I can relate to is Crowley's system of self-liberation in which repression is the greatest work of sin. It's like being in a job when you want to be doing something else. That's the area where the True Will should come forward. And when you've discovered your True Will you should just forge ahead like a steam train.

So what we have with Jimmy Page - He is a Crowley devotee. Crowley wanted to be the devils 'Chief of Staff'. Jimmy Page said that he (Page) loved Crowley's Magick but that he (Page) wasn't a devil worshipper.

Perhaps Page didn't fully see what the motivation behind Crowleys Magick was. The devil is in the details. At least that's what I see. Page said he didn't worship the devil. But it looks like he was (and is) part of something that has the devil at the roots. If Crowley is the Devil's self proclaimed 'chief of staff' ... hmmm ....



BTW - Read that entire link I provided. It's got some amazing supernatural information surrounding Page. Spooky!

Side note - For those interested - Jimmy page has a bookshop that sells occult books called "Equinox" at 4, Holland Street, Kensington, London

John Paul Jones.

For a rocker he's rather reserved and quiet about his personal life and beliefs. His official website still uses the symbol from the Led Zepplin days. He's playing a bit with the Foo Fighters. But there isn't anything other than that symbol to indicate anything about spiritual matters. At least that I can find.