The occult message Jimmy Page buried in ‘Led Zeppelin III’
Jimmy Page’s connection with the occult is well-documented. At the height of Led Zeppelin’s fame in the 1970s, Page was into all sorts of esoteric spiritual stuff, leading some to suggest that he was, in fact, a devil worshipper. Unsurprisingly there’s very little evidence that Page was in cahoots with Beelzebub, although he was a devoted follower of someone who may well have been: renowned British occultist Aleister Crowley.
Pretty much everything you know about satanism and the occult has some connection to Aleister Crowley, although he rarely went by that name, preferring the pseudonym of ‘The Beast’. Crowley’s hedonistic brand of neo-paganism centred on the pursuit of finding one’s true will. This meant throwing off the protective sheath of Christianity and embracing all things forbidden. Crowley frequently used sex and psychoactive drugs to bring himself and his followers closer to the spirits and demons that he believed lived just beyond the human realm and would occasionally communicate with mortal souls.
The various rituals Crowley and his followers practised were connected by a system of belief known as ‘Magick’, the key tenant of which is known as the Law of Thelema. It says: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. Following this principle to its logical conclusion, Crowley abandoned the conventions of normal society and embraced impulse and individualism. It’s little wonder, then, that Crowley’s philosophy became so popular during the counterculture era. Jimmy Page was especially fascinated by the occultist’s work, collecting manuscripts and artworks for his personal Crowley collection. He even bought Crowley’s old house on the shore of Loch Ness in 1971, apparently because the haunted cottage provided a good atmosphere for songwriting.
This was the peak of Page’s obsession. The year before he bought the property, the guitarist worked closely with Terry Manning to inscribe Crowley’s liberal dictum “Do What Thou Wilt” on the B-side of original vinyl pressings of Led Zeppelin III. The opposite side, meanwhile, features the inscribed message “So Mote Be It”. For whatever reason, the messages are absent from later versions of the album, meaning they’re incredibly rare and highly prized by collectors. Happy hunting, that’s all I can say.
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