Whether or not you’re a fan of Led Zeppelin (admittedly I am not) Chris Salewicz over at loudersound.com composed a brilliant-and-brief breakdown of the occult influence upon Led Zeppelin / LZ 4:
The secrets of Led Zeppelin IV: from ecology to the occult
Sure, there’s a fun breakdown of the LZ 4’s sleeve and it’s likeness to the ecological burden of the TEN-of-WANDS… but the real interest lies within the connection to my personal arts & occult hero: Austin Osman Spare, and the quick read gives readers a wonderful little hint at the majesty that is AO SPARE’s ZOS KIA CULTAS:
…in his grimoire The Book of Pleasure Spare spoke of the Zos Kia Cultus, a philosophy of magic he developed that focuses on one’s individual universe and the influence of the magician’s will on it..
So Spare is what bares the share here. Specifically, the Arts-and-the-Occult Luminary’s influence on guitarist Jimmy Page:
In recent years it has become known that the world’s most prolific collector of paintings by Austin Osman Spare, sometimes described as Britain’s greatest unknown artist, is Jimmy Page. The work he has collected includes Spare’s 1907 Portrait of the Artist. It should not surprise you to learn that Spare was not only a visionary artist, but also a philosopher and occult musician; he was the inspiration for what is now known as chaos magic. One of Spare’s specialities were his sidereal paintings, as though you were looking at a cinema screen from the side. Looking at Spare’s paintings, you may receive similar impressions as you would when listening to the music of Led Zeppelin: images from the far, far past coupled with those from a distant science-fiction future – what you imagine and what you see are equally valid and interrelated.
Hasn’t this been written about to death? Wouldn’t COIL or TOPY be better conduits for occult & music?
Absolutely, but none have had such a direct-connect with these ideas to a massive, wild-eyed audience as LZ. And what can I say, I’m a sucker for the mythos behind works of art… that’s, as they say, my jam.
READ MORE OVER AT LOUDERSOUND.COM
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