ladyg55:

Jimmy Page, The Red Dragon, and the Infernal Dictionary.

The Sons of Solomon present you with a new discovery, guaranteed to bring froth to the lips of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere.

It’s been a well known fact for a few years that Jimmy Page borrowed his famous Saturnian symbol from the pages of an ancient grimoire called Le Dragon Rouge. But did he own that particularly rare tome, or did he in fact own a copy of The Dictionnaire Infernal, one of only a few publications having published this powerful symbol?

It’s our belief that Page first acquired the image from The Dictionnaire Infernal. The facts add up too well to ignore. Page is/was a student of the Thelemic philosophy of Aliester Crowley. Crowley, before his development of Thelema, was deep into the study of Solomonic magic. One book that boasts Crowley’s intense assistance was an English translation of the Goetia. That publication showcased many woodcut illustrations of Solomonic demons. The very same illustrations that were first featured in this, the Dictionnaire Infernal.

Page obviously had a copy of Crowley’s Goetia in his library. It’s with little doubt that he sought out more of those fabulous images. And where would he find them? Only in the pages of the Dictionnaire Infernal, right alongside the very symbol that Page would eventually make his own.
Below is a detail of the image from The Dictionnaire Infernal, and below that, is the album sleeve that first showcased Page’s classic emblem. Strangely enough, the Dictionnaire Infernal printed the image upside down. It has been right sided here.