Tag: zoso

theeyeofzoro:

THELEMIC   GREETINGS!
Jimmy, Charlotte & Scarlet Page

Imagine getting a Holiday card from Jimmy Page at the height of his success and instead of it saying “Merry Christmas” or the more politically correct “Happy Holidays”, it says instead… “Thelemic Greetings”.

Bob Freeman is an author, artist, and paranormal adventurer from rural Indiana, and also a member of the Aleister Crowley Society.  In February of 2011 Bob posted on his blog Occult Detective an entry regarding a set of greeting cards from Jimmy Page being for sale in the Weiser Antiquarian Catalog.   Weiser Antiquarian, has been one of the world’s leading suppliers of rare, secondhand, and out-of-print books on comparative religion, mysticism, and the occult for over 88 years.  

A set of hand signed greetings cards from Jimmy Page being sold from a private collection is not that all interesting.    However the images he had reproduced on the cover of these cards and what he had printed inside, is what intrigues me.   Specifically, what was the spiritual significance of the artwork chosen for these holiday cards? 

The first of the two privately printed greeting cards, was commissioned and sent out by Jimmy Page circa 1972 with the second one dated 1973.  Further the Weiser Catalog stated… The cards are:

a) A large (6″ x 8″ – when folded) undated greeting card privately produced for Jimmy Page and sent out by him circa Christmas 1972.  The card has a reproduction of a black and white work by Austin Osman Spare on the front.  Inside is the printed text “Jimmy Page / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex.” Above this it is boldly signed “[name of recipient] 93 93/93 Jimmy Page.”

b) A large (6″ x 8″ – when folded) undated greeting card privately produced for Jimmy Page and sent out by him at Christmas 1973. It has a reproduction of a drawing by Aleister Crowley printed in dark red on the front, and inside has the printed text “Thelemic Greetings” / Jimmy, Charlotte & Scarlet Page / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex.”  This card is NOT signed.

Despite Jimmy Page’s well-known interest in Thelema, items directly connecting him with the spiritual philosophy or religion that Aleister Crowley founded in 1904 with the writing of the Book of Law are extremely scarce.  Never mind associating Thelema indirectly to Jimmy’s partner Charlotte Martin and his daughter Scarlet.  

The artwork visible in the above image [Bottom Row-Left] is from the actual Weiser Catalog listing for the cards.  It shows the Aleister Crowley drawing b) and Austin Osman Spare’s Portrait of the Artist (1907) a) tucked behind the card with Crowley drawing.  Phil Baker, author of several books on Austin Osman Spare, chose this very image for the cover of  “Austin Osman Spare – The Occult Life of London’s Legendary Artist”, and states on page 46 of this book that this image is in the private collection of Jimmy Page.  It is further stated in the one sheet for this book… “that the world’s largest Spare collection is held by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.”

This Austin Osman Spare self portrait was painted in 1907.  In October of 1907, Spare held his first major exhibition, titled simply “Black and White Drawings by Austin O Spare”, at the Bruton Gallery in London’s West End.  Attracting widespread interest and sensational views in the press, he was widely compared to Aubrey Beardsley, with reviewers commenting on what they saw as the eccentric and grotesque nature of his work. The World commented that “his inventive faculty is stupendous and terrifying in its creative flow of impossible horrors”, while The Observer noted that “Mr. Spare’s art is abnormal, unhealthy, wildly fantastic and unintelligible”.

Baker writes in his book [that ‘Portrait of the Artist’]…“It is a remarkable work of Edwardian black-and-white art, and if only this one work survived people would say ‘Who was that artist…?’  Baker also provides a great interpretation of this self portrait on pages 46 through 48.  

Spare depicts himself staring straight at the viewer with a remarkably unique hand gesture.  In front of him, on an idealized desk, are over twenty objects.  Some objects are typically found on a desk and others appear to be from his creative minds eye. 

The description inside the card, “[name of recipient] 93 93/93 Jimmy Page” followed by / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex, is very similar to what has been discovered to have been sent by Page to Grady Louis McMurtry.  Grady, the student of Aleister Crowley, is best known for reviving the fraternal organization, Ordo Templi Orientis, which Grady headed from 1971 until his death in 1985.   

I found what appears to be actual images of the second greeting card on Lashtal.com, The Home of Aleister Crowley Society.  This card was sent out circa Christmas 1973 and features an Untitled drawing by Aleister Crowley dated Aquarius I7 [1934] whose media was pen and ink on paper.   This drawing was on exhibit in April of 1998 at the October Gallery in London.  Aleister Crowley: Paintings and Drawings – A Retrospective Exhibition was the first time Crowley’s expressionist drawings were shown in public since 1931.  The exhibition was made possible by Kenneth Anger and the OTO archives along with private collections.  The above drawing was listed as “Private Collection”.   If the first card had a reproduction of artwork now owned by Page, could the original work of this drawing also be owned by Page?

Interestingly a plate of this very drawing was created for inclusion in Kenneth Grant’s 1994 book titled “Beyond The Mauve Zone”.   This same Crowley drawing can be found on page 190 as plate 12. captioned “If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom…”. (AL. II. 26)  A quote from Aleister Crowley’s Liber AL, (also known as The Book of the Law) Chapter II passage 26.

Page’s Thelemic Holiday Card, sent out 39 years after it was drawn, says nothing about what the artist was depicting, as neither did the wall card at the exhibition in 1998, 64 years after it’s release.  Does Kenneth Grant’s caption give us some insight to the meaning behind this drawing?

Grant, a close personal friend to Austin Osman Spare and secretary to Aleister Crowley was granted by Karl Germer to run a UK OTO lodge from 1951 to 1955.   Germer expelled Grant from the OTO for taking his Nu-Isis lodge in a direction Germer felt was inconsistent with the teaching’s of Crowley.   Grant ignored this and ran his Nu-Isis lodge from 1955-1962.  From 1962 to 1969 little is known about Grant other than in 1969 he appointed himself OHO or the Outer Head of the OTO.  Essentially, according to Kenneth Grant, he was running the OTO worldwide, from London.  Also in 1969 Grady McMurtry, “invoked emergency authorization” from Crowley and became the Frater Superior of O.T.O.   Grady did not acknowledge the OHO office, and remained in this O.T.O. leadership position till his death in 1985. 

Minimal correspondence from Page to McMurty is known to exist, other than a card similar to the one depicted here.   However, there exists on the internet several copies of letters from McMurtry to Page wanting to discuss Page’s plans with the Boleskine property, that Page purchased in 1970, a property formerly owned by Crowley and considered a Kiblah of Thelema.

The schism between the Grady O.T.O. and Grant O.T.O. is well documented on the internet.  Question is, did Thelemites have to pick sides, like Rap musicians did during the East Coast & West Coast Rap Schism?

Did Page lend this drawing to both Kenneth Grant for inclusion in his 1994 book and the Crowley 1998 exhibition?  

None of this is as interesting as what is being referenced in Grant’s caption on page 190 of his book “Beyond The Mauve Zone”.  This line is a from section of Crowley’s Liber AL or The Book of The Law, Chapter  II passage 26 and references Hadit.   

The second chapter of Liber AL is spoken by Hadit, who refers to himself as the “complement of Nu,” his bride.  As such, he is the infinitely condensed point, the center of her infinite circumference. Crowley says of him, “He is eternal energy, the Infinite Motion of Things, the central core of all being.

Hadit is also the Secret Seed. In The Book of the Law he says; “I am alone: there is no god where I am.”. He is “the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.”.  He is identified with kundalini; in The Book of the Law he says, “I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one. There is great danger in me…”

Crowley’s drawing depicts a snake, a symbol for Kundalini.

Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter (Nuit). The combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit (the Hexagram). The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samādhi.  Grant showing a plate on the very opposite page with a hexagram seems perfectly well placed.  

Hadit’s symbols are our Sun, the serpent, the Fire Snake, the star Sothis, the planet Pluto, sperm, the Will, the winged globe, the Hermit, and the hidden flame.

Is it a coincidence that Jimmy Page’s ZoSo sigil itself has two circles with a dot in the center?  A symbol described as above referencing Hadit.

Jimmy Page’s passion for art and its influence on his career is very interesting to me.   The choice for this image on a “Thelemic Greeting” card is very spiritual indeed.   I suspect it represents the Kundalini as divine creative energy, but I will never really know its personal significance to Page  as his choice for the card.

The simple fact remains that the artwork of both Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley were prominently displayed on these holiday cards and on the walls of Jimmy Page’s Equinox Bookshop.   Both Spare and Crowley were artists and practicioners of systems of Magick who knew each other, and both knew Kenneth Grant. 

Did Page know Grant?  It’s hard to believe that they didn’t know each other.  They both lived in London and Miami at roughly the same time and the community of Thelemites interested in original works by both Crowley and Spare is very small and secretive.   Page admits at a minimum reading books co-edited by Symonds and Grant, and has amassed a large collection of works that may have been sourced by Grant.    

Interesting facts regarding Spare is that he submitted several drawings for publication in Crowley’s Thelemite journal, The Equinox, receiving payment in the form of an expensive ritual robe.  Spare was also invited to join Crowley’s Thelemite magical order, the A∴A∴ or Argenteum Astrum.   However Spare shortly fell out with Crowley.  

Spare’s system of Sigil Magick has influenced an entire movement called Chaos Magick and Key to Spare’s magico-religious views were the dual concepts of Zos and Kia.  Spare described “Zos” as the human body and mind, and would later adopt the term as a pseudonym for himself.   Spare gave himself the magickal name “Zos”, and like Page he was a Capricorn who’s ruling planet was Saturn.   Is it a strong coincidence that Jimmy Page gave himself the name Zoso?  Maybe, maybe not.

Follow TheEyeOfZoro for more on the Magickal Life of Jimmy Page

Source: theeyeofzoro
Advertisement

theeyeofzoro:

“It’s unfortunate that my studies of mysticism and
Eastern and Western traditions of magic and tantrism have all come under the
umbrella of [Aleister] Crowley. Yeah, sure, I read a lot of Crowley and I was
fascinated by his techniques and ideas. But I was reading across the board. It
wasn’t un-usual at that time to be interested in comparative religions and
magic. It was quite a major part of my formative experience as much as anything
else.”

~Jimmy Page – Guitar World magazine in 2003, 

[Top Pic:]  Jimmy Page holding the Stele Of Revealing facing a portrait of Aleister Crowley in Kenneth Anger’s Film Lucifer Rising.

[Bottom Pic:]  Kenneth Grant former head of the OTO in Britain. 

[Middle Pic] Image of Gregory Peters book.  Read about his diverse Thalamic experiences here.

[From Wiki] Kenneth Grant (23 May 1924 – 15 January 2011) was an English ceremonial magician and prominent advocate of the Thelemite religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemite organisation, the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis – later renamed the Typhonian Order – with his wife Steffi Grant.

Born in Ilford, Essex, Grant developed an interest in occultism and Asian religion during his teenage years. After several months serving in India with the British Army amid the Second World War, he returned to Britain and became the personal secretary of Aleister Crowley, the ceremonial magician who had founded Thelema in 1904. Crowley instructed Grant in his esoteric practices, initiating him into his own occult order, the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). When Crowley died in 1947, Grant was seen as his heir apparent in Britain, and was appointed as such by the American head of the O.T.O., Karl Germer. Founding the London-based New Isis Lodge in 1954, Grant added to many of Crowley’s Thelemite teachings, bringing in extraterrestrial themes and influences from the work of H.P. Lovecraft. This was anathema to Germer, who expelled Grant from the O.T.O. in 1955, although the latter continued to operate his Lodge regardless until 1962.

In 1949, Grant befriended the occult artist Austin Osman Spare, and in ensuing years helped to publicise Spare’s artwork through a series of publications. During the 1950s he also came to be increasingly interested in Hinduism, exploring the teachings of the Hindu guru Ramana Maharshiand publishing a range of articles on the topic. He was particularly interested in the Hindu tantra, incorporating ideas from it into the Thelemic practices of sex magic. On Germer’s death in 1969, Grant proclaimed himself Outer Head of the O.T.O.; this title was disputed by the American Grady McMurtry, who took control of the O.T.O. Grant’s Order became known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, operating from his Golders Green home. In 1959 he began publishing on the subject of occultism, and proceeded to author the Typhonian Trilogies, as well as a number of novels, books of poetry, and publications devoted to propagating the work of Crowley and Spare.

Grant’s writings and teachings have proved a significant influence over other currents of occultism, including chaos magic, the Temple of Set and the Dragon Rouge. They also attracted academic interest within the study of Western esotericism, particularly from Henrik Bogdan and Dave Evans.

Follow TheEyeOfZoro for more on the Magickal Life of Jimmy Page

Source: theeyeofzoro

theeyeofzoro:

When asked about Jimmy Page’s involvement in the Golden Dawn at the Oxford Union Society Address, Jimmy Page’s response seemed to pass off “his involvement’ as mere interest and research.   

Or was his interest in the Golden Dawn directly integrated into his performance of the music of Led Zeppelin?

“…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.” 
~Jimmy Page

2008, January – Guitar
World Jimmy Page interview: by Brad Tolinski

[From Wiki] The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an organization devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism.

Page’s Involvement in the Golden Dawn is a strange question because most temples of the Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina closed or went into abeyance by the end of the 1930s, with the exceptions of two Stella Matutina temples: Hermes Temple in Bristol, which operated sporadically until 1970.

Was Jimmy Pages bow solo inspired by Golden Dawn Ritual?

Page’s Bow Solo followed a very similar ritualist pattern at each concert that had him noodling about and then appears to have him pointing his bow in 4 cardinal directions similar to a banishing ritual.

This can be seen in the above video starting at 1:32 where Page slaps the neck with his fretting hand and triggers his Maestro Echoplex resulting in the notes A,G,D,E played four times (the first two with long pauses, the second two faster) and then followed by an ascention and decention of the notes F#,G,A,B,C,B,A,G,F#,D,C,B.  With the Echoplex, that is doubled, you have 40 notes, with 10 cycles of four. 

Clearly the number 4 is in play here.   

If Jimmy Page was performing a ceremonial ritual magick during his Violin Bow solo, what ritual was it?  Could it have been his own form of a common Golden Dawn inspired ritual such as Lesser Banishing Ritual or Opening by Watchtower?   Let’s explore…

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (or LBRP) was a ceremonial magic ritual devised and used by the original order of the Golden Dawn that has become a mainstay in modern occultism.  This ritual is considered by many to be a basic preliminary to any other magical work, so much that it was the only ritual, beside initiation rituals, taught to members of the Golden Dawn before they advanced to the Inner Order.

Description and structure
The ritual is highly dynamic, using gesture, visualization and the pronunciation of certain words of power, combining prayer and invocation as well as clearing and preparing a space for further magical or meditative work. The ritual is perceived as banishing any “chaotic” and “impure” forms of the elements from the magician’s circle tracing the Pentagrams in the air and by the power of certain Divine names followed by an invocation of the spiritual forces ruling the elements to fortify and guard the circle.

The principal components of the Qabalistic Cross and the LBRP are drawn from the works of French occultist Eliphas Levi. The text originated as a Jewish prayer, as documented by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in The Hirsch Siddur.

Being that the magician vibrates Hebrew words from the last few lines of the Lord’s Prayer while drawing the 5 points of a pentagram in the each of the cardinal directions.  Read more about the LBRP here:

While the LBRP could be at play I think he was doing something much simpler and Opening by Watchtower ritual seems to make more sense.

At the very least Page points his wand / violin bow toward each of the four directions.   The Four Classical Elements are more akin to the Pagan beliefs and considering Page’s references to Pagan symbols, such as Pan seen here on one of his compliments cards…

It makes more sense that the Bow Solo / ritual is Pagan inspired.  So lets explore the WatchTower idea.

The Ancients divided the world into four basic principles or *elements* earth, water, fire, and air.   And in many modern-day Pagan belief systems, there is a good deal of focus on the four elements – Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.  A few traditions of Wicca also include a “fifth element”, which is Spirit or Self, but that is not universal among all Pagan paths.  These *magical elements* are also of some importance in astrology, a topic of well known interest to Page.

In the tradition of the Golden Dawn a watchtower or guardian, in ceremonial and derived neopagan magical tradition, is a tutelary spirit of one of the four cardinal points or “quarters” (north, east, south, and west).  The Watchtowers are invoked during the ritual of casting a magic circle.

In the Enochian system of magic, brought to public attention by Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century, we find the inclusion of Watchtowers as complex evocational designs.  Some people go so far to believe that the Watchtowers have their origin in the Enochian magic system revealed to the Elizabethan magician John Dee and his scryer Edward Kelley, which was later developed into a working system of magic by S.L. MacGregor Mathers one of the three founders of the Golden Dawn.

In the Golden Dawn magical system, each Watchtower was attributed to a direction and an element:

  • The Great Eastern Quadrangle of Air
  • The Great Western Quadrangle of Water
  • The Great Northern Quadrangle of Earth
  • The Great Southern Quadrangle of Fire

The Tablet of Union was rearranged to form a rectangle attributed to Spirit or Ether. The tablets were brightly colored; squares attributed to the elements were painted in the color of that element, with lettering in complementary colors.

  • Air – yellow with violet letters
  • Water – blue with orange letters
  • Earth – black with green letters
  • Fire – red with green letters

The use of complementary colors, called flashing colors in the Golden Dawn, means that the Watchtowers belong to the class of talismans called flashing tablets. The flashing colors were supposed to draw energy from the atmosphere.  The painted tablets were placed on the walls of the temple during some rituals to symbolize the four quarters. A favorite ritual in the Golden Dawn was the Opening by Watchtower, which was actually a preliminary ritual to purify space and call upon the guardians of the four quarters, similar to casting the magic circle in Wicca. 

The use of complimentary colors, also known as color opposites or flashing colors was not foreign to Jimmy Page as demonstrated here when describing in his own words the painting of his Dragon Telecaster in color opposites:

“…During
my time with The Yardbirds, I
had taken the decision to Consecrate my [Dragon Telecaster] guitar by painting it in psychedelic color
opposites and
employing diffraction grating beneath the clear Perspex scratch
plate.”  ~ Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page Genesis Publications September 2010.

As part of the Opening by Watchtower, the practitioner uses the elemental weapons to summon the angels of the quarters. In the south, for instance, the practitioner uses the Fire Wand to trace an invoking Fire Pentagram, then summons the angels using the three names of God found in the Fire Tablet.

Notice the naming of the bonus disc of previoulsly unreleased tracks included in the  Lucifer Rising – The Second Coming Released March 6th 2015.

01. Lucifer Rising Early Mix (18:59)
02. Sonic Textures 1 – Earth (04:33)
03. Sonic Textures 2 – Air (03:02)
04. Sonic Textures 3 – Fire (01:45)
05. Sonic Textures 4 – Water (01:05)
06. Sonic Textures 5 – Ether (01:04)

Page dedicates these unreleased mixes to the 5 magical elements of the ancients.

The Watchtowers were among the Golden Dawn concepts introduced into Wicca (modern witchcraft) by its founder Gerald Gardner.   Gerald Gardner’s association to the Atlantis Bookshop, a hub for London’s occult world, is evidenced by his attendance of meetings of The Order of the Hidden Masters in its basement during his formative years, and also held meetings of his own Coven there.  The shop not only published Gardner’s first book on witchcraft, the novel High Magic’s Aid, the shop also handled the shipping of Jimmy Page’s 1975 publication Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley edited Goetia.

See my post of Gerald Gardner’s influence on Led Zeppelin III here…   It simply points Page’s familiarity with the phrase “So Mote it Be” of which Page had inscribed into the run off groove of Led Zeppelin III.   

In conclusion:

  • The Four Cardinal Directions Page points to in his Violin Bow solo could very well be the Great Quadrangles of the four elements.
  • Jimmy Page’s awareness of Golden Dawn ritual Flashing Colors is highly probable due to his claim of painting his Dragon Telecaster in Color Opposites.  Flashing Colors association to the four Watchtowers goes back to the 16th century system of Enochian magic.
  • The Watchtowers were among the Golden Dawn concepts introduced into Wicca (modern witchcraft) by its founder Gerald Gardner and Page’s awareness of Gardner is evidenced by his inclusion of Gardner’s So Mote it Be into LZ III.
  • Page’s choice of track titles for in 2015 demonstrates his awareness of the 5 elements.

I get it,  Im reaching here…. but this meditation is fun none the less…

What ever the influence was for Jimmy Page’s Bow Solo, his “involvement in the Golden Dawn” was a well research Experiential Involvement to say the least.

Follow TheEyeOfZoro for more on the Magickal Life of Jimmy Page

theeyeofzoro:

a-flock-of-elefants:

im very happy with my new tattoo

When I see a Zoso tattoo on tumblr, I stop and marvel at the Transcendence of this Sigil.   I use the term transcendent in its meaning… "that, which goes beyond" (transcends) any possible knowledge of a human being.  

If you stop and mediate on this Sigil’s chosen placement, you can see it placed in that… “In Between” space where her hand joins her body.  It is also inverted in such a way, that the Capricorn Symbol [Z] seems to send energy pointed out through the thumb.

I would take a minute and explore the possibility of how Zoso may have came to Jimmy Page and how its power and meaning extends into in
a-flock-of-elefants new tattoo.

The Magical writing and art of Austin Osman Spare was not lost on Jimmy Page.  Phil Baker even points out in his biography Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London’s Lost Artist (Strange Attractor, 2011): that Jimmy Page has one of the largest known collection of Austin Osman Spare artwork.  

And “ZOS” was not only Spare’s magical name, as Spare was also a Capricorn, it gives rise to the idea that ZOS may have been a Sigilized version of Zoso.  Would Spare also wanted a Sigil from his Ruling planet of Saturn?  Also considering that Spare loved to create sigils from shorten words, it is not a stretch that the ZOS may have been a shorted Zoso.   The same symbol for Saturn as published in “ARS MAGICA ARTEFII ET MIHINII” (The
Magic Art of Artefius and Mihinius) Chapter XCI (91)
of Jerome
Cardan’s
( Giralomo
Cardano)
De Rerum Varitate (1557) & Le Dragon Rouge (1820).  

image

But also… for Spare ZOS was much more than just a name and a sigil, it was part of how he referred to himself in the greater context of his magical philosophy.  ZOS was symbolized by the hand, and along with concepts of Kia (the eye) that joined sight and touch, and also the “will”, it was through ZOS and KIA that Spare explored a central mystical vision of the “atmospheric I" or [his] “the real self” in the state of “inbetweeness”, or what has been described as “niether-niether’.

Again look at the above tattoo…
Zos(o), The Hand, The state of “inbetweeness” to the Body (see essay below)….

This tattoo has all of these powerful ideas and I would imagine that it’s powers are alive & deep in its owners subconscious.

Thus, Zoso is a powerful Sigil.  And it has been at work long before Jimmy Page, has been in powerful service to Led Zeppelin’s music and now has transcended deep into modern culture via an army of tattooed Sigils.

From 1959 to 1963, Kenneth & Steffi Grant privately published the Carfax Monographs, a series of short articles on magic published in ten installments, each at a limited print run of 100 that would eventually be assembled together and re-released as Hidden Lore in 1989.  Many Illustrations from the Monographs even appeared in the Laboratory scene of The 1967 Beatles Film Magical Mystery Tour.

I invite you to read about all of these ideas in an essay from Volume IV of the Carfax Monographs first published in 1960 entitled:

Austin Osman Spare: An introduction to his psycho-magical philosophy
by Kenneth Grant
illustrated by a formula from the zoëtic grimoire of Zos
[Read The Entire Essay Here:]


Follow TheEyeOfZoro for more on the Magickal Life of Jimmy Page

Source: a-flock-of-elefants

“Grand Grimoire” Conspiracy

theeyeofzoro:

imjoshingyou:

This one is based on the fact that the so-called “Grand Grimoire” exists, and it does. It is a book, also called “The Red Dragon,” and the “Gospel of Satan.” The book is real because the Roman Catholic Church officially claims ownership of it, but has never let the public glimpse it. It is fact that it was discovered in Jerusalem in 1750, in the tomb of Solomon, written in either Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic. The manuscript has not been dated to an earlier time than this, or else the Church has not said, but the book itself is inscribed with the date of 1522 AD. Theorists claims it was copied in that year from a manuscript written in the 1200s AD or earlier.

The earliest known proof of it comes from the writings of one Honorius of Thebes, whose existence has not been undeniably proven. He may have been Pope Honorius III (1148-1227). Honorius of Thebes is believed to have written something now referred to as the “Sworn Book of Honorius,” from which the Grand Grimoire was derived, or which is, in fact, the Grand Grimoire itself.

The theory claims that Honorius was either Satan himself, or possessed by Satan for the purpose of writing the book. It contains instructions on summoning Satan at any time, at any place on Earth, for various insidious intentions. The word “grimoire” denotes a textbook of magic. Any kind of magic, whether good or bad. A great deal of so-called copies are in circulation around the world, but none of these, the conspiracy theory claims, contains the true words of the actual Grimoire. It is very popular in the voodoo culture of Haiti, and practitioners there claim to use the book all the time, like a cookbook for spells and hexes.

Theorists claims the Grand Grimoire is itself supernatural in that it permanently resists burning, cannot be cut, pierced, penetrated, torn, or in any other way damaged or destroyed. It is the only book with the knowledge of how to summon Satan (all others being fakes that don’t work), with a precise ritual to be performed, and in addition to this, it can summon any number of named demons (Pazuzu, from “The Exorcist” among them). Being written by Satan, it details proofs of various supernatural miracles of the Bible, the precise locations of biblical relics, and even contains Satan’s personal sketches of the faces of Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ. Because it is in the Catholic Church’s possession, the theory goes on to claim that every Pope starts out a human, and then becomes possessed by Satan once he is elected.

The 1989 film “Warlock,” starring Julian Sands as the prospective Antichrist, uses the Grimoire as a major plot device, and goes even further, claiming that the Grimoire contains the secret name of God, which, when uttered backward, will annihilate the Universe. This lister paused the film and inched it forward at the climax to read the secret name, and it is “Roaisha.” Help yourselves. Think it just couldn’t possibly get any better? Well, this last quality of the Grimoire was most likely invented by David Twohy, who wrote the story for the film. But conspiracy theorists have championed the idea ever since, claiming that everything in this entry is based on provable facts, and that these facts are in the Grand Grimoire itself.

So where is the Grimoire? You guessed it – in the Vatican Secret Archives.

Aka Le Dragon Rouge, the source of the stylized Zoso sigil

theeyeofzoro:

JRR Book Works Custom Display Case / Stand / Holder for Letter of Provenance for my Personal copy of Le Dragon Rouge.

I purchased The notorious Grand Grimoire aka Le Dragon Rouge from Raymond Buckland, who’s had it in his library since 1968.  However the end papers were cracking and the binding was in need of repair.

People know this book as the Source for how the Zoso Sigil was stylized. 
(Yes the sigil goes back further to the Alchemical writings of Artephius via Cardano’s Le Rerum Varietate…)

This is the kind of work you get from someone who does not want to mess with the most notorious books of Black Magic that houses the Zoso Sigil.

JRR Book Works 

Source: theeyeofzoro

theeyeofzoro:

On September 27th 2017 the world lost a great teacher of Gardnerian Wicca.

[Top Pic] Raymond Buckland  

[From Wiki] Raymond Buckland (31 August 1934 – 27 September 2017), whose craft name was Robat, was an English writer on the subject of Wicca and the occult, and a significant figure in the history of Wicca, of which he was a high priest in both the Gardnerian and Seax-Wica traditions.

According to his written works, primarily Witchcraft from the Inside, published in 1971, he was the first person in the United States to openly admit to being a practitioner of Wicca, and he introduced the lineage of Gardnerian Wicca to the United States in 1964, after having been initiated by Gerald Gardner’s then-high priestess Monique Wilson in Britain the previous year. He later formed his own tradition dubbed Seax-Wica which focuses on the symbolism of Anglo-Saxon paganism.

In 2014 I was in the market for an antiquarian original edition of Le Dragon Rouge, aka The Grand Grimoire and more importantly the source of the Stylized sigil “ZoSo”.   I was notified of an auction of an original copy of Le Dragon Rouge.  Upon further reading, the auction indicated that the book was from the personal library of Raymond Buckland.

Raymond Buckland’s linage to Gerald Gardner flowed through Monique Wilson and what better to have an original copy of Le Dragon Rouge that in some way could be linked back the Gerald Gardner.  [See my post on Gardner’s direct influence on Led Zeppelin III here.]

When I finally got the most notorious book of Black Magick (the source of Jimmy Page’s ZoSo Sigil) due to its small size and age (early 1800′s), I felt like it needed a proper display stand and protection case.  I commissioned JRR Bookworks to complete minor restoration work to the book and design a protection and display case.  JRR’s original design came to Joe Rose (Owner) in a dream after a few nights of book being in his home office.   

Joe knew how important it was to not only have protection case for the book but also a compartment to hold Raymond’s Hand Signed letter.  Joe hand crafted this a compartment that included hand marbled paper that lined a back velvet side pocket where Raymond Buckland’s Letter of Authentication resides today.

At the time of the sale of his personal copy of Le Dragon Rouge, Raymond was in the process of repurchasing and acquiring artifacts of the Buckland museum of Witchcraft.  Read more about the history of the museum here

I feel very blessed to have now been passed his copy of the notorious Grimoire and pleased he approved of the custom protection case I commission for it.

Rest in Love and Light Raymond Buckland,

TheEyeOfZoro

Below was the email exchange I was honored to have had with him.

From: “TheEyeOfZoro” <theeyeofzoro@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, March 19, 2014 6:38 pm
To: “raymond@raybuckland.com” <raymond@raybuckland.com>
Subject: Le Dragon Rouge

Dear Mr. Buckland,

I just purchased a first edition copy of Le Dragon Rouge from your auction.

The auction description claims this is from your library and an authentication of this can be obtained if requested.

I am hoping this is true and that you would be so kind to authenticate the book.

With great admiration and respect,

TheEyeOfZoro

On Mar 20, 2014, at 6:33 AM, raymond@raybuckland.com wrote:

Yes, Zoro, this is true.  I’ll be happy to put in a letter of authenticity. I’ve had the book since about 1968, it’s in extremely good condition. I hate to part with it but I’m almost 80 and it needs to do something more than just sit on my shelf.  I hope you get a lot of pleasure out of it.

With bright blessings,

Ray-B

After the restoration and custom case was built I sent Raymond pictures of how the books new home looked and this was his responce.

From: raymond@raybuckland.com
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2017 2:12 PM
To: TheEyeOfZoro
Subject: Re: Le Dragon Rouge
 

Thank you so much for sharing that, Zoro.  He has done a wonderful job, both with the
restoration and with the display. Beautiful!  Hopefully you now have many
more years of enjoyment ahead.  Brightest of blessings, in love and light.

Raymond Buckland

Source: theeyeofzoro