Zoso

A Ritual of Rock, Runes and Magick

29 October - 16 November 2007

Ian Haig
Philip Samartzis
Darren Tofts

ZOSO is an installation-based work inspired by Led Zeppelin's fascination with Aleister Crowley, the infamous magus and self-proclaimed "Great Beast". ZOSO takes you into a world where the occult and rock collide and capture the senses. You will think differently about vinyl and antique wood finish. You will never take a Persian rug for granted again. The world will be transformed to the power of 666.

You will become ZOSO.

And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last.

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Essay

Electric Magic

ZOSO is a ceremonial work of transformation. You will not be the same when you leave the gallery. You will think differently about vinyl and antique wood finish. You will never take a Persian rug for granted again. The occult coupling of Jimmy Page and Aleister Crowley will capture your senses. You will become ZOSO.

In the hermetic tradition of the magus, you will commune between the worlds of matter and spirit with the Theremin. And you will come to know that there is no such thing as silence and that words have two meanings. Words, symbols, sound and images will resonate anew. The world will be transformed to the power of 666.

And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last.

He who commenceth this operation in solitude can elect a place according unto his pleasure; that is to say, the interior where the altar and tabernacle will be placed after the manner of a temple; and the part exterior, which with the rest of the place will be as a portico thereunto.
The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, 1458, Book 2, Chapter 11.

He was famously fascinated - some would say unhealthily obsessed - with the occult and, in particular, the black magic practices of Aleister Crowley, who was once dubbed by the press as the 'most evil man in Britain'. Page even bought Crowley's former castle, Boleskine House, on the shores of Loch Ness. When a series of mishaps befell the band some superstitious and/or mischievous souls were all too ready to blame the guitarist's dabblings with the occult. It's not an area of his life Page has ever been prepared to talk about.
Nigel Williamson, "Forget the Myths", Uncut, 96, May 2005.

After magic and religion - indissolubly linked together and seen as one - we reach the magician inventors of the visual and musical arts.
Frances Yates, The Art of Memory, Pimlico, 1992.

The most popular and enduring myth surrounding the Swan Song logo is that the figure is, in fact, Lucifer. Given that, at the time of the label's launch in 1974, Jimmy Page was concurrently working on the soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising, it's understandable why such rumours might circulate.
Mick Wall, "Fallen Angels?" Classic Rock, 96, Summer 2006.

Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.
Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, Lecram Press, 1929.

Yes, the Stones doffed Papa Ghede top hats and expressed sympathy for the devil. But who really holds more satanic majesty? Eurotrash Mick with the MBA or the priapic Pan from Birmingham? Or try running this little thought experiment: You step into an elevator and there's Keith Richards, leaning against the wall. Grinning at you. You murmur something fannish and grateful, awed that this grizzled, fabulously wealthy wraith still walks the earth. Now imagine you're in the same situation, facing Jimmy Page: silent, feline, ominously puffy. You'd probably just want to get the hell out of there.
Erik Davis, Led Zeppelin IV, Continuum 2005.

The first task of the magician is to master his or her immediate environment. Our immediate environment is the phenomenal universe, the microcosm, the 'little universe', of which the mental world forms the foundation. The key to the mastery of this world is the Pentagram.
Lon Milo DuQuette, The Magick of Aleister Crowley. A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema, Weiser Books, 2003.

A rock concert is in fact a rite involving the evocation and transmutation of energy Led Zeppelin bears some resemblance to the trance music found in Morocco, which is magical in origin and purpose - that is, concerned with the evocation and control of spiritual forces.
William S. Burroughs, interview with Jimmy Page, Crawdaddy, June, 1975.

Appearing at the top of the liner sleeve, the four symbols served both as an ad hoc album title and runic standins for the musicians' names. Led Zeppelin was now a secret society.
Stephen Davis, Hammer of the Gods, Berkeley, 1985.

In 1907 Aleister Crowley was expelled from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, along with its then spiritual leader, Samuel Liddell Mathers. In its wake, as the Master Therion, the Great Beast 666, Crowley forms the Astrum Argentium (Order of the Silver Star). This mystical order becomes the foundation of Crowley's magical system of the Law of Thelema ("the one who wills").

In 1968 legendary British rhythm and blues band The Yardbirds break up, leaving twenty-two year old guitarist Jimmy Page with a swag of Scandinavian concert dates to be filled. Recruiting the services of Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, the New Yardbirds rise from the ashes of an inglorious beginning as Led Zeppelin. They owe their name to the conjunction of the element of fire and the Moon.

Darren Tofts
October 2007

Reviews

Real Time (cover) November 2007	Real Time (article) November 2007	mX 24 October 2007

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