Showing posts with label magician. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magician. Show all posts

Friday, May 22, 2015

1926 Silent Movie Based on Aleister Crowley

Reviewed at Dangerous Minds, the 1926 silent movie, The Magician, was adapted by Rex Ingram from the novel of that name written by W. Somerset Maugham. The main character, Haddo, was based on Aleister Crowley (1875-1947).

One sentence Mage Music review: The Magician is not the Star Wars of the silent movie era, but it has some historical value.
1926 silent movie based on Aleister Crowley
Crowley was not happy with the book. He filed an injunction against the French premier of the movie, holding out for publicity and power after being offered a settlement. Crowley lost.

Irish film director, producer, writer and actor Rex Ingram (1892-1950) made only one "talkie" but he was considered one of the top creative people of his day. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

German actor Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, portraying Aleister Crowley
Paul Wegener (1874-1948) was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema. He started out as a law student, which may have prepared him for his acting career.

This was before Jimmy Page's time, of course.  Now back to your regular musical programming.

♪ Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light) (Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti 2014 remaster) YouTube
♪ Shining in the Light (Page & Plant)YouTube

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Real music, real Magick

Mage Music: Real Magick jimmypagemusic.blogspot.com

A lot of music today … [the] living energy has become sanitized.
~ Jimmy Page, 2009 interview with Neil McCormick

One of the characteristics of stage magic is the use of distraction so you won’t see what’s really going on. While the coin is being retrieved from an ear or a woman is being sawed in half, the magician’s hands are constantly moving, cards are being flipped from a distance to fly through the air, the sexy assistant moves things around the stage. The stage is set in deep shadows and bright lights. Swirling capes and smoke and mirrors mask and distort what you see so that you only see what the magician intends for you to see.

The idea is to misdirect your attention. You aren't supposed to notice that there is engineering used to create the trick that leads to the "magic".

There is nothing Magick about it, of course.

Now consider this: How much of what I have just described would also describe today’s music performances, onstage or video? Spotlights and smoke, explosions and flashing lights. Bizarre hair and makeup, risqué costumes and stage sets that mask and distort. Giant display screens to make sure you are looking at exactly what you should be, so that your attention is directed away from the music itself.

At the very core of this phenomenon is the sorry fact that there's very little Magick to most of the music out there these days. Oh, it's entertaining all right. There might even be some catchy tunes. But is it great music or is it the aural equivalent of junk food?

The full quote from the Jimmy Page interview of 2009 is this: " A lot of music today, they work electronically, tidying everything up, but that living energy has become sanitized. In Led Zeppelin we managed to do some of those major albums in three weeks. People today can't understand that. It's beyond them."

When it comes straight from the soul, creativity can flow from the musician with no need for the help of visual diversion. When you, the audience, eliminate the bells and whistles, the lights and distractions, does the music you listen to have the living energy - the Magick - that will make it worth listening to for the next fifty years?

A steady diet of junk food will eventually kill you. I'm pretty sure a steady diet of sanitized, junk music will eventually shrivel your soul. How's that for food for thought?


Neil McCormick interview of Jimmy Page 2009

Neil McCormick in May 2014:  Do you really need me to tell you how good they are? We’ve been listening to this music for more than 40 years and it never gets old.


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Accidental Mage

The fact that [certain mages] were famous in mainstream circles was just a strike against them. By the standards of magical society they'd fallen at the first hurdle: they hadn't had the basic good sense to keep their shit to themselves.
~ Lev Grossman, The Magicians: A Novel
Mage Music 51: Accidental Mage  jimmypagemusic.blogspot.com


Mage Music 51

Not everyone who seems to be a Mage is really a Mage.
 
These things do not mean a person is a Mage:
  1. Other people think that person is a Mage.
  2. A person follows a particular philosophy that focuses on or embraces Magick or the occult (e.g. Thelema, Wicca, Kabbalah).
  3. A person engages in practices associated with Magick or the occult (e.g. augury, fortune telling, scrying, tarot reading, rituals).
  4. A person can actually use Magick to change reality.

Not Mage

Not everyone who is popularly thought of as being a Mage is really a Mage. Being a Mage is a whole person thing, not a job or hobby. "Mage" is a description of a person's state of a being, not his skill set.

A Mage is merged with Magick, and in his mind the difference between the inner world of Magick and outer world of reality is necessarily rather fuzzy. Just because a person studies Magickal theory or performs the practices doesn't mean that Magick has infused his very soul, any more than just having an MD makes a person a healer.

A person isn't necessarily a Mage even if clear acts of altering reality are witnessed. What would have been seen is one instance of Magick, not necessarily the act of a Mage.  After all, ordinary people are able to do Magick, too - Mages don't have a monopoly on Magick.

You can't just ask the person in question, because if he's real he probably won't want to tell you.  And of course, even if he was willing to admit it he might not understand that he is a Mage, particularly if the Magick comes through the act of creation known as art.


Accidental Mages

The principles of Magick hold true across all disciplines and rituals that are used to change reality, but nowhere is Magick so unconsciously and accidentally evoked as within the area of creative arts, particularly music.

Music that carries Magick is produced by a very few musicians. Even fewer of those who do so are aware they are doing it - or care. Any artists' purpose is art, not the practice or the study of Magick. However, when an artist sufficiently merges himself with the music (or painting or whatever medium) and his desire and will are powerful enough, the act of creation is ultimately no different than any formal ritual of Magick.

Intense desire and will applied to any ritual submerges the performer into the ritual so that nothing else exists but the now of the Work. This is what it takes to change reality, whether it's the alchemy of chemicals or of musical notes.

The beauty of Magick is that anyone can do it, but like with a great musical performance, not everyone can do it so consistently and so well that they live it in their bones, their cells, their soul. The difference between the person who can perform discrete acts of Magick and a Mage is the difference between oh, you and me and Jimmy Page.

Mr. Page has always maintained that his music says everything there needs to be said about him.  If he is a Mage, he has the good sense to keep that to himself and let the music be the Magick.

Can you hear the Magick?  Case closed.




Nattering on:

I listened to Led Zeppelin's Madison Square Garden show of Wednesday Feb 12, 1975 while working on this post. That made writing the post a very slow process, indeed, since I kept stopping to listen closely to the music.

That show was just prior to the release of  Physical Graffiti and when Mr. Plant introduces Kashmir, the audience doesn't go wild because they didn't really know what it was.  That seems so strange now!

"We came four blocks in the snow to get here, do you realize that?" says Robert Plant.  Funny guy.

By the way - Amazon.com gives free MP3 downloads when you buy CDs. A good deal - 2 for the price of one with no copyright guilt.



Sunday, July 15, 2012

Mage Music: Magickal Interlude

Take a deep breath of enlightenment...


Mage Music 10: A Magickal Interlude

I turned on the radio while driving home from Colorado last weekend, after getting within range of a decently strong station.  I had forgotten to bring my iPod so was otherwise without music for most of the 12 hour drive as I can’t stand commercial radio, but after this many hours on the road I was getting tired and needed something to keep me going.  As usual I was listening for hints of Mage Music – it’s something I always do, though of course I rarely come across it.  Doesn't mean that the music I hear carries no hint of Magick – it could be there, it’s just that I'm not open to hearing it from those sources.  We all have favorite bands, after all!

Anyway, I'm listening hour after hour to stuff that sounds pretty much the same: That fuzzy, high-gain guitar distortion effect, the vocalists belting out lyrics that are a full stop musically, not meant for more.  Song after song, the music was so much the same that it all ended up being white noise after a while.  Truly - I was hearing the same music no matter what the song and what the band, all of it sounding like it could be one group with one big playlist, some songs marginally better than others at best.

The annoyance factor alone was keeping me awake.

Then, a couple hours into this drek, I heard the first chords of Kashmir.  It was like an electric shock. It was like the whole world stopped and took a cleansing breath.  It was clarity, precision, meaning, all there in one soaring, wide-open, no-fooling around Magickal package.  I felt like the sun had come out when I hadn't realized it was cloudy.  I felt like I could breathe again freely when I hadn't known I had been holding my breath.    I felt emotions loosen that had been wound up tightly, and a crazy grin plastered itself across my face.

I felt like I had been sucker punched in the psyche.  It felt good.

I've always loved Kashmir; even though there's no extensive Jimmy Page solos in it.  Still, the melody is based on Mr. Page’s unique and immediately identifiable chord progression, a riff so gripping that it entrances and practically pries open the soul of the willing listener to the Magick.  A riff so powerful, too, that it has been adopted by other guitarists who play it in their own songs, never realizing that that the Magick isn’t in the notes but in the soul of the Mage who conjures the music.

Physical Graffiti
album cover
I've always felt Kashmir is Led Zeppelin's best work ever, and an example of a Mage Musician's work beyond the guitar - precise and incredibly powerful orchestration and production that supports the higher-level content above the notes to produce music that is On Purpose.  Led Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis describes Kashmir as “the finest example of the sheer majesty of Zeppelin's special chemistry”.  [Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin (1994)]

"Let me take you there. Let me take you there..." Robert Plant sings.  I heard the lyrics totally differently as I drove down the road.  I realized it wasn't an offer to take me to some mythological Shangri-La at all, but rather to a much higher plane. I all but stopped my truck and let myself go.

And then it was over, the silly grin still pasted on my face as the next awful muddle of metal pedal buzz came on.  The ray of light shining through the spiritual cloud of music had been obscured again.  But I had heard.  I had been taken through both time and space for a few moments while driving down the freeway.


Direct links to Kashmir
No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded with the London Metropolitan Orchestra & Hossam Ramzy Ensemble 1994 


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Mage Music: Lucifer, Bringer of Light

Mage Music:  Lucifer, Bringer of Light

There is no doubt that music is a form of communication, a kind of language that is meant to convey meaning without words.  Music can convey mental images and states of emotion by learned association or, like magic, directly through the music itself.

Learned association:  Rossini’s The William Tell Overture is so associated with the TV show, The Lone Ranger, that it is almost impossible not to imagine the Masked Man and his sidekick, Tonto, when hearing the music.  Similarly, Wagner’s The Ride of the Vakyries brings forth the image of the helicopters of Apocalypse Now.  Who, other than students of classical music, knows that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a symphonic poem written in 1896-97 by the French composer Paul Dukas, and not in the 20th century by Walt Disney?   The instruments of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf are so well-dedicated to specific characters and actions that they scarcely need the words of the children’s story to tell what is happening (the links provided here and below are to a version charmingly narrated by David Bowie). Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten movements that ushers the listener through an exhibition of paintings by the artist Viktor Hartmann.  Even without having images to guide the listener, the music clearly describes passage through the exhibition as well as the artworks themselves.  

Or like magic:  The potential for communication through music is vast - yet sometimes what is offered cannot be expressed at all through words, and sometimes the emotions conveyed are not the common ones of everyday life - particularly when a mage offers something from the deepest mind and soul, reaching for the infinite, embedding concepts that no language can express, opening the path to knowledge and enlightenment to the listener.

“Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite.” Thomas Carlyle

Like moths to the flame, mage music pulls in all but the most spiritually deaf to transcendent realms that they otherwise might never reach on their own.  In this sense, the mage musician is a Lucifer, bringer of light, bringer of enlightenment.

Contrary to popular belief, however, Lucifer is not the devil. 


Fallen angel

The association of the unfortunate Lucifer and ultimate evil comes from relatively modern Judaic and Christian religious writing.  To the ancient Greeks, Eosphoros and Hesperus were the gods of the “star” Venus:  Eosphoros was the morning star, Hesperus the evening.  Eosphoros translates as “Dawn-Bringer”, or Bringer of Light; the ancient Roman name for that same god was Luciferus, or Lucifer, which translates as “light-bearer”.

Bringers of light have a long tradition of suffering for their efforts.  In both Vedic and Greek mythology, the theft of fire from the gods -  fire (knowledge, enlightenment) that was then given to humans who had none - was severely punished.  The Greek Prometheus, a figure representing human striving for knowledge (particularly scientific knowledge), was bound to a rock for eternity; each day Zeus’ eagle fed on the immortal’s liver, which grew back and was eaten by the eagle again the next day.  In the Garden of Eden, Eve was offered the forbidden apple from the Tree of Enlightenment by the snake, and when she took it and was then found out by God, the snake was condemned to slither on its belly for all eternity, forever the enemy of humankind.

Gustav Dore illustration for
Paradise Lost 
Although the story of Lucifer’s demotion from archangel status says that he became the devil because he dared to elevate himself to the level of God (i.e. to have the knowledge of the infinite, thus enlightenment), in fact the connection of a fallen angel with evil did not come about until approximately the first century BC in Judaic writings - and even then not about Lucifer, but some other angelic being named Satan.  Lucifer, good guy bringer of light, had existed long before the Judaic writings and was not associated with Satan until some time after the death of Christ.  It was, simply, the new Christian religion's way to take care of pesky free-thinking angels:  Combine them into one.

In human tradition, there always seems to be a steep price to be paid for the gift of knowledge and enlightenment, and it isn’t always paid by the bringer – sometimes the recipient is the one punished for daring to seek more.  Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, forever blocked from the Tree of Life, and burdened with sin for choosing enlightenment.  It happens even in fairy tails:  Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid yearns for knowledge of the world above the sea.  A “strange child, quiet and thoughtful”, the youngest mermaid can only have an immortal soul like humans do if she chooses to give up immortal life, is willing to lose her tongue and accept that every step she takes will stab her with pain.  Even Siddhartha must give up his wealth and position as prince of the realm and suffer unto death before becoming the enlightened Buddha.

The seeking of enlightenment is obviously not in itself evil, but it does threaten the status quo and it is that threat that is labeled evil by the powers that be.  Beyond the fairy tales and mythology, many have died throughout human history, victims of religious, political and social persecution in reaction to the act of independent thinking - be it science, the arts, the quest for direct spiritual knowledge, or simply alternate lifestyle.  

Bringing enlightenment and knowledge to humans is not for the faint of heart.  Lucifer is not evil, but he pays the price for bringing light.


Pushing the musical envelope

Image from video of 1977 Page
solo with theramin & bow 
The mage musician or any artist at the mage level, like Lucifer or Prometheus, risks being persecuted and thereby associated with evil - not just for seeking personal enlightenment but for offering it to others through their art. The best art may not be the most beautiful, but rather  something that can be disturbing in ways that cannot even be pinned down.  This can be a sign of the magical.

Jimmy Page has not hidden his interest in the occult teachings of Aleister Crowley.  It would be easy - but not necessarily correct - to point to that interest as the reason that Mr. Page's work (including the music of Led Zeppelin) has been  accused of being associated with the black arts and the devil.  I believe, however, that such accusations have not been truly based on any connection with the occult - after all, the world is full of much darker stuff that is tolerated and not claimed to be the work of Satan - but because the music that Jimmy Page creates is so powerful, so full of other, that the magic cannot be hidden, and the enlightenment that it brings is feared by those who do not seek it or whose power would be threatened by it.  

From Jimmy Page's website recently:  
"Here is a section of my solo spot that features the theremin and the bow and the exploration of both. It's lengthy but gives an example of my avant garde journey with this sonic architecture."  (July 17, 1977 Seattle Kingdome with Led Zeppelin)  
Jimmy Page began experimenting with alternative sound early on:  Multiple instruments, alternate tunings, manipulation and distortion of sound - above all with sheer outrageous pushing of the musical envelope.  Some of the results are not traditionally melodic, but they sound surrealistically meaningful.  What is being created can be so outside our experience that it is hard to resist hunting for something we can hang on to, an association that makes sense of what we are hearing.  The reverberations of the bowed guitar and the theramin could be the voices of the lonely denizens of the depths, bits of captured alien communication between the stars, or perhaps fragments of restless dreams.  We have no guide; the meaning is outside our intellectual grasp.  We are forced to either allow ourselves to be enlightened or to turn away.  If we risk it, the magic will speak to hearts and soul in some way that can be frightening or disturbing - or exciting - depending on the listener’s openness to what is being offered.

The Seattle solo provides nearly 15 minutes of sound outside the normal realm of expectation.  It is in no way ordinary and it might not even be considered music at all.  It is a kind of exploration of the unknown through alchemical ritual:  A seeking, a summoning, and transformation.  It brings a clear sense of there being much more being offered than what is heard - a sense of vastness and something that is not music but is borne through the music.  Magic, bringing light.
"I may not believe in myself, but I believe in what I’m doing." Jimmy Page
Dangerous stuff, that mage music.
Rossini, William Tell Overture Finale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7O91GDWGPU

Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU

Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYse0gZZdU

Prokofiev , Peter and the Wolf, Narrated version by David Bowie

Mussorgsky Pictures At An Exhibition, Promenade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5r8sa863Ts
Emerson Lake Palmer version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y1x04hAUT4

Jimmy Page, Seattle Kingdome solo with bowed guitar and theramin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtoVZ4eObg8


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Mage Music: Ritual is not Magick


A black robe with a black cat looking on, a few candles and props, a chanted spell and a pass with the wand:  Magic?  No way!  On stage, maybe - but that's not real magick at all.

The truth:  Even when they use tools, today’s occult magicians and most other reality transforming professionals don't perform rituals like they did in the olden days.  In spite of what you may have learned from Harry Potter, real magic doesn’t require wands, spells, magic potions and powders, pentangles, crystals or any other prop to make the connections with the energy that will do the heavy lifting.  Still, all those things and more can be used to create magic - even if they are just tools that make the job easier.

The need to use specific tools of magic is indirectly proportionate to the skill of the mage. What this means is that a powerful mage can use anything – or nothing at all – to bring about transformations in the world, whereas a lesser magician can become dependent upon ritual, on the use of tools in a formulaic way to focus the mind and keep the will of the magician on task.

The reason rituals and magical props are not intrinsically necessary is because rituals are not the magic itself.  The fact is, anyone can use the recommended magical tools and perform the prescribed rituals with them, but only some will get the desired magical results.  Even the most highly skilled practice of ritual can never achieve the same level of results as a gifted mage who isn’t even half trying, because magical success resides not in the ritual but in the person performing the magic.

Lascaux, France paleolithicave painting

A little history
One theory of art history is that cave paintings, petrographs and petroglyphs were not art so much as summonings, blessings, and/or entreaties to the spirit world for success in the hunt.  The Lascaux cave paintings are around 17,300 years old and petroglyphs sites in Australia have been dated at 27,000 to 40,000 years old.  Undoubtedly the first human music consisted of humming, whistling, and singing; rhythm-keeping in the form of clapping or drumming must have occurred early on as well.

Music is powerful.  We don’t need science to tell us that music can evoke strong emotions and changed states of awareness (although science can, in fact, tell us how that works).  Shamanic drumming has its modern-day counterpart in trance music; a young child can tell the difference between happy and sad music; words that are used to describe music also are used to describe spiritual experience.  There has always been something magical about the application of paint to canvas or stringing one word or one musical note after another and having the end result be something that has meaning above and beyond the physical object.  For some practitioners of the various arts, the result is also magick.


Performance vs. creation

Jimmy Page is often referred to as “The Master” or “Mage”.   Magick or music - the honorifics acknowledge the quality and quantity his gift and his expression of it.  Yet performance itself, no matter how dazzling and technically excellent, does not a Master make.

Jimmy Page is definitely a master musician.  The YouTube playlist provided here includes selections of original music of Mr. Page's over a 15 year period from 1983-1998.  These songs were chosen to provide a powerful example of the skill of a musician at the level of mage.  Please note that some songs have solos that I have identified for particular consideration (also scroll down for individual links).

While any search of YouTube will yield numerous young guitarists (and some not-so-young or unknown) who have performed Jimmy Page’s tracks from various songs, none carry the magic of Mr. Page’s own work as he performs it.  Many can play the works of Jimmy Page's with technical excellence that may surpass his own technical skills, but none of it is magic.

“Music is an outburst of the soul.”  Frederick Delius

Jimmy Page, as has often been noted by his detractors, can be a sloppy guitarist and even off-pitch, yet somehow the magic is still there.  This is because ritual – musical technique – is not the magic.  You can listen to far more technically accomplished guitarists and be left cold.  Magic comes about as a result of the desire and will of the mage, not technique.  Jimmy Page plays music and makes it his own - he is always creating, not simply performing.  The music he produces is the result of focus of his desire and will; he is not merely producing a sequence of notes on his guitar that he has produced before, that anyone can produce – he is creating a new state in the world that matches his inner vision.

Each of the songs in the playlist is different, but each at its core expresses a certain Truth.  The expression of that Truth is magic.


It is highly recommended that you do not watch the videos while listening to the selections below. Concentrate on the sound for there lies the magic.


1983  Midnight Moonlight Live, ARMS concert with Paul Rogers [note particularly 3:23 – 5:15]
1988  Emerald Eyes Studio version, Outrider
1988  Writes of Winter Studio version, Outrider 
1993  Saccharin Unreleased, Coverdale/Page  [note particularly 2:50 – 3:16]
1998  Walking Into Clarksdale Live,  La Cigale Paris March 30 [note particularly 4:22 – end]