Rock Stars / Celebrities you were surprised to find dabbling in the occult

Jimmy Page even used to own Aleister Crowley's old house.

Jayne Mansfield was a member of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan.

...of Killing Joke, obviously. They also dabbled with the Free Masons.

crispin glover

DEFINITELY NOT. If that were the case, probably a huge percentage would be included. But, if a celebrity makes a point of saying "I think Crowley's a genius" or "Crowley changed my life," then I would count that as "dabbling."

DEFINITELY NOT. If that were the case, probably a huge percentage would be included. But, if a celebrity makes a point of saying "I think Crowley's a genius" or "Crowley changed my life," then I would count that as "dabbling."

OH yeah! Someone mentioned Kenneth Anger...

how could I have forgotten the Rolling Stones?! They were (I think all of them) into Crowley and Satanism (lamer than the usual) until they got scared. Brian Jones recorded those Pipes of Pan with Brion Gysin.

Red Hot Chili Peppers have said they are into Chaos magic (the asterisk tattoos are representative of the Chaosphere).

Jimi Hendrix - some kind of occult supposedly, but probably just fried on acid.

Sammy Davis Jr. - yes, he was in the Church of Satan for a while.

Bill Laswell and the entire Axiom label?!? - just joking, but Laswell is definitely clued into Thelema, Chaos and the Incunabula Papers, Process Church, etc. Also, a lot of the musicians on his label seem to be into this shit. Also, Laswell recorded the clearest recording of the Master Musicians of Jajouka to date (the ones Brian Jones recorded on Pipes of Pan).

DEFINITELY NOT. If that were the case, probably a huge percentage would be included. But, if a celebrity makes a point of saying "I think Crowley's a genius" or "Crowley changed my life," then I would count that as "dabbling."

OH yeah! Someone mentioned Kenneth Anger...

how could I have forgotten the Rolling Stones?! They were (I think all of them) into Crowley and Satanism (lamer than the usual) until they got scared. Brian Jones recorded those Pipes of Pan with Brion Gysin.

Red Hot Chili Peppers have said they are into Chaos magic (the asterisk tattoos are representative of the Chaosphere).

Jimi Hendrix - some kind of occult supposedly, but probably just fried on acid.

Sammy Davis Jr. - yes, he was in the Church of Satan for a while.

Bill Laswell and the entire Axiom label?!? - just joking, but Laswell is definitely clued into Thelema, Chaos and the Incunabula Papers, Process Church, etc. Also, a lot of the musicians on his label seem to be into this shit. Also, Laswell recorded the clearest recording of the Master Musicians of Jajouka to date (the ones Brian Jones recorded on Pipes of Pan).

And that reminds me, Miles Davis was into some voodoo kind of stuff, I guess. Laswell redid an album of his.

Sonny Sharrock - voodoo or something.

I don't know if I'd count the millions of college students who've said the same thing as "dabbling in the occult," but I guess the bar is yours to set where you like. (Does my avowed interest in Hustler circa 1990-1994 mean I was dabbling in lesbianism?)

Crowley has been hip reading material off and on for a century, especially for people who want to be set off from the mainstream -- it's never been hard to find people who'll call him a genius, but I really wouldn't take that, in of itself, as a sign of genuine familiarity or interest. (I'm not suggesting there's a reliable way to cast "detect occult dabblage" on celebrities, although I might be hinting it doesn't matter. Either it's unknowable, or "dabbling" becomes such a vague descriptor that it doesn't say anything.)

nope, i believe he and the rest of sabbath were more or less drug-addict christians.

forgot to mention scientology (at least at one point)!

trent reznor?
crispin glover

-- Roger Fidelity (blindjimdeat...), November 1st, 2004.

i don't believe reznor has ever seriously dabbled in the occult, he's really just a (not-so-secret) studio/technology/computer geek.

crispin glover is just "weird" i think. or wants people to think he is.

check danny carey's website for further proof!

doing it for pussy doesn't count.

xpost;

Tep, I just think if you're famous and you're going to bother to put it out there that you think Crowley is a genius or that he changed your life, most likely you have dabbled. OR, you desperately want to be associated with the man to sell records... but in the case of, say Darryl Hall, I doubt that's the case.

Why, though? I'm trying not to be too dismissive, but why should a celebrity's statements like that be taken more seriously than those college students'? What reason is there to think it's any different than the lip service Crowley got in the 20s, or from the Beats? Or the "Buddhist Catholicism" of the 50s and 60s that rarely boiled down to anything more than original flavor Catholicism with "also, Buddha woulda dug Jesus" tacked on?

Granted, it depends on what you mean by dabbling, and you do seem to mean more than "reading."

I guess "academic interest only" is the simplest way to say that.

(The caveat is that I don't find much of merit in any of this stuff, outside of academic interest.)

Well, it's just my own thinking (and I'm not saying it's right) but college students aren't generally announcing a passing interest in something like this to the whole world (potentially). The thing is, with Crowley or the Golden Dawn at least, to feel that this stuff is "genius" or "life-changing," you pretty much have to be dabbling in it and this generally doesn't come until after many, many volumes of reading after which at some point you give up and jump in head first. Reading won't get you very far. I could much more easily see someone saying Anton LaVey was a "genius" and "lifechanging" because his Satanic Bible was written squarely at 14 year olds. But I do see your point and I do not mean to imply that my gut feelings are actually correct.

Did you notice how it was kind of like the Bhagavad Gita? There's a lot to understanding The Book of The Law, so it probably definitely didn't make any damn sense if it's the only thing you read by him. I'll tell ya, though, I've read quite a few things by him and I doubt it would be worth your money, time and effort. If you just kind of want to know what he's on about, #1 good luck and #2 you'll be reading for a loooooong time.

Do celebrities consider their words more than college students do? If they are, does that mean they're more likely to be honest, or to put forth an image? I don't know. I don't take statements like that very seriously -- no moreso than all the pro-Jesus celebrities in the wake of The Passion -- but I've also never put a lot of thought into the sincerity of them, or lack thereof.

Is Britney dabbling in the Kabbalah, or are we excluding the Kabbalah Center from the occult and just classifying it under "California"?

Of course, the real question is what happens when the Harry Potter generation grows up and goes to college.

Robert Plant in the same video has on a pair of "Crowley" pants. When crowley referred to the "bloody sacrifice" of "an innocent young male," he was referring to sex magic (jerking off / gnosis). So, a few hippies in the sixties would paint big red splotches and such on the crotches of their pants in reference to this. Robert Plants' pants have a love heart ("love is the law, love under will"), a star ("every man and woman is a star") and a little Jesus-fishy (sperm).

For a picture of a bloody splotch pair of pants referring to the "bloody sacrifice," view this (it's perfectly safe for work): http://www.antiqillum.com/images/about/alamantra2.jpg

"Robert Plant in the same video has on a pair of "Crowley" pants. When crowley referred to the "bloody sacrifice" of "an innocent young male," he was referring to sex magic (jerking off / gnosis)."

Utter crap.

"But the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious; and for nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best."

What kind of masturbation is bloody? Come on get your spinning wheels spinning I want to hear more bullshit. I enjoy seeing Crowleyites sputter around like worried old maids trying to mop up the bloody mess in the corner.

"For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim. "

Victim? Is he a self-hating mastubator or are you Crowleyites just lacking in your ability to spin his words?
A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence. Ok the male child is allegory for semen but the context utterly doesnt fit with 'high intelligence'. Either Crowley was totally incoherent or you Crowleyites cant spin his words satisfactorily. Take your pick.

Which Croleyites are you talking about?

Because I don't think ILX's hive mind is that concerned with Crowley, there were a few posts made about him 5 years ago, is all.

think after five years the wheels may have died down a bit in the old spinning department.

AaronHz sure packed a lot in before 25.

http://www.nndb.com/people/217/000112878/harry-smith.jpg

Probably a surprise to most everyone that bought the Folk Anthology.