Revelations

This song is about spiritual alchemy, from the Hermetic/Golden Dawn/Aleister Crowley tradition.

It starts out talking about the tragedy of the human condition, then explains the method to achieve Illumination and rise above it.

"A clever path for the fools who know the Secret of the Hanged Man-the smile on his lips."

This refers to two keys from the Tarot - Key 0, "The Fool" and Key XII, "The Hanged Man". The Fool in this context represents the spiritual seeker ready to take a leap of faith in his quest for enlightenment. The Hanged Man refers to the 23rd path on the Qabalistic Tree Of Life, and represents the reversal of consciousness or suspension of the mind that is the object of transcendental meditation.

Achieving a state of suspended mind is required as part of this technique for awakening Kundalini energy within the body, which rises up the spine through the body's energy centers. When this energy is raised sufficiently it creates elevated states of consciousness that bring on higher spiritual awareness and a sense of transcendence. The second verse and chorus refer to this process:

"She came to me with a serpent's kiss, As the Eye of the Sun Rose on her lips"

Kundalini Shakti is the female Goddess-personification of this energy and is often depicted as a serpent coiled around the base of the spine. This refers to the Kundalini rising and the blinding spiritual states that accompany it.

"The light of the Blind-you'll see," promise of the enlightened state that can be achieved.

"The venom that tears my spine," - again, the rising Kundalini energy as it coils around the spine.

"The Eyes of the Nile are opening-you'll see." - As the Kundalini reaches the 3rd eye and crown chakras, a new sense of vision emerges - the enlightened state. This is represented in ancient Egyptian art by the figure of the cobra (for Kundalini energy) emerging from the center of the Pharaoh's forehead.

The last verse is about the benefits of the completion of this process, and the exalted state the seeker achieves, with a reminder that this is achieved by closing one's eyes and moving inward to meditative states of consciousness.

Here, let me educate you all. This Iron Maiden song is named after the final book of the Bible, "The Revelation." Revelation is actually called "Apocolypse," in the original Koine Greek. This word means to disclose, to divulge. For example: imagine the government has kept certain information top secret for 50 years, and is now allowing the public to have access to it. This would be an apocolypse or revelation. For those who study the occult arts, we know that The Revelation of the Bible is thought of as a special kind of symbolism, a Kabalistic Key, to be precise. This book of the Bible is speaking of certain processes that take place within a human mind body and soul; including those of Kundalini Energy and Chakras. Kundalini is known as the serpent energy, and is located at the base of the spine. When awakened, it climbs up the spine, opening the chakras, proceeding until it attains the crown chakra.

"The venom tears my spine," is talking about the Kundalini Energy climbing the spine. At times, the energy can be painful during its ascent.

"The Eyes of the Nile are opening, you'll see," is talking about the different Chakras, or energy centers being triggered, thus opening.

The intro verse, "...take not thy thunder from us, but take away our pride," is exactly what happens during this enlightening experience. The individual becomes humbled as they enter "God's Light," the human pride dissolved, as you become unified, and One with Collective Consciousness: Christ Consciousness.

"The Secret of the Hanged Man," is another occult reference, written long before Aleister Crowley was even born. Eliphas Levi, French Occult philosopher and father of modern day western occultism, taught that the 12th Major Arcana, The Hanged Man, contained the secret of the great arcanum, which could very well be the method of entering Christ Consciousness as mentioned above. Also, "a clever path for the Fools who know," is in reference to the 0th Tarot, Major Arcana "The Fool."

At the end of the song, "No storm or heavy weather will rock the boat... the one who will be king, the watcher in the ring," states that the individual has achieved this supreme state of consciousness, and is now like a priest, or king magician. "Close your eyes and still the wind and rain," is entering the higher Kabalistic Worlds, that are no longer physical, material, fleshly. Somewhat like entering a meditative state of nothingness, beyond darkness, beyond "sin."

It's about Aleister Crowley.

According to Bruce at Rock Am Ring: "A song about alternately: Aleister Crowley, mystical sex, ancient ancient Egypt and the English Hymnal. REVELATIONS!"

AofSin has done an adequate job of describing what this song means to me, so I will not bother restating those points, as he has done a great job.

I would like to point out though, that there is no "right way" to listen to songs like this. When I was a teenager, this was my favorite maiden song - I of course had no clue what it meant, but somehow it was still capable of achieving an awakened state by simply letting the lyrics wash over me. There is no reason to think analytically about the meaning of a song and proclaim its one "true" meaning. The irony for me is that this song is about spiritual enlightenment, and the goal is achieved by simply listening to the words and feeling them in that moment.

another thing that attests to the brilliance of this song, is that the lyrics are two-fold, in terms of how they may be interpreted. With each verse, there is obvious imagery (which I saw when I was younger), and more significant imagery below the surface (which I see now). For example, "she came to me with a serpents kiss....and the seed is sown in a holy place...i waited for the dawn" this whole verse paints a picture of adam and eve sinning together (that is obvious), but the deeper meaning depicts the kundalini energy which remains coiled and dormant at the base of the spine, and the enlightened state achieved by its awakening ("the venom tears my spine" only confirms this). the verse "bind all of us together....no storm or heavy weather will rock the boat" again, there's what's obvious, and what's not so obvious. Bring all of us together, catalyzed by this enlightened state which has been achieved by the one whose boat does not rock in the storm/heavy weather.....whose mind is not clouded by the wind and rain and noise of this world. And finally, as somebody else has already said, this depiction of a king, or supremely enlightened being could be anyone. anyone is capable of achieving this state. Even you.

as I re-read my comments on this i once again have to giggle at how silly it is to offer a "definition" of what this song really means, and waste one's breath. the song is brilliant, and it is open to interpretation. we are using words to define other words, which were initially posed to evoke feelings...just listen to the song and let it do that.

i have no fucking clue what bruce is singing about here, though presumably it's the revelation of st. john. as is the iron maiden tradition, this is probably some bit of obscure historical half-fiction filtered through soem dubious third source such as sir geoffrey of monmouth.

It's songs like this that make me love Iron Maiden. They can be so cryptic and incorporate elements of hymnals, sayings, quotes, broadcasts, etc. into their songs flawlessly, as seen with the G.K. Chesterson hymnal.

The hymnal part Maiden didn't write, but it goes along with what seems to be the theme of the song very flawlessly. I see "Just a babe in the black abyss/No reason for a place like this/The walls are cold and souls cry out in pain" as sort of a narrative from a baby still in the womb's perspective. There's no reason for the evils which occur on earth, which the unborn looks upon with sorrow. When it comes to "the walls are cold" the babe is commenting that society has grown so cold to itself that it ignores the tortured soul crying in pain- sort of like if a person was getting mugged in an allyway and people were around him and just went by.

"An easy way for the blind to go/A clever path for the fool who knows/the secret of the hangedman/The smile on his lips" The truly blind (those who follow hate and evil) take the easy path in life, which eventually leads to hell. The clever path is for the kind and gentle dubbed as fools in their honest lives and good works on earth. I see the hangedman in this as being a person accused and convicted of either a crime which aided humanity, or something he did not commit, so he smiles because he knows that he's done nothing wrong.

"The light of the blind/You'll see/The venom tears my spine/The eyes of the Nile are opening you see" I see the light of the blind sort of as the knowledge of the "blind man" if you will, almost as with the blind greek and roman philosophers. You'll see is sort of making a play on words following it, saying that you'll understand the way of the "blind man" who is, once again, the good man and the smart man. I think "The venom tears my spine" is talking about the petiness of society that is tearing it apart. The eyes of the nile sort of corresponds with this... I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I'd guess it's either referring to mankind finally realizing the "blind man"'s revelations. Or that the end of the world is comming- it's quite open to interpretation.

I can't interpret the second verse, it's too cryptic for my limited knowledge. The third verse refers to our need for a truly great leader in this modern world who will tie us all together, free and with hope, so that we'll all learn to live and work together. With the line "It is You." what they're really saying is that it doesn't take any specific person to be this person, it could be anyone, if that someone strives to be as great as they must be. As a matter of fact, it is not just anyone, it is everyone.

If anyone could interpret the second verse, that would be cool.

Also whoever said this is about Aleister Crowley, what hte hell? This has nothing to do with Crowley at all.

OTM you have the 1st bit right about the 1st verse other then that you have it all wrong 100% wrong it is based (influenced) by Aleister Crowley, you need to do some research and im not 100% sure i still have research to do my self but the post made by wanderingminstrel sounds very correct as Aleister Crowley created his own Tarot cards .. also bruce wrote the song who is also influenced by Aleister Crowley

OTM History Lyrically, the album reflected the group’s interest in books and film. For example, “To Tame a Land” is based on Frank Herbert’s novel Dune. “The Trooper” is inspired by Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade. “Still Life” is inspired by fantasy/horror writer Clark Ashton Smith’s pre-World War II short story Genius Loci. Other inspirations include “Where Eagles Dare”, a film, and a novel by Alistair MacLean; “Quest for Fire”, based on the film by Jean-Jacques Annaud; the writer G. K. Chesterton who is quoted at the beginning of “Revelations”. More exotic influences include Greek mythology, albeit slightly altered for “Flight of Icarus”, and samurai legend Miyamoto Musashi (“Sun and Steel”). Aleister Crowley influenced a good piece of the remaining lyrics of “Revelations,” which was written by Dickinson. ... :D

It talks about the easy way of evil and the hard way that leads to heaven. It's easier being an evil man than a good one.