The Occult References of the Band Tool

Tool is an American heavy metal band that has been performing since the early 90’s. Although not regarded as such by its fans, Tool is about as mainstream as a heavy metal band can get. They have sold over 10 million albums, consistently receive airplay on mainstream rock stations, have been featured in the videogame Rockband and have been nominated for 7 Grammy’s (3 of which they have won). They are also heavily involved in the occult.

Many of the musicians described on VC have very subtle references to occult knowledge and imagery. With Tool this is not the case. Tool’s involvement with the occult is blatant and completely obvious. At times it’s actually impressive just how much occult imagery they can place in their work. In this article I will examine only a fraction of such imagery as my goal is not to show every single occult reference made by Tool, but rather to prove that they are heavily involved with the occult.

A Small List of Songs by Tool Containing Occult References

‘Forty Six & 2’, off the album Ænima (1996)

The subject material for this song is based off a concept created by Carl Jung and later expanded upon by Drunvalo Melchizedek, both prominent figures in the New Age (occult) movement. The concept refers to humanity reaching a stage of evolution whereby it abandons its present form with 44 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes and is reorganized into a species with 46 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes (hence the name Forty Six & 2). Supposedly this will cause humanity to leave its currently disharmonious state. Among other things, this concept bears many similarities to the transhumanist movement.

‘Third Eye’, off the album Ænima (1996)

This song is basically a 13 minute long endorsement of mind-alternating drugs, which are useful for many occult practices. But more importantly, they make it a point to repeat the lyrics, Prying open my third eye, an impressive 14 times throughout this song. If you doubt that this is an occult reference, just do a quick Google search for ‘third eye’ and see what you find.

Occult practitioners consider a section of the brain called the pineal gland to be the third eye. It is commonly represented by an eye in the middle of one’s forehead. Oftentimes it is encased within a triangle (readers of this site should be well familiar with this symbol). Opening one’s third eye (or prying it open in Tool’s case) is akin to reaching a state of illumination or enlightenment.

‘Lateralus’, off the album Lateralus (2001)

The following are the lyrics to the 1st verse of Lateralus (the number of syllables for each line are displayed in parentheses; more on this later):

Black (1)
Then (1)
White are (2)
All I see (3)
In my infancy (5)
Red and yellow then came to be (8)
Reaching out to me (5)
Let’s me see (3)
As below so above and beyond I imagine (13)
Drawn beyond the lines of reason (8)
Push the envelope (5)
Watch it bend (3)

There are three occult references in this verse (they are present in the 2nd verse of Lateralus as well):

-The number of syllables in the lines follow a mathematical sequence known as the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …). Note that it appears Tool had trouble getting the lyrics to follow this sequence exactly. The Fibonacci sequence is closely related to the Golden ratio, a mathematical ratio which serves as the basis for the sacred geometry used in occult practices. A greater explanation of the Golden ratio is provided in this Donald Duck cartoon.

-The colors black, white, red and yellow are the four primary alchemical colors used to chart the stages in one’s personal and spiritual transmutation.

-The lyric, As below so above, is a common occult phrase that is referenced in this famous depiction of Baphomet:

‘Faaip de Oiad’, off the album Lateralus (2001)

This song is actually a hidden track at the end of Lateralus that samples a 1997 recording from Art Bell’s radio program. More importantly, the phrase Faaip de Oiad is Enochian for ‘Voice of God.’ Enochian is an occult language developed by famous occultists John Dee and Edward Kelley in the late 16th century. Supposedly it was revealed to them by angels. Its use is integral to the practice of Enochian magic, a style of magic which was later rediscovered and promoted extensively by famous occultist Aleister Crowley.

Drummer Danny Carey

All four members of Tool are heavily involved with the occult, however due to size constraints this article will only focus on their drummer Danny Carey.

According to Danny’s biography (pulled directly from Tool’s website), a defining moment in his life was witnessing his father conduct a Masonic ritual with a large sword. Though never officially becoming a Mason, Danny carried on his heritage in occult studies. His biography has many more references to the occult, including the unicursal hexagram, book of Thoth, Book of Lies, astral projection, meditation and DMT. It even states that Danny at one point summoned a daemon which he has since ‘contained’.

Even more occult references can be found on Danny’s official website. His online store has a picture of the Eye of Horus in the header, not to mention that all of his merchandise contains occult symbols/references to Aleister Crowley. The same goes for his main website. In fact there are far too many occult symbols for me to even point out a fraction of them. It’s easier if you just check it out for yourself. Note to those that are having trouble navigating his website: you have to place your mouse cursor over the middle of the floor at the bottom of the screen to have the site menu pop up.

Artist Alex Grey

Much of the artwork associated with Tool is created by an artist named Alex Grey. This includes album covers, artwork included with albums, music videos, merchandise and concert backdrops. Like Tool, Alex Grey makes no secret about the fact that he is heavily involved with the occult.

Alex Grey’s official website shows far too many occult symbols/references for me to list them all, however there are some more obvious ones that I would like to point out. The most noticeable is the eye inside of a triangle shown at the top of his website (same as the one seen around his neck in the above photo). This symbol is also present on all of his artwork.

In Conclusion

Keep in mind that I have only covered a small fraction of the occult references made by Tool. I never covered the various side projects by members of Tool, their live performances or interviews. The purpose of this article was simply to prove that the members of Tool are heavily involved in the occult. This is something that even most diehard Tool fans are unaware of.

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