The Way to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven

by Led Zeppelin

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 There's a lady whose sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there is a songbird who sings:
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiving.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.
And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow,
Don't be alarmed now,
Its just a spring clean for the May queen.

Yes, there are two paths you can go by but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
Your head is humming and it won't go,
In case you don't know:
The pipers calling you to join him.

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
And did you know: Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
And as we wind on down the road,
Our shadows taller than our soul,
There walks a lady we all know.

Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all, yeah, to be a rock and not to roll.
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

"And when he said this to them, he breathed onto them and said, 'receive the Holy Spirit." 
John 20:22

There is a stairway to heaven; deep in the story of the Holy Grail, the truth of this lyric becomes apparent; while a bit different in its telling, the group, Led Zeppelin appropriately tells what it is about the road to heaven, the stairway as they call it. "The piper is calling you to join him...your stairway lies on the whispering wind..."

Women, we are told in the Grail myth, are in closer relationship to their feeling, valuing side. They are not forced apart from it as many men experience, so "with a word she knows she can get what she came for." Wind is a symbolic element for the Holy Spirit. Then there is the shadow-energy. The darkness which obscures, a veil come down across the eyes. All these are familiar symbols in biblical language from the earliest times of the catholic, Orthodox Church in Europe.

And there are two ways to go. One may process a lifetime in darkness, in what the Buddha refers to as ignorance, or one may move towards what is light, towards the God or the great intelligence mind, of the world, the one who brings self knowledge and awareness to a soul. 
In this way, the usual way of the West, a man may through a progressing maturity, make contact with what is most important and what is most essential. He may find his true, inner self, a light reflecting outward what is in the Grail story, the contents of the Holy Grail vessel itself. 
This is contentment to the one who finds his way there. As for the Holy Spirit, that is the spirit-energy of love; the energy which animates one and makes one so exquisitely alive.

As for the stairway that LZ conceives of, it's not far off at all from that ancient tale. There are always 'Pipers calling you to join him,' the Spirit, if you will only listen; the spirit cries for leaving; the forests do echo with laughter and the birds sing from the hedge rows, because heaven is here on earth for those who look carefully for it. God is all around us; his creating spirit heralds the day.