The original four symbols were created by Led Zeppelin in 1971, probably from the following sources:

• 1. Jimmy Page's Zoso symbol from a sigil for Saturn from page 51 of an 1850 reprint of a 1521 French book Dragon Rouge and Poulet Noire (The Red Dragon and The Black Hen); also seen on page 31 of Frinellan's 1844 book Le Triple Vocabulaire Infernal Manuel du Demonomane. A variation of the symbol also appears in Jerome Cardan's 1557 book De rerum varietate (page 789 of this 1580 reprint).
• 2. John Paul Jones' symbol (non-interlaced triquetra overlaying a circle) is from page 33 of Rudolf Koch's 1930 book The Book of Signs (Koch died in 1934) where it is annotated as a sign "to exorcise evil spirits".
• 3. John Bonham's symbol (three intersecting circles) is from page 32 of the same book by Rudolf Koch, given as an "early sign for the Trinity".
• 4. Plant's feather symbol is likely a simple merging of two symbols from the "Feather Symbol of Truth" illustration on page 105 of James Churchward's 1933 book The Sacred Symbols of Mu (Churchward died in 1936)