PAGAN ANTI DEFAMATION NETWORK
(Affiliated to SAFF)
BAPHOMET
THE GREAT BEAST?
Religious
fanatics, with a biblical axe to grind, or simply ignorant persons that have
failed to escape the mind control traps set for them by the former have
always insisted that Baphomet depicts the ultimate in
evil and dread terrors. Is this mysteriously ominous figure really the
personification of all that is bad and negative in the world or is there
another side to the situation?
Most of us will have at least seen this infernal
image erroneously represented in old Hammer Horror - type movies. The
huge horns, the blazing pentagram, the dark wings, and the strange supposedly
demonic symbolism all sending a shiver down the spines
of the unenlightened! The truth behind this occult icon is however very
different from the Church-orientated fantasy that surrounds it.
The person who was largely responsible for the
contemporary design of the Baphomet image was Eliphas Levi (real name – Alphonse Louis
Constant). Levi was born in the early part of the nineteenth century and first
educated as a boy with a view to the priesthood. However, his mind was not
content with the stifling Christian religious dogma enforced upon his young
mind so he later became a philosophical scholar of the occult arts.
The androgynous Baphomet
has its origins in several divergent areas of existence. First may be its
association with the accursed hierarchic head of the Goat of Mendes.
Incidentally, in the fourteenth century the famous Knights Templar Order
were accused by both King Phillipe le Bel of France and the Pope of denying Christ, ritual
murder and worshipping a head entitled Baphomet. The
corrupt king (who had previously expelled the Jews and seized their wealth) now
desired the Templars’ income as they were quite rich
men and with the aid of the Church he succeeded in creating their ultimate and
painful downfall.
Many died from torture and the burning stake, the
last Grand Master being Jacques de Molay
who perishing in the
The image of a Sabbatical Goat (Baphomet),
the five (or eight) pointed star or in fact any symbolical reference that fails
to tow the ‘Biblical line’ has always left a dissenting group or
individual open to final accusation of being a Witch, Pagan, Heretic or Demon
Worshipper! To the freethinker then, Baphomet
should be a symbol of rebellion against the status quo and the strict dogmatic
rule demanded by Church Authority. To many occultists Baphomet
is yet another depiction of the Horned God of all nature in the best
tradition of the Greek deity Pan.
The ‘Torch of Illumination’ blazes brightly
above Baphomet’s head. One hand stretches to the
spiritual realm of the heavens while the other (which points to the ground)
reminds us that we must never forget our organically material roots from whence
we all came. The fish-like scales on the figure’s torso connect with the element
of water and thus emotional planes. Wisdom is depicted in the emblem of the ‘Caduceus
of Mercury/Hermes’ that arises from the sexual region, the twinned serpents
bringing crucial balance to the whole image. All spiritual essence is
intimately linked to the earthly realm. Every level of reality is sacred in its
own way. Baphomet tells this ancient truth very well
indeed. ‘As above so below’ is the message granted to us herein!
Baphomet sports both human male and female attributes (a 'very' important part of the symbolic nature that Dennis Wheatley/Hammer Horror films conveniently missed out on) plus animal characteristics and as such is the splendid ‘Earth Spirit’ of all natural things. He/she is both male and female divinity (God & Goddess) conjoined into an essential enlightening whole. Baphomet is in one sense duality, the ‘Great Polarity’ seen in the twinned Yin/Yang vital life force or ‘Chi’ of popular eastern tradition. This image is all things to all men and the originator of both loving hopes and awesome fears. What Baphomet is certainly ‘not’ is a personification of pure evil, as the Church would have us believe in its perpetual quest for total biblical compliance to Christian theology and doctrine.
On the right arm (which points to the heavens) is written "Solve" Solution and on the Left (pointing to the earth) "Coagula" Coagulation.
The old occult maxim states – ‘As above so below’ meaning o draw on cosmic wisdom/enlightenment from on high and transform it into clear understandable knowledge here on the mundane or physical level of existence.
The striking Baphomet is clearly a great motif of divine knowledge, personal illumination and untapped universal wisdom; quite the reverse of the macabre symbolism unfairly levied upon it by radical Xtian fundamentalists, seeking an image for their satanic perceptions, and sensationalist horror book authors
Discover the wondrous mysteries behind Baphomet for yourself before the profane use this potent God Form as an instrument of ‘Thought Censorship’ to control you for their own ends. Mind control (both religious based or socially constructed), frequently starts via the crass vilification of what others hold dear. In this respect Baphomet represents liberation from fear and ignorance and those forces that furnish it upon us!
The truth lies within for those who dare to seek it!
Please note. The above illustration of Baphomet we present herein is from an original series of paintings by artist Pat Regan. This image, unlike the first design by Levi, sports an ‘inverted pentagram’ on the head denoting material rather than spiritual levels of existence which is equally as essential to our survival as a species on this planet.
For more information on the Horned God and the sign of the Pentagram see PAN’s: The Horned One article.
E-mail pagansuk@yahoo.co.uk
Disclaimer:
PAN realises that the vast majority of Christians are not fundamentalist or evangelical in make up and we only criticise religious extremists who seek to disenfranchise other faiths whilst bolstering their own. PAN does not in any way condone violence against any persons or property and we must state that we have always worked towards a more tolerant and equal society.