Here we are, writing another text about the Baphomet. There are quite a few already and I’m starting to think I’m obsessed with this mythical figure and especially with his roots.
This diabolical icon (according to the christian standards) had different meanings and usages in the history of Men.
This enigmatic “creature” is believed to be described for the first time during the trials of the Templars during the 13th century. They were accused of heresy and of worshiping a bizarre deity by the name of “Baphomet”.
Some scholars say that the word “Baphomet” was actually misspelled and originally refers to “Muhammed” to affirm that the templars were converted to islamism.
By the 19th century the freemasons were also (falsely) accused of worshiping the “Baphomet” as political or religious propaganda.
In 1854 the French occultist Eliphas Lévi published a first e most known depiction of the “Baphomet”, from his book “Dogme et rituel de la haute magie”. This portrait of the “Sabbatic Goat” as a hermaphrodite creature with goat/ram head and wings has an important occult significance.His gesture, suggesting the esoteric axiom: “as above so below”, also refers to two important operations in alchemy; “Solve” in his/her right arm pointing up (describing the symbolic act of dissolving a solid matter into spirit) and “Coagula” in the arm pointing down (to coagulate the spirit into matter). These two operations reflect the balance of the contradictory forces in ourselves, in order to achieve wholeness.
Levi’s drawing was probably inspired by an older depiction from the “Mysterium Baphometis Revelatum” by the orientalist Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall. In this book von Hammer-Purgstall explores the Templars adoration to that gnostic idol with multiple seals and engraved figures as examples and also explaining an alternative origin of the name “Baphomet”:
“Baphomet signifies Βαφη Μητεος, baptism of Metis, baptism of fire, or the Gnostic baptism, an enlightening of the mind, which, however, was interpreted by the Ophites, in an obscene sense, as fleshly union (…) the fundamental assertion, that those idols and cups came from the Templars, has been considered as unfounded, especially as the images known to have existed among the Templars seem rather to be images of saints.” –“Baphomet” in “Encyclopedia Americana”, 1851
Aleister Crowley also identifies himself as the “Baphomet” as a divine androgyne “the hieroglyph of arcane perfection” (Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4). Crowley embraced the idol’s gnostic origins as he wrote in his “Gnostic Mass” from 1913: “And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mysteries, in His name BAPHOMET.”
For him the “Baphomet” was similarly the definitive union of the opposites, at the same time “Chaos” and “Babalon” and fruit of a magical intersection, a child, just like the Mercury for the alchemists that balances the Salt and the Sulphur.
Curiously for the modern satanists the Baphomet seem to be shaped differently.
For satanists like Anton Lavey and the Church of Satan, the Baphomet meet Black Magic, so their insignia is a inverted pentagram with a goat inside from the occultist work “La Clef de la Magie Noire” – originally this symbol has nothing to do with Baphomet.
For Lavey, satanism means to be anthropocentric in opposition to the authority of God, to be carnal, physical, and a pragmatic being, using the motto “eye for an eye” as their code of ethics.
The Temple of Satan, unlike Lavey’s philosophy, has his political inspiration in the defier of an oppressive ruler. This association, established in the U.S. tries to battle the political and religious ignorance that assault an entire nation. They use a statue of the Baphomet as their main symbol of salvation and determination.
In terms of visuals, the “Baphomet’s” goat appearance resembles the pagan satyrs and the god Pan, who were transformed by the christians into symbols of the Devil and temptation. I believe that this visual resemblance catapulted the “Baphomet” to a dark corner in which he transformed into the christian devil until nowadays. Main symbol of many black metal bands and satanic cults, the “Baphomet” is gradually losing its true origins.
With this new design called “Banebdjedet” we’re trying to introduce you to a new hypothesis regarding “Baphomet” provenance.
Many of you have already heard or read the expression “Goat of Mendes”, a symbol strictly connected to the baphomet and the devil itself.
Mendes, the Greek name of the city Djedet (in Lower Egypt) is a place where the god Banebdjedet was worshiped. (Banebdjedet has Khnum as the equivalent god in Upper Egypt)
This god with an ovine head is described in the ancient “Book of the Heavenly Cow” as the “Ram of Mendes” and as a Ram God (as in many other cultures) he was credited with strong sexual powers.
“Ram gods were particularly renowned for their virility and one of Banebdjedet’s epithets was Lord of Sexual Pleasure.(…) Greek writers reported that a male goat was honored as a fertility god at Mendes and identified with Greek god Pan. (…) The sexual aspect of the cult at Mendes made it particularly disliked by early Christains. Banebdjedet’s form as a ram or goat-headed man was reinterpreted as a devil figure who entered Western tradition as the horned King of the Witches.” – Geraldine Pinch, “Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt”, 2002.
The sacred rites dedicated to Banebdjedet weren’t very well accepted to foreigners that observe the most bizarre spectacle. According to the greek poet Pindar:
“(…) the ram was scandalously permited to haveintercourse with women in the courseof its veneration, although this is not documented in any Egyptian sources.”
Richard H. Wilkinson, “The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt”, 2003.
With our first design of “Banebdjedet ” we wanted to create some confusion, show an evident depiction of “Baphomet” to take people to try to connect both creatures and find their similarities with no clues about their roots. It didn’t work as we expected so we reformulated the original design giving it a more Egyptian look.
In many representations of the God he has four ram heads (as the drawing on the bottom left), each one looking in a different direction. We wanted to do the same but the design looked too confusing so we decided to keep one head but with the horns of the others. We switched the heads by four “ba” (the onomatopoeia that sounds like “soul” in ancient egypt) – portrayed by the four small winged men around the design.
Some depictions of the god have wings, others not, but we wanted to keep them to affirm a closer connection with the “Baphomet”. We also kept “Solve” and “Goagula” as a reference to Eliphas Lévi and his own Sabbatic Goat. However we decide to “carve” the word Coagula in the baby as an example of physical manifestation; as energy taking form.
This infant is Harpokrates (“Harpa-Khruti”, Horus the Child) son of Isis and Osiris. For the ancient Greeks, this child deity is related to silence and secrecy and his main symbol is the finger in his lips.
Ovid in his “Metamorphoses” describes him the same way: “who holds his finger to his lips for silence sake”
Our intention was to keep the figure similar to Lévi’s depiction but also connect him to other pagan deities and create some kind of hermaphroditic and winged god Pan.
The snakes at his feet highlights the idea of fertility and earthly atributes, specially related to sex and pleasure.
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