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TOP | FAQSA Compilation Research File on "Baphomet"
A Compilation Research File on 'Baphomet' (TERM, FIGURE, SIGIL)
-----------------------------
INTRO
To: private email
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nigris (333))
Subject: Masonry, Pike, Baphomet
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 14:54:56 -0800 (PST)
49980331 aa2 Hail Satan!
I'm involved with individuals attempting to reconstruct the history
(data, not rumor or propaganda) surrounding the term 'Baphomet' and
to what it relates, from the accusations surrounding the Templars
to modern usage in Thelemic, Satanic and possibly Masonic cultures.
we've obtained many of the major elements, but certain key parts
are missing:
* if there is some alchemical 'Baphomet' figure to
which Pike is referring (I'll ask some alchemists
this last bit but would still like your input).
* why some Masons might deny Pike as a substantive
source while others find him imperative
* whether Pike and Eliphas Levi were in any way related
* whether Crowley associated the term with the Mercury
serpent-chicken graphic or that was a later combo
* if LaVey and Co. picked up Masonic glyphs for their
insignia or obtained it from an occult book
thank you for your time. if you cannot assist, I'd appreciate
some referral to someone who can do so without too much bias. I
understand that we share membership in the OTO, and so hoped that
this might also inspire you. :> thanks for your time.
blessed beast!
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
nigris (333)
-------------------------------------
TERM
To: private email
From: catherine yronwode
Subject: Re: history of baphomet: alchemy, templars (long)
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 20:45:23 -0800
nagasiva wrote:
> cat wrote:
> # I think we are all circling around the notion that although the NAME
> # Baphomet apears in Medieval texts....
>
> my Am Her Dic says Medieval is 476-1453. you know of texts within
> which the name Baphomet appears, rather than Mahomet? citation?
> I've been trying to figure out what proof there might be of this
> and all I've come up with is 1800s.
Well, other folks in the sacredlandscape-list were saying 1400 for the
name Baphomet...but, still no citations. Are we chasing a
will-o-the-wisp?
> # Now, in another note, tyagi snickered at my mention of the "poor
> # Freemasons," but the truth is, all Freemasonic scholars of any worth
> # know full well that the conferring of extra-Masonic degrees
> # (anything past the Third and Sublime degree of Master Mason) is a
> # FRENCH invention of the 19th century and that the so called Knights
> # Templar degrees (e.g. Scottish Rite (which is pure French, despite
> # the name) and York Rite Templar degrees) were concocted out of whole
> # cloth at that time and have no true connection to Freemasonry at
> # all.
...If you want to know more about the "Frenchification" of
Freemasonry, contact Art de Hoyos, . He maintians a
stupendous library of Masonic Rites for the sake of comparison and is
most knowledgeable on the origin of the "Scottish" Rite with Chevalier
Ramsay and all that. Under the name the College of Rites, he publishes
discarded rituals, including fragments and ones wholly clandestine and
irregular. He corresponds freely with scholarly non-Masons on historical
issues such as these -- no secrecy problems there. He is particularly
interested in discovering ritual books of the so called Rite of Memphis
and Mizraim, another set of 19th century French-originated extra-Masonic
degrees (98 of 'em, i think!) based on a spurious Egyptian-Freemasonry
scenario. The Rite of Memphis and Mizraim has fallen into disuse
completely, but they are often said to have influenced the "Egyptian"
ritual work of Crowley et al, who probably took those degrees or saw the
ritual books.
> # ...the idea of a group of persecuted nobles and knights allying
> # themselves with a craft guild of British stoneworkers goes against
> # everything known about the Brtish class system. So i say "poor
> # Masons," because in adopting the pathetically pretentious 19th
> # century fiction of being descended from the nobility (a fiction
> # which is NON-EXISTENT in Freemasonic rites, documents, and lodge
> # lectures from the 1400s to the mid 1800s), they opened themselves up
> # to the charge of "devil worship," the same charge that had brought
> # the Templars low.
..."from the 1400s to the mid *1800s* -- that is, until Ramsay and
his French Brethren created the Templar degrees, followed in time
in the USA by Albert Pike, who translated the Templar Rites and
also plagiarized the French author Eliphas Levi in support of
those rites. .
> # I love Masonry, but i love it as a craft-guild with a strong,
> # positive connection to sacred site architecture, humble working
> # class symbolism, and a noble simplicity of purpose. I do not love
> # the silly "Templar" addendum that now almost wags the dog.
For those who want a sample of what i mean by this, i recommend a
Netscape jaunt to the Freemasonic vernacular sacred site called
Margaret's Grocery, which displays how working people utilize Masonic
symbolism to enoble their own architectural fancies. This grocery
store, outfitted as a Masonic lodge, speaks deeply to me of how Masonry
in its true form can enrich the lives of those who investigate it. The
URL is
http://www.luckymojo.com/grocery.html
catherine yronwode
The Sacred Landscape: http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredland.html
--------------------------
TERM/FIGURE
To: cat@luckymojo.com (catherine yronwode)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Re: history of baphomet: alchemy, templars (long)
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 14:51:19 -0700 (PDT)
49980712 aa3 Hail Satan! (pls fwd to sacredlandscapes if acceptable)
nocTifer:
# > >I'm investigating the alchemical background behind the figure and
# > >name of "Baphomet", which appears to have been applied around the
# > >turn of the century to a variety of graphic images, some alchemical
# > >and some merely unconventional. typically it is fused in the
# > >exposition of the apologist with the object of worship of the Knights
# > >Templar, but this does not really bear out in the extant records of
# > >their trials and the condemnations levelled against them (the usual
# > >term used there is 'mahomet' and probably relates to a vicious
# > >accusation of fraternization with the Muslims).
to be noted, that paragraph was constructed for release to an
alchemical elist and later reprinted to Usenet. my interest
extends far beyond merely the alchemical background, inclusive
of being a member of an occult organization (OTO) whose mythical
or thematic ties directly claim the Templars as precursors,
and having as a religious focus a composite and/or recreation
of Baphomet as I understand Hir, a symbol of wild nature easily
comparable to demonological iconography.
sri catyananda (cat@luckymojo.com):
# The real question facing Europe at the time of the Crusades seems to
# have been "If Islamic temple architecture, why not Islamic religion?"
# And THAT is what the Pope said "no" to when he had the Knights Templar
# order annihilated. They went too far.
interesting, I've not heard that motivation for the Papal condemnation.
my impression was that it was purely an economic and political coup
organized and carried out by King Philip IV (The Fair) of France to
regain control of the banking system of which the Templars had become
the major operators. I'd thought that Pope Clement V was party to
the Philipian greed/power struggle and may have been killed after the
coup so as not to pose a threat to the King's further desires.
# Now, tyagi, tell me what sources you have that the Templars were
# charged with worshipping "Mahomet" and not "Baphomet."
first a brief etymology
------------------------------------------------------------------
_Baphomet_ (bae.f*o*met). {a. F. *Baphomet*; cf. Pr. *Bafomet*,
OSp. *Mafomat*.} _a._ A form of the name Mahomet used by mediaeval
writers. _b._ Alleged name of the idol which the Templars were
accused of worshipping. (According to l'Abbe' Constant, quoted
by Littre', this word was cabalistically formed by writing backward
*tem. o. h. p. ab.*, abbreviation of *templi omnium hominum pacis
abbas*, 'abbot' or 'father of the temple of peace of all men.')
Hence Baphomet'ic *a*.
_1818_ Hallam *Mid. Ages* (1872) _I._ 140 Baphomet is a secret word
ascribed to the Templars. _1855_ Milman *Lat. Chr.* _VII._ xii. ii.
278 The great stress .. in the condemnation of the templars is laid
on the worship of Baphomet. The talismans, bowls, symbols, are even
called Baphometic. _1831_ Carlyle *Sart. Res.* II. vii, My Spiritual
New-birth, or Baphometic Fire-baptism.
_Oxford English Dictionary_, some edition, p. 659.
__________________________________________________
not much here before the 1800s.
then the most important source I've come across that I find
persuasive (I'd love to hear if you think my trust in him
is ill-founded) says the following concerning the idol of
the trial accusations:
There was also another account of the idol, which perhaps
refers to some further object of superstition among the
templars. According to one deponent, it was an old skin
embalmed, with bright carbuncles for eyes, which shone
like the light of heaven. Others said that it was the
skin of a man, but agreed with the others in regard the
carbuncles. In England a minorite friar deposed that
an English knight of the Temple had assured him that
the templars had four principal idols in this country,
one in the sacristy of the Temple of London, another at
Bristelham, a third at Brueria (Bruern in Lincolnshire),
and a fourth at some place beyond the Humber.
Another piece of information relating to this 'idol,'
which has been the subject of considerable discussion
among modern writers, was elicited from the examination
of some knights from the south. Gauserand de Montpesant,
a knight of Provence, said that their superior showed him
an idol made in the form of Baffomet; another, named
Raymond Rubei, described it as a wooden head, on which
the figure of Baphomet was painted, and adds 'that he
worshipped it by kissing its feet, and exclaiming 'Yalla,'
which was, he says, 'verbum Saracenorum,' a word taken
from the Saracens. A templar of Florence declared that,
in the secret chapters of the order, one brother said to
the other, showing the idol, 'Adore this head -- this
head is your god and your Mahomet.' The word Mahomet
was used commonly in the middle ages as a general term
for an idol or a false god; but some writers have
suggested that Baphomet is itself a mere corruption of
Mahomet, and suppose that the templars had secretly
embraced Mahometanism.
---------------------------------------------------------
_A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and its connection
with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients_, by Richard
Payne Knight, Esq., University Books, 1865, repr. 1974;
pp. 197-8.
_________________________________________________________
I have exchanged email with kindred whose citations were ambiguous
and claimed a variety of things about the trials and their contents.
so far this is most rational evaluation of the trials that I have
located, though I know it is not a thorough and academic effort --
more of an account supplemental to historical overview of the Order.
# Are you claiming that this entire story is an urban legend that
# circulated through 19th century French and British occultism?
I don't make such a claim outside of asking for proof that this
is not the case. in fact I would love to hear of pre-1800s usage
of the term in any variation (Baffomet, for example) and wonder
whether RPKnight's usage of 'mahomet' is peculiar or if it is
based upon something historical (I hadn't until now thought to
consult the OED on the term 'Mohammed'/'Muhammad' to verify this).
# ...i'd like to know your theory as to where and when the name
# "Baphomet" first appeared.
I have absolutely no idea. I've heard a variety of claims, but
I have followed out few actual texts in which I could verify this
and I have been very careful only to quote directly from source
or pass on verifiable data. I obtained the above from the texts
in question (sorry I have no date on the OED, I'm sure that it
can be verified by anyone tho -- improved? let me know).
# Finally, have you had any luck yet tracing down the original references
# for the "goat of Mendes" and the original source for the "alchemical"
# figure of the androgynous goat-horned being that Eliphas Levi promoted
# as "Baphomet"? I, for one, cannot reconcile that image with the "bearded
# head" that the Templars were accused of worshipping. Since the head of
# the Levi-esque (for want of a better term) Baphomet is HORNED, would not
# the Pope's minions have accused them of worshipping a HORNED head? Kinda
# unobservant of them, you know, to just notice the beard and not the
# frigging HORNS!
excellent criticism. I suspect that we should treat all of this as
so much 'witchcraft' from Inquisitory times and look outside the
records of the trials for reliable information. terminological
usage in condemnation is one thing, but the actuality that lay
*behind* the trials is very difficult to establish at times and
probably won't ever be pinned down. we come to a place where
Occam's Law should applied to sociological sciences, I think.
# Light on any of these dark matters would be appreciated.
even Dark lights? :> here's a copy of text from a Satanist I
ran across within the last few months who told me that he was
quite sure of the connection between Baphomet (the Church of
Satan has a sigil to which they apply this name) and Satan.
I asked him for an elaboration that I could follow out. the
text of his response follows, which I have yet to track down.
commentary welcome.
A good deal of information, granted comes from Gerard de
Nerval, which is 19th century stuff and not really of much
direct use to us as history. The same can be said for the
Merzdorf manuscripts, which are pretty well accepted as
being forgeries, but as August Starck had pointed out in
his 'Canon of the Temple' in 1766 the link between
Baphomet and Satan was obvious. (This is the first time it
is linked with Satanism directly). The link with Pan comes
much earlier, in Mallory's 'Morte D'Arthur' and the earlier
'Parsifal' by Wolfram of Esenbach. In both cases, it is
referred to as the 'Meta', the Greek for 'spirit' then
(12th to 13th century) in wide use as a reference to the
spirits of the pagan wild - Pan and his minions. Detailed
references can be found in Hammer's 'Mystery of Baphomet
Revealed' though for better early scholarship, try
'A Discourse on the Subtill Practises of Devilles by Witches
and Sorcerors' (1587, G.Gifford). The latter is also a
source for the reference to the Goat of Mendes. You might
also try 'A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and its
connection with the mystic theology of the Ancients'
(Richard Knight, mediaeval but date unknown).
-----------------------------------------------------------
author's name withheld as I am not sure he wishes to be known.
you may reproduce the text for private research purposes.
these sources may or may not reveal anything about the history of
the usage of the terms, but if they exist (and at least RPKnight's
does, so I have no reason to doubt the others do too), then they
may provide evidence for pre-1800s usage of the term. I suspect
that in many if not all cases they will not lead to any sort of
evidence connecting 'Baphomet' to the Templars or especially to
any sort of figure like Levi's. Albert Pike's mention of Baphomet
varies in important ways from Levi's rendition, and this is one
of the reasons, combined with that of RPKnight's text, that I have
taken up the assertion that there was NO historical consensus on
what 'Baphomet' might have meant, regardless of the age of the
term, and that its origins relate to Islam rather than some other
more fantastic reference (by Occam in my amateur hand).
nocTifer: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-----------------------------------------
TERM/FIGURE
To: palladin@swbell.net (Barry)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Re: history of baphomet: alchemy, templars (long)
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 21:29:26 -0700 (PDT)
49980712 aa3 Hail Satan!
Barry :
# ...the focus on the beard over the horns in the image of a goat's
# head does seem odd unless there is some other bearded head used in
# place of the goat --say, "old man" chronus/saturn maybe.
don't the Muslims usually grow beards? Saracens? Muhammad?
# ...the 20 vol Oxford Engligh Dictionary ... says, according to
# l'abbe Constant, quoted by Litre'( whoever these people are! )
# the word is cabalistically formed by spelling backward, "TEMpli
# Omnium Hominum Pacis ABbas. (father of the temple of peace of
# all men)....
L'abbe Constant is the lapsed abbey Alphonse Louis Constant,
the birthname of Eliphas Levi. Litre must be some historian
or propagandist doing a review, because this backwards acronym
was something that I think Levi dreamed up. you know all those
silly occultists -- they all have multiple names.
# this also seems unconvincing. he probably plays his old LP's
# backward too.
heh! I doubt the technology existed. it may been a feint to
reintegrate the Gnostic Templars and any surrounding ideas into
turn of the century religion or mysticism (Golden Dawn and the like).
Levi did make some of it up. some of it he collaged together for
his salon-fodder texts (which I have in the library here, translated
by AEWaite, and the text which Crowley translated from French to
be found online along with many other of Crowley's works).
# studying what i could find in various places on the topic of Levi's
# Goat of Mendes/Baphomet of the Templars, it seems to me that the
# image is derived from the templars's own twist on the mystery
# schools of the near east regarding that on earth the Azoth
# principle (108) is trapped in matter and ruled over by a saturnine
# Rex Mundi figure.
I'd love to hear what sources describe the Templar esoteric ideas.
I've imagined that they were either nonexistent, buried by trial
fabrication, or blizzarded over by hyperpropaganda that seeks to
glom them into refabricated novelty dressed in old clothing. the
visual image could easily be interpreted the way you describe it,
however.
# i would tie it in with similar dyadic heresies of near
# east origin sprung from Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism that
# eventually turned up in europe. this sort of thing inspired
# the Cather philosophy, for example and seems in line with
# alchemical thought.. also concepts like, "the body is the
# tomb of the soul", catch the grim flavor of the "divine
# spirit trapped in matter" viewpoint.
yes, I'd got the impression that this was an orphic contribution
to early Christianity and sometimes infested the Gnostic cults too.
# re mohamet as anti-christ:i wonder if the cubic kabba shrine
# of the muslims was seen as same as the cubic throne of baphomet.
a lovely connection, yes.
# re the rooster-headed fellow mentioned: he is ABRAXAS, an
# embodiment of the combined 7 planetary powers--similar to
# that candle found in stores. .
rings a bell. Crowley was at least one who renamed him 'Baphomet'
and used it as a sigil of identification in his texts. if memory
serves I saw that same graphic in SRPKnight with a label of
'Baphomet' so who knows how many people associated the two?
# does any of this seem on target?
# PS ( is Mendes a person or a place?) B.
my comments lie above. I think Mendes is a place, and that
usually it is located somewhere in historic Egypt (my current
Bible, Am Her Dic, doesn't list it, so perhaps archaic or mythic).
I seem to remember one of my occultist friends stating that some
Goat-like god was in charge there. the Christian whose text may
be found at the URL below concerning masonry, Mendes Goat and
Baphomet is probably unreliable but he seems to think it was
Ba'al. I don't remember Ba'al as specifically capratic, but
I'm not that familiar with the old gods (I could look it up
here if need be).
http://www.Saintsalive.com/freemasonry/goatofmendes.htm
nocTifer: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-------------------------------------
TERM/FIGURE
To:
From: Barry
Date: Tuesday, July 14, 1998 8:41 PM
Subject: re: history of baphomet:back again.
>>***barry answers cat---
>
>palladin@swbell.net (Barry) wrote:
>>>
>>> cat, neal, and tyagi ---
>>>
>>> i've been following this thread with interest. this question of what
>>> it was that the templars worshiped has always puzzled me too.the focus
>>> on the beard over the horns in the image of a goat's head does seem
>>> odd unless there is some other bearded head used in place of the goat
>>> --say, "old man" chronus/saturn maybe.
>
>>cat answers--
>>I think we are all circling around the notion that although the NAME
>>Baphomet apears in Medieval texts, there is no evidence that this name
>>was applied to the "tarot devil" image (paunchy androgyne with talons
>>and goat horns, face on abdomen, holding baton) until Levi made the
>>connection. The "bearded man" of the Templars may have been Mahomet --
>>as in, "by the beard of the Prophet!" -- but after hearing all the
>>evidence accumulated here over the past few days (including also Pam's),
>>i am almost ready to dismiss Levi's claim re: the Templars worshipping a
>>taloned goat-guy-gal as PURE HOGWASH.
>
>***barry again--
>It won't be a quick answer but i'll be checking for proof on medieval use
>of the name. re the image, at this point, i'm inclined to agree with you.
>maybe it helped sell his book.I like the beard of the prophet theory.
>
>>cat answers--
>>Also, as tyagi has pointed out, it is important to keep sight of the
>>fact that the worship of a "head" would be anathema to Muslims as well
>>as to Christans, so the Church was accusing the Templars of more than
>>just following Islamic trends; they were accusing them of being
>>blasphemous Muslims too..
>
>***barry again--
>re the head: yeah but there is a carry over from the cult of
>Orpheus/Dyonisius that may be the source of this and is potentially linked
>to alchemy too. White Goddess has material on Bran, crows and oracular
>heads worth a look, p 99,66-7, 87 and 118 for example. I want your opinion.
>
>>cat answers--
>>Now, in another note, tyagi snickered at my mention of the "poor
>>Freemasons," but the truth is, all Freemasonic scholars of any worth
>>know full well that the conferring of extra-Masonic degrees (anything
>>past the Third and Sublime degree of Master Mason) is a FRENCH invention
>>of the 19th century and that the so called Knights Templar degrees (e.g.
>>Scottish Rite (which is pure French, despite the name) and York Rite
>>Templar degrees) were concocted out of whole cloth at that time and have
>>no true connection to Freemasonry at all. A lot of Masons "want to
>>believe" (cf. "The Lodge and the Temple" by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln
>>(the "Holy Blood Holy Grail" folks) and "Born in Blood" by Robinson),
>>but the idea of a group of persecuted nobles and knights allying
>>themselves with a craft guild of British stoneworkers goes against
>>everything known about the Brtish class system. So i say "poor Masons,"
>>because in adopting the pathetically pretentious 19th century fiction of
>>being descended from the nobility (a fiction which is NON-EXISTENT in
>>Freemasonic rites, documents, and lodge lectures from the 1400s to the
>>mid 1900s), they opened themselves up to the charge of "devil worship,"
>>the same charge that had brought the Templars low.
>>
>>I love Masonry, but i love it as a craft-guild with a strong, positive
>>connection to sacred site architecture, humble working class symbolism,
>>and a noble simplicity of purpose. I do not love the silly "Templar"
>>addendum that now almost wags the dog.
>
>***barry again--some good points here re french accretions to masonry and
>class issues.
>do i understand you to say that contemporary masons are all caught up with
>grasping at links to the templars because they'd rather be knights than
>stone cutters?
>
>> barry wrote--
>>> no help on the origin of name. one of my other sources notes that
>>> Baphomet does not appear in any demonology before 1400. sadly none of
>>> their sources are mentioned. the 20 vol Oxford Engligh Dictionary
>>> repeats the old saw that baphomet,bafomet and mafomet are all forms of
>>> the name Mohamet used by medieval french writers to describe to muslim
>>> prophet. i think that's hard to believe. i want proof. it also says, a
>>> ccording to l'abbe Constant, quoted by Litre'( whoever these people
>>> are!) the word is cabalistically formed by spelling backward, "TEMpli
>>> Omnium Hominum Pacis ABbas. (father of the temple of peace of all men)
>>> this also seems unconvincing. he probably plays his old LP's backward
>>> too.
>>cat answers--
>>Oh, Barry! That one is rich: New! Improved! Backward Baphomet with
>>Cabalistic Toasty Granules!
>
>>barry wrote--
>>> it's really hard to be serious in the face of such nonsense.
>
>>cat answers--
>>My theory exactly.
>
>>barry wrote--
>>> .
>>> i don't have Levi, but i have his illustration of Baphomet in Manley
>>> Hall's Encyclopedia of Symbolic Philosophy. studying what i could
>>> find in various places on the topic of Levi's Goat of Mendes/Baphomet
>>> of the Templars, it seems to me that the image is derived from the
>>> templars's own twist on the mystery schools of the near east regarding
>>> that on earth the Azoth principle (108) is trapped in matter and ruled
>>> over by a saturnine Rex Mundi figure.
>
>>cat answers--
>>Wait. On what authority to you have (108) Azoth linked to the Templars?
>>That's new to me and i need a cite. As far as i know the Rex Mundi
>>notion is Cathar. I find that these French and French-influenced 19th
>>century occultists tend to use the Templars as a sort of "universal
>>solvent," creating linkages between everything mysterious, occult, or
>>counter-Catholic by means of the fabled Templar's Fleet, whereby these
>>knights just sailed around spreading heresies from East to West.
>>
>
>***barry again--
> yeah ,the french. you may be right, but i think the pattern follows a
>consistant internal logic. OK. let me slow down to 30 mph.
>
> From Manley Hall's, "big book", the encyclopedia of symbolic philosophy,
>chap. 51, the caption under the picture of Levi's goat-man:
>
> the practice of magic - black or white - depends on the ability of the
>adept to control the universal life force, that which Eliphas Levi calls
>the great magical agent or the astral light. by manipulation of this
>fluidic essence the phenomena of transcendentalism are produced. The
>famous hermaphroditic Goat of Mendes was a composite creature formulated to
>represent the astral light. It is identical with Baphomet, the mystic
>pantheos of those disciples of ceremonial magic, the Templars, who probably
>obtained it from the Arabians.
>
> In the final sentence, is Hall quoting Levi? Hall takes Levi's word re
>the Templars and Baphomet. Hall's is a mason but inclined somewhat toward
>the fabulism you remarked on. he believes in Atlantis too. grain of salt.
>
>now from Eliphas Levi's _Transcendental Magic_:quoted by tyagi in his post:
>
> The Gnostics represented [Azoth, the Universal Agent, Universal Medicine,
> Philosopher's Stone, etc.] as the fiery body of the Holy Spirit; it was
> the object of adoration in the Secret Rites of the Sabbath of the Temple,
> under the hieroglyphic figure of Baphomet or the Androgyne of Mendes.
> ----------
>***barry again--
>Levi puts azoth baphomet and templars together. i make no other claim than
>this.
>
>in my own opinion the universal life force, Levi's magical agent/astral
>light, which Hall calls "this fluidic essence" and what Levi says the
>gnostics called Azoth are all the same and it manifests likewise as the
>holy ghost fire of the pentecost and what is passes under the number 108 .
>i appropriated the word, Azoth, to call them all and procceeded from this
>point. NOTE: it is odd that the christians give the holy ghost a male
>quality. according to Graves in TWG the gnostics identified it with Sophia.
>se p157
>
> some thoughts on the image: apart from any questionable link with the
>Templars is there an alchemical concept displayed here? Levi's
>androgyne/hermaphrodite, Baphomet, is pictured by night in-between the
>first and last cresents, Mr. Dark-of-the-Moon. is the Goat of Mendes the
>scapegoat sacrificed at the start of the agricultural year? See his raised
>right arm which says "solve" on it and his lowered left which says
>"coagila". combined with the two opposing cresents, this seems like tips on
>moon phases for alchemical processes. to the extent that it is associated
>with the moon, the energy in question seems at rest, or drawn into the
>earth. contrast with its expression at full moon. Baphomet is seated on a
>block atop a hemisphere looking very much like the king of the world. this
>is the earth and the moon - the sublunar world - and its ruler.
> it is dark, dark, dark. so where is the light -- solar, astral or
>otherwise? the creature has a caduceus rising from his crotch. Reading from
>alchemical texts transcribed in in M. Hall's book, i suspect this is
>"Sophic Mercury" also called "Solar Azoth",ie the ascendant part - related
>to all that stuff mentioned above. this is the golden/ solar/ heavenly
>Whatever of which God and the Stone partake (AKA the Lapus Philosophorum or
>L.P., for short). it contrasts with Baphomet and his reign over the world.
>he is the black leaden saturnine gunk of disolution at the bottom of the
>testtube, but in the alchemical context he is also some kind of cosmic
>compost pile of rich potential--scarab/dungbeetle style. in spite of the
>verbage. i feel inarticulate trying to get at this.
>
> barry writes--
>>> i would tie it in with similar dyadic heresies of near
>>> east origin sprung from Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism that eventually
>>> turned up in europe. this sort of thing inspired the Cather
>>> philosophy, for example and seems in line with alchemical thought..
>>> also concepts like, "the body is the tomb of the soul", catch the grim
>>> flavor of the "divine spirit trapped in matter" viewpoint.
>
>>cat answers--
>>The Cathari have always fascinated me (due to my name, no doubt) and i
>>tend to spring to their defense; their reputation for sexual worship,
>>including passive copulation and the offering of their conjoined sexual
>>fluids on an altar certainly accords with my idea of a royal road to
>>bliss. I have always had a difficult time reconciling those shenangians
>>with their "grim," as you put it, imagery of Rex Mundi controlling the
>>doomed world. Bi-Polar religion?
>
>
>>***barry again--
>i'm out of contact with good cather source material. next time at the UT
>libraries maybe as a break from the ohio valley archeological reports. i
>simply felt if some one wanted to give form to the heresy of the templars
>(an order started by a bunch of french norman knights), Levi's bogeyman is
>close enough to Rex Mundi to give it the structure of a familiar
>post-crusade french form of religious dissent.
>(NOTE: if Rex Mundi is an unfamiliar word to any reader, Rex Mundi is a
>devilish figure who has an antagonistic relationship with god ( promethean?
>i'd have to check. or is he the creator as well as ruler or earth? i don't
>remember) and who the Cathers in the south of medieval France believed
>rules the world because god is too busy running heaven to be involved here.
>the cathers had unique customs, some like what cat mentioned. the pope got
>sick of these non-orthodox folks and finally sent an army of crusades
>veterans to kill them all and redistribute their lands to church loyalists.
>you can read about this.)
> if the templars were trying to fashion anything heretical, consider how
>many pre christian religions featured a dismemberment of the old worn out
>form followed by a rebirth of some kind after a dark and fearful interval.
>osirus/tammuz/bachus/dyonisius/orpheus. all this stuff can be interpreted
>in an alchemical context too.
> the T's had plenty of stuff to work with--and from the christian point of
>view all filled with equally heretical and sorcerous rites. the masons use
>a similar death and dismemberment motif re hiram, is this not so? somebody
>organizing a new secret mystical rite might see glamor in a tie to those
>old knights practicing pagan mysteries.
>
>barry writes--
>>> following the logic of the "trapped in matter" concept, the Azoth
>>> principle must be released so some solar/jupiterian/alchemical
>>> transformation/transmutation can take place presumably revealing the
>>> higher form of matter
>.
>cat--
>>Well, there's the problem in a nutshell -- *releasing* the Azoth
>>principle so that a transformation may occur. Sometimes it just
>>solidifies in place, and you're stuck with an alembic full of base
>>matter. It is *so* disappointing when that happens, but eventually i
>>scrub out the alembic with Ivory Soap, air dry it, and start again with
>>all new ingredients. I'm doing that right now, as a matter of fact. A
>>new batch of Azoth has just come in and i have hopes that this time i
>>may finally get beyond the hot air phase and into some real cooking. I'm
>>still trying to understand Arthur Edward Waite's footnotes to the works
>>of Paracelsus, but these ingredients look very promising. I'll let y'all
>>know how it turns out. If i suddenly seem to have a lot of gold on me,
>>you'll know i've discovered the secret.
>
>> ***Barry again--
> may your cup runneth over
>
>>> re mohamet as anti-christ:i wonder if the cubic kabba shrine of the
>>> muslims was seen as same as the cubic throne of baphomet.
>>
>>cf Rufus Camphausen, "The Yoni" -- where the physical appearance of the
>>kaaba meteorite in its opening at the South-East corner of the cubic
>>building is very obviously shaped like a vulva. Citations are given from
>>the Arabian philosopher and alchemist al-Kindi, who stated in the 9th
>>century that the kaaba had originally been a temple to Al'Uzza, the moon
>>goddess, whose vulva he meteorit represented. Modern scholars, according
>>to Camphausen, identify Al'Uzza as one facet of the pre-Islamic Arabian
>>triple goddess Al'Lat, converted by Mahomet into the male god Allah,
>>while Al'Lat's vulva became the Right Hand of God. Those crafty Muslims
>>seem to worshipping more than just the beard of the Prohet!
>
>***B--
>Wow
>>
>barry writes--
>>> re the rooster-headed fellow mentioned: he is ABRAXAS, an embodiment
>>> of the combined 7 planetary powers--similar to that candle found in
>>> stores. . an expert in this matter might have another opinion.
>
>>cat answers--
>>I have never seen an ABAXAS candle, but there is a rooster on the 7
>>African Powers and Justo Juez (Just Judge) candles used in Santeria.
>>For more on ABRAXAS, see my web page at
>>http://www.luckymojo.com/willss14abraxas.html
>
>***b again--
> no ABRAXAS candle in stores,cat. it just seemed his resume' was the same
>as the 7 African powers, thats all.
>>
>>> PS ( is Mendes a person or a place?) B.
>
>>cat--
>>That's what i've been asking, too! Tyagi, do you know?
>
>>***b again--
>tyagi says egypt
>
>>catherine yronwode
------------------------------------------------
FIGURE
To: cat@luckymojo.com (catherine yronwode)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Re: history of baphomet: alchemy, templars (long)
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 15:45:49 -0700 (PDT)
49980712 aa3 Hail Satan! (fwd to sacredlandscapes if applicable)
catherine yronwode :
# Any Christian can tell you that the Devil has cloven hooves, not
# talons, carries a trident, not a baton, is thin, not paunchy, and, if he
# has wings at all, hey are bat-wings. He doesn't have a face on his torso
# and he is never sseen perched on an anvil.
cf. texts like JBRussell's 4-volume series on the history of the
concept of the Devil in Western society. there are a preponderance
of Christian images surrounding the Christian Devil, Satan, through
time. modern Christians don't usually make the best references on
how a symbol has progressed, historically. Russell seems to be an
exception, though I'm not sure if he identifies as Christian per se.
# The devil, in Judeo-Christian terms, is a specific being never
# named Baphomet in the Bible.
the bulk of Satan-related Judeochristian mythology comes from
sources other than the Christian Bible, OT or NT. some of it
is apocrypha, some is other religious myths, some is popular
folk and literary traditions (e.g. Dante).
# In fact, his name is Satan.
even this is not clear. Biblically the Bibliolaters ambiguously
identified the Satan of Job and other books with the serpent
in the Garden of Eden, some cobbled entity called 'Lucifer',
and of course the NT names 'Beelzebub/uth/oul' and 'Mastema'.
these don't even include the various *titles*, by which the
ingenius apologist could include all of the above and more,
like 'Father of Lies', 'Lord of This World' and even 'God of
This World'. a great deal of power is ascribed to this being
within the NT (esp. in certain understandings of John's Book
of Revelations), and one of the first 'official' (RCC) descriptions
for Satan included some of the features you mention which have
become well-known to the bulk of Judeochristian culture.
# It is almost as if the tarot card designers, starting around 1500,
# slowly began to diverge from the Christian iconographers, and in due
# time the two lines of imagery were so disimilar that Levi could apply
# the name "Baphomet" the the "tarot devil" and people believed that he
# was talking about an ancient entity.
that's one way of looking at it. it is possible to look at just
what the denomination or religious background was of those people
who were fiddling with the imagery and what the cards were used
for if they weren't just for games. there appear to be historical
examples, for example, of cards of the Devil hung up in public
places, where people could spit or throw stones at or in some other
way castigate or cast-out their cosmic antagonist. it is possible
that certain underground Gnostics (this may overlay into religious
conspiracy theory) were instrumental in fostering such imagery as
well, being inclined to interpret the Biblical Satan as not an evil
but an heroic figure in a promethean role. Levi was a lapsed RC as
were many who have been important to Hermetic/Satanic tradition.
# The Christian Devil, a.k.a. Satan, Old Scratch, Old Nick, and so
# forth, is a type of Pan figure.
this isn't strictly true from what I have seen of the history of
the iconography, though Pan was a major influence in the
construction by the Church at various points. again, see Russell
or any competent history of the Christian Devil. the TOKUS URL
at the bottom of this post contains a variety of descriptions of
Satan which vary at times (see the 'Propaganda' directory ;>).
# The tarot Devil, a.k.a. Baphomet, seems, especiatlly in his
# androgeny, to be drawn from a mixture of alchemical and Middle
# Eastern sources, especially evident in the taloned feet.
then again, BOTH figures seem to have varied considerably through
their derivation. I'm not sure why they had to have been created
completely apart from one another. however, the historical
conflation of what developed into tarot illustrations, what was
said of the Christian Devil and what it was said that the Templars
worshipped does not seem easy to justify outside deception.
# But what the heck EITHER of these figures has to do with
# the Knights Templar or the poor Freemasons -- beyond Levi's
# assertions -- i still can't see.
the Templars were accused of heresy, as I recall. typically,
from the conservative religious this includes the worshipping
of the Devil, Satan. this is how many of the great heretical
movements put down by the Church have been characterized,
from the early Gnostics who competed for converts and basically
had an inverted cosmological paradigm from those who emerged
victorious on account of Roman dominance, to the Lutherans,
whose founder the Church painted as the very incarnation of the
Devil in some propaganda. books like Sam Keen's _Faces of the
Enemy_ bring to light the propagandistic element of warring
religious factions as well as how easily we can see projected
shadow imagery come to be applied to political and religious
adversaries.
the Templars were on the wrong side of the political fence
from those who maintained social power. their own power in
monetary circles made them ripe for plunder. the motive
for the (poor? hehe) Freemasons seems to be much more clear.
they constituted and still do constitute a rival for social
and religious authority in the juridictions in which they
were becoming popular. the Church (later RC) sought the
most effective means of putting it down that it knew -- the
ascription of heresy and Satan-worship in order to whip up
the masses and bring down a host of condemnation to drum
them out of town. you can still see this in Chic tracts.
the writers and propagandists of the late 1800s appear to
have been trying to capitalize on the popularity of their
respective readers (with Levi the French salons, with Pike
I am guessing a certain faction of Freemasons) and the
waning of the power of the Church in order to fuse the
association of Luciferianism and liberation in a manner not
unlike that of previous literary greats who did something
similar in fictional form (e.g. George Bernard Shaw) or
those who identified the 'Light-Bearer' as the *heroic*
antagonist to the Biblical God (there have been many,
inclusive of Romantic poets who co-opted works like that
of Milton or Goethe for their own purposes).
this propagandistic tradition continues more overtly in
the writings of Aleister Crowley and the great success of
Anton Szandor LaVey, who finally achieved a conventionality
atop the shoulders of liberationists ages old without much
mention of his sources or inspiration. as establishing a
'Satanic religion' legitimated it in the eyes of anyone who
fought for the freedom of law-abiding religion (which, in
general, LaVeyan Satanism surely was and is), complete
with its own (heh) _Satanic Bible_ and 'Satanic Sins',
it is not surprising that these platforms were further
used (with some backlash in the Satanic Ritual Abuse scares
during the last few decades) to promote individualist,
hedonistic and liberationist religious principles. one
might say that it is the natural development of the
Protestant Reformation (as is 'Thelema', that stream of
the religious current which proceeds from Aleister Crowley
that integrates Baphomet and Satan in very important ways).
nocTifer: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-------------------------------------
FIGURE
Orig-To:
From: danw@netmastersinc.com (Dan Washburn)
Subject: re: history of baphomet: alchemy, templars (long)
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 18:16:59 -0800
Dear Baphomet Researchers:
My own intuition on the Templars' Head is that it was
a head of John the Baptist that they picked up very
early in the history of the order as a religious relic.
Its known that the order felt some sort of connection
with John the Baptist.
Hugues de Payen had three black heads on his shield.
"Another possibility for the origin of the Head relates to
the imagery on the first Grand Master's
shield, which consisted of three black heads on a gold field.
- Forrest Jackson, "The Baphomet in History and Symbolism"
Another theory suggests that Baphomet is a compound
of the words 'baphe' (baptism) and 'metis' (wisdom)
- Encounters magazine, issue 11: 45
So Baphomet would mean 'the wisdom given in baptism,' or even
'the wisdom of the Baptist'.
But the shield had three heads on it. Where are the other two?
Perhaps in reliquaries such as the one described below:
"A great head of gilded silver, most beautiful, and constituting
the image of a woman.
"Inside were two head bones, wrapped in a cloth of white linen,
with another red cloth around it. A label was attached, on which
was written the legend CAPUT LVIIIm. The bones inside were those
of a rather small woman."
- Oursel, Le Proc=E9s des Templier
My theory is that early on when Hugues de Payen and his
companions were in Jerusalem, they acquired a head of
John the Baptist as a religious relic, plus the skulls of two
other saints. These became objects of veneration within
the order and inspired the design on Hugues' shield.
When the end came and the Inquisition began torturing
its victims, ordinary veneration of the relics of saints
was transformed into the worship of an evil Head,
with a sprikle of Islamic overlay thrown in for good
measure.
The Templars in their secret initiation rites are reported
to have been required to kiss the hind end of a goat.
The 19th century occult crew seem to have picked up
this slander and conflated it with Baphomet and the
Templar Head.
The Templar Head was supposed to have very long
hair, perhaps a source for some of the androgeny in
Baphomet imagery.
Dan Washburn
---------------------------
FIGURE
To:
From: "Pam Giese"
Subject: Re: history of baphomet:back again.
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 23:06:23 -0500
Does the term Goat of Mendes relate to the Maenads? Or is it just my
midwestern twang getting in the way?
Coincindently (oh, yeah, like I believe in coincidence) I got a Toscano
catalog today that offered a replicate of "the Urn of Maenads" which
deipicts "mythical female Maenads, spinning wildly in their spirited
Baccahanalian dance".
A quick infoseek search of the Maenads brings up the following
interesting quote from The Bacchantes by Euripides:
"I hear that our women-folk have left their
homes on pretence of Bacchic rites, and on the wooded hills rush
wildly to and fro, honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus,
whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each revel-rout the brimming
wine-bowl stands, and one by one they steal away to lonely spots to
gratify their lust, pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent
on sacrifice, though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the
Bacchic god."
At this point we're quickly back to the Pan image as animal/human lust.
I wouldn't jump too fast to bring the goat-man into a "scapegoat"
archetype. One reason is that the Dionysian festivals were
associated with the harvest/autumn equinox. This is also the beginning
of the time of the goat (and similar ruminants) "rut" or breeding
cycle. If you've even spent any time with male goats between
September-December, you'll quickly realize that they'll try to mount
anything/body within their proximity. [They make a pecular "whoop"
sound when excited, that if you ever hear it, permantly disrupts
any association with the word, whoopie.] When we talk about sacrifice
during this period, we're talking about male "seed". For northern
climates, this is the time were fertilization brings spring/summer
births --much more advantageous that trying to nurture a new-born
through the winter. I think this is an area were popular
neo-paganism misses with the emphasis on May-day as a fertility
holiday. Yes, crops should either be planted or close to it. But
for mammals, if you conceive in April/May, you're looking at a birth
in the hardest time of the year. Not good for a newborn. However,
if you revel with the Dionysian throngs and conceive in September,
you're looking at a summer/spring birth and an easier food supply
and surival rate.
I'm thinking that the Baphomet was an intellectual contrivance that
rested to a large degree on the suppressed archetypes of Pan, the
devil, Thor's goats, and probably other images for fertility and
substinance. The whole Pan image of lust/evil seems to ride the
archetype/mythic border, such that it never really disappeared from
the scene.
Pam
pgiese@snd.softfarm.com
-----------------------------------------------
TERM/FIGURE
To: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.magick,
talk.religion.misc
From: catherine yronwode
Subject: Re: Goat of Mendes (Baphomet)
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 17:53:17 -0800
Dan Washburn wrote:
>
> A while back we were inquiring into the meaning of Baphomet. In the
> course of that discussion questions were asked about the meaning of
> the Goat of Mendes.
Dan, thanks for keeping this in mind as you net-surfed. You are a very
good researcher!
Our discussion arose (in the sacredlandscape-list) because the 19th
century French occultist Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant,
1810-1875), writing in "Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and Ritual,"
(translated and annotated by Arthur Edward Waite) identified "The
Sabbatic Goat" (an idol he claimed was worshipped by Satanists and/or
witches) with "Baphomet" (the name of an entity the Knights Teplar were
charged with worshipping when their order was disbanded by the Catholic
Church) and with "The Goat of Mendes" (an ancient Egyptian deity).
Levi drew an image of this entity, which has been copied widely and is
familiar to many contemporary students of magic and occultism,
especially those who follow the writings of Arthur Edward Waite, Paul
Foster Case, and Aleister Crowley. The picture shows a goat-headed
hermaphroditic humanoid with a five-pointed star on his head, female
breasts, and a caduceus in place of his male genitalia. This
hermaphroditic goat is sometimes identified as "The Devil" (e.g. by
Waite and Case) -- and Levi's claim that the "inverted" pentagram is a
symbol of devil-worship is derived in part from his identification of
the geometric figure of a pentagram with "the head of the Goat of
Mendes."
> The excerpt below may shed some light on those questions. Believe it
> or not it is from the official Egyptian Tourism web site. It has a
> section called Egyptian Antiquities which it describes as 'A vast
> resource of Egyptian history, including an in-depth historical
> archive, plus information on monuments and artifacts.'
>
> http://touregypt.net/index.htm
>
>[begin quoted text; i've inserted breaks and added my own comments]
>
> Coming now to the second great form of Khenmu, that under which he
> was worshipped at Mendes, we find that at a very early date he was
> identified with the great god of that city, and was known as
> Ba-neb-Tettu, i.e., the Ram, lord of Tettu.
Obviously, this local form of Khenmu was one of the many male goat/sheep
gods the Egyptians worshipped at various sites. As i recall (after
decades of slowly decaying memory), the original Egyptian ram-god was
Ptah, the creator, who is presumed to be of a wild species of goat with
long, outwardly-twirled horns). He was followed in time (at at a
different locale) by Amon-Ra a.k.a. Ra, a more conventionally
sheepish-looking ram with backwards-curved horns. Ptah and Ra were
identified with each other, and thus Ba-neb-Tettu was identified with
both.
The taxonomic distinctions between goats and sheep were not always clear
to folks in earlier times; it is easy to assign any given domestic
animal to the "sheep" category or "goat" category, but wild species are
harder to distinguish, and that's why it was said of YHVH that he would
separate the sheep from the goats. He made 'em, after all!
> Now as the word for "soul" in Egyptian was Ba, the title Ba-neb-Tettu
> was sometimes held to mean the "Soul, the lord Tettu,"
> and this was the name of the ram.
Notice that both goats and sheep say "baaa" and so there is a pun in the
name. I myself have owned a number of rams and named them all with such
onomotopaeic titles as Ba-Ba-Louie, Ba-Ba-Ram-Das, and Ba-Ga-Vad-Gita
> Ba-neb-Tettu, whose name was corrupted by the Greeks into Mevons,
Mevons for Ba-neb or Mevons for Khenmu? Either one is worse than
corrupting Beijing to Pekin!
> and Tamai al-Amdid by the Arabs,
Tamai al-Amdid? Anyone know what that means?
> was said to be the "living soul of Ra, the holy Sekhem "who dwelleth
> within Hat-mehit, and the "life of Ra," and he was worshipped
> throughout the sixteenth nome from the earliest times.
In other words, Ba-neb-Tettu, the Goat of Mendes was an local,
pre-dynastic deity. (An Egyptian nome, by the way, was a delineated
region, equivalent to a parish, county, or other such division.)
> He was regarded as the virile principle in the gods and men, and is
> styled, "King of the South and North, the Ram, the virile male, the
> holy phallus, which stirreth up the passions of love, the Ram of rams,
> whose gifts are brought forth by the earth after it hath been flooded
> by the Nile, the Soul, the life of Ra, who is united with Shu and
> Tefnut, the One god, who is mighty in strength, who riseth in the
> heavens and the earth {like Ra}, who appeareth in the form of the Nile
> like {Osiris}, who vivifieth the earth {like Seb}, and who formeth the
> breath of life for all men, the chief of the gods, the lord of heaven
> and the king of the gods."
>
> Ba-neb-Tettu was originally a local form of Ra, but he subsequently
> was made to include within himself not only the Soul of Ra, but the
> Souls of Osiris, and Seb, and Shu. These four Souls are reproduced by
> Signor Lanzone, and appear in the form of four rams, the horns of each
> being surmounted by a uraeus, they are described as "The Soul of Seb,
> lord of Het- teft; the Soul of Osiris, lord of Ta-sent; the Soul of
> Shu, lord of Anit ; and the Soul of Ra, dweller in ....."
>
> In allusion to these Souls the Ram of Mendes is sometimes described as
> the Ram with "Four faces {or, heads} on the neck,"
Here i want to note (not for the first time!) that Eliphas Levi seems to
have discarded any semblence of historicity when he identified this
all-male, virile-phallused, four-headed Egyptian ram creator-god as a
"hermaphrodite" analogue of the Judeo-Christian adversary-demon Satan.
> The female counterpart of Ba-neb-Tettu was Hat-Mehit, and her son by
> the god was Heru-pa-khart, the dweller in Atemet, and she
> was in some way connected with Punt, but the center of her worship in
> Egypt was the city of Mendes, of which she is called the "Mother;"
> she was, of course, a form of Isis and Hathor, and as such was called
> "the Eye of Ra, the lady of heaven, and the mistress of the gods."
This makes perfect sense in Egyptian terms...and ipso facto makes NO
sense in terms of 19th and 20th century French and British occultism.
The so-called "hermaphroditic" Goat of Mendes that Levi presented to the
public is a goat-headed -- not ram-headed -- humanoid with supposedly
male genitalia (but, more truthfully, he simply has Mercury's caduceus
in place of his penis) and female breasts. The Egyptians were not prudes
-- if they wanted to represent a combined male-female deity, they COULD
have done so. However, it seems that they did not do this with the Goat
of Mendes. Instead, their male god Ba-neb-tettu, was married to his
sister, Hat-Mehgit, and they had a son named Heru-pa-khart (a.k.a.
Harpocrates).
> In late dynastic times, when Ba-neb-Tettu was especially regarded as
> the Soul of Orisis, and when the other aspects of the god were not
> considered of so much importance, Hat-Mehit was wholly identified with
> Isis, and her son "Harpocrates, the dweller in Mendes," became to all
> intents and purposes Horus, the son of Isis, by Osiris.
In other words, Ba-neb-Tettu, a form of Khenmu, was a local male
goat-sheep Ra or Ptah analogue later identified also with Osiris. His
sister-spouse was Hat-Mehit, a local Isis or Hathor analogue. Their son
was Heru-pa-khart a.k.a. Harpocrates, later identied as a Horus
analogue.
> The priests however, were careful to preserve the peculiar
> characteristics of their god, i.e., virility and the power to create,
> and to recreate, and they did so by declaring that the phallus and the
> lower part of the backbone, of Osiris were preserved in the temple of
> the city which bore the name of Per-khet, i.e., the "House of the
> staircase."
>
> The Ram of Mendes was then a form of "Osiris as the Generator,"
> as he is called in Chapters cxli, and cxlii. of the Book
> Of the Dead, and the Delta was probably due to the elaborate
> phallic ceremonies which were celebrated at Mendes and the
> neighborhood annually.
I am certain that it was the unabashed male virility of this deity that
attracted the prurient attention of Eliphas Levi, Aleister Crowley, et
al, as they popularlized him erroneously as a form of "Satan." These
folks had been subjected to cruel and repressive Victorian sexual
training which made noraml human sexuality appear "sinful" and hence
"Satanic." I know nothing of Levi's sexual inclinations, but Crowley was
a bisexual who could not bear to express his sexual preferences openly.
(See his pseudonymous parody of Richerd Burton's "Perfumed Garden" for a
sample of his pathetic attempts to simulatneously conceal and reveal his
love affair with Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt.) The conflation of male
virility with "demonic" bisexuality and hence androgyny is something
personal to these particular Victorians; the fact that they presented
spurious ancient sources to justify their needs for personal expression
of "sinful" longings is symptomatic of Victorian European hegemonic
Orientalism at its worst.
> Before the close of the Ptolemaic period, however, some calamity seems
> to have fallen upon Mendes, and her sanctuary was forsaken and her god
> forgotten; on the other hand, the portion of the city which was known
> by the name Thmuis, Ouovis, survived, and was sufficiently important
> in Christian times to possess a bishop of its own. The Copts called
> the place Ollovewc, or Tbaki Ollovi, and a Bishop of Thmoui was
> present both at the Council of Nice and the Council of Ephesus.
>
> Finally, we have to note that Khenmu as a form of Shu, i.e., as a
> personification of the wind, and the atmosphere, and the supporter of
> heaven, and the light of the Sun and Moon, was worshipped at several
> places in Upper Egypt and in Heliopolis under the form of a ram; the
> center of his worship at last-named place was Het-Benben, or "the
> House of the Obelisk." At Latopolis he absorbed the attributes of
> Tem, and he was identified with Nu, the maker of the universe and
> creator of the gods; similarly, he was regarded as a form of Ptah and
> of Ptah-Tanen,
Ptah is, of course, the "maker of the gods" and is goat-headed.
> and his female counterparts were Menhit, Seket, and Tefnut.
>
> In a hymn which is inscribed on the walls of the temple of Esna he is
> called, "The prop of heaven who hath spread out the same with his
> hands," and the sky is said to "rest upon his head whilst the earth
> beareth up his feet." He is "the creator of heaven and earth and all
> that herein is, and the maker of whatsoever is; he formed the company
> of the gods and he made man upon his potter's wheel."
Again, here is a Ptah reference, for this deity is often shown at a
potter's wheel, creating the universe. Ptah was never a hermaphrodite or
a bisexual, nor was he associated with "Satanic" things such as deceit,
trickery, the underworld, the land of the dead, "sin," flames,
brimstone, suphur, soul-stealing, pacts, or the whole panoply of
"demonic" concepts. That Levi, Crowley et al made this correspondence
shames them, not Ptah or his representative in Mendes, Ba-neb-Tettu,
needless to say.
> He is "the One god, the source from which sprang the regions on high,
> the primeval architect, the maker of the stars, the creator of the
> gods, who was never born, and the begetter or maker of his own being,
> whom no man can understand or comprehend."
Typical creator-god attributions, usually encountered in connection with
the deity Ptah. .
> Many other passages in the inscriptions at Esna ascribe to him
> naturally all the powers and attributes of Ptah. Among several
> interesting addresses to the god may be mentioned [one] wherein it
> is said, "Thou hast raised up heaven to be a dwelling-place for the
> soul, and thou didst make the great deep that it might serve as a
> hiding-place for the body."
That Ba-neb-tettu created Heaven as well as the Abyss certainly removes
him from the class of the demi-urge or demon.
> Finally, it may be noted that as Khenmu-shu absorbed the attributes of
> Nu, Ra, Ptah, Thoth, etc., so several great goddesses, besides those
> already mentioned, were identified with his female counterparts,
> e.g., Nut, Net, {Neith}, Nebuut, etc.
>
> [end quoted text]
>
> http://touregypt.net/khnemfor.htm
>
> Dan W.
Now, just to lock this down, as best i can -- from this material on
ancient Egypt, supplied by the Egyptian govenrment, i have learned the
following:
1) The Goat of Mendes was named Ba-neb-Tettu and was a form of Khenmu.
Two translations for his name are:
The Ram, Lord of Tettu
Soul, the Lord Tettu
2) The word Ba-neb-Tettu refers to the soul (Ba); Ba also means "ram."
3) Ba-neb-Tettu was at various times an analogue for:
Ra (a.k.a. Amon-Ra), a ram-(sheep)-headed god,
Ptah, a very ancient goat-headed creator (potter) god,
Osiris, a latterly-popular "saviour" god.
Shu, a wind-god
4) In latter times Ba-neb-Tettu was called the "soul" of four gods:
the Soul of Ra,
the Soul of Osiris,
the Soul of Seb,
the Soul of Shu.
5) As the Soul of these four gods, Ba-neb-Tettu was sometimes
portrayed as a four-headed or four-faced ram.
6) Ba-neb-Tettu was not a hermaphrodite but a heterosexual male
whose mate was his sister-goddess.
7) The Greeks called Ba-neb-Tettu "Mevons."
8) The Arabs called Ba-neb-Tettu "Tamai al-Amdid," a name not at all
related to "Baphomet." Most scholars presume that Baphomet is a
corruption of the word "Mahomet" or "Mohammed." Mohammad is NOT the
"creator god" of the Arabs. Eliphas Levi gives the derivation of
Baphomet "Kabalistically backwards" (sic!) as "Tem. ohp. ab." which
he interprets as "Templi Omnium Hominum Pacis Abbas," and translates
as "The Father of the Temple of Peace of All Men." Thus his
identification of Baphomet with The Goat of Mendes is not only a
fabrication but a stupidly inconsistent one with he drops when he
wishes to identify Baphomet with the Knights Templar.
9) Ba-neb-Tettu, the ram-headed creator god a.k.a. The Goat of Mendes
was never iconographically associated with the following visual
images found in the Eliphas Levi renditon of "The Sabbatic Goat"
a.k.a. "Baphomet" a.k.a."the spirit of the earth...Azoth [with] the
head of The Goat of Mendes" or with the subsequent reinterpretation
of this image (as "The Devil") in the tarot cards of Pamela Coleman
Smith and Arthur Edward Waite:
A) a five-pointed star or inverted pentagram
(Levi wrote: "By placing [the Pentagram] in such a manner that
two of its points are in the ascendent and one is below, we may
see the horns, ears, and beard of the heirarchic Goat of Mendes,
when it becomes the sign of infernal evocations.")
B) a burning torch (between the horns in the Levi verison; in the
hand in the Smith-Waite version) ,
C) chains (Smith-Waite),
D) flames (in both versions),
E) the caduceus of Mercury (Levi),
F) female breasts (Levi),
G) a cubic throne (both versions),
H) two crescent moons (Levi),
I) bat-wings (Smith-Waite) or bird-wings (Levi)
J) Captive humanoids (Smith-Waite)
10) Ba-neb-Tettu was not identified with Satan, demons, trickery,
"sin," a "fall from grace," eternal damnation, judgement, hell,
"infernal evocations," or adversarial conditions of any kind; in
contradistinction, he was considered to be a masculine-virile
"creator" god.
11) Eliphas Levi was full of shit.
catherine yronwode
---------------------------------
FIGURE
To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.magick,talk.religion.misc
From: grifcon@mindspring.com (Katherine Griffis)
Subject: Ram of Mendes [WAS Re: Goat of Mendes (Baphomet)]
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 21:26:04 GMT
On Thu, 17 Dec 1998 17:53:17 -0800, catherine yronwode
wrote:
>>Dan Washburn wrote:
>> The excerpt below may shed some light on those questions. Believe it
>> or not it is from the official Egyptian Tourism web site. It has a
>> section called Egyptian Antiquities which it describes as 'A vast
>> resource of Egyptian history, including an in-depth historical
>> archive, plus information on monuments and artifacts.'
>>
>> http://touregypt.net/index.htm
>>
>>[begin quoted text; i've inserted breaks and added my own comments]
>>
>> Coming now to the second great form of Khenmu, that under which he
>> was worshipped at Mendes, we find that at a very early date he was
>> identified with the great god of that city, and was known as
>> Ba-neb-Tettu, i.e., the Ram, lord of Tettu.
>
>Obviously, this local form of Khenmu was one of the many male goat/sheep
>gods the Egyptians worshipped at various sites. As i recall (after
>decades of slowly decaying memory), the original Egyptian ram-god was
>Ptah, the creator, who is presumed to be of a wild species of goat with
>long, outwardly-twirled horns). He was followed in time (at at a
>different locale) by Amon-Ra a.k.a. Ra, a more conventionally
>sheepish-looking ram with backwards-curved horns. Ptah and Ra were
>identified with each other, and thus Ba-neb-Tettu was identified with
>both.
>
>The taxonomic distinctions between goats and sheep were not always clear
>to folks in earlier times; it is easy to assign any given domestic
>animal to the "sheep" category or "goat" category, but wild species are
>harder to distinguish, and that's why it was said of YHVH that he would
>separate the sheep from the goats. He made 'em, after all!
On the contrary, the Egyptians were keen observers of nature; it is the
reference in Herodotus to the sacrifice of goats at Mendes which has
been questioned repeatedly as part of the confusion. In Egyptian art,
the ram is represented in two distinct types, Ovis longpipes
paleoaegyptica [used primarily in the representations of Khnum, Osiris,
and the Ram at Mendes [Banebdjedet], with undulating horizontal long
horns, and a heavy build. This is the species known from predynastic
times. The other type is the Ovis aries platyra aegyptiaca , or
curved-horn ram [which makes up the representations of Amun, for
example], and known from the Middle Kingdom onwards.
Most of the literature and evidence indicate that the Egyptians
worshipped rams, although sheep were considered ritually unclean. I am
not aware of any references to goats in the literature, except for
Herodotus' statement, and it is generally thought he mistook the ram
sacrifices for "goats."
>> Now as the word for "soul" in Egyptian was Ba, the title Ba-neb-Tettu
>> was sometimes held to mean the "Soul, the lord Tettu,"
>> and this was the name of the ram.
>
>Notice that both goats and sheep say "baaa" and so there is a pun in the
>name. I myself have owned a number of rams and named them all with such
>onomotopaeic titles as Ba-Ba-Louie, Ba-Ba-Ram-Das, and Ba-Ga-Vad-Gita
It is thought that the word 'ba", which means [loosely] "soul" and the
reference to the ram (also called 'ba') are based upon an onomatopoeia.
;)
>> In allusion to these Souls the Ram of Mendes is sometimes described as
>> the Ram with "Four faces {or, heads} on the neck,"
Here it should be noted that these associations are _very late_ in
Egyptian religion, and come from about the 20th Dynasty.
>> The female counterpart of Ba-neb-Tettu was Hat-Mehit, and her son by
>> the god was Heru-pa-khart, the dweller in Atemet, and she
>> was in some way connected with Punt, but the center of her worship in
>> Egypt was the city of Mendes, of which she is called the "Mother;"
>> she was, of course, a form of Isis and Hathor, and as such was called
>> "the Eye of Ra, the lady of heaven, and the mistress of the gods."
Hat-Mehit was possibly syncretized into Isis as well, but this again was
VERY late, when almost ALL female deities became associated as facets of
Isis. However, Hat-Mehit's cult seems to have eclipsed in Mendes about
the Middle Kingdom.
>This makes perfect sense in Egyptian terms...and ipso facto makes NO
>sense in terms of 19th and 20th century French and British occultism.
>The so-called "hermaphroditic" Goat of Mendes that Levi presented to the
>public is a goat-headed -- not ram-headed -- humanoid with supposedly
>male genitalia (but, more truthfully, he simply has Mercury's caduceus
>in place of his penis) and female breasts. The Egyptians were not prudes
>-- if they wanted to represent a combined male-female deity, they COULD
>have done so. However, it seems that they did not do this with the Goat
>of Mendes. Instead, their male god Ba-neb-tettu, was married to his
>sister, Hat-Mehgit, and they had a son named Heru-pa-khart (a.k.a.
>Harpocrates).
Likely the confusion comes form the late association of Banebdjedet with
the creator-god Khnum very late in Egyptian literature, which is in the
Chester Beatty I Papyrus [Contendings of Horus and Seth], in which the
god is claimed to "dwell in Setit" - which is identified as an island
Seheil located at the First Cataract of the Nile in Aswan. Since
Khnum's cult was located at nearby Elephantine, it is apparent that the
syncretism of the two different ram-gods had occurred by this period
(again, Dynasty 20).
>> In late dynastic times, when Ba-neb-Tettu was especially regarded as
>> the Soul of Orisis, and when the other aspects of the god were not
>> considered of so much importance, Hat-Mehit was wholly identified with
>> Isis, and her son "Harpocrates, the dweller in Mendes," became to all
>> intents and purposes Horus, the son of Isis, by Osiris.
>
>In other words, Ba-neb-Tettu, a form of Khenmu, was a local male
>goat-sheep Ra or Ptah analogue later identified also with Osiris. His
>sister-spouse was Hat-Mehit, a local Isis or Hathor analogue. Their son
>was Heru-pa-khart a.k.a. Harpocrates, later identied as a Horus
>analogue.
Khnum is a southern god, and Banebdjedet a god of the northeastern
Delta. They are distinct gods, which had their own "families" of
worship:
Banebdjedet/Hat-Mehit/Harpocrates
Khnum/Satis or Anuket as consort
>> Finally, we have to note that Khenmu as a form of Shu, i.e., as a
>> personification of the wind, and the atmosphere, and the supporter of
>> heaven, and the light of the Sun and Moon, was worshipped at several
>> places in Upper Egypt and in Heliopolis under the form of a ram; the
>> center of his worship at last-named place was Het-Benben, or "the
>> House of the Obelisk." At Latopolis he absorbed the attributes of
>> Tem, and he was identified with Nu, the maker of the universe and
>> creator of the gods; similarly, he was regarded as a form of Ptah and
>> of Ptah-Tanen,
>
>Ptah is, of course, the "maker of the gods" and is goat-headed.
Does anyone have a visual example of Ptah as "ram" or "goatheaded"? I
have never seen one, and Ptah is particularly represented as a totally
humanoid figure, with a blue skullcap and mummiform body. This imagery
was in place by Dynasty 1, and AFAIK, the representation never waivered.
However, Ptah IS a creator, and again, androgynous in his form as a
creator deity. Perhaps the wesbite is referring to Ptah's association
with the earth/chthonic deity Tatanen, which occurred in the Old
Kingdom.
>> and his female counterparts were Menhit, Seket, and Tefnut.
Ptah is primarily associated with Sekhmet, goddess of destruction (while
he represented order). These deities you mention were not associated
with Ptah although there may be some confusion since they are all
lioness goddesses, as was Sekhmet. The Memphite Triad consisted of
Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertum. A later "son" addition was the deified
mortal, Imhotep, the architect of the Step Pyramid of Djoser. [See
comments about Ptah as an intellectual god of "crafts", below].
>> In a hymn which is inscribed on the walls of the temple of Esna he is
>> called, "The prop of heaven who hath spread out the same with his
>> hands," and the sky is said to "rest upon his head whilst the earth
>> beareth up his feet." He is "the creator of heaven and earth and all
>> that herein is, and the maker of whatsoever is; he formed the company
>> of the gods and he made man upon his potter's wheel."
>
>Again, here is a Ptah reference, for this deity is often shown at a
>potter's wheel, creating the universe. Ptah was never a hermaphrodite or
>a bisexual,
But he was. In his form as Ptah-Naunet, he was known as the
"father-mother" who bore Atum, in the Memphite theology. Also, here you
have a confusion of Ptah with Khnum, for Ptah was not a "potter god."
See below.
>> He is "the One god, the source from which sprang the regions on high,
>> the primeval architect, the maker of the stars, the creator of the
>> gods, who was never born, and the begetter or maker of his own being,
>> whom no man can understand or comprehend."
>
>Typical creator-god attributions, usually encountered in connection with
>the deity Ptah. .
Or with most creator deities. The Egyptians made a distinction between
gods who were born (msw) and gods who "come into being" (xprw). Creator
deities, by their very nature, "came into being" for they could not be
born of another. Atum is considered the first "completed" being, and
was bisexual, although the Heliopolitan Theology claims him as "coming
to being" while other literature claims he is a creation of Neith or
Ptah.
>Now, just to lock this down, as best i can -- from this material on
>ancient Egypt, supplied by the Egyptian govenrment, i have learned the
>following:
>
>1) The Goat of Mendes was named Ba-neb-Tettu and was a form of Khenmu.
Not quite. We're talking about distinct deities associated with Mendes
at various times. Originally, the deity associated with Mendes is a
goddess, Hat-Mehit, which was a fish-goddess.This goddess first appears
in dynastic periods, from the 2nd Dynasty onwards. She is supplanted by
her consort introduced later, Banebdjedet, a ram-god, which literally
means "Soul [manifestation] of the Lord of the Djedet [Mendes]."
Khnum, OTOH, a deity from the Southern Egyptian area, is known from the
predynastic periods, and is associated with fertility, especially in
line with the Nile inundation.
>2) The word Ba-neb-Tettu refers to the soul (Ba); Ba also means "ram."
Here we're literally talking about the name as the "soul of [locale]."
The ram symbolism is likely part of the onomatopoeia, and the sexual
side of the ram symbolism seems to be part of the late (post Dyn 20)
symbolism .
>3) Ba-neb-Tettu was at various times an analogue for:
I think "analogue" may be a bit much. Most of the references here are
talking about "ba" [soul], where syncretized deities occur, and not with
the deity Banebdjedet, specifically.
> Ra (a.k.a. Amon-Ra), a ram-(sheep)-headed god,
No, this is Khnum in most instances. The only other association of a
"ram" with Re is in his chthonic "soul" personification, and this is
again part of his association with Khnum, at least in the southern
Egyptian belief system. This means that this is not Banebdjedet,
though.
> Ptah, a very ancient goat-headed creator (potter) god,
Again, this is a late syncretism, and the Banebdjedet deity is stated
only in the birth story of Ramses III, which is late (Dyn. 20). In this
case, the god Tatanen, which is an earth deity (thus the confusion with
Geb) is referred to here. He is often seen as androgynous and/or as
bisexual. Tatanen was a chthonic deity of vegetation shown as a man with
ram horns and two feathers. Ptah and Tatanen were syncretized by the
Old Kingdom [sometimes called "Ptah-tanen"], but not with Banebdjedet
until Dyn. 20.
Further, Ptah was not a "potter god" (this is Khnum again), but an
artisan god, who fashions from rich materials (such as the body of
Ramses II, which it is said he fashions from electrum, and his limbs
from copper and iron). Ptah is a god of architects, craftsmen and
sculptors [intellectual skills of deign and carving], while Khnum was
associated with skills of pottery, which was made with hands. Thus
Khnum "throws" the material world into existence, made out of water and
mud.
> Osiris, a latterly-popular "saviour" god.
Not sure where the website is getting this: Spell 142 names Osiris as
the "lord of Mendes", but as the "begetter of life" refers not to his
personification as a ram [ergo, sexual] deity but as the "corn god", the
lord of vegetation (Osiris is, after all, a chthonic deity].
> Shu, a wind-god
Again, this is Khnum [chthonic] who is associated with Shu, a defender
of the solar deities. This association comes from Esna inscriptions,
which are, again, very late in Egyptian religion.
>4) In latter times Ba-neb-Tettu was called the "soul" of four gods:
> the Soul of Ra,
> the Soul of Osiris,
> the Soul of Seb,
> the Soul of Shu.
Of these, the only association with the "soul" of any god listed here is
possibly with Re, once again referring back to the story of the
procreation scene of Ramses III where Tatanen becomes Banebdjedet to
copulate with Ramses III's mother. Hart has pointed out that this
inscription is "attempting to identify the chthonic deity Ptah-tanen
with the sun-god, the traditional father of the Egyptian Pharaoh since
the ram-god in the religious text known as the Litany of Re is
represented as the 'lord of the sky and the 'life of Re.' " Hart here
is referring to Ra's chthonic personification [Litany of Re].
Re is the "soul of Osiris" in the underworld [in fact, the souls must
necessarily combine to effect the rebirth of both deities], while Khnum
is associated with the "souls" of Geb/Seb and Shu. There may have been
an occasion in the Middle Kingdom that the "Soul of Mendes" ram was
associated with Osiris, which was symbolically retained in the Osiris
Atef crown.
>6) Ba-neb-Tettu was not a hermaphrodite but a heterosexual male
> whose mate was his sister-goddess.
True: the god Khnum is androgynous, however.
>10) Ba-neb-Tettu was not identified with Satan, demons, trickery,
> "sin," a "fall from grace," eternal damnation, judgement, hell,
> "infernal evocations," or adversarial conditions of any kind; in
> contradistinction, he was considered to be a masculine-virile
> "creator" god.
Again, I think this is a confusion with Khnum, for neither Banebdjedet
or his Osirian associations place this deity as a "creator" god; that
would be Khnum, and not part of the original syncretism. Post Dynasty
20 is when you see the confusion between the two deities (likely due to
both being representations of Ovis longpipes paleoaegyptica).
Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
Member, American Research Center in Egypt
International Association of Egyptologists
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Special Studies
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/1692/index.html
----------------------------------
FIGURE
To: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.magick,
talk.religion.misc
From: "wil326"
Subject: Re: Goat of Mendes (Baphomet)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 10:46:22 +0800
There was no Goat of Mendes it was a Ram of Mendes.
Ptah was the patron of craftsmen a creator god later merging with
necropolis god Sokor and Osiris into Ptah-Sokar-Osiris connected
with Apis bull.
Amon-Ra was most commonly found in the form of a man/Pharaoh with
a solar disk and two tall plumes as head dress, he was the king of
the gods, patron of the pharaohs, and god of fertility. Amon-Ra
spirit dwelt in the ram headed sphinx. Ba a human headed hawk
traveled about at will and carried the ring of eternity form its
mummy with it.
neb is the word for Lord/master and tettu (I think I'll have to
look it up) is endure and can be translated as great everlasting
soul/sprit. The Khenmu or more correctly Khnum(and Harsaphes
and Amon) were rams and I will search for goats but cannot recall
any mentions in Egyptian mythology.
The ram of Mendes(Banebdetet- Soul,Lord of Buriris/Osiris) actually
had four heads for the souls of Ra, Shu, Ged, and Osiris. When
he was connected to Ptah Ptah took his form to create Rameses II
(19 dynasty -military dynasty).
Hat-mehit was his wife the dolphin goddess.
Alot of confusion and misunderstanding is created because of
the horizontal horns from the rams head.
But the conclusions drawn are close to the mark. Your quoted
author is under researched.
And a contributing reason to alot of male statues and deities
had breasts was due to the expression of Klienfelder's disease
prevalent in the in bred population of the Monarchy of Egypt.
Have a good look at alot of the statues and read up on some
genetic/mummy studies.
Rhubarb Rhubarb if you want more of my opinion mail me
J.
------------------------------------
FIGURE
Herodotus writes in "The Histories":
I mentioned above that some of the Egyptians abstain from sacrificing
goats, either male or female. The reason is the following: - These
Egyptians, who are the Mendesians, consider Pan to be one of the eight
gods who existed before the twelve, and Pan is represented in Egypt by
the painters and the sculptors, just as he is in Greece with the face
and legs of a goat. They do not, however, believe this to be his shape,
or consider him in any respect unlike the other gods; but they
represent him thus for a reason which I prefer not to relate. The
Mendesians hold all goats in veneration, but the male more than the
female, giving the goatherds of the males especial honour. One is
venerated more highly than all the rest, and when he dies there is a
great mourning throughout all the Mendesian canton. In Egyptian, the
goat and Pan are both called Mendes. A marvel occurred in my time in
this canton: a goat coupled openly with a woman, in full view. This
was done as a public exhibition." (Book II Chap.46)
--------------------------
FIGURE/TERM
[from http://home.fireplug.net/~rshand/streams/masons/mysteries.html]
Mysteries of the Templars
The Baphomet
(1) Rumors and Charges
"Public indignation was aroused by...charges of ...worshipping
the devil in the form of an idol called Baphomet." Baphomet was
"the Templar symbol of Gnostic rites based on phallic worship and
the power of directed will. The androgynous figure with a goat's
beard and cloven hooves is linked to the horned god of antiquity,
the goat of Mendes."
- Peter Tompkins, The Magic of Obelisks
"Some confessed that they had also worshipped an idol in the form
of a cat, witch was red, or gray, or black, or mottled. Sometimes
the idol worship required kissing the cat below the tail.
Sometimes the cat was greased with the fat from roasted babies.
The Templars were forced to eat food that contained the ashes of
dead Templars, a form of witchcraft that passed on the courage of
the fallen knights."
- John J. Robinson, Dungeon, Fire and Sword (1991)
In the list of charges drawn up by the Inquisition against the
Templars on 12 August 1308, there appears the following:
"Item, that in each province the order had idols, namely
heads, of which some had three races and some one, and others
had a human skull.
Item, that they adored these idols or that idol, and
especially in their great chapters and assemblies.
Item, that they venerated (them).
Item, that (they venerated them) as God.
Item, that (they venerated them) as their Savior....
Item, that they said that the head could save them.
Item, that [it could] make riches.
Item, that it made the trees flower.
Item, that [it made] the land germinate.
Item, that they surrounded or touched each head of the
aforesaid idols with small cords, which they wore around
themselves next to the shirt or the flesh.
Item, that in his reception, the aforesaid small cords or some
lengths of them were given to each of the brethren.
Item, that they did this in veneration of an idol.
Item, that they (the receptors) enjoined them (the postulants)
on oath not to reveal the aforesaid to anyone."
- The Articles of the Accusations
"...They bestowed worship in their chapter on a heathen idol,
variously described as to its physical characteristics, but known
as a 'Baphomet', which etymologically was the same word [in Old
French] as 'Mohammed'. [Once or twice the form Mahomet is
actually used by witnesses in the trial.] Like so many persecuted
heretical groups of the past, they were said to hold their
chapters only secretly and at night."
"It was impossible for the Templars to have 'picked up in the
East' the practice of worshipping an idol bearing the name of the
Prophet Mohammed, since no such idol existed anywhere in the
Levant, even among breakaway sects such as the Ismailis or the
Druse. The idea that Muslims were idolaters was itself a part of
another system of 'smears', the pejorative representation of the
oriental world by western Christians."
- Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
"Probably relying upon contemporary Eastern sources, Western
scholars have recently supposed that 'Bafomet' has no connection
with Mohammed, but could well be a corruption of the Arabic
abufihamat (pronounced in the Moorish Spanish something like
bufihimat). The word means 'father of understanding.' In Arabic,
'father' is taken to mean 'source, chief seat of,' and so on. In
Sufi terminology, ras el-fahmat (head of knowledge) means the
mentation of man after undergoing refinement - the transmuted
consciousness."
- Idries Shah, The Sufis
"Another theory suggests that Baphomet is a compound of the words
'baphe' (baptism) and 'metis' (wisdom) ...Both theories imply the
Templars were worshipping, or at least privy to, a secret
knowledge. Several commentators believed this points to the
Templars having been gnostics ('gnosis' meaning knowing)."
- Encounters magazine, issue 11: 45
"In the Inquisition evidence there are several references to
members of the order receiving on initiation a little cord that
had been in contact with the 'head'."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of
Jesus Christ?
Upon being initiated into the Order of the Peacock Angel
(Yezidis),"a holy thread, of intertwined black and red wool, is
put around the neck. Like the sacred thread of the Parsis and
other ancient Middle Eastern cults, this must never be removed;
and it sounds like the cord that the Templars were accused of
wearing when the Order was suppressed as heretic."
- Arkon Daraul, Secret Societies
____________________________________________________________
(2) Descriptions of the Idol
The idol was described by Philip the Fair as:
"...a man's head with a large beard, which head they kiss and
worship at all their provincial chapters, but this not all the
brothers know, save only the Grand Master and the old ones."
- Philip's instructions to his seneschals
During The Trial of the Templars in 1307 Brother Jean Taillefer
of Genay gave evidence. He "was received into the order at
Mormant, one of the three perceptories under the jurisdiction of
the Grand Priory of Champagne at Voulaine. He said at his
initiation 'an idol representing a human face' was placed on the
altar before him. Hughes de Bure, another Burgundian from a
daughter house of Voulaine, described how the 'head' was taken
out of a cupboard, or aumbry, in the chapel, and that it seemed
to him to be of gold or silver, and to represent the head of a
man with a long beard. Brother Pierre d'Arbley suspected that the
'idol' had two faces, and his kinsman Guillaume d'Arbley made the
point that the 'idol' itself, as distinct from copies, was
exhibited at general chapters, implying that it was only shown to
senior members of the order on special occasions."
"The treasurer of the Paris temple, Jean de Turn, spoke of a
painted head in the form of a picture, which he had adored at one
of these chapters."
"Nearly all the brethren agreed that the head was bearded and had
long hair, and the Templars, like the majority of their
contemporaries, regarded long hair as effeminate, so the length
of the 'idol's hair was remarkable for this, if for no other
reason."
- Noel Currer-Briggs, The Shroud and the Grail - A Modern
Quest for the True Grail
According to the most consistent accounts, the idol was:
"...about the natural size of a man's head, with a very
fierce-looking face and beard."
- Deposition of Jean Tallefer
"He went on to say that he could not describe it more
particularly, except that he thought it was of a reddish color."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of
Jesus Christ?
The mysterious object at one of the Templars' Paris ceremonies
was
"brought in by the priest in a procession of the brethren with
lights; it was laid on the altar; it was a human head without
any silver or gold, very pale and discolored, with a grizzled
beard like a Templars."
- Stephen of Troyes
"Other descriptions, clearly referring to copies, included
mention of gold and silver cases, wooden panels, and the like.
But the Paris head is different. One gets the distinct impression
that this was the holy of holies, accorded ceremonial strikingly
reminiscent of that used by the Byzantines."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of
Jesus Christ?
____________________________________________________________
(3) Theories About the Head
It is possible that the head idol was intended to represent the
severed head of John the Baptist, based on allegations that he
was revered by the Order. The Templars took part in the sack of
Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1203-4. Robert de
Clari described the opulence and numerous relics at the sacred
chapel of the Boucoleon Palace, amongst them supposedly the head
of John the Baptist.
An egregore is a magical entity that is artificially created by
the focused thoughts and desires of a medium (analogous in many
ways to Tibetan tulpas.) Supposedly a medium or statue could then
serve as a tenant for the egregore, nourished by the sexual
life-powers of the members.
"The Egregora does [sic] exist in the so-called 'astral plane'
and it is a demon, that is to say, an illusory entity. It is not
a true Microcosm, but a gestalt of vitalized shells, a focus for
everything that is negative, defeatist, maudlin, bigoted,
introverted in human nature - a morass completely hostile to
progress and to the spiritual evolution of mankind."
- Marcel Ramos Motta (from P. R. Koenig below)
"The representation of the egregore as bust recalls the ancient
literary tradition of animated statues or Salome, who wanted the
head of John the Baptist, probably to master his visionary
powers.....The classic prototype of such an egregore is Baphomet,
the alleged egregore of the Templars, who was (as the Roman
Emperor of the Gods) likewise worshipped in the form of a bust.
In the secret statutes of the Templars, Baphomet was besought
with the introduction to the Qu'ran and dismissed with the 24th
chapter of the Book of Sirach."
- P. R. Koenig, "Too Hot to Handle"
Another possibility as to the identity of the Baphomet may lie
with Nicodemus, who in the Gospel of John who brought spices for
Christ's burial. He is also mentioned in the apocryphal
Evangelium Nicodemi (4th C.) as a ruler of the Jews who testified
in Christ's favor. The Interpolation in the First Continuation of
Chrétien's Perceval (12??) tells of the flight of Nicodemus and
Joseph of Arimathea to England and includes the following
intriguing passage:
"Nicodemus had carved and fashioned a head in the likeness of
the Lord on the day that he had seen Him on the cross. But of
this I am sure, that the Lord God set His hand to the shaping
of it, as they say; for no man ever saw one like it nor could
it be made by human hands. Most of you who have been at Lucca
know it and have seen it."
- Interpolation in the First Continuation of Chrétien's
Perceval
"Another possibility for the origin of the Head relates to the
imagery on the first Grand Master's shield, which consisted of
three black heads on a gold field. After about two hundred years,
it is plausible that this head imagery could have worked itself
into the legend of the Baphomet. According to more than one
account, the Head was the actual skull of Hugues de Payen, which
was preserved as an object of veneration."
- Forrest Jackson, "The Baphomet in History and Symbolism"
"Surely this evidence [given by Templars at their trial] suggests
that copies of the head, perhaps some of them not unlike the
Sainte Face de Laon, others of carved stone or alabaster, such as
those of the Nottingham School of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, were widely distributed throughout the order's houses.
This would at least explain why nothing resembling a pagan idol
was found after the brethren had been arrested, and why none of
the pictures found in their chapels raised so much as an
eyebrow."
- Noel Currer-Briggs, The Shroud and the Grail - A Modern
Quest for the True Grail
The idol was also described as:
"...An old piece of skin, as though all embalmed and like
polished cloth."
- Chronicles of St. Denis
Ian Wilson also hypothesizes that the Templar idols were
representations of Christ's face copied from the
Mandylion/Shroud. A possible surviving example, on a painted
panel found at Templecombe, England, shows "a bearded male head,
with a reddish beard, lifesize, disembodied, and, above all,
lacking in any identification mark....It conforms too, to some of
the most rational Templar descriptions: 'a painting on a plaque',
'a bearded male head', 'lifesize', 'with a grizzled beard like a
Templars'. (The Templars cultivated their beards in the style of
Christ)."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of
Jesus Christ?
"...The descriptions given of it [the Baphomet] varied wildly.
The physical characteristics assigned to the 'Baphomet' seemed to
come either from the maufé or demon of northern folklore, or from
church reliquaries. It was often said to represent a cat, a beast
traditionally associated with witchcraft and heresy."
- Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
"INQUISITOR: Now tell us about the head.
BROTHER RAOUL: Well, the head. I've seen it at seven chapters
held by Brother Hugh de Peraud and others.
INQUISITOR: What did one do to worship it?
BROTHER RAOUL: Well, it was like this. It was presented, and
everyone threw himself on the ground, pushed back his cowl,
and worshipped it.
INQUISITOR: What was its face like?
BROTHER RAOUL: Terrible. It seemed to me that it was the face
of a demon, of a maufé [evil spirit]. Every time I saw it I
was filled with such terror I could scarcely look at it,
trembling in all my members."
- from M. Michelet, Procés des Templiers
Based upon the idol's description as a "demon" having "very
fierce-looking face and beard", the idol very likely could have
been Asmodeus, the "daemon guardian" who helped Solomon build his
Temple. A statue of the demon guards the door of the parish
church at Rennes-le-Château.
"The Templars' stronghold in Jerusalem, the site of their
foundation, was finally overrun by the Moslems in 1244.
Thirty-three years later the victorious sultan, Baibars,
inspected their castle and is recorded to have discovered inside
the tower 'a great idol, in whose protection the castle had been
placed: according to the Frank who had given it its name [this is
an unreadable word, made in diacritic letters]. He ordered this
to be destroyed and a mihrab [Moslem prayer niche] constructed in
its place."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of
Jesus Christ?
____________________________________________________________
(4) A Feminine Origin?
"...We found indisputable evidence for the charge of secret
ceremonies involving a head of some kind. Indeed the existence of
such a head proved to be one of the dominant themes running
through the Inquisition records....Among the confiscated goods of
the Paris preceptory a reliquary in the shape of a woman's head
was found. It was hinged on top, and contained what appeared to
have been relics of a peculiar kind."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy
Grail
The reliquary was:
"A great head of gilded silver, most beautiful, and
constituting the image of a woman. Inside were two head bones,
wrapped in a cloth of white linen, with another red cloth
around it. A label was attached, on which was written the
legend CAPUT LVIIIm. The bones inside were those of a rather
small woman."
- Oursel, Le Procés des Templiers
"Caput LVIIIm - 'Head 58m' - remains a baffling enigma. But it is
worth noting that the 'm' may not be an 'm' at all, but the
astrological symbol for Virgo."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy
Grail
"The number 58 is less puzzling if one remembers that five (5) is
the number of the pentagram and eight (8) is indicative of Isis.
We may now complete the simple equation which exposes her secret
number:
5 X 8 = 40 = 58 - 18 ISIS
"The numbers 5 and 8 are also exhibited in the beliefs of the
'Brothers of the Rose Cross', where the rose is constructed with
a centre of five petals, surrounded by eight petals."
- David Wood, GENISIS (1986)
"That it had a feminine origin is shown by Gerald Massey who
writes 'METE was the BAPHOMET or mother of breath'. According to
Von Hammer, the formula of faith inscribed on a chalice belonging
to the Templars is as follows: Let METE be exalted who causes all
things to bud and blossom, it is our root; it is one and seven;
it is octinimous, the eight-fold name."
- Kenneth Grant, Nightside of Eden
"Herodotus (4:26) speaks of the practice in the obscure Issedones
of gilding a head and sacrificing to it. Cleomenes of Sparta is
said to have preserved the head of Archonides in honey and
consulted it before undertaking an important task. Several vases
of the fourth century BC in Etruria depict scenes of persons
interrogating oracular heads. And the severed head of the rustic
Carians which continues to 'speak' is mentioned derisively by
Aristotle."
- Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the
Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
A similar tradition could be found in the Celtic cult of the
severed head which figured predominently in Peredur, a Welsh
romance about the Holy Grail.
"A great lady of Maraclea was loved by a Templar, a Lord of
Sidon; but she died in her youth, and on the night of her burial,
this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and
violated it. Then a voice from the void bade him return in nine
months time for he would find a son. He obeyed the injunction and
at the appointed time he opened the grave again and found a head
on the leg bones of the skeleton (skull and crossbones). The same
voice bade him 'guard it well, for it would be the giver of all
good things', and so he carried it away with him."
- Ward, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods
"One chronicler cites the name of the woman in the story - Yse,
which would seem quite clearly to derive from Isis."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy
Grail
"At one time there was only God. He was all omnipotent and
existed alone. This caused him to become discontented, thus he
split himself in two in order to create a mate. He kept the
elements of Order and Logic for his own being and gave his
mate the elements of Chaos and Emotion for her being. Her name
is Yse (pron. Issa). She became so overwhelmed with love at
her creation that when he kissed her, she gave him a reaction
which was to become known as the 'Chosen Response'. The Chosen
Response was the first acknowledgement and reaction of love
between a male and female in the universe, and this became the
greatest secret of and mystery of mankind, being 'The Holy
Grail'."
- Synopsis from the Merovingian Bible, "Angels Among Us!
The Gnostic (Johannine) Christian Path"
Dr. Hugh Schonfield in The Essene Odyssey "had discovered a
system of cryptography - he called it the 'Atbash Cipher' - which
had been used to conceal certain names in
Essene/Zadokite/Nazarene texts. This system of coding figured,
for example, in a number of the scrolls found at Qumran."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy
Schonfield "showed that by applying the Hebrew Atbash code to the
name Baphomet, the name Sophia [ShVPIA], female wisdom, is
revealed. Sophia is equated with Isis by Plutarch."
- David Wood, Genisis
Isis's magic was allied to the wisdom of the Egyptian god Thoth.
His wife or consort, Nehemaut, was known to the Gnostics as
Sophia.
"By this analysis, therefore, when the Templars worshipped
Baphomet what they were really doing was worshipping the
principle of Wisdom."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal
"From the Templars' use of the Atbash Cipher, it is probable that
some form of Nazarean or neo-Nazarean sect had continued to
survive in the Middle East as late as the twelfth century, and
had made its teachings available to the West."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy
____________________________________________________________
[from http://www.hollyfeld.org/Esoteric/Text/Necronomicon/rpnconrvw.txt ]
RE Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath:
The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young traces back to
ancient Egypt and Sumeria. While both Egypt and Sumeria had Goat
cults it was probably the Egyptian version that was most
influential. The so-called Goat of Mendes was a "black"
incarnation of Asar. The cult was fertility based. Aspects of
these Goat cults were absorbed into Arab magickal systems. For
instance, the Aniz tribe is designated as the Goat Anz. (Anz and
Aniz are cognates.) The Aniz are called the Goat because their
founder practiced fertility based magick. The Symbol of this cult
is a torch between two Goats horns. This symbol has become
important in Western magickal traditions.
[from http://www.Saintsalive.com/freemasonry/goatofmendes.htm]
The Goat of Mendes or Baphomet
Copy of a letter sent to an inquirer asking for the origins of
the Masonic ties to it.
Thank you very much for your letter. It was forwarded to me from
Chick Publications since I helped them put together the tract,
"The Curse of Baphomet" and am the author of MASONRY: BEYOND THE
LIGHT . I am a former 32o Mason, and am now an evangelist and an
associate of Ed Decker's the fellow you mentioned who wrote The
Question of Freemasonry.
At the risk of sounding a bit venal, some of your questions are
answered in a much more comprehensive way than I could possibly
manage here in a letter in my book, mentioned above, which Chick
sells. However, I will endeavor to help out as much as possible.
1)Masonic writer Manly P. Hall (33o)-just recently deceased
(9/90) and eulogized and lionized at great length in the SCOTTISH
RITE JOURNAL-stated that Baphomet was another name for the
satanic "Goat of Mendez" whose picture is featured prominently in
the tract. The Goat of Mendez is, of course, the god of the
witches. (Mendez is another spelling of Mendes, a city of ancient
Egypt where fertility worship-Ba'al worship-was practiced).
This god, also known as the Horned God, is evidently the oldest
fertility god in human history. His representation is found on
paintings from cavemen in Ariége, France. Nimrod, the founder of
Baëal worship, is often represented wearing a horned headdress.
The leader of the most powerful occult/Masonic organization in
the world (the Ordo Templi Orientis-Order of Eastern Templars),
Kenneth Grant, says that Baphomet actually means Bapho-Mitras-son
of Mithras. Mithras was the bull-god (Bull = Ba'al?) worshipped
in the Roman empire about the time of Christ. Again, the Horned
God of witchcraft.
Thus, while Ba'al was not actually called "Baphomet" until well
after the time of Christ; even Masons admit readily that Baphomet
is a pagan fertility god-and more importantly, that Freemasonry
is a fertility cult religion. Supreme Masonic leader of the
Scottish Rite in the 19th century Albert Pike also clearly
equates Freemasonry with "occult science" and Templary.
This certainly ought to be enough to convince any sane Christian
that Masonry is of the devil!
2) We do not have a copy of the article from the English
publication, but are working on getting one. In the meantime, I
am enclosing copies of the article which referenced the article
(secondary source); and more importantly, the primary source of
the quote in the original French document which the English
Masonic magazine quoted (primary source). Naturally, it is in
French, and it is a bad photocopy, because it is a rare book.
However, it is readable and easy to determine that it is the
original quote.
3) THE EQUINOX, vol.3, no.1 is (sadly) currently in storage. Our
ministry moved in the past two months; and about half of our
library had to go into storage. It would be impossible to
currently find. Write me again after the end of January and I
will send it to you.
4) The fact that the obelisk is a phallic symbol is something so
readily known that it hardly needs to be proven. As for it being
a Masonic symbol, why else do you think it is the symbol of the
Washington monument? I would really recommend that you get the
book, THE TWO BABYLONS by Rev. Hislop. It will exhaustively deal
with this entire line of research, from a Biblical Christian
perspective.
The so-called "All-Seeing Eye" is actually the Ut Chut (also
spelled Wedjat) Eye is associated both with Osiris and satanist
Aleister Crowley's god, Horus (Ra Hoor Khuit). An ancient
Egyptian coffin text even refers to it as the "all-seeing eye of
Horus."
5) The MYSTIC SHRINE ritual book is difficult to acquire. If
there are pages that you need out of it, we will be happy to
photocopy them for you. It would be nice if you could send a
small donation to cover the cost.
We certainly do appreciate all that you are trying to do here.
However, if I can address a broader philosophical point here; you
may be working harder than you need to. You may be trying to swat
a fly with an H-bomb! Let me explain.
From bitter experience, I can tell you that you can provide all
the documents you have requested and Masons will still not
believe you. First of all, you must pray for them; that the
spiritual darkness over their eyes might be broken by the power
of the Lodge. You need to assert your authority in Jesus Christ
and follow the mandate of 2Cor. 10:4-5:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;
You also need to realize that you don't need to deal with all of
these issues necessarily. There are simple things which every
Mason knows and does not need to be educated about which will
more than establish the anti-Biblical nature of the Lodge. I am
enclosing a tract of ours, called "Shedding Light on the Lodge"
which deals with some simpler approaches.
Don't get me wrong! The "Baphomet" tract is great, and we have
had dozens of letters of people who have gotten saved out of
Masonry because of it. It just needs to be used with prayer and
sensitivity. If the Lord really leads you to share it with a
Mason then do so! The Mason's heart might be ready to receive it.
However, in many cases, most Masons have never heard of this
stuff (just like the Mason in the tract itself!) and unless you
happen to have a trunk full of documentation down the block, your
efforts may be wasted. However, the simpler approach doesn't need
so many arcane documents to be proven, and most Masons will
readily acknowledge the truth of what is being said.
I hope that this material helps. God bless you richly, and sorry
that you had to wait so long for this answer; but we get hundreds
of letters a month to answer (as you can imagine).
Praising the name of Jesus forever,
Bill Schnoebelen
Saints Alive
Box 1076
Issaquah, WA. 98027
-------------------------------
FIGURE/TERM
source was lost; contact the editor for credit:
Dr. Franz Spunda`s (1890-1963) alchemical novel 'Baphomet, the
secret God of the Templars', (Villach 1942)
indicates some connections between the fictional descendent
(Vincente Lascari) of the 18th Cent. alchemist Lascari, who
inherited important manuscripts and finally the P. Stone to
him, and an certain malicious group of the Templars. the
story happens at the beginning of the 20th century.
from the 'Lexikon des Geheimwissens' edited by Horst E. Miers:
Baphomet or Bafomet, a adored symbol of the Templars (alleged),
which origin is unkown.The figure of the Baphomet had a white
beard and two carbuncles in its eyes. After the doctrines of
the 'Grolden Landesloge' where Baphomet plays a certain role,
the right spelling is 'Baffometus' and means 'the man with a
beard', originating from the Italian 'bafil = beard' in the
sense of 'soul of the world'....
Aleister Crowley claimed to have found the right cabbalistic
style: BAFOMIThR.
After Th. Reuss (O.T.O) Baphomet means: Nature, the androgyne
being, representing fire, pure Akasha, Air, the breath of the
celestial being, water, the living soul and the being of the
earth...
A.E. Waite wrote in his 'Mysteries of Magic': Baphomet has to
be read backwards, because that name, originally was written
in Hebrew, and is compounded out of three abreviations:
TEM OHP AB = (lat.) Templi omnium pacis abbas = the father of
the temple, universal freedom of mankind.
An occultist, Von Hammer, interprets the word "Baphomet" simply
as a accidental style of writing "Baptimus" = Baptism or
consecration into wisdom. In former times, Baphomet, also was
interpreted as a wrong style of writing "Mohammed" and
particulary as a kind of an artificial head, which was able to
speak, and the Templars (alleged) were forced to adore to this
head.
In 1932, Kuno, Count of Hardenberg, claimed to have found the
right solution of this problem, when he analyzed a square of
letters of the Templars.
a) original:
S A T A N
A D A M A
T A B A T
A M A D A
N A T A S
b) after removing all letters except A and B:
* A * A *
A * A * A
* A B A *
A * A * A
* A * A *
c) after removing B:possible drawing of the Cross of the Templars
* A * A *
A * A * A
* A * A *
A * A * A
* A * A *
d) Resulting 2 heraldic figures, called Fyrfos.
S * T * N
* D * M *
T * B * T
* M * O *
N * T * S
the letters which were removed: S,T,N,D,M,T:
Salomonis Templum ovum Dominorum Militiae Templariorum.
The remaining "B" would be the sign of the "Logos". Through Fyrfos
it will lead to solution, viz. "The fire of believe will be
inflamed". In Latin "igniter" will be "fomes", and therefore, the
Templars spoke in their rituals: "Ex literaris B A fomitem
habemus" = out of the letters A + B we will receive the igniter;
the abreviation of this saying: B A fomes or B A fomit = Bafomet.
------------------------------
FIGURE
from the 1993 Llewellyn Edition of Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia:
According to Lewis Spence, it was revealed in 1818 that in the imperial
museum of Vienna had been discovered several heads of Baphomet, the god of
the Knights Templars: "These heads represent the divinity of the gnostics,
named Mete, or Wisdom. For a long time there was preserved at Marseilles
one of these gilded heads, seized in a retreat of the Templars when the
latter were pursued by the law." (Spence 1920, 203).
(p. 236 of the Agrippa)
---------------------------------
SIGIL
To: alt.antichristnet,alt.christnet.satanism,alt.satanism,alt.satannet
From: "The Satanic Network"
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 13:05:23 -0600
Below lists the Legal Info about the Trade mark. Take it as you see
fit, BUT it is there. If you want to look for yourself it is
registered with the US Patent Office
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Word Mark CHURCH OF SATAN
Owner Name (REGISTRANT) Church of Satan, Incorporated, The
Owner Address P.O. Box 896 Daly City CALIFORNIA 94017 CORPORATION
CALIFORNIA
Attorney of Record Paul W. Vapnek, Esq.
Serial Number 73-341434
Registration Number 1236878
Filing Date 12/14/1981
Registration Date 05/03/1983
Design Search Code 01.01.03; 03.07.10; 03.07.11; 03.07.24; 26.01.07;
28.01.07
Description of Mark THE DESIGN ELEMENT OF THE MARK CONSISTS OF A STAR
WHICH CONTAINS A GOAT'S HEAD, AND SURROUNDING WHICH APPEAR
TWO CONCENTRIC CIRCLES. BETWEEN THESE CIRCLES APPEAR FIVE
HEBRAIC CHARACTERS.; LINING AND/OR STIPPLING SHOWN IN THE
MARK ON THE DRAWING IS A FEATURE OF THE MARK AND DOES NOT
INDICATE COLOR.
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE No claim
is made to the exclusive right to use the words "Church Of
Satan", apart from the mark as shown. APART FROM THE MARK
AS SHOWN
Register PRINCIPAL
Published for Opposition 02/08/1983
Affidavits SECT 8.; SECT 15.; COMBINED SECT 8 AND SECT 15.
Type of Mark COLLECTIVE MEMBERSHIP MARK
-----------------------
International Class 200
Goods and Services Church Membership;
DATE OF FIRST USE: 1966.04.30;
DATE OF FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 1967.09.01
the Daemon Egan wrote in message <7b80ve$4bn$1@autumn.news.rcn.net>...
> The following information has been added to the FCoS FAQ
> http://www.churchofsatan.org/faq.html
>
> The sigil of Baphomet is the five-pointed star superimposed over
> the head of a goat which appears next to our name - it is not a
> legal trademark or corporate logo as other would have you believe!
> Why? Because it was not created in this century! Anyone can use
> this symbol - it is in the public domain, just like the christian
> crucifix and jewish star of david. If any person or organization
> threatens to sue you for using, advertising, posting or
> merchandising items displaying this symbol, please report it to us
> immediately! They are perpetrating fraud and will be dealt with
> swiftly and severely. If you would like in-depth, factual
> information regarding the sigil of Baphomet please follow this link:
> http://www.intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/baphomet.html
> --
> the Daemon Egan
> Official High Priest
> First Church of Satan
> http://churchofsatan.org
------------------------------
SIGIL
Newsgroups: alt.satanism
From: Xaphan@satanism.net (Xaphan)
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 02:01:34 GMT
In article <19990301205415.28348.00000558@ng52.aol.com>, rmerciless@aol.commit2hell (RMerciless) wrote:
> Enough of generalities. Let us hear of SPECIFIC cited appearances
> of the sigil prior to 1966 or so. That would, I think, go a long
> way toward making the "public domain" argument. Merely saying it
> is public domain does not make it so.
Maurice Bessy, _A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural_, London:
Spring Books, 1964 [the original edition of this work - _Histoire en 1000
images de la magie_ - was published in 1961 by Editions du Pont Royal]
Oswald Wirth, _La fran-maconnerie rendue intelligible a ces adeptes - II,
"Le compagnon"_, Paris: Derry-Livres, 1931, page #60
Eliphas Levi did also have the same Baphomet in one of his books, with
'samael' and 'lillith' inside of it.
A picture of Levi's drawing can be seen at:
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~ringmaker/symbols/penthist.html
I'm not a stickler for Levi really, though he was interesting in some
respects. I'm sure someone more inclined toward Levi could confirm the
appearence of the Baphomet better. I just happened to come across this
while on a ringmaker's page. The examples above it are from everyones
favorite 'Legend and Reality' article, which are easy enough for one
to try and confirm.
Regards,
Xaphan
--------------------------------
SIGIL
To: alt.satanism
From: doctorlao@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 02:40:07 GMT
R. Merciless wrote:
> I seem to recall Dr. Aquino posting something here that he first
> saw the sigil (of Baphomet) on the cover of some old book LaVey
> had showed him. Anyone recall what that was?
Dr. LaVey took the symbol of the Baphomet from the cover of
"A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural" by Maurice
Bessy, Spring Books, Drury House, Russell St. London. 1964. He
never made a secret of this and showed the book frequently. It
is a myth that Dr. LaVey ever claimed that he "invented" the
symbol. The official CofS Baphomet for use on stationary,
medallions, and silk screened 12" altar plaques was a slightly
modified version of the Bessy. This is the version you see today.
The Baphomets above the altars in the ritual chambers (upstairs
and down) at the Central Grotto were Bessy versions.
Dr. Lao
http://www.angelfire.com/co/doctorlao/index.html
--------------------------------
SIGIL
To: alt.satanism
From: xeper@aol.com (Xeper)
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: 02 Mar 1999 19:06:09 GMT
In article ,
Xaphan@satanism.net wrote:
>The examples above it are from everyones favorite 'Legend
>and Reality' article, which are easy enough for one to try and
>confirm.
The item in the "Legend & Reality" paper concerning the
Baphomet was sourced to my _Church of Satan_ history. The
_COS_ paragraph in its entirety:
**********
The Baphomet emblem as used by the Church of Satan was not
original to it nor created by Anton LaVey, hence cannot be
trademarked. The original Baphomet dates at least as far back
as the medieval Knights Templar. The artwork for the current
emblem's goat/pentagram first appears in Oswald Wirth, _La
fran-maconnerie rendue intelligible 'a ces adeptes - II. "Le
compagnon", Paris: Derry-Livres, 1931, page #60. The complete
emblem, with the added circles and "LVYThN" letters, appears
on the cover of Maurice Bessy, _A Pictorial History of Magic
and the Supernatural_, London: Spring Books, 1964 - two years
before the creation of the Church of Satan. [The original
adition of this book - _Histoire en 1000 images de la magie_ -
was published in 1961 by Editions du Pont Royal.] Early
photos of Church activities often show Anton or his
disciples using the Bessy book as a photo prop because of
the large cover emblem, and he included it in his _Compleat
Witch_ bibliography. [See Appendix #22.] The Baphomet is
clearly in the public domain.
**********
Though as posted by the "Satanic Network" here, Anton's
1981 trademark registration applies only to the emblem
used together with the words "Church of Satan", it was
quite clearly Barton's policy to intimidate others into
thinking that the emblem *alone* was trademarked. On
various occasions I received letters from independent
jewelry, etc. manufacturers, enclosing such threats
from Barton. I just sent them photocopies of the Wirth and
Bessy documents, whereupon they went happily off to do
their thing and presumably told her to pound salt.
As an example of Barton's threats in this regard, note
the following from the Autumn 1985 issue of the
_Cloven Hoof_:
"Every so often we receive letters or solicitations from
individuals in which, for reasons of either
presumptuousness or benign role emulation, the
Sigil of Baphomet is depicted as a personal or corporate
logo. While we can give the benefit of the doubt in most
cases, and presume that the correspondent is unaware
of his _faux pas_, it must be stated here that the Sigil
of Baphomet is a copyrighted insignia, registered to
the Church of Satan. Its likeness cannot be used without
written permission from the Church of Satan, nor
can it be commercially reproduced for profit
without consideration of the Church of Satan. In
essence, it is a corporate *and* religious logo, much
as the symbols of Proctor & Gamble, McDonald's, or
ITT. Those currently using this symbol in their
personal or professional business ventures *without
Church of Satan sanction* are subject to prosecution."
As you can see, the attempt is to claim the emblem
_per se_, not the "emblem-with-CS-name" as the
trademark (not "copyright") actually states.
Shortly thereafter the _CH_ began displaying the
Baphomet on its cover with (R) next to it [but
without "Church of Satan" as a part of the design,
hence a misuse of the (R)]. In fact, I think that
for the (R) to work, the words "CoS" would have
to be used as a standard, integral part of the
*Baphomet design* - not simply appear
somewhere on the same page in various ways.
Anton did not show me the Bessy book. It was, as
noted, used as a prop in various publicity photos
ca. 68, and later on Fields Bookstore in San
Francisco obtained a copy for me. It is identical
to the emblem used by the Church of Satan for
its stationery, altar plaques, and medallions.
There was no "Anton LaVey variation".
The Wirth illustration was discovered by the
Temple of Set's senior official in Germany during
his research. It is the same goat-and-pentagram,
but with the goat's head much more finely
executed. Presumably the Bessy emblem is
a modification of Wirth, with the goat
simplified.
I don't recall Anton explicitly claiming to
have authored the Bessy Baphomet, but
the _Satanic Bible_ and _Rituals_, with
no other credit for cover art, certainly
gave that impression, as did the Bessy-
emblazoned 1968 _Satanic Mass_
record album, whose cover design was
"by Hugo Zorilla" (one of Anton's
pen-names).
Curious how the Bartonites' admission
of the Bessy artwork came out only *after*
it was exposed in my _Church of Satan_,
as was also the case with the Ragnar
Redbeard "Book of Satan" plagiarism
and the Edith Eyde _Hymn to Satan_
plagiarism, Jack London scam, etc., etc.
And like the other cases, this was a
pointless act of deception/plagiarism -
all the more so since Anton was a very
skilled artist and quite capable of
drawing a Baphomet of his own
creation anytime (as he did, on my
request, for the 1971-72 "red goat"
_Cloven Hoofs_). On 10/23/71 he
wrote to me:
"For the masthead my prime thought was that
the design employed should incorporate cloven
hooves, thereby reinforcing the image conveyed
by the title. After drawing a succession of devils,
most looking either like fugitives from a tin of ham
or third rate opera company rejects from _Faust_
auditions, I started a rather panoramic thing showing
a Devil’s herd, a la 'Ghost Riders', galloping across the
top of the page. My intentions were the best, but alas,
the page was too small, and what started as a DeMille-
type hippodrome petered out to a shopping center dog
and pony circus.
"A stylized version of Baphomet was decided upon
because I felt that Levi’s version, while luridly graphic
for the nineteenth century, is far too euphemistic for
today’s climate. Such concessions as the ill-fitted 'good'
pentagram on the forehead, the caduceus in lieu of a
virile member, the lap robe to avoid exposure of the
caduceus' point of origin, a rather unimaginative pair
of 39 D-cup mammary glands, arms that would better
serve in an ad for Jergens Lotion, a right hand
apparently in the act of hailing a cab, and a Roman
candle perched atop the head do little to advance the
impression of the truly base and carnal aspect of the
Beast of the World.
"I have attempted to beef up the aforementioned and
drawn the horns in the manner of certain eastern and
African wild goats rather than the usual, domestic
variety. The membranous wings and scales have been
added to graphically intensify the Hellish origin. Use
your own judgment as to the color rendition. I have
enclosed a couple of suggestions. Using red in only the
eyes and the smoke from the cranial exhaust (mistakenly
assumed by most occultists to be some sort of candle)
would certainly give the impression of a head 'filled up
with burning mist and golden mire' as well as direct
the reader's gaze towards the title. Allusions to red,
blazing eyes can be found throughout the lore of Satan,
from the ghouls and afrits of Persia to Dracula himself.
Or, if you feel it is more striking in black and white,
please don’t hesitate to forgo color altogether. I am
frankly undecided. Diane prefers either the plain
black and white or black and white with just the
touch of red in the eyes and smoke."
Figuring "pedal to the metal", I decided on all-red,
hence those two years' issues' nickname as the "Red
Goats". Ironically we got more than a few complaints
about it because of Mr. B's big hairy erection, which
apparently deterred some recipients from leaving
issues around on their coffee-tables. :-)
Michael A. Aquino, Ph.D.
---------------------------------------------
SIGIL
To: alt.satanism
From: doctorlao@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 20:39:48 GMT
Xeper wrote:
> Anton did not show me the Bessy book. It was, as
> noted, used as a prop in various publicity photos
> ca. 68, and later on Fields Bookstore in San
> Francisco obtained a copy for me.
Michael Aquino did not see the book because he was only at the
Central Grotto a couple of times. Anton showed the Bessy book
frequently both in the Purple Room to members and guests and
during his lectures in the Front (Ritual Chamber). Most of the
members at the Central Grotto had seen the book at some time
or another. If Michael Aquino knows any of them, he may check
to confirm this.
> It is identical to the emblem used by the Church of Satan for
> its stationery, altar plaques, and medallions.
> There was no "Anton LaVey variation".
Dr. Lao was referring to the "cleaning up" of the goat within the
pentagram and the obvious change to the right eyebrow (a fork).
Diane LaVey takes credit for these artistic variations however
small. This is the version seen today. Should Michael Aquino
have difficulty seeing the difference, he need only hold his
hardcover copy of the Satanic Bible next to the Bessy book and
look closely. Or perhaps he could just inspect some of those
snapshots he took with his Brownie the one time he was in the
Ritual Chamber. Should he still have a problem, Dr. Lao
recommends a pair of Dean Edell's optical readers, perhaps with
a strength of +3.00.
> Curious how the Bartonites' admission
> of the Bessy artwork came out only *after*
> it was exposed in my _Church of Satan_,
> as was also the case with the Ragnar
> Redbeard "Book of Satan" plagiarism
> and the Edith Eyde _Hymn to Satan_
> plagiarism, Jack London scam, etc., etc.
Ridiculous. Dr. LaVey held court in the kitchen and answered all
questions following rituals. We all knew of the Bessy book, Ragnar
Redbeard, the Hymn to Satan and all the rest. Michael Aquino
doesn't know this because he wasn't *there.* Anton did like members
to "do their own homework" but short of rubbing people's noses in
the stuff, he was quite open. There is no admission to be made by
any "Bartonites" whoever those may be. That is utterly
preposterous. Michael Aquino exposed nothing in his laughable
"_Church of Satan_" sinker except his own obsession, boring
writing style, and inability to get a life.
Dr. Lao
http://www.angelfire.com/co/doctorlao/index.html
---------------------------------
To: alt.satanism
From: xeper@aol.com (Xeper)
Subject: Re: Baphomet sigil (FCoS FAQ)
Date: 03 Mar 1999 03:11:10 GMT
In article <7bhiai$eg1$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
doctorlao@hotmail.com wrote:
>> Anton did not show me the Bessy book. It was, as
>> noted, used as a prop in various publicity photos
>> ca. 68, and later on Fields Bookstore in San
>> Francisco obtained a copy for me.
>
> Michael Aquino did not see the book because he was
> only at the Central Grotto a couple of times.
I visited the LaVeys at their home many times 1970-
75, as they did mine in Louisville and Santa Barbara.
Neither the permission nor the presence of "Dr. Lao"
was sought, much less required by Anton, Diane, or
yours truly.
Presumably the Bessy book was sitting right there on
the Purple Room bookshelves somewhere, and I didn't
see it because on none of my visits did either the
LaVeys or I have any reason to refer to it. The
authorship of the Bessy Baphomet design was never
a question that arose during those years.
>> There was no "Anton LaVey variation".
>
> Dr. Lao was referring to the "cleaning up" of the goat
> within the pentagram and the obvious change to the
> right eyebrow (a fork).
Well, whoopie do. "Dr. Lao" is referred to the
dictionary to look up the word "quibble".
>> Curious how the Bartonites' admission
>> of the Bessy artwork came out only *after*
>> it was exposed in my _Church of Satan_,
>> as was also the case with the Ragnar
>> Redbeard "Book of Satan" plagiarism
>> and the Edith Eyde _Hymn to Satan_
>> plagiarism, Jack London scam, etc., etc.
>
> Ridiculous. Dr. LaVey held court in the kitchen and
> answered all questions following rituals. We all knew
> of the Bessy book, Ragnar Redbeard, the Hymn to
> Satan and all the rest.
And so it is claimed in 1999 CE. The problem, "Dr. Lao",
is that the non-C/S origins [and un(R)ability] of
the Baphomet emblem were not mentioned in the
1980s, when Barton was threatening other persons
who used it. The problem is that the Bessy art was
not mentioned in the credits of the _SB_/_SR_, nor
on the jacket of the _Satanic Mass_. The problem is
that on the jacket of the _SM_ Anton also claimed
false authorship of the "Hymn to Satan", as he again
did in _The Devil's Avenger_. [Only when I happened
to meet the real author one evening 12/21/74 at
Forry Ackerman's home did that balloon pop. Eyde
was astonished to learn that Anton and the C/S had
been using her song those many years without her
knowledge and with no credit to her. She composed it
in 1939, to which Forry also attested. She then played
it on Forry's piano, and he obliged by singing the words.]
So your credibility would be a tad stronger if you
had mentioned any of these things *before* they were
exposed by others, not *after*.
> Michael Aquino exposed nothing in his laughable
> "_Church of Satan_" sinker except his own obsession,
> boring writing style, and inability to get a life.
Well, that's rather at odds with the reader feedback I've
received to that volume since 1982, which has been quite
appreciative. So I guess I'll just have to suffer with the
thought that this _Circus of Dr. Lao_ fetishist resents
being reminded of the vast international activities of
the Church 1970-75 in which *he* was apparently
worthless, useless, and not even missed. [This stands to
be amended once "Lao" IDs himself, if he turns out to
be someone who participated actively in the Church -
Grottos, Conclaves, _CH_ articles, Regional Agent, etc. -
during those years. Credit where credit is due & all that.]
For that matter, _COS_ talks a lot about _CODL_ in
Chapter #26. Anton contributed an essay about it in
the July-August 73 _Cloven Hoof_, following my
"The 'Yellow Peril': Satanism in China" article the
preceding issue. Finney/_CODL_ had never been
mentioned on any previous Church reading list,
nor in the _SB_ or _CW_ bibliography. Finney's
name pops up first on the dedication page of the
1972 _SR_, so I assume that's about when Anton
got interested in _CODL_ beyond the 1964 _Seven
Faces of Dr. Lao_ movie-level.
The difference is that Anton LaVey had something
interesting to say about _CODL_, while so far you
haven't done anything here but masturbate with it.
Michael A. Aquino, Ph.D.
---------------------------------------
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
Hammer's 'Mystery of Baphomet Revealed'
Peter Partner 1981 "The Knights Templar and their Myth"
Oxford Univ Press
EOF
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