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Baphomet=Lion and the Serpent?

To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
From: RIKB2@aol.com
Subject: Re: Baphomet=Lion and the Serpent?
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 12:05:14 EDT

93!

In a message dated 6/18/99 5:56:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Baphomet75@aol.com writes:

> I have a question.   In the Gnostic Mass, Baphomet is identified as 
>  the Lion and the Serpent.  Yet, in many Gnostic sects, the Lion-Serpent is 
>  known as Yaldabaroth, the blind demiurge who thinks he is God...and 
demands 
>  worship (often identified as YHWH in the Old Testament.)...     
Yaldabaroth 
>  is typically not a favorable entity or worth praising in Gnosticism.

     Another name for the Lion-Serpent is Chnouph or Chnoubis in the Greek 
magical papyri.  There are some branches of gnostic thought in which 
Ialdabaoth is not considered "evil."
  
>            So, first of all, how is Baphomet the 'lion and the serpent'?

     I think of Teth as the lion serpent because of its shape (serpent) and 
attribution (Leo).  The "Lust" card depicts the conjoining of Babalon and the 
Beast, which produces the elixir in the cup.  Baphomet -- the occult Baphomet 
of course -- is hermaphroditic because he is the result of male and female 
forces in combination, and so is the sacrament.  I don't necessarily see 
Baphomet AS the lion-serpent, but I think they represent the same energy of 
the path of Teth, which has to do with the crystallization of the sacrament.

  And 
> 
>  if it's a "Gnostic Mass" why wouldn't we instead be praising Sophia the 
>  Goddess of Wisdom rather than her blind, authoritative, ignorant creation? 

     Well...as Meretrix noted, Baphomet (spelled BPhVMTh), processed through 
the Athbash cipher yields Sophia (ShVPhIA)...  The attribution to Ialdabaoth 
seems shaky to me -- I'm not accusing you of being wrong about it, but it 
seems likely to me to be a bit of over enthusiastic late sycretism on 
someone's part.  I think the lion-serpent was probably in existence as an 
entity in its own right before the association with Ialdabaoth.  Betz makes 
the claim that it's a conflation of the Egyptian creator god Khnum, the 
serpent Kneph, and a word for star in egyptian, kenem.  It was probably some 
Greek gnostic who made the association with Ialdabaoth because of the "Khnum" 
element of the formula.  Gnostic schools were so diverse in their beliefs and 
cosmologies that I find it hard to believe that the association between the 
two was in any way a universal one.

In Budge's Amulets and Talismans, he says that Chnoubis was the Agathodaimon, 
or "good spirit" roughly equivalent to the HGA. One of his titles is Shemesh 
Olam, "sun of the universe" in Hebrew.  He was considered a god of healing 
and the renewal of life (as many serpent gods are, hence the association with 
Asclepius and Hermes carrying the caduceus).  He says that according to the 
ancient writer Hephaistion, Chnoubis was one of the decans of Cancer, and was 
placed in the heart of Leo (I'm not sure what Budge means by that--it would 
have to be Cancer or Leo, not both, so one must be a constellation and the 
other a zodiac sign, but I'm not sure which is which).  The dual Lunar/Solar 
elements of that explanation are interesting to me, since I have always seen 
the "mark of the beast" as being placed at the intersection of the paths of 
Gimmel and Teth (I also see this as being the "place" on the tree where Liber 
Reguli is performed, but that's a whole other discourse)...  Budge does not 
mention a connection with Ialdabaoth, which makes me again think that it was 
a sort of "fringe" interpretation.

93 93/93
RIKB  
 
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From thelema93-l-owner@www.hollyfeld.org Sat Jun 19 17:05:11 1999
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From: Sekhem-f-en Anpu 
To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
Subject: Baphomet=Sophia (one theory, anyway)
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 10:00:54 PDT
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"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

>From: Baphomet75@aol.com
In the Gnostic Mass, Baphomet is identified as the Lion and the Serpent.  
Yet, in many Gnostic sects, the Lion-Serpent is known as Yaldabaroth, the 
blind demiurge who thinks he is God...and demands worship (often identified 
as YHWH in the Old Testament.)...Yaldabaroth is typically not a favorable 
entity or worth praising in Gnosticism. So, first of all, how is Baphomet 
the 'lion and the serpent'?  And if it's a "Gnostic Mass" why wouldn't we 
instead be praising Sophia the Goddess of Wisdom rather than her blind, 
authoritative, ignorant creation? Perhaps I have my facts wrong or are 
interpreting things wrong, I'd appreciate the corrections...<

A couple of months ago I ran across an interesting theory on Baphomet. I 
found it while surfing for info on the Knights Templar. The theory I found 
was that Baphomet and Sophia may be one and the same thing. The theory is 
based on the Scroll of Atbash (something I am completely unfamiliar with). 
Apparently, the Hebrew letters for Baphomet can be cyphered using the Scroll 
of Atbash in a way that renders the Hebrew letters for Sophia. Interesting 
concept. For those interested they can check out this URL.
http://intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/atbash.html

In fact, you may wish to go to http://intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/ and 
check out all of their info on Baphomet. I don't know how accurate it is, 
but I found it intriguing none-the-less.
"Love is the Law, love under will."
"Arit-a mert-a tep-ta em-ma Ankh-iu."
Sekhem-f en Anpu
Magick Code:  MTH/SX S* W--->---- N PEG/EC++++ Ds@/Dd@/Dr+>++ A++>+++
a+(++) C* G* QO++>+++ 666@* Y++++>--


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From thelema93-l-owner@www.hollyfeld.org Sun Jun 20 16:39:22 1999
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Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 09:18:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Rev. Doubt-Goat" 
Subject: Re: Baphomet=Lion and the Serpent?
To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
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93

---Baphomet75@aol.com wrote:
>          I have a question.   In the Gnostic Mass,
Baphomet is identified as 
> the Lion and the Serpent.
(snip)
>           So, first of all, how is Baphomet the
'lion and the serpent'?  And 
> if it's a "Gnostic Mass" why wouldn't we instead be
praising Sophia the 
> Goddess of Wisdom rather than her blind,
authoritative, ignorant creation?  

I think it's pretty obvious that Crowley/EGC/OTO has
very little to do with historical gnosticism. As to
Crowley's ideas on the Lion and Serpent, and
Baphomet, I think he addresses both in MTP.

93
Fr. DOubt-Goat
===
          The Homepages of the Doubt-Goat

               The Darsan Trio
               Sekhet Maat Oasis, O.T.O.
               Lion & Serpent

          http://www.easystreet.com/~twilliam

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