NMR ISSUE 42

Astrological Forecast 42
Bass, Grasshopper & Lion
Editorial 42
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Ghigau's Song
Goddess Manifest
Loving's Call
Mirra, Lady of the Pool
On Confronting Our Dark Side
Ritual for Creative and Spiritual Fertility
Ritual for the Waters of Life
Spring Activities
The God of the Witches
The Unknown Founder of the Golden Dawn
Unicorn with Flower Wreath in Candlewicking
Working with Your Shadow, I
Your Soul's Growth

Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book Reviews
NMR Issues
NMR Covers

The God of the Witches

By Jay Barrymore

Baphomet has come to represent a variety of ideas to adherents of various beliefs, from Christianity to Wicca to Satanism. Though maligned and misunderstood by some, Baphomet is a very complex figure who deserves closer inspection.

Much of Baphomet's notoriety stems from the chivalric order of the Templars. When the Church declared the Templars as heretical, it charged that members of this organization worshipped Baphomet as the Devil (along with practicing homosexuality). The Templars met their demise under some of the Catholic Church's greatest severity. As was protocol during that age, the Devil (in the form of Baphomet) had raised His ugly head, and needed to be vanquished with typical Christian zeal.

The 19th Century French occultist Eliphas Levi is credited with the now famous drawing of Baphomet that is seen in many Occult books. Levi identified the bearded deity of the Templars to be the God of the Witches' Sabbat, seeing Him as a representation of the Greek god Pan. A more esoteric view describes Baphomet as a pantheistic symbol of the whole of Nature.

Many people consider Baphomet to be a depiction of the Christian's Devil. Most Satanists have readily accepted this—their ritual logo, the Inverted Pentagram, is called the Baphomet because it forms a goat's head. However, Satanists do not believe in an actual Satanic being. They take a more atheistic attitude, seeing Satan as Nature itself, epitomized in the axiom, survival of the fittest. In this Macrocosmic aspect, Satan and Baphomet do parallel one another.

Baphomet is a conglomeration of many different elements. Though the winged deity is referred to in the masculine gender, Baphomet has both feminine and masculine attributes, which makes the god hermaphroditic. This combination of male and female, and other opposites, can be found throughout the deity's structure.

Levi's depiction of Baphomet shows the deity to be sitting cross-legged. This is reminiscent of the Lotus Position, used by many while searching for enlightenment through meditation and Yoga practices. It also shows that the deity has a firm foundation. The god has the head of a goat, which symbolizes fertility, and two long horns protruding from it. Horns represent divinity, or something holy. A torch burns above the head, which represents illumination and knowledge. Upon the forehead of Baphomet is the five-pointed star, the Pentagram, which represents humanity, the Microcosm. (A cruder drawing of this god depicts Him with a hexagram, the six-pointed star—representing the Macrocosm.)

Baphomet has the breasts of a woman, showing the hermaphroditic aspect of the deity. The breasts represent a nurturing element, which can be overshadowed by the other more sinister-looking aspects of the god's symbolism. Upon His back are two great wings. Baphomet has the power of flight, mobility and speed, which can help Him to ascend to greater aspirations. The wings are also bat-like in appearance, which indicates a night dweller, possessing the keys to the hidden mysteries that are not readily available to everyone.

Protruding from the groin is the Caduceus, showing masculinity (and reiterating that the god is both male and female). The Caduceus is a phallic symbol associated with the Greek god Hermes (Roman Mercury), showing two intertwining snakes wrapping around a pole. One snake is black, the other white. This symbol represents the Ida and Pingala, psychic energy currents that encircle the central nervous system in Kundalini Yoga. The serpents themselves represent spirituality as well as sexuality. Behind the Caduceus is a layer of serpentine scales.

On either side of Baphomet are crescent moons, again, one black and the other white. These symbolize the negative and positive polarities that exist, both in the material and spiritual realms. They also represent the waxing and waning moons; however, their coloring has been reversed—the waxing moon is dark and the waning moon is light.

Upon the left inner forearm of the deity is written the Latin word, coagula, which means to condense, to make solid. On the opposite arm is written the Latin word, solve, meaning to release, to set free.

The deity's arms are outstretched, one pointing down,the other upwards, signifying the Hermetic statement, As above, so below. Baphomet extends the first two fingers of each hand as in a Benediction.

The five Elements are represented: Baphomet's wings represent Air. The torch is Fire and Spirit. The moons are feminine symbols, which equate with Water. And the god Himself sits upon the Earth.

Baphomet represents the Universe. This deity is balance: Light and Dark, good and evil, order and chaos. However, one must observe that since Baphomet symbolizes the Macrocosm (Nature), His actions will reflect Nature, too. Though we may like to view Nature as our friend, the force that provides us with sunny days also produces those destructive tornadoes. There are plenty of negative miracles within Nature to balance out the more appreciated ones.

Baphomet is God and Goddess, an androgynous being representing everything that exists. S/he is man and woman, the rocks and trees, life and death. Anything and everything in the Universe, including that vast Cosmos itself, is Baphomet: order and chaos; the birth of new stars, and worlds in collision; creation through destruction, and destruction through creation. These are all weights of the counterbalance. The Universe, of course, is never in an actual state of balance, but is always in a flux. Baphomet may be seen as stationary, but He is constantly moving, constantly changing. If He actually did become still, existence itself would cease.

The name Baphomet, qabalistically written backwards, gives three abbreviations that show another aspect of the god's characteristics: TEM, OHP, AB. These stand for Templi omnium hominum pacts abbas, which means: The father of the temple of universal peace among men. In this description, the Goat God's more shadowy aspects appear more benevolent.

Baphomet (while being all things), is not the only Divine Being that represents the source of everything. Pagan and non-Pagan gods also claim this attribute, such as the Judeo-Christian Yahweh. In the Old Testament, Yahweh makes it clear that He is the source of all and answers to no one. He creates and destroys. He produces good and evil.

Upon reflecting on the demise of the Knights Templars, it's ironic that the Christian Church persecuted this Order for worshipping a deity that claims the same attributes as their God. With a little closer inspection, one sees the two deities are the same. Of course, accepting this would have been less profitable (the Templars had enviable wealth and power), and therein lies the root of most violations of civil liberties.

Though we may all strive for a harmonious existence with our neighbors, we know that can't always be. Personal prejudices, desires and agendas have a tendency to take precedence—peace and strife. These too are opposites and attributes of Baphomet, the god/dess who is the Universe.