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Difference between revisions of "Baphomet"
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===Goat of Mendes=== | ===Goat of Mendes=== | ||
Lévi equates his illustration with "The Goat of Mendes," following the account by Herodotus that the god of the Egyptian city of Mendes (Djedet) was depicted with a goat's face and legs. Herodotus related how all male goats were held in great reverence by the Mendesians, and how he witnessed a woman [[sex magic|publicly copulate]] with a goat during a ritual celebration. | Lévi equates his illustration with "The Goat of Mendes," following the account by Herodotus that the god of the Egyptian city of Mendes (Djedet) was depicted with a goat's face and legs. Herodotus related how all male goats were held in great reverence by the Mendesians, and how he witnessed a woman [[sex magic|publicly copulate]] with a goat during a ritual celebration. Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge confirmed these accounts, equating the goats with Greek worship of Pan and the Satyrs. | ||
===Banebdjedet=== | |||
Banebdjedet was the goat-headed god whose cult center was in Mendes. He had four rams' heads and was revered as a god of fertility, but also as the embodiment of the four ba-spirits of four gods: | |||
* [[Osiris]] | |||
* [[Geb]] | |||
* [[Shu]] | |||
* [[Ra]] | |||
These four gods represented opposites: Osiris as Death and Ra as Life, Geb as the solid [[earth (element)|earth]] and Shu as the vaporus [[air (element)|air]]. Thus, Banebdjedet would have characterized their opposing forces unified in one entity. | |||
==Aleister Crowley== | ==Aleister Crowley== | ||
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Crowley asserted that Baphomet was a divine androgyne and "the hieroglyph of arcane perfection." He believed it represented the spiritual nature of the spermatozoa, while also being symbolic of the "magical child" produced as a result of [[sex magic]]. As such, Baphomet represents the Union of Opposites, especially as mystically personified in Chaos and [[Babalon]] combined and biologically manifested with the sperm and egg united in the zygote. | Crowley asserted that Baphomet was a divine androgyne and "the hieroglyph of arcane perfection." He believed it represented the spiritual nature of the spermatozoa, while also being symbolic of the "magical child" produced as a result of [[sex magic]]. As such, Baphomet represents the Union of Opposites, especially as mystically personified in Chaos and [[Babalon]] combined and biologically manifested with the sperm and egg united in the zygote. | ||
In his ''[[Book of Thoth]]'', Crowley's commentary on the use of his [[Thoth Tarot]] deck, he equated Baphomet as one aspect of [[the Fool]], saying: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
"Von Hammer-Purgstall was certainly right in supposing Baphomet to be a form of the Bull-god, or rather, the Bull-slaying god, Mithras; for Baphomet should be spelt with an 'r' at the end; thus it is clearly a corruption meaning 'Father Mithras.' There is also here a connection with the ass, for it was as an ass-headed god that he became an object of veneration to the Templars. | |||
<br> | |||
The Early [[Christianity|Christians]] also were accused of worshipping an ass or ass-headed god, and this again is connected with the wild ass of the wilderness, the god [[Set]], identified with [[Saturn]] and [[Satan]]. He is the South, as Nuit is the North: the Egyptians had a Desert and an Ocean in those quarters." | |||
</blockquote> | |||
==Legacy== | ==Legacy== | ||
[[File:Baphomet Statue Salem.jpg| | [[File:Baphomet Statue Salem.jpg|300px|thumb|Occultist [[Travis McHenry]] standing with a Baphomet statue in the Satanic Temple headquarters.]] | ||
Baphomet, as Lévi's illustration suggests, has sometimes been portrayed as a synonym of [[Satan]], [[The Devil]], or a [[demon]]. | Baphomet, as Lévi's illustration suggests, has sometimes been portrayed as a synonym of [[Satan]], [[The Devil]], or a [[demon]]. | ||
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In 2014, The [[Satanic Temple]] commissioned an 8.5 ft (2.6 m) statue of Baphomet to stand alongside a monument of the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma State Capitol, citing "respect for diversity and religious minorities" as reasons for the monument causing the Oklahoma Supreme Court to declare all religious displays illegal. The Satanic Temple then transported the Baphomet statue to Little Rock, Arkansas, where another 10 Commandments monument had been recently installed; the statue was publicly displayed during a Temple demonstration on 16 August 2018. | In 2014, The [[Satanic Temple]] commissioned an 8.5 ft (2.6 m) statue of Baphomet to stand alongside a monument of the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma State Capitol, citing "respect for diversity and religious minorities" as reasons for the monument causing the Oklahoma Supreme Court to declare all religious displays illegal. The Satanic Temple then transported the Baphomet statue to Little Rock, Arkansas, where another 10 Commandments monument had been recently installed; the statue was publicly displayed during a Temple demonstration on 16 August 2018. | ||
The 2018 [[ | The [[African diaspora religion|Afro-Brazilian]] religion of [[Quimbanda]] utilizes statues or depictions of Baphomet as part of their reverence for demonic forces. | ||
The 2018 [[tarot]] deck, [[The Demon-Possessed Tarot]], by occultist [[Travis McHenry]] features Baphomet as [[The Magician]] card. In 2025, he created the Baphomet Tarot, a deck devoted entirely to depictions of Baphomet. | |||
==External links== | |||
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/travismchenry/the-baphomet-tarot-deck-and-grimoire Baphomet Tarot] | |||
[[Category:Deities]] | [[Category:Deities]] | ||
[[Category:Featured Articles]] | [[Category:Featured Articles]] | ||