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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.satanism,alt.mythology,alt.fan.satan,alt.magick,alt.magick.chaos
From: boboroshi@satanservice.org (CoE SOD)
Subject: Re: Baphomet? Evil or God
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 04:54:41 GMT

50000326 IVom

bookofthoth@aol.com (Book of Thoth):
>comfortable with the basic functions and theories of Chaos Magick.  

Carroll isn't the most clear exponent of what has come to be called
the Chaos Magick tradition. I find Ray Sherwin a bit more approachable.

>Now this is my confusion: Baphomet.
>In the Mass of Chaos of The Magical Order of the Illuminates of Thanateros,
>Baphomet is refereed to as the Horned God, Pan, of Ancient Witchcraft and
>Paganism.  Then he is then further classified as the "Devil" of Christian
>Biblical thought.  Finally, he is considered to be the "God of all gods who
>shall endure to the end of the Earth" 

Chaotes combine imagery and conceptions from their personal misconstruals
and create a fabrication designed to achieve their particular ends. it
does not mean that they have any clear ideas of historical relevance.

>...the image of Baphomet in Chaos magick appears much darker [than Pan]. 
>How can these four examples (The Devil, Baphomet, Pan, and "God of all gods")
>all be representations of the same thing?  

to the simpleton, many names refer to the same object, even when these come
from different social histories and rivalries. there are some commonalities
amongst some of the foregoing, such as horns, randiness, and materialism,
but to call them "all representations of the same thing" is an over-
simplification even for most Chaotes, I'd bet.

>Is it not possible to conclude that the "Evil One" of the Bible is quite 
>definitely a different reality than that of Pan?  

the Christian bogey is derived in character from gods inclusive of the
the Greek Pan. the two are separated by time, space, and culture until
they enter the realm of neopaganism and eclectic magical enterprise.

>So then who is Baphomet? Is he the personification of Evil much as the
>Christians refer to as Satan? Is he the pleasant nature spirit of the "Old
>Ways"?  

with respect to most mythological or symbolic entities, who or what that
being is truly depends on who you ask. for the bulk of Christians, the
name 'Baphomet' means nothing whatever. reliable historians will tell you
that the words is a corruption of 'Mahomet', an ascribed debauch of
muslim worship by traitor Christians called the Knights Templar, whose
wealth and power had grown too tempting for the King of France and his
Pope to avoid pillaging with complaints of heinous heresy and scandalous
treason. later writers such as Levi and Pike would make much of this 
corruption and the trumped up charges to fabricate an entire Deity of 
Hedonism and Rebellion against a Christian establishment.

Crowleyites will tell you that this is one of the names of their master,
Edward Alexander "Aleister" Crowley, whose notorious character and sly
publication record has secured him some attention in the past century.

Satanists from the Church of Satan will tell you that this is the name 
of their identifying sigil, a point-down pentacle enclosing a goat's
head, surrounded by five hebrew letters spelling out 'Leviathan' (the
vowels in hebrew are largely absent). some of these same individuals
will claim that their cherished symbol is related to and derives from
the Knights Templar or some masonic source (Pike was a mason and made
something of a splash by plagiarizing Levi and lauding Lucifer and
Baphomet as important esoteric symbols).

various occultists may mention Baphomet in relation to the tarot
(in which the card 'The Devil' often resembles the card constructed
by A.E. Waite, who seems to have been inspired by Levi's drawing of
'Baphomet'). they will ascribe, accordingly, all manner of
characteristics to this name, usually ignorant of its historical
usage.

some peculiar Satanists will tell you that Baphomet is a goddess,
or better yet, an hermaphroditic conglomerate of many species,
and ascribe some pretty interesting qualities to Hir, from 
cannibalism and the trodden aspects of the wild to some kind of
Sabbatic Goat Dionysian revel-monger. as one gets further and
further out into the fringes of the occult community almost
ANYTHING is possible.
  
>Is he, yet, another personification of what religion has come to call
>"God"?  

typically the term 'Baphomet' is not associated specifically with
the qualities of a Creator God. usually it is given antagonistic
qualities pitting AGAINST such a fashioner-of-our-cosmos, linking
Baphomet with Gnostic ideas of trans-archonian worship and, 
usually without much believability, to orgiastic sex worship.

>If he isn't, then why invoke him at all? 

daring. people invoke demons to see what will happen. so they
also invoke what is called 'Choronzon' for similar reason.
some will call up Satan and His Imps. one might call it a kind
of modern scientific experiment on par with Frankenstein's
anthropo-construction (per Mary Shelley's horror novel).

blessed beast!

boboroshi
Satanic Outreach Director,
Church of Euthanasia (http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/)
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