Baphomet

Nicknamed 'The God of the Witches',� Baphomet, is a complex occult symbol that is too easily dismissed as a manifestation of the popular Christian devil and, therefore, a representation of evil.�� The 19th Century French occultist Eliphas Levi is credited with the now famous drawing of the goat-headed god (though the version here is the work of another artist, based on Levi's).�� Levi identified the bearded deity as representative of the Greek god Pan .� Today, Satanists and Christians alike both identify Baphomet only as Satan, yet, both factions are mistaken and prefer to exhibit ignorance as they continue to promote their erroneous beliefs.��

�� Baphomet is a conglomeration of many different elements.� Though the winged deity is referred to in the masculine gender, Baphomet is androgrynous, having both masculine and feminine attributes.� Along with these are also the other symbols which make up phenomenal duality.
�� The god has the head of a goat which represents fertility and two long horns suggesting its divinity.� The Torch of Enlightenment burns above its head.� Upon the forehead is the pentagram, the five pointed star which symbolizes the phenomenal world and the microcosm of man.
�� Being androgynous, Baphomet has the breasts of a woman which reveals the gods's nurturing elements, and an erect Caduceus from the groin is representative of the penis for virility and regeneration.� Two serpents,� black and white, intertwine around the phallus.� Serpentine scales line the belly behind the Caduceus emphasizing the serpent/sexuality implications.

�� On either side of Baphomet are crescent moons:� One black, the other wihite, symbolizing the negative and positive polarities of the phenomenal world.� One represents the waxing moon, the other the waning (but, the coloring has been reversed).� Upon the left inner forearm of Baphomet is the Latin word 'coagula' meaning 'to condense; to make solid'.� On the opposite arm, is the Latin 'solve' for 'to release; to set free'.� Baphomet's arms are outstretched in a manner demonstrating the Hermetic statement of "As above, so below"; his first two fingers of each hand are extended as in a Benediction. The two great wings on Baphomet tell us that it� has the power of flight, speed and mobility; it is also a 'nightdweller', who possesses the keys of the occult mysteries (the mysteries of life). The five elements are represented through the wings which symoblize air; the torch for spirituality and fire; the moons--which are feminine symbols of water; the deity sits upon the earth itself.

�� Baphomet is a symbol depicting the phenomenal world of opposites.� The One is revealed through duality. The name 'Baphomet' qabalistically written backwards distinguishes three abbreviations:� TEM, OHP, AB:� Templi ominium hominum pacts abbas--"The father of the temple of universal peace among men."�

I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.
�� Isaiah 45:6-7

See now that I, I am He, and there is no god beside Me; it is I who put to death and give life.� I have wounded, and it is I who heal; and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
�� Deuteronomy 32:39

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