BAPHOMET / THE GOAT OF MENDES

So here you are, a newcomer to the occult path, or possibly not so new.  In any case you have found yourself in the middle of a paradox that you now have to figure out how you personally will choose to relate to depending on why it is you are browsing this website. 

I'm going to now make an attempt to explain to you why a Satanic symbol, portrayed on Satanic websites and expounded upon by Fundamentalist bible thumpers is in fact NOT a satanic symbol at all.  

I would like to start off by citing the work of Laurence Gardener for a bit of a history lesson. 

"...It was King Raneb, the second pharaoh of the dynasty (the 1st dynasty of Egypt) who first introduced the veneration of the Goat of Mendes into Egypt.  This is especially relevant because in both the Grail and Dragon traditions, the Goat of Mendes has always been directly associated with Nimrod's grandfather Ham. (as a coat of arms) Mendes was a city just north-west of Avaris in the Egyptian delta and the sacred goat (often called Khem, Chem or Ham) was the zodiacal goat of Capricorn.  In accordance with the Dragon Court tradition, Ham was the designated Archon of the Tenth Age of Capricorn and in this regard his symbol was an inverted pentagram.  This five pointed star has two uppermost points, which are the horns of the Goat of Mendes.  The two downward sloping sidepoints represent the ears and the single base point is the chin and beard, as identified by Chevalier David Wood in his outstanding studies of sacred geometry.

When a pentagram is seen is this inverted (male) position Khem is personally identified by an emerald jewel set centrally at the meeting of the horns.  When turned about, the pentagram achieves its female status with the uppermost single point becoming the head of the goddess in a Venus-Lilith representation....

From the earliest times...the pentagram was indicative of enlightenment and was associated with the pre-Jewish Sabbath, a ritualistic period of reflection and experience outside of general toil.  For this reason, Khem of Mendes was called the Sabbatical Goat, from which derives today's use of the word "sabbatical" in academic circles. ...

In view of this age old tradition, it is hardly surprising that the pentagram and sabbatical goat became associated with heterodox Christians (like the Cathars of Languedoc) from medieval times.  In contrast, the orthodox Christian Church endeavored to overawe the old wisdom of the mystery schools by creating a hybrid religion based upon salvation from the unknown, a salvation that was attained only through people's subjugation to the authority of the bishops.  As an outcome, the spiritually based doctrines of the gnostic movement (which sought to discover the unknown) were declared blasphemous by the Inquisition, while the pentagram and the goat were denounced as symbols of black magic and witchcraft....

The Goat of Mendes was also directly associated with alchemy, and although the word "alchemy" derives from al-khame-the science of overcoming the blackness,  it had a secondary root in al-Khem (the Khem).  In this regard, Khem, the black ruler of Mendes, was identified with a certain Azazel of Capricorn, whom the book of Enoch defines as a Watcher.  It is said in Enoch that Azazel made known to men "all the metals, and the art of working them...and the use of antimony.  This is an essential ingredient of the preparatory alchemical process when producing the Philosophers Stone.  In the ancient Arab world antimony was called Kuhl (or kohl).  The related word "alcohol" stems from the Arabic "al-kuhul, the highly refined Philosophical Mercury prepared from spirits of wine rectified over antimony." 

(Laurence Gardener:  Genesis of the Grail Kings)

The link directly below will deal with the more Templar and Masonic oriented interpretation of the Baphomet and they describe it in great detail, I shall not expound on that here.  Here I will rather focus more on the Pagan form of the horned deity

Moving right along from those times on upward it is fairly easy to see how the "horned god" deity became such an incredible symbol of male fertility among primitive pagan peoples.  Every culture all over the world just about has some form of a horned diety that they worshipped which is usually linked to fertility and male solar principle (again another image of the solar or alchemical fire).  The subtle connections between the alchemical transforming fire of the metallurgists and the Kundalini sexual force is very intimate.  In this way alchemy and fertility have a place side by side depending on your interpretation of the sacred flame. In can be classified as the inner and outer mysteries of the same energy. 

To the cults of Mithra in Rome and the Eastern cults of Brahma this deity was personified as a sacrifical bull.  In Celtic countries and tribes the horned god was the King Stag.  In Native American Indian Culture we find the Buffalo predominates.  In some other cultures you will find the goat personified.   In any case the associations of these powerful totems are usually universally concerned with fertility, sexuality, and the hunt, or the ability to sustain the people of the tribe in strength and nobility.  The spirit of the animal prior to the hunt was honored and called forth with great reverence before the "sacrifice" of the horned animal was made in order to prolong the life of the people who worshipped it.  The blood of the animal spilled on the earth ensured the fertility of the land and in some cultures this was also worshipped in an heiros gamos (sacred marriage) fertility rite after a successful hunt. 

It was not until fairly recently in this century that the modern day Satanic religion capitalized on this very pagan symbol.  Anton LaVey was probably the first to really publicize it to my knowledge as a "satanic symbol", making use of this symbol as being representative of his Church of Satan which was not founded until 1966.  Prior to that the symbol had taken on a life in the public arena as a result of Eliphas Levi coming up with his famous rendition of the Goat of Mendes or Baphomet as described in the link below in the very late 1800's. Prior to the Church of Satan however Levi's symbol was almost strictly given to Templar symbolism and the ancient mystery school traditions.  

The evolution of an archetypal symbol as mentioned in another article elsewhere in this site, is a fascinating thing.  What a symbol meant centuries ago, does not often hold the same meaning it means in our modern day to the modern mind.  This is why it is so important to unveil a meaning of an archetype since it has truly been rewritten and reinterpreted over centuries due to propaganda and political maneuvers. 

The most modern meaning of a symbol is usually not the most potent in the subconscious, but it does create a veil of illusion that must be dealt with if the modern psyche has been maladapted to understand the true nature of the archetype.  If that is indeed the case then the modern mind coming into contact with that symbol may be thrown into a state of imbalance spiritually and emotionally while attempting to come to grips with the consequences of the newly programmed information or the historical implications of that symbol.  A struggle of moral conscience often ensues which is a great deal trying and sometimes  unnecessary since the image of a symbol can create such a violent emotional response from the subconscious mind which the conscious mind now has to grapple with.  

The cross, the pentagram and the swastika are three very obvious symbols which have just this effect on people from all different angles depending on their own individual modern programming and religious background.   Understanding the meaning of any one thing is dependent on who is writing the definition and what their frame of reference is.  

It should be noted also that the zodiacal sign of Capricorn represents another very important phenomena and that is the crossing of the Sun into the Sign of Capricorn at the Winter Solstice.  This date is often found to coincide with the birth of many avatars, Jesus being being one of them, Mithra being yet another.  The actual date changes each year but the Solstice is usually somewhere between the 20th and the 23rd of December.  The Orthodox Church of course moved this day off a couple of days in an attempt to de-paganize it a bit and has decided that December 25th is the Birth of Jesus, our modern Christmas Holiday.  The Solstice is the shortest and therefore darkest day of the year and marks the turning point of the sun.  From that day onward the light grows brighter to signify the light half of the year and the return of life to the land after winter.  That light symbolically speaking has been associated with many spiritual deities as well as initiation rites, and is representative for obvious reasons.   In this way the goat signifies the fertile and life giving energy of the Sun.