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Home >Unexplained Mysteries of The Baphomet
Central to the accusations brought against the Knights Templar, was the accusation
that, they worshipped an idol named Baphomet, which is said to have taken the form of a
head or sometimes a Black Cat. The truth behind this mythos varies with various scholars.
The Baphomet is one aspect of the Templars mythos, could generate so many
theories as to its true origins is amazing. The interest in the Baphomet has
survived over 600 years and taken many forms. The opinions on the
Baphomet vary greatly from scholar to scholar and mystic path to mystic path.
The purpose of this section is to shed some light on some of the theories and
the connection, if any, to the Knights Templar.
Mistakingly some describe the Templars as Devil worshipping Occultists, while
historians of the twentieth century were of the belief that the Templars were
party to the machinations of a corrupt government and church. It remains to
be seen what the common consensus of this century will be regarding the
order.
Twentieth century historians may have believed in innocence, the Baphomet mythos did survive as is indicated by the following dictionary definition: "Baphomet was the deity worshipped by the Knights Templar, and in Black Magic as the source and creator of evil; the Satanic goat of the witches' Sabbath and one of the names adopted by Aleister Crowley."
The image of the Baphomet is as varied as the explanations as to its etymology. A listing of some of the more common descriptions of it.
An idol with a human skull
Theories on the etymology of the Baphomet
are many. To some it is believed to be a
corruption of the Moslem prophet "Mahomet"
or in English Mohammed. The Templars fought
along side Moslem Assassins during their time and it is held that they may
have adopted Islamic beliefs. This doesn't really hold water to anyone familiar
with Islam as the religion forbids all forms of idolatry.
Another train of thought is that Baphomet is really a joining of two Greek
words meaning absorption into wisdom. In either case the fact remains that
the Templars were accused of practicing their initiations and rituals in front of
a large idol of the demon Baphomet.
How did this belief come to be? Since King Philip of France sought to own the
vast Templar wealth, he along with his puppet Pope Clement V had the
Templars captured and tortured. During these tortures they made many
confessions, among these, the disclosure that they had worshipped an idol said to be the Baphomet.
Were these claims true? Perhaps we'll never know. Jacques de Molay, who had earlier confessed his and the Templars guilt slowly burned at the stake insisting the order was innocent of all but one offence, that of allowing torture to cause them to lie and confess untruths.
The number 58 is less puzzling if one remembers that five (5) is the
number of the pentagram and eight (8) is indicative of Isis. We may now complete the
simple equation which exposes her secret number: 5 X 8 = 40 = 58 - 18 ISIS
The numbers 5 and 8 are also exhibited in the beliefs of the 'Brothers
of the Rose Cross', where the rose is constructed with a centre of five
petals, surrounded by eight petals.
By this analysis, therefore, when the Templars worshipped Baphomet
what they were really doing was worshipping the principle of
Wisdom.
It was impossible for the Templars to have 'picked up in the East' the
practice of worshipping an idol bearing the name of the Prophet
Mohammed, since no such idol existed anywhere in the Levant, even
among breakaway sects such as the Ismailis or the Druse. The idea
that Muslims were idolaters was itself a part of another system of
'smears', the pejorative representation of the oriental world by
western Christians."
Based upon the idol's description as a "demon" having "very
fierce-looking face and beard", the idol very likely could have been
Asmodeus, the "daemon guardian" who helped Solomon build his
Temple. A statue of the demon guards the door of the parish church
at Rennes-le-Château.
"The Templars' stronghold in Jerusalem, the site of their foundation,
was finally overrun by the Moslems in 1244. Thirty-three years later
the victorious sultan, Baibars, inspected their castle and is recorded
to
have discovered inside the tower 'a great idol, in whose protection the
castle had been placed: according to the Frank who had given it its
name [this is an unreadable word, made in diacritic letters]. He
ordered this to be destroyed and a mihrab [Moslem prayer niche]
constructed in its place."
The treasurer of the Paris temple, Jean de Turn, spoke of a painted
head in the form of a picture, which he had adored at one of these
chapters. The baphomet demon
Nearly all the brethren agreed that the head was bearded and had
long hair, and the Templars, like the majority of their contemporaries,
regarded long hair as effeminate, so the length of the 'idol's hair was
remarkable for this, if for no other reason.
"The Egregora does exist in the so-called 'astral plane' and it is
a demon, that is to say, an illusory entity. It is not a true Microcosm,
but a gestalt of vitalized shells, a focus for everything that is
negative, defeatist, maudlin, bigoted, introverted in human nature - a morass
completely hostile to progress and to the spiritual evolution of
mankind.
The representation of the egregore as bust recalls the ancient literary
tradition of animated statues or Salome, who wanted the head of
John the Baptist, probably to master his visionary powers. The
classic prototype of such an egregore is Baphomet, the alleged
egregore of the Templars, who was (as the Roman Emperor of the
Gods) likewise worshipped in the form of a bust. In the secret statutes
of the Templars, Baphomet was besought with the introduction to the
Qu'ran and dismissed with the 24th chapter of the Book of Sirach.
Another possibility for the origin of the Head relates to the imagery
on the first Grand Master's shield, which consisted of three black
heads on a gold field. After about two hundred years, it is plausible
that this head imagery could have worked itself into the legend of the
Baphomet. According to more than one account, the Head was the
actual skull of Hugues de Payen, which was preserved as an object of
veneration.
A similar tradition could be found in the Celtic cult of the severed head which figured predominently in Peredur, a Welsh romance about the Holy Grail.
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