Origins of an ancient demon, Baphomet

There is an interesting concept that pops up now and again, mostly in the USA.

Its a statue of a thing called, “Baphomet”, which various satanic or anti-Christian groups use as a weapon of contempt against America and her classical values and culture.

Here is an example of the sort of use Baphomet is put to:

Satanic Monument Briefly Unveiled Outside Courthouse in Little Rock, Arkansas

An 8 foot tall Baphomet statue was briefly erected today outside the state capital in Little Rock, Arkansas, during a rally held by the Satanic Temple after the Arkansas legislature approved the placement of a Ten Commandments statue on the Capitol grounds.

 

The Satanic Temple is arguing that the Ten Commandments statue violates their constitutional freedom of religious rights and that by installing their statue, the statue will be demonstrating religious equality under the law.

Now this particular statue of Baphomet is a bit unusual, as in modern times, it was redesigned by a more Neo_marxist ‘artist’ to have human like breasts.

Eliphas Levi Gives Baphomet a Face

In the 1850’s Eliphas Levi included Baphomet in a two volume occult publication that was known as ‘Dogma and the Rituals of High Magic.’ In this publication, he included a hand-drawn depiction of Baphomet that would become the defining image of the creature. His image depicted a humanoid creature with a goat’s had and women’s breasts. The Baphomet was also shown to have a large pair of wings, horns, and a pentagram on its forehead.

As to his politics:

Constant was the son of a shoemaker in Paris. In 1832 he entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice to study to enter the Roman Catholicpriesthood, but he fell in love and left in 1836 without being ordained.

 

He spent the following years among his socialist and Romantic friends, including Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros and so-called petits romantiques such as Gérard de Nerval and Théophile Gautier.

 

During this time he turned to a radical socialism that was decisively inspired by the writings of Félicité de Lamennais, the former leader of the influential neo-Catholic movement who had recently broken with Rome and propagated a Christian socialism. When Constant published his first radical writing, La Bible de la liberté (1841, The Bible of Liberty), he was sentenced to an eight-month prison term and a high fine.

 

Contemporaries saw in him the most notorious “disciple” of Lamennais, although the two men do not seem to have established a personal contact. In the following years, Constant would describe his ideology as communisme néo-catholique and publish a number of socialist books and pamphlets. Like many socialists, he propagated socialism as “true Christianity” and denounced the Churches as corruptors of the teachings of Christ.^{[citation needed]}

English Wiki on Baphomet also says:

Baphomet represents a tradition that should result in a perfect social order.^[7]

Many of the sites I read do in fact contain the following information. But I will present it in the order in which it was relayed to me in a conversation with Ava Lon last night about Baphomet.

English Wikipedia:

The name Baphomet appeared in July 1098 in a letter by the crusader Anselm of Ribemont:

 

“As the next day dawned, they called loudly upon Baphometh; and we prayed silently in our hearts to God, then we attacked and forced all of them outside the city walls.^[9]”

So a Crusader, who was part of the European Army tasked with pushing invading Muslims out of Europe and all the way to Israel, three years after Pope Urban called for the first Crusade, was quoted as saying the enemy prayed to Baphomet.

Polish Wikipedia is a little clearer on the subject:

(Google translate)

The name of the deity is sometimes translated as a deformation of the name of the prophet Muhammad ^[2] .

The rest of the Polish Wiki though attempts to make it an anti-Christian diety as was intended by its re-inventor, the “radical socialist” Levi.

It does sound a lot like Ma Ho Met when you say it out loud. It would be a rational mishearing to make.

In Mythology.net they offer this before it moves on to anti-Christian imputations:

The First Mention of Baphomet

The first historical record of Baphomet comes from a letter written by a crusader in t 1098. In the letter, he explains that the enemies of the Crusaders could often be heard calling upon ‘Baphometh.’

 

There is also a record that says the mosques were called ‘Bufmarias.’ These connections suggest that the word Baphomet may have been a mispronunciation of the name ‘Mohammed.’ If Baphomet is, indeed, a mispronunciation of Mohammed, it would explain why he is seen as an evil entity by many in modern day.

Could we say that the link between the modern demon like thing, Baphomet, socialism and Islam has been made?

Comments and criticisms welcome. This is the beginning of a journey of understanding not the conclusion.