"Your abominations are but a faint startle from your indifference! At least take advantage of this hornet body to discharge your debt, if it is some consistency in you own doctrine.Thus he will expiate this absurd moment out of love for Justice, so long as it belongs to his power to determine and imagine what notion of justice he could still possess.Already his breath passed through the narrow corset of the insect, he felt so at ease again that he stood on his feet, and, spreading his wings from the top of the scale plate, straight away he flew towards the rosatres nipples of the immense nudity: he barely touched it when a spark blew out: the pine wing set him on fire.The fire grew stronger, it was struggling and the fire redoubled in intensity, the more it moved, the bigger it grew and the more the flame crackled; then discerning through the smoke the radiance of its sublime slopes and the vast arc of the smile of its sweet lips, it still managed to hum."
Baphomet by Pierre kKossowsky
." Whithout a form that is stabilized but able to evolve until iy fixes itself in all the possible forms of existence" Eisenstein's definition of a protoplasm. Evoking a primitif form this piece materlializes the idea of plasmaticity brought uo by the Russian himmaker and present in other terms, in Klossowski's work. in equelibrium and weightlessness, hung like a trophy in the center of the room, this creature freezes the s^pectacle of a possible unterruped latent metamorphosis. " I am not a creator who subjugates what he creates to a single me and this me to a single body" the Baphomet proclaims in the eponymous novel by Pierre Klossowski.
Bertrand Lamarche does not consider himself a creator: he does not create archetypes, forms from nothing. he works from precedents, reacts to already existing subjects and figures. the Baphomet is inserted in this genealogy. a pagan idol, the sovereign of alchemists, the Baphomet would seem to be the symbol of instability and metamoorphosis. responding to the theater of La Maréchalrie, Bertrand Lamarche presents new works that are animated in the etymological meaning of the world (from the Latin animare, to give life) compared with earlier works. through the manifestation of primitive forms, these works summon up a bestiary that can echo mythology, the fantasy genre and science-fiction novejs; from the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea to Walt Disney's anthropomorphic charayers, frankenstein's creature and the works of Poe, lovecraft or Orwell.
The systems create images of the successive states of the process of the living as so many moments seized of formal, corporeal and identity mutations, taking place before us. asserting that " nothing ever remains equal to itself but that every constantly changes" Pierre Klossowsky's Baphomet opens to multtiplicity and unlocks identities. Echoing the author's reflection, Bertrand Lamarche turns elasticity of matter, the rejection of fixity, the freedom of becoming into concrete form.
To understand the association of this goat-headed devil figure with Alchemy s, one must follow a long and tortured path which begins in the 12th Century. In the year 1119, a small military band in Jerusalem formed a medieval religious and military order to protect pilgrims visiting Palestine after the First Crusade. They were known as the Knights Templar. Headed by a grand master, they lived austere lives patterned on the Cistercian monks and fought bravely to defend the Church. As the several Crusades progressed, however, they began to amass both wealth and stature. Levi's Baphomet - Note signature at bottom!Because the Knights Templars regularly transmitted money and supplies from Europe to Palestine, they gradually developed an efficient banking system unlike any the world had seen before. Their military might and financial acumen caused them to become both trusted and feared. Their defense of the Holy Lands and their monastic vows gave them a presumed respectability and those who wished to remain in Europe were happy to support their endeavors. The Knights amassed great wealth through gifts from their grateful benefactors. By the late 1200s however, the Knights Templars had suffered several military defeats which left them in a vulnerable position while their wealth became the object of jealousy for many including the Papacy. World events were also taking place which caused this situation to become more complicated. The French King, Philip IV, was engaged in a tumultuous struggle with Pope Boniface VIII which grew out of the King's attempt to levy taxes against the clergy. Boniface forbade the clergy to pay taxes to a secular power and in 1302 issued the bull Unam Sanctam, a declaration of papal supremacy. Philip's partisans imprisoned Boniface who later escaped but died soon afterwards. In 1305, Philip obtained the election of one of his own adherents as pope, Clement V and compelled him to reside in France where he would be in control of his every move. (This was the beginning of the so-called 'Babylonian Captivity of the papacy - 1309-1377 - during which the popes lived at Avignon and were subjected to French rule.)
With the papacy now firmly in his control, Philip turned his sight to the somewhat discredited (due to their military losses) Knights Templars and their treasure. In 1307, Philip ordered a sweeping raid during which all known Knights were rounded up and thrown into dungeons, including their Grand Master Jacques de Molay, charging them with sacrilege and Satanism. In 1312, the Pope, now a puppet of the King, issued the order suppressing the military and religious order and their wealth was confiscated by Philip. (The English assets of the Templars was similarly confiscated by King Edward II of England.).
Baphomet - Tarot Card: The Templars ceased to exist from that time forward. Many of their members, including Jacques de Molay, were tortured mercilessly during their internment and caused to 'confess' to a myriad of crimes, including a list of some 127 charges in nine sub categories. These included such things as the holding their meetings in secret and at night. "The Alchemist must steal the Devil's fire. When we work with the Arcanum A. Z. F., we steal fire from the Devil and thus convert ourselves into Gods. On the forehead of the goat of Mendès shines the esoteric Pentagram. The Caduceus of Mercury replaces the sexual organs. In short, we can say that this Caduceus of Mercury represents the sexual organs. Every alchemist must work with Transmutation; when we steal his fire from the Devil, the five-pointed Star shines.. We must develop the Kundalini and dissolve the "I", it is only in this way that we will obtain Liberation.The Initiates of the fourth way (the Wise Way of Man) call "working with the Devil" the process of dissolving the Self. The tenebrous ones usually attack us with violence. Anyone who works in the dissolution of the self, while not being a demon, is usually, nevertheless, surrounded by demons. When uninitiated clairvoyants see a man in this way, they misjudge him, slander him and call him a demon. The Initiates of the Cunning Way of Man reveal themselves to be enigmatic. The disciples of the path are confused when they notice black candles on the altars of these Initiates, and then, naturally, they judge them wrongly.The ego exercises control over the five lower centres of the human machine; that is, over the centres of Thought, Feeling, Movement, Instinct and Sex. The two higher centres of the human being, the Higher Mind and the Higher Emotional Centre, cannot be controlled by the Self. If we want to dissolve the ego, we must study it in the five lower centres; we need understanding. It is essential to understand the actions and reactions of each of the five lower centres of the human machine. The ego works with the five lower centers, and by fully understanding the activity of each of these lower centers we are on the way to dissolve the ego. In front of the same theatrical performance, two people react in a different way. What is pleasing to one person can be unpleasant for the other. The difference is very often that one person can judge and see with the mind while the other person can be touched in his feelings.We must learn to differentiate between the Mind and the Sentiment. The mind is one thing, and the feeling is another. In the mind there is a whole set of actions and reactions that must be carefully understood. In the feeling are affects that must be crucified, emotions that must be studied and, in general, a whole mechanism of actions and reactions that are easily confused with the activities of the Mind.In every human being there are instinctive subhuman forces that paralyze the true spirit of love and charity. These demonic forces must first be understood, then subdued and eliminated. They are animal forces, criminal instinctive forces: lust, cowardice, fear, etc. We need to understand and subdue these bestial forces before we can dissolve them.Sex is the fourth power of the human being. Sex can liberate or enslave man. No one can be complete, no one can be fully realized without sexual strength. Sex is the power of the Soul. The complete human being can only be achieved with the absolute fusion of the male and female poles of the soul. Sexual strength develops, evolves and progresses according to seven levels (the seven levels of the Soul). In this physical world, sex is a blind force of mutual attraction; in the Astral, sexual attraction is based on the affinity of types according to their polarity and Essence; in the Mind, sexual attraction is carried out according to the laws of polarity and mental affinity. In the Causal, sexual attraction is based on conscious will; it is in the world of natural causes that the perfect unification of the soul is consciously realized. No one can actually attain the glorious fullness of marital status if he has not reached the fourth degree of human integration.At the supreme moment of conception, the human Essences are totally open to all kinds of influences. The purity of the parents and the strength of will not to overthrow the Cup of Hermes are the only things that can protect us against the terrible danger that the sperm and the egg of the subhuman substances of animal souls that would like to reincarnate themselves are infiltrated into the sperm and the egg.Sexuality is the door to Eden. The keeper in front of the door is the Assyrian Sphinx, the Egyptian Sphinx, the Taurus of Moses holding the Sword between his paws. It is the psychological ego, the Baphomet who, with the help of his sword, pushes away from the threshold all those who are not ready. The enemy is inside us. We have to work with the demon to dissolve it. We have to steal the devil's fire.Author Stephen Dafoe in his excellent and detailed work on this subject titled "Unholy Worship" says, "Regardless of its lack of historical appearances, so central to the Templar legend has the Baphomet become, it has grown a Mythos of its own. The Baphomet has been utilized on everything from Tarot cards to video games. It has been accepted as synonymous with the Devil and has become, as we will see in a later chapter, the key iconography of Satanism.
Over 500 years later, Alphonse Louis Constant was studying to be a Roman Catholic Priest. He decided, however, to give up Catholicism and become an occultist and adopted the Jewish pseudonym of Eliphas L�vi. His life work involved writing huge volumes about Magick including extensive commentaries on the alleged deity of the Knights Templar, the Baphomet. Of all his works, the best known is his illustration which appears at the top of this page and was used as a frontispiece to "The Doctrine of High Magic" published in 1855. Levi also believed that if one rearranged the letters in Baphomet by reversing them, one would get an abbreviated Latin phrase "Tem Oph Ab" which he thought to be some type of reference to King Solomon's Temple. You can also see, parenthetically, that the "pentagram" is NOT the symbol L�vi used in his drawing shown above on the left: rather, it is a quite common star!
At the time, it was a crime punishable by death to recant a 'confession' - even if such 'confession' was extracted through heinous torture. Consider what you'd admit to if someone was pulling out your toenails with pliers or dropping hot coals on your body while chuckling.... Those who've experienced severe pain can barely appreciate the conditions under which the Templars met their fate.
Among the charges against the Templars were that they worshiped some sort of 'bearded head'. What was it? There are various theories including the religious relic head of John the Baptist, the Shroud of Turin, an image of Mohammed (the father of the Islamic religion) and other even more bizarre things. But how would such a respected religious order come to worship a head idol or engage in such evil? Likely, they didn't! King Philip lusted after the Templar wealth and could only take it from them if they were judged heretics. The charges against the Templars were nothing new. In fact, such charges were common when 'proving' heresy. Similar charges continued even through the 1600s and were seen even in the United States during the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
Jack Chick "The Curse of The Baphomet" (From an anti-Masonic publication titled "Curse of The Baphomet" � Jack Chick publications whose little comic books rail against Freemasonry, Catholicism, and all sorts of other "evils". )
So how did this supposed idol of the ancient Templars become associated with Freemasonry? Through a hoax perpetrated by Leo Taxil on Albert Pike in the late 1800's. Taxil's hoax (which we describe in detail here on our site) was to reveal a highly secret Masonic order called the Palladium (which existed only in Taxil's highly fertile imagination). The cover of Taxil's book depicts a group of Masons dancing around the demonic Baphomet as drawn by none other than the ex-priest, Eliphas L�vi.
And from there, the rest is history. The hoax, despite the recanting by its creator, continues and is accepted as 'gospel' by new generations of religious intolerants. Freemasonry is defamed by a ludicrous charge and those thinking they're religious and right, perpetuate a lie. And the drawing of a goat's head now grotesquely changed becomes the rallying point of those who, in ignorance and/or hatred, defame Alchemy.It is really true, certain and very true that the mystery of Baphomet is sexual alchemy. From a rigorous understanding and sexual transmutation, we transform the lead of personality into the Gold of the Spirit. The "I" is then annihilated. The rose develops its fragrance with the mud of the earth. The scent of the rose is transmuted mud.
