The Mysterious Origin of Baphomet

In 1307 one of the allegations charged by Philip IV of France against the Knights Templar, in an effort to lay his hands on their colossal wealth, was that they worshiped an image in the form of a human skull called Baphomet. Purportedly, there were many of these skulls, or even whole human heads, one kept at each of the Templar centers.

The name Baphomet is of mysterious origin. It has been proposed by Montague Summers that it comes from the Greek words baphe and metis, meaning "absorption into wisdom." Others say it is a corruption of the name Mahomet (Mohammed) to Bahomet in Provence, home of the Cathars, or Albigenses, with whom the Templars are sometimes linked.

As a consequence of the attacks on the Knights Templar, their chief and Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burnt at the stake. He was charged with worshiping the devil, heresy, and homosexuality. Under torture, only 12 of the 231 knights examined confessed to knowing anything of the head or skull. Some described it as merely a skull, some supposed it was a wooden head, and some a metal head. It was also variously described as having feet or breasts, or being bearded. However described, the consensus seems to have been that it was worshiped and regarded as a bringer of fertility and abundance.

Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall believed that the Knights Templar were, in reality, "Gnostics," or secret heretics. He referred to objects of 13^th century art, consisting of various statues, goblets, and coffers, depicting androgynous figures, often with a skull at the feet, and displaying the symbol of the pentagram. As drawn by the 19^th century French magician Eliphas Levi, Baphomet was a manlike figure with a goat's horned head and hind legs, and with bat's wings. A torch stood between the horns, a caduceus rose as the phallus, and a pentagram was inscribed on the goat's forehead.

Doreen Valiente indicates that there were parallels between these representations of the Templars' Baphomet, and deities recognized in witchcraft. For example, Wiccan deities are thought of as fertility figures, or bringers of life. There are connected with a horned god and with a goddess. In addition, the pentagram is used by witches.

Valiente goes on to point out that there are commonly "inner circles" to magical orders. Such may have been the case with the Templars, judging from statements like that of one of the accused, Stephen de Staplebridge, who admitted to being "two professions in the order of the Temple, the first lawful and good, the second contrary to the faith." He was admitted to the inner "profession" around a year after his original initiation into the Templars.

It was not unusual for deities to be thought of as androgynous. One of Dionysus's titles was Diphues, or "double-sexed." Mithras was occasionally so presented. The Syrian god Baal was also sometimes presented as androgynous.

Aleister Crowley took the name of Baphomet, as a member of the Ordo Templis Orientalis, a secret society focused on sexual practices, founded in Germany at the end of the 19^th century.

Although the Eliphas Levi drawing is commonly reproduced and frequently connected to Witchcraft, through the symbolism mentioned above, it actually is not a part of witchcraft per se. Some individual witches acknowledge it as a representation of a Wiccan fertility deity, while others detest it.

Bibliography:
Cavendish, Richard: Man, Myth and Magic. 1970.
Valiente, Doreen: An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present. 1973.