serpent.antonchanning.com

Following from meeting with the goat we met at Cheddar Gorge recently, I have been inspired to examine my relationship with Baphomet, my past with this Deity and where our relationship may go from here. As a part of this examination I have been inspired to look into the history of Baphomet. Such an examination has revealed an incredible journey from uncertain origins into a being of great wisdom and power via a selection of misunderstandings and extraordinary coincidences. My intention is to write a series of articles on the Deity exploring these findings, of which this is the first, exploring the more probable origins of the name.

According to Peter Partner’s book “The Knights Templar and their Myths”, the name Bafometz first appears in a poem by a troubadour in the 1260’s: “And daily they impose new defeats on us: for God, who used to watch on our behalf, is now asleep, and Bafometz puts forth his power to support the Sultan.” Most scholars interpret ‘Bafometz’ in this context as a Provençal corruption of Muhammed, the prophet of Islam. This is not an unreasonable interpretation, but I would speculate that the corruption may have its origins in confusion with another, albeit more obscure, name from the Arabic world.

In ‘Witches, Druids and King Arthur’, Professor Ronald Hutton mentions that the name ‘Bahumed’ appears in a book of alphabets by Ibn Wahshiyya, as a bogus translation of an Egyptian heiroglyph. Whether bogus or not, if the text is genuinely by Ibn Wahshiyya, this would place its first (known) use around the 9th or 10th century. Hutton describes the name Bahumed being used in a context that ‘concerns a figure used to represent the secret of the world’s nature’. This may or may not be a reference to the pre-Islamic beast mentioned in Arabic folklore, ‘Bahamut’, described as a giant fish with the head of a hippopotamus or elephant. This name in turn is considered to have etymological links to the Biblical ‘Behemoth’, a beast which some have also linked to these same animals. Of course the Biblical Behemoth was not a giant fish, but definitely a beast of the land, the Arabic version also inheriting the physical sea dwelling characteristics of the Biblical Leviathan. My own speculation would be that the Provençal name Bafometz came at least in part from either Bahamut or Bahumed, possibly as a result of getting these names confused with that of the Muslim prophet. Perhaps even deliberately confusing them. Certainly the concept of ‘the secret of the world’s nature’ would be connected in medieval christian eyes with the Devil as the lord of the earth, who would also be seen by them as ruling all non-christian nations. But this does not mean the name has its origins in such an insult, just that a version of it was used as such at a specific point in history. Its origins seem far older. I am not the first to speculate about origins such as this. For example, an article on Wicca and Gnosticism by Sea Priestess on blogspot makes the same connection, as do countless role playing sites. Academics seem to have ignored the probable connection so far.

The Egyptian god Set was sometimes depicted in the form of a hippopotamus. Some also consider the head of the ‘Set animal’ to resemble that of an Oxyrhynchus fish, the fish said to have eaten the phallus of Osiris. No-one is quite sure what species of fish this is, but some speculate that it could be a Mormyrid, commonly known as a Freshwater Elephant-fish. Some species of these can grow up to one and a half meters in length. Some species have particularly prominent mouth extensions for feeding on the small invertebrates that can be found in muddy substrates, which lead to their association with elephants.

The elephant also makes one think of the Hindu god Ganesha. Ganesha is another deity, like Set and Baphomet, that I have for a long time enjoyed a magical relationship. The improbable monsters with elephant heads, Behemoth and Bahamut, also make me think of a story about Ganesha told to me by the proprietor of my favourite local Indian restaurant, the Ganesha on Bedminster Parade in Bristol. It was a while ago I heard this version of the story, so I can only paraphrase it from memory, but it tells of how Ganesha was born to his mother Parvati whilst Shiva was away from home. She gives him the task of guarding the threshold and not letting anyone past without her permission.

Shiva returns, and finds Ganesha guarding his home, not knowing it is his son. Ganesha in turn does not recognise his father Shiva and refuses to let him past. Shiva gets angry and cuts off Ganesha’s head. When Parvati discovers her dead son she demands Shiva put his head back on and restore him to life. Shiva, realising his mistake, reveals that he cannot do this, but that he will through his trident, which will cut off the head of whichever animal it hits, and their son will have this head from then on. So he throws it, and it severs the head of a monster with the head of an elephant. This is the head which he gives to his son Ganesha.

Could this tale link Ganesha to Bahamut or Behemoth? It certainly seems to, in a poetic and magical sense if nothing else. Intriguingly, Lolita has a small statue of Ganesha depicting him as thin with cowrie shell eyes, which would also link him to Eshu and Legba, who are also depicted with such eyes. Finding information about this form of Ganesh has proved difficult, but the story told by the seller of this statue is that it is one of the oldest forms of the god. Online sellers of these thin Ganesha statues, usually in brass, with brass eyes in the form of cowrie shells, tend to refer to them as ‘antique Ganesha’ statues. It is interesting the the ‘esh’ sound can be found in the names ‘Eshu’ and ‘Ganesha’.

It would seem to me that Baphomet is deeply connected to magical tradition throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, via connections to Bahumed, Bahamut, Behemoth, Set, Ganesha, Eshu and Legba. This also shows that magical tradition tends to ignore nationalist and religious boundaries and tends towards a global and universal nature, transcending cultural boundaries. This does not mean we cannot learn from each cultures interpretations on the theme. I for one suspect all cultures have something valuable to bring to the discussion, their own piece of the puzzle. So long as we don’t fall for authoritarian interpretations from any culture, we should be okay…