Keywords: lord rama cailleach bheur turkish fire goddess worship mother lares goddess artemis brigit celts goddess rhea witchcraft witchcraft wicca is magick shop dark witchcraft spellbook vodou
Keywords: lord rama cailleach bheur turkish fire goddess worship mother lares goddess artemis brigit celts goddess rhea witchcraft witchcraft wicca is magick shop dark witchcraft spellbook vodou
Baphomet & Opfer
From Opfer, Fenrir Vol. II, no 2
The word 'opfer' generally refers to the sacrifice that occurs - symbolic
or otherwise - during certain rituals. There are, generally, two types of
opfer: (1) associated with rites to open a nexion (or 'Star Gate'), between
Aeons - when such an opfer(s) is considered necessary in terms of the
'energy' required;(2) those associated with traditional beliefs regarding
the 'working of the cosmos'.
('Opfers' associated with death rituals form a third type.)
The second type, according to tradition, was chosen once every 17 years and
this sacrifice was regarded as necessary to retain 'the cosmic balance' -
in modern terms, keep a nexion open (and thus preserve the associated
higher civilization etc). The chosen one was made an honourary Priest (this
type of opfer was always male) and there was a joining between him and one
or more women, as Priestesses. This joining was a simple type of
'hierosgamos', and the offspring of the union(s) were given great honour.
At the ceremony itself, the head of the opfer was severed and displayed -
usually for a night and a day (although this period may have been longer in
the very distant past). The Rite was conducted outdoors in a 'sacred' place
- often a circle of stones or hill top.
The chosen one was able, because of the sacrifice, to partake of an acausal
existence - becoming thus an Immortal. Thus 'willing sacrifice' was
possible, although it is easy to imagine that in later times, the opfer was
not so willing.
Traditionally, this type goes back to Albion, and while originally the
ritual was probably a community affair, it became more secretive. What
survives to the present day (The Ceremony of Recalling with 'opfer' ending)
probably reflects the essence of this earlier tradition rather than the
detail (the words, chants etc). This essence may be apprehended in the role
of the Mistress of Earth - representative of Baphomet, the Dark Goddess. It
was to Baphomet that the sacrifice was made - hence a male opfer. Indeed,
the whole ceremony (of Recalling) can be seen as a celebration of the dark
goddess - the Earth Mistress/goddess in her darker/violent/sinister aspect.
The severed head was associated with the worship of Baphoment - the cult
deriving from Albion - hence the traditional representation of Baphomet.
The identification of Baphomet as the Bride of Lucifer/Satan probably dates
from around the 10th or 11th century, as does the use of the name
'Satan'/Satanas as the Earth-bound representative of the Dark Gods.
It is important to remember that in earlier times (eg. in Albion during the
Hyperborean aeon) there was no clear and/or moral distinction between the
'light' and the 'sinister': the two were seen as different aspects of the
same thing. Thus, what we know as the Mistress of Earth (the 'goddess') was
both what we now call Baphomet (the dark aspect) and Gaia (the Earth
Mother). Likewise with the male aspect - Satan and Lucifer - or
Dionysus/Kabeiroi and Apollo. We now understand all such symbols as
unconscious/conscious projections onto 'reality' (where 'reality' = the
region of causal/acausal mergence) - as 'gates'/nexions to the acausal
itself, with the seven spheres of the Tree of Wyrd being a 'map' of these
gates understandable by 'non-Adept' consciousness. Thus, the sphere of
Mercury re-presents Lucifer/Satan - Mercury, Mars and Sun being "male"
spheres, and moon, Venus, Jupiter the "female" ones (Saturn beyond such
opposites - Chaos itself).
The cult of Baphomet was the worship of the dark aspect of the "female"
energies - where in this context, worship means a striving toward
understanding/conscious integration. Traces of the worship of the 'light'
aspect survive in the Septenary tradition in the name "Aktlal Maka" and the
natural form of the Nine Angles rite. The darker aspect survives, in
essence, in the Ceremony of Recalling and the traditions associated with
the Mistress of Earth and Baphomet. As to the original name of the goddess
in both her aspects, there is a tradition which gives 'Darkat' (early form
of Lilith) as the name used before Baphomet became the common usage.
However, 'Azanigin' has also been suggested - as has 'Aktlal Maka' for the
'light'/Gaia aspect, although both these are merely 20th century
suggestions, not based on any oral tradition. Some aspects of the cult of
the (dark) goddess are said to have survived into Greek times in the form
of the 'mystery cults' (qv Kabeiroi - and also Eleusis for the 'light'
aspect), this being an 'indirect survival', the 'modern' Septenary
tradition being a direct one, from Albion.
The use of the name 'Baphomet' probably derives from the 10th or 11th
century although the traditional pictorial representation of Baphomet is
undoubtedly much older. If there was an oral tradition connected with the
origin of the name Baphomet, it has been lost.
Thus, there are no indications as to the 'original' names of the 'light'
and 'sinister' elements on the 'male' side - known to us as 'Lucifer' and
'Satan'. These latter names probably also derive from around the 10th or
11th century - although 'Karu Samsu' (or something very similar) has been
suggested for the 'Lucifer' aspect and 'Sapanur' as the 'sinister' aspect.
The rites associated with the first type of opfer - such as 'The Sinister
Calling' - cannot be either dated with certainty or seen to be derived from
an earlier tradition. In all probability, they derive from the 12th or 13th
century, although it is quite possible that earlier versions/forms existed.
Some
have even considered The Sinister Calling as a later version of the
Ceremony of Recalling. Again, if there was an oral tradition, it has been
lost - all that remains are the rituals themselves.
The 'Black Mass' itself (and indeed most of the ceremonial rituals in The
Black Book of Satan) probably originated around the same time as the
Sinister Calling. The original Mass was said in Latin, although by the
middle of the 20th century a translated version had found its way into the
Black Book - of necessity, although some Latin chants remained.
NOTES: The significance of the 17 year cycle is unclear. In the past few
decades, some theories have been advanced, but they are unconvincing.
Aktlal Maka is a chant sometimes used in the natural Nine Angles Rite by
the Priestess if the glade has a spring of water. It means 'the flowing
waters of Earth' and is chanted in homage to Gaia since natural springs are
regarded as her children.
The 'mysteries of the Kabeiroi' (sometimes spelt Cabiri) is one of the
esoteric traditions associated with the Hellenic Aeon. In its original
form, 'the mysteries' concerned certain deities often represented in the
form of griffins and connected with the sea as well as Demeter - the
'mother Earth' or Gaia. According to esoteric tradition, the mysteries
concerned the Dark Gods - in various 'shapechanging' forms - and related
how Demeter gave the first Initiates of this tradition a crystal (later
venerated at a shrine near Thebes where a sacred grove to Demeter existed)
as well as showing how an individual, through various Rites which involved
Gaia, women, sacred marriage and so on, could be transformed to a different
realm of consciousness. This transformation, as in other Greek Mystery
Cults, was achieved mainly through personal involvement in
ritual/ceremonial action often of a mythological kind.
Later, this tradition became divided - Eleusis representing the
'Apollonian' element, the Kabeiroi the 'Dionysian' or darker aspects, for
it is said that all Initiates of the Cabiri had to have committed a crime
greater than common ones.
The mysteries of the Kabeiroi were often celebrated in mountain shrines
(certain combinations of rock and underground water being regarded as
sacred - that is, capable by their magickal power of transforming the
consciousness of individuals (cf. various sacred sites of the Yezidi who
upheld a more garbled version of Dark Gods tradition) and to reach these
shrines was considered part of the process of Initiation.
Greeks called the Kabeiroi the 'great gods'.
- Order of Nine Angles -
http://www.nasz-dom.net/
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