Who invented this "Baphomet" and when?

Baphomet is not found within the bible, it's not a part of Coptic Christianity; Judiasm, Catholicism, nor Islam.

Nor is it a part of the pre-Nicean Council.

So where did it come from? Sounds like it was invented by some 1850s fatalist whacko.

It first became known in the public about 1307. During the judicial proceedings against the Knights Templar.

assertions were made that the knights engaged in pagan idolatry. Statements had been obtained from former knights, stating that the order secretly worshipped idols, one of which was named as Baphomet. These confessions were obtained under duress and were later recanted; therefore their validity is questionable

Could very well just be part of the Trumped up charges that were used to destroy the Knights Templar.

link

Not bad, it doesn't provide evidence for where the term came from but it provides examples of the time it originated ... the slandering of Islam.

So ... I guess anyone who thinks worshipping Baphomet is "evil" is a fool who was duped by a bunch of superstitious politically oriented Preists during the Crusades...who thought God caused lightning and rain at His will...and believed the Earth to be the center of the Universe.

Amazing how these people consider themselves "enlightened" against a "Secret Society".

You were pretty much dead on with the date for the incarnation of Baphomet most would reconize the goat headed demon. That was the product of a 19th-century man.

I personally think pretty much all the charges used against the Knights Templar were fabricated because people were jealous of the power that group had come to have and viewed it as a threat too their own power. They had lots of followers loads of wealth and even alot of the Kings of Europe were in debt to them.

The Church and Royal families were so corrupt back them.

What beliefs are not "invented?" Kind of arrogant to assume anything is pagan because it is not the popular beliefs in your part of the backwoods. It is just rich men playing chess, dressing up their vanity with their needs to be remembered.

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
Baphomet is not found within the bible...

Sure it is! The scapegoat(Azazel).

He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. --Leviticus 16:8

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. --Leviticus 16:10

The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. --Leviticus 16:26

Wow Wizesheep...you mean in English "Azazel" is pronounced and also spelt like "Baphomet"???????

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
Wow Wizesheep...you mean in English "Azazel" is pronounced and also spelt like "Baphomet"???????

Azazel of course has no relation to Baphomet. "Baphomet" first made an appearance in the trumped-up charges against the Templars. "Baphomet" is a corruption of "Mahomet", which is the French way of spelling the name of the Prophet Muhammed (the Templars and their accusers were French).

It was Eliphas Levi that gave us the modern artistic rendition of Baphomet (the accusers of the Templars did not claim that Baphomet looked like Levi's drawing).

Levi's drawing shows a figure with the head of an ass and body of human, obviously being inspired by the Greek god Pan, who was part man, part goat. Levi's Baphomet, however, did not represent the Islamic Muhammed, but the Greek Sofia, and is an allegorical symbol of initiation.

The original "baphomet" in the Templar charges was supposed to be an idol of a human head, or a mummified head that the templars worshipped.

Keltic religion, as related by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, used the skull of sacrificial victims in druidic ceremonies for prophecy. This fits in with archaeological finds in France, Spain, and the UK.

On the other hand, The patron Saint of the Knights Templar was St. John the Baptist, whom scripture says was beheaded Herod Antipas (not the Great).

Had the Templars found a relic of St. John that they reverred as protecting their order? Certainly, reverencing "unapproved" relics would be considereed idolatry, particularly by the french king and the pope, both of whom were out for blood.

.

I've sometimes heard that the baphomet head was supposed to be that of john the baptist, somehow preserved. However, there are other disembodied heads floating around the middle east that might make better subjects. I beleive that there was a son of one of the islamic imam's that was beheaded, and that the head was infact preserved and held. I recall reading that some group or another tried to get the head, and that the holy man who was holding it cut off the head of one of his children as a substitute, and thus kept the head in secret.

And I recall, more vaguely, that this head episode was in the context of shia islam, or perhaps sufism, which is interesting, because the islamizing of the templar, if it occured, is thought to have occured through the mystical shia orders or the sufi order.

Anyway, thats my wild-assed speculation.

Originally posted by Masonic Light

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
Wow Wizesheep...you mean in English "Azazel" is pronounced and also spelt like "Baphomet"???????

Azazel of course has no relation to Baphomet.

Ahh, so the idea to stick a goat head on it just fell out of thin air?

[EDIT]
Added 2 cents.

It all goes back to the 'same god with many names' trick that lucifer(satan,baal,however you refer to him) is playing. The more branches a tree has, the harder it is to get to the trunk. The elite play this game, just look at all the disinformation flying around (from aliens to lizards etc).
[/EDIT]

[edit on 27-2-2006 by WiseSheep]

Originally posted by Nygdan
I've sometimes heard that the baphomet head was supposed to be that of john the baptist, somehow preserved. However, there are other disembodied heads floating around the middle east that might make better subjects. I beleive that there was a son of one of the islamic imam's that was beheaded, and that the head was infact preserved and held. I recall reading that some group or another tried to get the head, and that the holy man who was holding it cut off the head of one of his children as a substitute, and thus kept the head in secret.

And I recall, more vaguely, that this head episode was in the context of shia islam, or perhaps sufism, which is interesting, because the islamizing of the templar, if it occured, is thought to have occured through the mystical shia orders or the sufi order.

Anyway, thats my wild-assed speculation.

That all sounds incredibly familiar to me, too. But I cannot for the life of me think of any sources, and it's time for work.

I finally got off my lazy butt and looked it up. Its Al-Hussain, one of the sons of the Imam Ali, Ali is the one held in very high regard by the shia.

Google Cached Retelling

No mention of the switching of the head though. Does mention that it was in Syria for a time, which might fit in with the Templars.


Imam Ali


This page also talks about the specifics of the islamism involved. Apparently Sevener Islam is predominant here, that is, Ismaili islam. Ismaili is also connected, sometimes, to the Assasin Cult, co-temporaneous with the Templars.

[edit on 27-2-2006 by Nygdan]

Originally posted by Nygdan



Imam Ali


This page also talks about the specifics of the islamism involved. Apparently Sevener Islam is predominant here, that is, Ismaili islam. Ismaili is also connected, sometimes, to the Assasin Cult, co-temporaneous with the Templars.

OMG I cannot believe you just posted a picture of one of the prophets

I guess it was OK tho, if it was drawn by a believer, which yours was. . . .

Ismaili is definitely connected in the minds of many in the M.E. with the hashishim; Ismailis today do not talk about the tenets of their faith in public, and no one is allowed to convert INTO Ismailism---pretty bizarre for a Koranic sect, if what I've been told is true.

Here's an article by a former Ismaili (now Muslim)

Originally posted by WiseSheep

Ahh, so the idea to stick a goat head on it just fell out of thin air?

Note for those paying attention: Baphomet's head is inspired by Pan, not the Azazel of Hebrew mythology.

[edit on 27-2-2006 by Masonic Light]

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

OMG I cannot believe you just posted a picture of one of the prophets

I know I am such a slanderer of islam! And an Idolator!!

I guess it was OK tho, if it was drawn by a believer, which yours was. . . .

Or was it......

Ismaili is definitely connected in the minds of many in the M.E. with the hashishim; Ismailis today do not talk about the tenets of their faith in public, and no one is allowed to convert INTO Ismailism---pretty bizarre for a Koranic sect, if what I've been told is true.

There are actually a number of really interesting religions/sects in the middle east that are somewhat islamic, like the druze and yezidis; they are sometimes called 'crypto-pagans'.
With other groups, like the allawis, the issue of crypto-paganism is much less clear. Perhaps the ismaili represent something similar to this effect. This might be especially true is people who were ismaili are 'converting' to 'islam', so thats an interesting article.

[edit on 27-2-2006 by Nygdan]

This link seems relevant to your original inquiry.

www.templarhistory.com...

Here is another crytpo-pagan manifestation of minority religion within Islamic territory:

Mandaeanism

They seem to be followers of John the Baptist who never became Christian or Muslim.

Strangely, it fits the criteria of the other groups in the wikipedia article, and even has it's own wikipedia article, yet is oddly absent from the cryptopagan article. Is there any way to tell wikipedia about that???

Baphomet is just a name!


it is a astral being of a bit scary appearance but immense goodness and raw power..i felt it ..try to find and feel him for yourself if you can!.

this happened to me a while ago in my room ...it was in the middle of the day, i was wide awake and sober, I began to hover over the physical body feeling more alive than ever before(a absolutely wonderful feeling; many times more intense and vibrant than real life or any OBE I ever had ), I noticed then that my hovering self had limbs which were covered with hair like a animal,…I began to move out of my animal self, then turned around and saw that I had a capricorn`s head and horns….. I was a shocked because I thought it was the devil!….. only years later did I find out that I / it(?) was BAPHOMET**.
In retrospect it very much seems that Baphomet wanted to let me know that he IS here and made sure i would be aware of him before the earnest of everyday life and work would completely dominate my perception of reality. The experience was surely intended to be absolutely unforgettable as well.
(**BAPHOMET is a benevolent entity, a astral guide/protector. (i strongly believe it). nowadays Baphomet is unfortunately mistaken for the devil because the Templar`s persecutors needed to declare the worshiped Baphomet as evil… ..but bible readers should remember that evil came to eve as “serpent” (reptile). )

-i am bloody sure there are others who had contact with this magnificent being...and they`re most likely not satanist or fundamental christians or occultists of some kind...they`re probably simplicity and truth loving average people whose minds aren`t stained with confusing magical theories or misleading dogmas.

remember this: the church always feared loss of power/influence..(example: church marriage was a desperate move by the church to keep it`s status in this world.ceremonies were adopted to keep the crowd interested..it`s a farce)
now,
-templars worshiped baphomet because he promoted spiritual growth..
-enemies of spiritual growth (out of fear of losing influence) had to destroy everything about baphomet (templars) as well as baphomets reputation...
....
nowadays we have the pharmaceutical industry....afraid of losing influence and power/money.....what do they do?.....pretty much the same! just in a different form...but they are pretty ruthless as well and don`t hesitate to destroy peoples`life or reputation.
....
ask yourself this...who is really the bad one?
the scapegoat?

--?--

...

Why is that we should automatically assume that the baphomet creature was fabricated for the sole purpose of helping to condemn the Knight's Templar and tarnish their good name? Couldn't it be just as likely that there may have actually been some truth to the claim? Couldn't the baphomet just as easily be some very ancient entity that can only be taught to those who were "initiated" into some sort of secret society? Why do we have to just assume that it is a fabricated story? I'll tell you one thing. If you believe everything that is in a history book just because it's written in a book, that doesn't mean that it's accurate. Hardly anything is accurate nowadays. And with the way that we have learned that the elite have tried to feed us disinfo from day one, why would we want to believe ANYTHING written as historical fact? I'm just saying. It's obvious that someone is always tampering with the truth. I'm not saying that it IS true and that the baphomet does exist (I hardly want to see evidence for that!) but I'm just saying, don't just assume that everything "they" say is fabricated, is actually so. I've come to believe that the baphomet does have some sort of significant importance to them, be it real or not.