The Baphomet Tarot: Part Three

Part 3: The Divine Baphomet

          Akron’s divine Baphomet is hinted at in the first section of the abridged Baphomet Tarot booklet, which contains quotes by Baphomet taken from communications received by the author, and where Baphomet is frequently referred to as “God.” The divine Baphomet is fully revealed in “The Revelation of Baphomet” presented on the Epilepsy/Akron CD, which begins:

Hark! I am Baphomet, god of the Templars, advocate of the damned and guide of the souls through the underworld.

In the ancient mystery cults the priests worshipped me as Abraxas, Xnobius or goat-buck
who unites aspects of the darkness and light
in one single godly image
but in truth I am in substance imprisoned, the world-creating spirit,
who moves in the realm of the shades.

For between my horns is a torch alight as symbol of the of the spirituality
which allows itself to be perceived as light, for I am the bringer of light
though the darkness belongs to my nature.[1]

          Many elements of this Revelation point to a Gnostic interpretation of Baphomet. Akron associates Baphomet with Abraxas, a word with many associations in Gnostic thought; in some schools Abraxas is identified as the supreme deity. The idea of a divine spark imprisoned in material beings is another important concept of Gnosticism, as is the idea that the knowledge and integration of this divine spark leads to personal enlightenment:

So I am the godly spirit, who has materialized himself in order to show you
how you can form ideas from energies and then, from these, substance.

And now you arise in me out of the force of totality as a spark of God,
projected into space and time.

For it is I who creates you through feeling you
because you are a part of that which is I, for I am everything which is.

Only when I have completely penetrated you, is all the longing of the flesh assuaged.

Then you will become like God and recognize good and evil.[2]

          It is significant that the last line quotes Genesis 3:5, as the Gnostics had a radically different perspective on what happened in the Garden of Eden. They believed that Yahweh was an evil demiurge who imprisoned Adam and Eve by keeping them in a state of ignorance. The first couple was liberated by the messiah in the form of a serpent, who encouraged them to eat from the tree of knowledge and free themselves from ignorance and slavery perpetuated by Yahweh. In this Revelation, Baphomet takes the place of the serpent as the messiah who leads humanity out of ignorance.

          Akron also portrays Baphomet as the divine source of gnosis. Gnosis, the Greek word for “knowledge,” is a Gnostic term that denotes esoteric and intuitive knowledge, knowledge that comes from that divine spark trapped within us rather than from external sources:

And so I bring to mankind the hidden knowledge
when I appear in their minds as a field of energy
and they sense my thoughts and believe they are their own:

For I have no physical form, but I am just a point of light
moving in their brains.[3]

          The end of the Revelation drives home the fact that like Lévi, Akron envisions Baphomet as a pantheistic deity:

For I am nothing because I am all!

For being everything I need not be anything else,
for I am now the all-encompassing, all-penetrating, all-illuminating “I myself!”[4]

          To summarize, Akron’s divine Baphomet is a pantheistic god whose relationship with humanity is inspired by Gnosticism. They are the divine spark within each individual, and they seek to lead humanity from ignorance to enlightenment. To contact and nurture this divine spark, one must delve into the shadow side of Baphomet and confront the darkness that obscures that spark.

[1] Epilepsy, Baphomet, (Lyrics by Akron. Recorded 1995. New York, NY: Kk/AGMüller. CD insert.), 10.

[2] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 10-12.

[3] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 10.

[4] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 12.