Simple Magick: Baphomet Explained

Baphomet is often a misunderstood, and even feared, figure.

He is the ‘Sabbatical Goat’ incorporated into mystical traditions. He contains binary elements representing the equilibrium of opposites. In other words, duality.

He stands for good and evil, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, male and female, light and dark, life and death. He has a half-human, half-animal body.

He reminds us that we all have a ‘shadow’, and that these “halves” make a “whole”. 

He has ‘Solve’ and ‘Coagula’ (Solve et Coagula) inscriptions on each arm; this means ‘dissolve and coagulate’ - separate and join - processes involved in Alchemy, Shadow Work, and life.

Alchemy is the art of transformation; the process of breaking something down into its most basic parts before transforming it, magickally, into something else. An example is the destruction of ego before the realisation of the true self.

We must undertake the pain of Shadow Work and break ourselves down (and then build up) to become the most authentic, creative, energetic, awake, and together versions of ourselves.

Baphomet appears as the Devil card in the Rider Waite Tarot. Many have been wary of Baphomet, for fear that he was something entirely ‘dark’, completely missing the point that he just represents the ‘shadow’ part of our human form.

Baphomet is the profound message that all things must be in balance. You cannot truly experience pleasure without having experienced (at least some) pain, there is no light without dark, and there is no life without death. There is no human without Shadow. The ‘darker’ parts of us are what make us truly human. With this reminder we can find space and energy for Shadow Work, and self-love and self-acceptance.

NEXT - Simple Magick: Birthday Rituals
NEXT - Simple Magick: 6 Simple Snow Spells
NEXT - Autumn Equinox Blessings!