Comments on: queering Baphomet http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/ tantra, history, gender, occulture & other queer assemblies Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:17:46 +0000 hourly 1 By: Simon http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-69 Simon Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:39:44 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-69 <i>"I find that full possession can be exhausting and emotionally draining, particularly if it’s been an intense event. I sometimes get very weepy afterwards..."</i> That brings to mind the traditional description of how werewolves in folklore felt on returning to their human form. "Melancholia canina" as they (apparently) called it in the 10th century. “I find that full possession can be exhausting and emotionally draining, particularly if it’s been an intense event. I sometimes get very weepy afterwards…”

That brings to mind the traditional description of how werewolves in folklore felt on returning to their human form. “Melancholia canina” as they (apparently) called it in the 10th century.

]]> By: Roy http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-66 Roy Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:57:30 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-66 <cite>"this is a continuation of some of my remarks in The Pseudonomicon regarding the Great Old Ones as not so much “entities” but events/event-horizons into which the individual slips."</cite> This sort of fits in with recent notebook entries of mine in which I try to explain that for all intents and purposes, "Earth" and "the Universe" are not places, they are activities. "Self" is more like a place... Thanks for a great article Phil. “this is a continuation of some of my remarks in The Pseudonomicon regarding the Great Old Ones as not so much “entities” but events/event-horizons into which the individual slips.”

This sort of fits in with recent notebook entries of mine in which I try to explain that for all intents and purposes, “Earth” and “the Universe” are not places, they are activities. “Self” is more like a place…

Thanks for a great article Phil.

]]> By: Jenny Peacock http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-49 Jenny Peacock Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:19:55 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-49 As someone else party to the queer Baphomet ritual Phil describes, and speaking in relation to possession, I would say this. Watching him prepare to be ridden - a small few of us sitting quietly, knitting together the fabric of the coming evening, talking gently but traveling towards something momentous, taught me something valuable about emotional commitment and possession that has stayed with me. Another friend and experienced practitioner was there, an unspoken guardian specifically for the one-to-be-possessed, and watching the trust between them, one holding the space, the other preparing to strip down psychologically and offer themselves wholly to be "eaten" by the ritual, well, that took me further along the path of one of the things I find most valuable in magic - profound connection. Possession is an intense altered state, but different people "do" it differently and, of course, do it differently in different contexts and cultures. Baphomet is today associated with an occultist strain of contemporary paganism, via a narrative chain from the Templars (supposedly) through Levi and Crowley. I have found that whilst Baphomet is represented as having both male and female sexual characteristics, often, within occultist circles, Baphomet is more strongly coded and understood as male than as female. That Baphomet can, I think, be an appropriation of the female-as-strange and the animal-as-strange in the production of fear-power - a kind of "Baphomet is badass, and morphologically weird, but I can handle it" machismo. So, for me, queering Baphomet means counter-balancing and over-turning that - a queering situated within historical formations of Baphomet. That ritual of 2004, spiralling out from a male possessee prepared to be ritually deeply vulnerable, worked as an over-turning for me, and charged the night with a punch which turned into a hell of a party. As someone else party to the queer Baphomet ritual Phil describes, and speaking in relation to possession, I would say this. Watching him prepare to be ridden – a small few of us sitting quietly, knitting together the fabric of the coming evening, talking gently but traveling towards something momentous, taught me something valuable about emotional commitment and possession that has stayed with me. Another friend and experienced practitioner was there, an unspoken guardian specifically for the one-to-be-possessed, and watching the trust between them, one holding the space, the other preparing to strip down psychologically and offer themselves wholly to be “eaten” by the ritual, well, that took me further along the path of one of the things I find most valuable in magic – profound connection.

Possession is an intense altered state, but different people “do” it differently and, of course, do it differently in different contexts and cultures. Baphomet is today associated with an occultist strain of contemporary paganism, via a narrative chain from the Templars (supposedly) through Levi and Crowley. I have found that whilst Baphomet is represented as having both male and female sexual characteristics, often, within occultist circles, Baphomet is more strongly coded and understood as male than as female. That Baphomet can, I think, be an appropriation of the female-as-strange and the animal-as-strange in the production of fear-power – a kind of “Baphomet is badass, and morphologically weird, but I can handle it” machismo. So, for me, queering Baphomet means counter-balancing and over-turning that – a queering situated within historical formations of Baphomet. That ritual of 2004, spiralling out from a male possessee prepared to be ritually deeply vulnerable, worked as an over-turning for me, and charged the night with a punch which turned into a hell of a party.

]]> By: Ven http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-45 Ven Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:48:06 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-45 i place Baphomet pic and meditate with him/her as my HGA. Then, something happens... Anyway, i'm sure He/she improves your charming ability and handling the force(Star Warz??) of nature. take care ;) Ven i place Baphomet pic and meditate with him/her as my HGA. Then, something happens…
Anyway, i’m sure He/she improves your charming ability and handling the force(Star Warz??) of nature.
take care ;)

Ven

]]> By: Phil Hine http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-39 Phil Hine Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:40:53 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-39 Health problems? Not really. I find that full possession can be exhausting and emotionally draining, particularly if it's been an intense event. I sometimes get very weepy afterwards, and want to have only close friends around me, but equally, I've known it to be very energising and life-affirming. I've occasionally come away from it with bruises and scrapes, or been so tired that I have to spend the next day or so in bed recovering, but I'd say that was part of the course. Health problems? Not really. I find that full possession can be exhausting and emotionally draining, particularly if it’s been an intense event. I sometimes get very weepy afterwards, and want to have only close friends around me, but equally, I’ve known it to be very energising and life-affirming. I’ve occasionally come away from it with bruises and scrapes, or been so tired that I have to spend the next day or so in bed recovering, but I’d say that was part of the course.

]]> By: Iavolusan http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-38 Iavolusan Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:21:09 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-38 Phil Hine Did you have any problems with your health after the possession-works with Baphomet? I also use possessions in the triangle for my magical work with Lam, Baphomet, Aiwaz, Sphinx etc. They are not like voodoo spirits, which are functional. Secret Chiefs are unfinished, they have many variative names, numbers, images, functions. Chris Wood Sphinx is a snapshot of Baphomet. Sphinx is Malkuth and Binah, Baphomet is the whole Tree. Phil Hine
Did you have any problems with your health after the possession-works with Baphomet?
I also use possessions in the triangle for my magical work with Lam, Baphomet, Aiwaz, Sphinx etc. They are not like voodoo spirits, which are functional. Secret Chiefs are unfinished, they have many variative names, numbers, images, functions.

Chris Wood
Sphinx is a snapshot of Baphomet. Sphinx is Malkuth and Binah, Baphomet is the whole Tree.

]]> By: Chris Wood http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-36 Chris Wood Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:07:24 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-36 Phil You sent my head a racing with that one - 'not all intentions are carried through to their conclusions; but any intention is already in itself a kind of action, a tribute paid to the Baphomet…” Steven Shaviro, Doom Patrols ...and so I pay tribute.... I was initiated young the Bucca spirit in traditional witchcraft evokes this (Bliss/HISS!) also - this was my first mouthfull of 'Baphomet' if you will My first rite involving fucking myself with the shealth of the sword i was using! Alowing oneself to be fucked - propper ridden - ragged! Is as the experience of possesion. To give yoursef over in Tust and Fear, pleaseure and pain a merging of opposites into one. Several possesions accross the years have left me realing for days at the infiniate that I had gorged on and yet NOWT also! Belly full yet aching and empty! In my early twentys I made the decision to carry Baphomet as a witch name much to my (then) very wiccan covens horror! (intresting to see the pagan layers peel back from them revealing Christianized programs buried deep in there phyces shaping there 'Craft" understanding and forggoings) But I digress........... The name was not as a label or a torch betwix my horns but the only way at that age i could attempt to explain my queerness magickally - to give rise to the spunk bubble popping candy inner cunt twitching seeping musk, dusk dawn,, hoof, horn...........now forever entwined enshrined flesh ribbioned by thorns, screaming ,whispering........... I was quickly expelled from my group as they ' no longer had what i needed' And there at the edge of the abyss i took a deep breath and dived in horns first! As for the Levi image - or 'sphinx of ocullt science' as its been called is truley but a snapshot- All our experiences of 'Baphomet' are but snap shots are they not? beCUMing! oh yes totally fucking MONSTEROUS and totally fucking BEAUTIFULL! Baphomet IS queer we ALL are deep down in that place where the flesh and body become canvas and clay and blood and teeth and hearts beat like drums thudering our souls desires so SWALLOW Let it Be...... Chris Phil You sent my head a racing with that one -
‘not all intentions are carried through to their conclusions; but any intention is already in itself a kind of action, a tribute paid to the Baphomet…” Steven Shaviro, Doom Patrols …and so I pay tribute….

I was initiated young the Bucca spirit in traditional witchcraft evokes this (Bliss/HISS!) also – this was my first mouthfull of ‘Baphomet’ if you will
My first rite involving fucking myself with the shealth of the sword i was using!
Alowing oneself to be fucked – propper ridden – ragged! Is as the experience of possesion. To give yoursef over in Tust and Fear, pleaseure and pain a merging of opposites into one.
Several possesions accross the years have left me realing for days at the infiniate that I had gorged on and yet NOWT also! Belly full yet aching and empty!

In my early twentys I made the decision to carry Baphomet as a witch name much to my (then) very wiccan covens horror! (intresting to see the pagan layers peel back from them revealing Christianized programs buried deep in there phyces shaping there ‘Craft” understanding and forggoings) But I digress………..

The name was not as a label or a torch betwix my horns but the only way at that age i could attempt to explain my queerness magickally – to give rise to the spunk bubble popping candy inner cunt twitching seeping musk, dusk dawn,, hoof, horn………..now forever entwined enshrined flesh ribbioned by thorns, screaming ,whispering………..

I was quickly expelled from my group as they ‘ no longer had what i needed’

And there at the edge of the abyss i took a deep breath and dived in horns first!

As for the Levi image – or ‘sphinx of ocullt science’ as its been called is truley but a snapshot-
All our experiences of ‘Baphomet’ are but snap shots are they not?

beCUMing!

oh yes totally fucking MONSTEROUS
and totally fucking BEAUTIFULL!

Baphomet IS queer we ALL are deep down in that place where the flesh and body become canvas and clay and blood and teeth and hearts beat like drums thudering our souls desires

so SWALLOW

Let it Be……
Chris

]]> By: Phil Hine http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-35 Phil Hine Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:32:55 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-35 Steve I'm using <i>becoming</i> here in a primarily Deleuzian sense in order to highlight the idea of an amorphous alliance which changes all participants within it. For example, becoming-animal (one of Deleuze & Guattari's examples) is not an imitation; it is, they aver, not a matter of playing at being an animal, imitating animal or projecting human signifiers onto an animal. It is not a relationship where animal is an incomplete subject dominated by the human perspective. <i>Becoming</i> as a process allows human-animal to enter into a proximity which dissolves both identities and the boundaries set up - both are changed by this proximity and what emerges is novelty and creations that are byproducts of the event itself, rather than the property of say, the human element. This concept probably requires further elaboration by someone more acclimatised to Deleuze & Guattari than I, but it's a concept I'll be returning to in due course as I believe it could be useful in rethinking experiences such as possession, for example. Steve
I’m using becoming here in a primarily Deleuzian sense in order to highlight the idea of an amorphous alliance which changes all participants within it. For example, becoming-animal (one of Deleuze & Guattari’s examples) is not an imitation; it is, they aver, not a matter of playing at being an animal, imitating animal or projecting human signifiers onto an animal. It is not a relationship where animal is an incomplete subject dominated by the human perspective. Becoming as a process allows human-animal to enter into a proximity which dissolves both identities and the boundaries set up – both are changed by this proximity and what emerges is novelty and creations that are byproducts of the event itself, rather than the property of say, the human element.

This concept probably requires further elaboration by someone more acclimatised to Deleuze & Guattari than I, but it’s a concept I’ll be returning to in due course as I believe it could be useful in rethinking experiences such as possession, for example.

]]> By: Steve Davies http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-34 Steve Davies Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:20:47 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-34 I like that alot- the idea of Baphomet as a potentiality, an event horizon- interesting that rites like the Chaos vortex and Nema's "cosmic vision,vortex ritual" might represent that sense of becoming. Reminded me of the systemic psychotherapist Barry Mason who contrasts "unsafe cetainty" and "unsafe uncertainty" with "safe uncertainty"- in the latter the not knowing or the yet to be born is held via relationship and flow rather than dogma and/or outdated scripts. I like that alot- the idea of Baphomet as a potentiality, an event horizon- interesting that rites like the Chaos vortex and Nema’s “cosmic vision,vortex ritual” might represent that sense of becoming. Reminded me of the systemic psychotherapist Barry Mason who contrasts “unsafe cetainty” and “unsafe uncertainty” with “safe uncertainty”- in the latter the not knowing or the yet to be born is held via relationship and flow rather than dogma and/or outdated scripts.

]]> By: Phil Hine http://enfolding.org/queering-baphomet/#comment-33 Phil Hine Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:48:44 +0000 http://enfolding.org/?p=961#comment-33 Steve <i>gay/straight, top/bottom, magician/mystic...</i> My aim was rather, to get right away from this kind of binary regime of established subject-positions, with its implied hierarchies and oppositions, and instead, point towards something which is inherently metamorphic and unfixable. Baphomet as a zoomorphic multiplicity of <i>intensities</i> and yes, <i>flows</i> - as opposed to how "hir" has often been represented, primarily in gendered terms, and subjected to anthropomorphic capture and singularised as a being. Hence my reinterpretation of Baphomet as <i>monstrous</i> - in order to suggest qualities of ambivalence (fascination & abberance) - Levi's Baphomet is reminiscient of the freakshow monster or Frankenstein's creation - unnatural and excessive hybridity. In a way, this is a continuation of some of my remarks in <i>The Pseudonomicon</i> regarding the Great Old Ones as not so much "entities" but events/event-horizons into which the individual <i>slips</i> - a form of delirium/seduction of which Baphomet-as-image (freeze-frame) is but a glimpse, a foreshadowing. Steve
gay/straight, top/bottom, magician/mystic…

My aim was rather, to get right away from this kind of binary regime of established subject-positions, with its implied hierarchies and oppositions, and instead, point towards something which is inherently metamorphic and unfixable. Baphomet as a zoomorphic multiplicity of intensities and yes, flows – as opposed to how “hir” has often been represented, primarily in gendered terms, and subjected to anthropomorphic capture and singularised as a being. Hence my reinterpretation of Baphomet as monstrous – in order to suggest qualities of ambivalence (fascination & abberance) – Levi’s Baphomet is reminiscient of the freakshow monster or Frankenstein’s creation – unnatural and excessive hybridity. In a way, this is a continuation of some of my remarks in The Pseudonomicon regarding the Great Old Ones as not so much “entities” but events/event-horizons into which the individual slips – a form of delirium/seduction of which Baphomet-as-image (freeze-frame) is but a glimpse, a foreshadowing.

]]>