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Dear Delriece... forgive my ignorance for I am a neophyte. My question is about Baphomet. Now I have always seen him as the poster-goat of satanists, yet, as I have continued my studies into Wicca I find I am coming across his image. Now, is he an image of "Satan", or an image of the Horned-God? Is he both? Thanks so much for your time. Hedgefox in Vancouver BC Canada
Dear Hedgefox, "Baphomet" is actually a corruption of the name "Mahomet", and is an idol that the Knights Templars were accused of worshipping back in the Fourteenth Century. Therefore, he was an image of a "Satan" type figure. Wiccans do not worship Satan or Baphomet. The image you see that is similar is called the Horned God he is actually depicted with antlers. His image is based on the Celtic God Cernnunos who was a hunter and a father of the forest creatures. I am attaching a picture of an ancient depiction of Cernnunos. Some believe that Cernnunos may have been the mythological basis for Christian pictures of Satan as they tried to demonify the ancient Gods at the time that they converted many Pagans in Europe. This visual propaganda is the only connection with the Horned God to Baphomet. They are not the same entity at all, as neither Baphomet nor Satan is believed to be Gods at all in the Wiccan religion.
Light!
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