Out of curiosity, I did some reading about Baphomet, and it inspired me to draw a unicorn version of them!
I find it interesting to learn the real meaning behind pagan and occult symbols, since we’re surrounded by so much off-base and negative portrayals of them. What I discovered is that Baphomet is not a representation the devil, and symbolizes dichotomy and equilibrium, harmony between opposites.
The late Occultist Oswald Wirth was known mostly for his renowned work revolving around Tarotology. In 1989 he created, under the guidance of de Guaita, a cartomantic Tarot consisting only of the twenty-two Major Arcana. Known as the Arcanes du Tarot kabbalistique, it followed the designs of the Tarot de Marseille closely but introduced several alterations, incorporating extant occult symbolism into the cards. The Wirth/de Guaita deck is significant in the history of the occult tarot for being the first in a long line of occult, cartomantic, and initiatory decks. He had also created an entire list, consisting of the correlations between the twenty two cards of the Major Arcana and Astrology.
Constellations~Major Arcana
Orion~The Magician
Cassiopeia~High Priestess
Virgo~Empress
Hercules, Lyra and Boreal Crown~Emperor
Aries~Hierophant
The Eagle and Sagittarius~Lovers
Ursa Major~Chariot
Libra~Justice
Ox-Driver (More commonly known as ?Bootes?)~Hermit
Capricornus and Sirius~Wheel of Fortune
Leo and Virgo~ Strength
Perseus~Hanged Man
Dragon of the Pole (More commonly known as Draco)~Death
Walpurgisnacht, known in English as Walpurgis Night, is the German name for the night of the 30th of April. It is the eve of the feast that celebrates Saint Walpurga.
In Germanic folklore, Walpurgisnacht is also known as “Hexennacht” – which literally translates as “witches night” – and is the night that witches gather upon the highest peak in the Harz Mountains in central Germany.
Walpurgisnacht is celebrated throughout Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), in locally varying forms.
“There is a mountain very high and bare…whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis night.”- Jacob Grimm, 1883
Like Halloween, Walpurgis
has its roots in ancient pagan customs, superstitions and festivals. At
this time of year, the Vikings participated in a ritual that they hoped
would hasten the arrival of Spring weather and ensure fertility for
their crops and livestock. They would light huge bonfires in hopes of
scaring away evil spirits.
But the name “Walpurgis” comes from a very different source. In the 8th
Century, a woman named Valborg founded the Catholic convent of
Heidenheim in Wurtemburg, Germany. She herself later became a nun and
was known for speaking out against witchcraft and sorcery. She was
canonized a saint on May 1, 779. Since the celebration of her sainthood
and the old Viking festival occurred around the same time, over the
years the festivals and traditions intermingled until the hybrid
pagan-Catholic celebration became known as Valborgsmässoafton or Walpurgisnacht – Walpurgis Night.
May-Eve night shares many of the traditions of Halloween and is, in fact, directly opposite Halloween on the calendar. And according to the ancient legends, this night was the last chance for
witches and their nefarious cohorts to stir up trouble before Spring
reawakened the land.
Void Magick is a book which outlines a magickal system or a magickal personal reality that works and corresponds with the Void. We can also think of it as an upgrade of chaos magick. After so many years of persistent ideas rumbling in my brain I decided to write it all down, and slowly expand it to a complete and practical concept. I imagined and dreamed about a power source with all possibilities included and an undeniable power of creation and negation radiating from nothingness. Additional ideas were the two major magick skills for performing void magick, Disintegration and Illusion. There is so much more in this book, so at the end, I hope Void Magick will inspire you to find some yet undiscovered inner strengths and perform new and creative kinds of wonders.
“I had taken the name Baphomet as my motto in the O.T.O. For six years and more I had tried to discover the proper way to spell this name. I knew that it must have eight letters, and also that the numerical and literal correspondences must be such as to express the meaning of the name in such a ways as to confirm what scholarship had found out about it, and also to clear up those problems which archaeologists had so far failed to solve … One theory of the name is that it represents the words βαφὴ μήτεος, the baptism of wisdom; another, that it is a corruption of a title meaning “Father Mithras”. Needless to say, the suffix R supported the latter theory. I added up the word as spelt by the Wizard. It totalled 729. This number had never appeared in my Cabbalistic working and therefore meant nothing to me. It however justified itself as being the cube of nine. The word κηφας, the mystic title given by Christ to Peter as the cornerstone of the Church, has this same value. So far, the Wizard had shown great qualities! He had cleared up the etymological problem and shown why the Templars should have given the name Baphomet to their so-called idol. Baphomet was Father Mithras, the cubical stone which was the corner of the Temple.”
Thrill with lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me,
Come with Apollo in bridal dress
(Shepherdess and pythoness)
Come with Artemis, silken shod,
And wash thy white thigh, beautiful God,
In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount,
The dimpled dawn of the amber fount!
Dip the purple of passionate prayer
In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare,
The soul that startles in eyes of blue
To watch thy wantonness weeping through
The tangled grove, the gnarled bole
Of the living tree that is spirit and soul
And body and brain — come over the sea,
(Io Pan! Io Pan!)
Devil or god, to me, to me,
My man! my man!
Come with trumpets sounding shrill
Over the hill!
Come with drums low muttering
From the spring!
Come with flute and come with pipe!
Am I not ripe?
I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp —
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Thrust the sword through the galling fetter,
All-devourer, all-begetter;
Give me the sign of the Open Eye,
And the token erect of thorny thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The gods withdraw:
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan!
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, Maenad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!
The 13 Moon, 28-day calendar is a new standard of time for all people
everywhere who desire a genuinely new world. If the calendar and time
we follow is irregular, artificial and mechanized, so becomes our mind.
As is our mind, so our world becomes, as is our world today: Irregular,
artificial and mechanized. But if the calendar we follow is harmonic and
in tune with natural cycles, so also will our mind become, and so we
may return to a way of life more spiritual and in harmony with nature.
The 13 Moon calendar synchronizes solar and galactic cycles on July 26
correlating with the star Sirius. Each of the 13 moons has a power,
action, and quality which define an annual program to synchronize our
consciousness with the galactic cycles.
As a perfect measure of cosmic time, this calendar is actually a synchronometer,
an instrument for measuring synchronicity. Followed daily, it gives us a
new lens in which to perceive events. In the New Time, synchronicity is
the norm.
The 13 Moon 28-day synchronometer is a harmonic timespace
matrix. It takes the moon 28 days to orbit the Earth; it makes this
orbit 13 times each year. The standard of measure is the 28-day cycle,
called a moon, because it is the median between the 29.5-day synodic
cycle of the moon (new moon to new moon) and the 27.1-day sidereal cycle
of the moon. Hence, it is a measure of Earth’s solar orbit using the
28-day lunar standard. This creates a perfect orbital measure of 13
moons of 28 days, totaling 364 days, or 52 perfect weeks of 7 days each.
Because the 365th day is no day of the moon or week at all, it is known as the “day out of time” – a day to celebrate peace through culture and time is art!
“The Thirteen Moon calendar is an evolutionary tool to assist
humanity in the unprecedented act of uniting itself on one issue
central to its complete well-being: time. The harmonic convergence of
humanity on this one issue, combined with the inescapable order,
perfection and simplicity of following the 13 Moon calendar will lift
the species as a simultaneous whole into the galactic timing frequency
of 13:20.”
José Argüelles/Valum Votan, The Call of Pacal Votan
The coming new era on our planet has everything to do with a change
of timing frequency. The 13 Moon-28-day calendar is a simple tool that
helps us to raise our frequency and gives us a new lens to view both our
day-to-day and planetary events.
Because both the Gregorian and 13 Moon calendars operate with 52
seven-day weeks annually (364 days), the 13 Moon calendar provides a
perfect daily transition tool for hooking back up with the
higher-dimensional order! It is simple to follow day-to-day as it is
marked with the dates of the Gregorian calendar.
The 13 Moon calendar is comprised of elegantly simple cycles.
Namely: The 7-day week and 28-day moon. Unlike the Gregorian calendar,
the days of the moon (month) and the days of the week line up perfectly,
week-to-week and moon-to-moon. This makes the 13 Moon/28-day calendar a
perpetual calendar.
So, today we’re going to talk about a slightly more obscure tool: the witch’s ladder. There’s some debate as to whether or not this was a commonly used tool in older European traditions of witchcraft. In the late 1870’s a witch’s ladder, along with a collection of brooms, was found in the attic of a recently deceased woman in Somerset, sparking suspicions of witchcraft. Unfortunately, it’s not actually known whether or not this object was really used in witchcraft or how widespread the use may have been if it was. More on the history of these tools can be found here.
Now, what is a witch’s ladder? It’s a type of knot talisman made by inserting small objects into a length of cord, traditionally rooster feathers and sometimes small bones were used but you can use locks of hair, teeth, beads, sticks, leaves, seashells or pretty much anything that works for your practice.
Originally, it’s thought that they were used to curse but their uses in modern practices are endless. I’ll be making one to protect my house and create easier communication with the Other Realms.
How to Make a Witches Ladder
Ok, to start us off we need a few supplies. There are three main things that I’m using.
First is the cord, feel free to use whatever material you like. When I’m doing work like this I prefer to use regular old kitchen twine. It’s sturdy and not overly processed. You could use yarn, thread, rope, sinew or ribbon as well though.
The second thing that I’ll be using is a couple of small bones, I’m using six because I like working with multiples of three.
Finally, the feathers. These are brown mourning dove feathers; I’m using these as opposed to another type of feather because they’re good for communicating with Spirit and for fostering awareness.
I would like to mention here that while handy in the craft, collecting bones and feathers that you find can be illegal.Most birds are protected species and regardless of whether you found the feathers or ripped them off of the bird yourself, possessing them is illegal. Be sure to check the laws in your area. This problem can usually be solved by writing a letter to the appropriate wildlife officials asking for permission to pick up specific types of bird feathers for a collection. Once written permission is obtained it only has to be kept with the feathers to avoid any ramifications. Of course, if you’re not going to be waving about rare bird feathers in the town square this is probably unnecessary.
As I said, you can replace bones or feathers with whatever you like. Use Barbie arms if that’s what floats your boat. I usually use nine items in mine and the traditional number would be thirteen but feel free to adjust this to fit your needs.
Another optional material would be a metal ring, you can tie the ladder to this and use that to hang it from a hook on the ceiling or something if you like. I’ll just be using a thumbtack.
As always prep yourself and your workspace however you prefer. Cast a circle, take a ritual bath, light some incense, maybe put on some music. Consecrate your supplies and get to work.
The creation of a witch’s ladder is surprisingly simple and quick. Take your cord and cut three equal lengths. How long you make it is up to you, for example, I like each length to be from the fingertips of my left hand to my heart in length. Tie the ends together, if you are using a metal ring, tie it to the ring; otherwise just an overhand knot on the end does the trick.
Start braiding, for this one I used your typical three-strand braid but you could add and subtract cords and use rope braids, fishtail braids or five strand braids as well. As you braid begin adding in your objects. I don’t do anything special, I just keep braiding as usual while adding my feathers and stuff in between two strands. Here’s a close-up of my ladder partially finished.
I spread mine out semi-evenly along the length of the cord, if you’re a stickler about getting things even then make sure you remember that you’ll lose about a third of the cord length in the process of braiding.
As you add each item to the ladder spend a few moments to state your intention or meditate on the purpose of your spell. I kind of just spend the entire time I’m making the ladder talking to it and telling it what I would like of it. You could also use the traditional nine knot spell if incantations are your thing. I find them too constricting for my practice but for those of you who prefer more ritualized working here it is
“By knot of one, the spell is begun
By knot of two, it cometh true
By knot of three, so mote it be
By knot of four, the open door
By knot of five, it comes alive
By knot of six, the spell is fixed
By knot of seven, it has the power of heaven
By knot of eight, the open gate
By knot of nine, it is mine”
After all of your items are in place you need to finish your cord. You can just tie a knot in it and either trim the excess cord or let it hang there, or you can add something to the end as a sort of weight, bells are a common choice. Feel free to let it charge in the light of the moon or sun if you like.
Once it’s completely done take it and hang it somewhere, I like to have them on my porch but hanging it in your room or kitchen works as well. If the spell is more malicious I’d suggest hiding it away somewhere close to your target instead of hanging it.
Here’s my finished ladder, hanging out on my porch.
A few ideas for uses of these lovely tools:
Warding magic – Use to create a “Do Not Enter” sign for unfriendly energies. The ladder conveys the meaning that those who would harm are unwelcome.
Attraction magic – Use it to attract people, familiars, ideas, mindsets, jobs, circumstances, luck, etc. into your life
Binding the thirteen moons of the year – This is a method used to harness the power of the thirteen full moons of the year, allowing you to perform weather magic and nature magic more easily and opening the doorway to the Other Realms.
Traveling – Ladders can be used as a gate into the Other Realms. An actual “ladder” for your spirit to climb up into various planes
Natural magic – You can use items related to the branch of nature that you work with. For me it’s trees but perhaps you work with the ocean, mountains, forests, animals, insects, and so on.
Wish magic – You can use rolled up slips of paper or pressed leaves and make a ladder with them, writing your wish on each one. As the ladder is slowly destroyed by the elements, your wish comes true.
Divination – I’ll need to make a full post about this if anyone is interested, it’s a tad complicated
Worship – You could use a witches ladder as an offering to a deity, perhaps as a nine day devotional where you tie in an offering every day and ending with hanging it on the last day
Curses – and of course, witches ladders can be used to curse.
As usual, if anyone has any questions or would like me to make a follow up post on anything I’ve mentioned here, let me know!
Occult Aspects 