the NachtKabarett

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The image of the Baphomet is one that Manson has often evoked with his art. The traditional and most well known depiction, as displayed above, was drawn in the mid Nineteenth Century by the magician Eliphas Levi, who also illustrated the pentagram depiction of The Tetragrammaton at this same time. Very much similar to his Tetragrammaton, thematically the Baphomet, of Sabbatic Goat, or Goat Of Mendes, is representational of the same concept in magick and the Occult. Christianity completely misunderstood what the Baphomet represented, believed it to be the god which the pagans worshiped, those it sought to subjugate and convert, thus construing the image as the antithesis of Christianity and therefore the personification of its Satan, much similarly as was done with the Pentagram and why in today's popular conscience it's inherently defined as something "evil".

In actuality, as stated above, the Baphomet, like Levi's drawing of The Tetragrammaton, represents that of the holistic philosophy of paganism and the Occult as all elements of nature are embodied within. Earth, as it sits atop a mound, Air, as it's adorned with wings, Fire, as smoke arises from betwixt its horns, Water, as seen around the island mound it sits upon and Ether or Spirit. The other elements which are represented are man, through the phallus, woman, through the breasts and animal, through the scales, wings and goat's head and satyr legs.

Most significantly is the concept of duality represented by the upraised and lowered hand pointing towards the sun and the moon respectively. In magick and the Occult, one of the most predominant facets is the concept of duality, nature embodies both good and evil so it's the heart and intent of the magician whether good or evil manifests. The upraised and lowered hands reflect this, as the choice or path which the magician (or Kabbalist, Witch or Alchemist for that matter) can follow. This is where the often used terms "right" and "left hand path" derive from. Stemming from, among other things, medieval and Renaissance depictions of The Last Judgment, where Christ is in the center in the baphometic pose where those to his right are saved and those to his left are damned, the right are ascending (upward) and the left are falling downward into the depths of Hell, just as the hands of the baphomet designate. In the occult this imagery denotes two different spiritual pursuits, the right and left hand path. The right is the more pious and spiritual path, where all the magician's objectives are towards the light and greater good, and the left hand path where the magician is concerned with the more immediate and self gratifying means as opposed to theurgy or communicating with higher spirits.

It can be noted that Manson's arms on the inside cover of Antichrist Svperstar and on the Devil Card are actually inverted from the tradition depiction of the Baphomet. With his left hand raised, the left being symbolic of the darker and sordid path, can reflect something more insidious. Symbolic of the DISINTEGRATOR RISING, the heralding of the Antichrist Svperstar, as the last cycle of the album is thusly titled.