Satanist Aleister Crowley on Baphomet

Aleister Crowley sometimes equated Baphomet with Harpocrates (also known as Horus). Crowley claims in ‘The Book of Thoth’ that: “There’s no doubt that this mysterious figure [Baphomet] is a magical image of this same idea [embodied in figures like the Fool and Harpocrates]”. The identification of Baphomet with Harpocrates can also be found explicitly in Crowley’s writing of the ‘Little Essay on Silence’ (Harpocrates is God of Silence): “For Silence is the Equilibrium of Perfection; so that Harpocrates is the omniform, the universal Key to every Mystery soever. The Sphinx is the “Puzzel or Pucelle”, the Feminine Idea to which there’s only one complement… This is the signification of the Gesture of the God; it’s shown more clearly in his adult form as the Fool of the Tarot and as Bacchus Diphues, and without equivocation when He appears as Baphomet”. A possible link between Osiris — or Horus — and Baphomet can be traced through the so-called “Two-Finger” amulets, which closely echo Baphomet’s hand gesture. These amulets, symbolizing Osiris’ index and middle fingers, were traditionally placed over the embalming incision on the body of the deceased in ancient Egypt (some examples of these “Two-Finger” amulets are shown above).