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“In Nomine Babalon” #witch #traditionalwitchcraft #pagan #paganism #goddess #babalon #folkwitch #rosary #prayerbeads #cunningwoman #sorcery #devotion #deity #deitywork #spiritwork https://www.instagram.com/p/Cio1IXtO4cp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
I feel the need to state that I am not a Thelemite and that my relationship and understanding of Babalon is informed mostly via direct contact with Her.
It was almost 10 years ago that I first felt Her presence. She would not give me a name but simply images, symbols, and emotions that represented her. I saw images of sex, blood, fire, blades, and serpents. Feelings of lust, love, passion, rage, sovereignty and feminine power.
Truth be told I wasn’t in the place to have a spirit like that be active in my life so it would be a few years before I set up a shrine to Her.
Her shrine was simple. An inexpensive goddess statue with a red costume rosary wrapped around it, a red candle, and a letter opener with a crown motif. I would burn incense and meditate on Her, sometimes seeking guidance, sometimes just simply being with her. I began referring to Her as “The Red Queen” while still not having a proper name. I was becoming comfortable with her ambiguity and in turn she was helping me become comfortable with myself.
It was around this time that I began working with a teacher who was helping me with visionary work and spirit flight. It was during one of our sessions that I made a breakthrough and came face-to-face with my Red Queen. She sat on a scarlet cushion in a rooms who’s lamps were draped with red scarves. Her hair was a deep brown almost black, her skin was an inhuman pale white. Her arm was casual laying across one upraised knee. She has gold bangles and armlets, gold anklets and rings, a gold hoop around her neck and in her ears, but ironically no crown. Her clothes were reminiscent of an Indian saree the colour of blood.
I sat across from her and bowed, placing my head on the cushioned floor. When I raised my head, she locked eyes with me.
“I am have many names, I am many. I am Ishtar, I am Innana, I am Lilith, I am the Queen of Heaven and Hell. But you, you will know me as Babalon.”
Thats when I returned to my body. I was flooded with joy and exhilaration, She had told me Her name, I had a better focus.
I knew that Babalon was a goddess in Thelema, but I knew next to nothing about Her other than that. To this day I still don’t really know much about her role in Thelema but I've been considering studying it. I’ve continued to go straight to Her when it comes to offerings, prayers, etc. Reading how others interact with her from time to time. Her shrine has grown but not by much, She’s comfortable with it being simple but beautiful. I have been searching for a new statue for Her though, something that I feel fits her better.
Babalon, The Red Queen, has been my strongest spiritual ally during my transition. She has held my hand and guided my feet as I find my femininity, rediscover my sexuality, and navigate the world as a woman. I’ve taken her epithet “Mother of Abominations” as a sort of trans mother goddess. Trans people are Her children and Her prophets. We are the drops of blood from Her Grail, we are the swords in Her hands. I doubt this is what Crowley had in mind when conceptualizing the goddess but honestly, I don’t care.
I’ve come to understand Babalon in three sort of facets or faces. The Mother (of Abominations), The Sacred Whore, and The Warrior-Queen. I don’t know if any other people would agree with me or if there is literature to back it up but this is my personal gnosis.
The Mother I already discussed above. The Sacred Whore and Warrior-Queen are both reminiscent of Ishtar/Inanna, but the Sacred Whore for me personally aligns with her Lilith aspect. Babalon-Lilith is feminine sexuality embodied, but even more she is the taboo side of femme sex, she is trans and kink, she is queer, she is unbridled and selfish, she is the side of our sexuality that is without limit and free. She’s taught me to not be ashamed of what I like and what I want when it comes to sexual satisfaction. My sexuality is mine and no one else's.
The Warrior-Queen is the aspect I am the least in touch with. I’m a pacifist person and seek non-violence in my regular life as much as I can. I have a rather hot temper that I’ve had to learn to keep under control. My most powerful weapon is my tongue and I’d rather talk my way out of a situation than ever resort to violence. Maybe my disconnect with the Warrior-Queen is that I need to recontextualize what it means for me, personally, to be a warrior. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
I’ll leave this post with an A.I. generated art piece I made as a devotional act using the phone app “Dream”
When it comes to demonolatry, satanism, and luciferianism, most people tend to gravitate towards Lilith, which isn't great, considering that she is from Judaism, which is a closed religion.
So you're probably thinking "well shit Phi, who am I supposed to venerate as a feminine figure" and to that the answer is... read anyone BUT Lilith. Yeah, that doesn't sound to helpful does it?? Well, its actually more helpful than you think. There are MANY figures in the left hand path that can be venerated as your divine feminine.
Want an absolute Bad Bitch who doesn't take any shit? Look into Vepar, Astaroth, and Babalon to name a few!
Want someone who directly went against God? Eve! Shes the one who first ate the fruit of knowledge and got Adam to follow suit.
Want someone who could be motherly and deals with love? Gremory and Unsere are both wonderful choices!
Want someone who you could consider the consort of Lucifer? Diana in Stregoneria is considered to be Lucifer's consort. They have a daughter named Aradia who is considered the first witch!
"But I wanna worship someone that can be considered a succubus and help with sexuality!" Babalon. You're gonna wanna want Babalon.. like. She literally rides upon a 7 headed beast with a chalice of wine. Classy as all hell. People do tend to conflate her with Lilith but in my experiences Babalon is very distinctly different. If shes syncretized with any demon, it would likely be Astaroth. You could also work with Unsere and Gremory!
"Yeah but none of them call to me" and thats fine! If you keep searching through various hierarchies im sure you'll find someone that vibes with you! Plus, demons aren't bound by gender so for example, let's say you feel drawn to Sitri, a demon thats traditionally depicted as masculine, if she feels feminine to you, nothing is stopping you from venerating her in that way!
"But Lilith genuinely calls to me and I feel drawn to her" I get it..I really do. But if you wanna truly get the most out of working with her, look into Judaism. See if it resonates with you. If it truly does, look into converting. But don't convert solely so you have a free pass to work with Lilith.
"But I don't wanna be part of an Abrahamic religion!!! God sucks!!" Too bad buddy. Plus, the way God is portrayed in Judaism is VERY different than how they're portrayed in Christianity. If you don't wanna put in the effort to actually genuinely understand Lilith's source, why work with her?
"But I still hate Abrahamic religions!" Then check yourself. Do you really hate all abrahamic religions or just Christianity? Obviously its ok to hold resentment towards stuff that traumatized you, but to conflate all abrahamic religions together and act like they're the same is both antisemetic and Islamophobic. If your trauma is causing you to be a dick about stuff that didn't even tie into your trauma, do some soul searching and get help. Period.
Its easy to have a divine feminine figure in your LHP practice without appropriating closed cultures. Just use common sense.
One of the most popular beings venerated in modern Luciferianism (as well as Satanism), besides Lucifer himself, is Lilith. That is unfortunate, as she is a being exclusive to a closed religion. People will say she is an ancient goddess and not originally Jewish - that is not true. Jewish Lilith is connected with certain other beings and classes of beings, but is not the same, and the whole story with her being the first wife of Adam and becoming wife of Samael is Jewish. As I’m not Jewish myself, I will link @will-o-the-witch ’s blog. She wrote extensively on Lilith appropriation and misconceptions surrounding her. Quite prominent Eisheth Zenunim, Agrat and Naamah are also exclusive to Judaism.
However, there are many fascinating feminine figures a Luciferian can research and potentially work with that are open. They come from various places, but all have some established connections with Lucifer and the infernal.
First of all, Eve is often contrasted with Lilith and depicted as some docile ancient tradwife archetype. And this makes totally no sense, because Eve ate the fruit, and shared it with Adam. She was the one who dared to reach for knowledge and give it to humanity, and was misogynistically reviled for it in Christianity for centuries. The story of Eden is so important in modern Luciferianism, and yet, Eve remains tragically underappreciated. People will say they want to reclaim a reviled feminine figure and that’s why they appropriate Lilith, and at the same time completely remove Eve’s agency from her story.
Speaking of Lucifer, he is not strictly male - they are a fallen angel, which makes them nonbinary. They are a very androgynous, fluid, shapeshifting being. And while masculine depictions are more prominent, there’s lots of lore with her assuming a feminine form as well. If you want to explore Luciferian feminine, I think feminine aspects of Lucifer themself are really worth looking at.
Some other demons associated with femininity are: Astaroth (connected to ancient goddess Astarte), Vepar (depicted as a mermaid) and Gremory (depicted as a beautiful woman). That said, none of them should be approached with the assumption of being women or always presenting feminine in any culture’s terms. They’re not women, they’re demons, and they are not bound to any human concepts of gender. They will do whatever they want. The same applies generally to any being of angelic origins. (Please note that while grimoires include many open spirits, they also include a lot of appropriation so check origins of things before diving into stuff. This is not just about entities - you can very much approach a non-exclusive being with techniques that are bastardized elements of Judaism.)
The goddess Diana in Aradia is depicted as Lucifer’s partner, and Aradia is their daughter who came to Earth to teach oppressed people witchcraft. While the book’s authenticity is still disputed academically, it influenced modern witchcraft greatly.* It can be particularly interesting for Luciferian witches, as well as anyone whose Luciferianism is connected to social justice.
Diana’s role in Aradia is influenced by her role as a Witch Goddess and a Fairy Queen in post-christianisation folklore. Both witches and fairies often have infernal associations in that folklore. The Fairy Queen, or various specific Fairy Queens, were sometimes connected with the Lucifer as the Folk Devil, who could be depicted as their partner and even a Fairy King himself. Interested in folkloric Luciferianism? Check out the Fairy Queen.
While I’m not aware of anything connecting her specifically with Lucifer that wouldn’t be modern, Hekate in post-antique folklore shares not only Diana’s role as a Witch Goddess, but also her connection to the fairies and infernal associations - the depiction of those two in that context is more often than not very similar. William Warner in Albion’s England describes her as Queen of Hell (not simply Greek Hades, but Hell, and possibly the fairy realms as well).
And finally, even though she comes from Thelema, not Luciferianism or Satanism, Babalon, the Whore of Babylon goddess, is quite popular among many LHP practicioners, including Luciferians and Satanism. If you’re interested in Lilith because you associate her with untamed sexuality, you can check out Babalon.
As I wanted to include many beings in that post, I don’t have experience with every single one of them, but if you have some questions about Diana or Aradia, and especially about Hekate (with whom I worked the longest) you can send asks, they are very prominent in my practice and I might be able to help.
*cw for a few myths involving sexual assault, and one passage that is antisemitic and anti-Romani. While Aradia is a historically important text for modern witchcraft, it should be questioned and should never be treated as a literal gospel.
To my daughter: For your kabbalah studies.
The "lake of fire"/water symbol colored red instead of blue, is purification, cleansing, refining, to match the Supernals. Not the damnation for eternity nonsense of the ignorantly interpreted book of Revelations. All Life, humanity & world systems eventually pass through this as their cycles close out, withdrawing into their Source. Initiation is the inspiration to experience all that now, in the flesh, as if this could be comprehended as real, which, paradoxically, it can't, nevertheless, it is... on the obverse of the pendant, this is all conjured or drawn down into the Minea lineage. This is my task, what I was born for. I suspect your grampa, my dad, intuited this. He set me up by his labor, to have the ease & means to accomplish this.
This is Cubismo Gizmo.
Pendant made for me by my daughter, as per instructions.
Obverse
As above, so below; as it is inside, so it is outside
ZHEANI Sparkes🖤💜
Babalon and The Beast(Babalon y la bestia)