A Meditation on Baphomet, God, and True Religion

​​This meditation began with my exploration of Baphomet, guided by insights from Dr. Angela Puca and Dr. Justin Sledge. Their scholarship brings academic clarity to esoteric traditions, revealing the deeper meanings of symbols often misunderstood or dismissed.           

 ​Dr. Angela Puca

​Dr Justin Sledge

As I reflected on my writings about God and religion, I realized, almost by accident, that my views align closely with those of Eliphas Levi. That discovery led me to write this piece.

Baphomet is not a symbol of evil. Eliphas Levi described it as the embodiment of Astral Light: the creative energy underlying all existence, a force of perfect balance, and the wellspring of true religion. Baphomet unites opposites, male and female, light and dark, spirit and matter. It’s rooted in the four classical elements; Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, and expresses monism: the belief that all things are ultimately one.

Levi’s Astral Light is a subtle, luminous medium that permeates reality. He called it the “universal agent” through which magical acts occur, shaped by imagination and will. It is a reservoir of motion and form, similar in some ways to the old scientific concept of the luminiferous ether. I’ll return to this idea later, in connection

with God and creation

.

How did Baphomet become associated with evil?

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about separating the sheep from the goats—placing the faithful on the right and the unfaithful on the left. Over time, goats became a Christian symbol of rebellion or spiritual failure.

Later, the Knights Templar were accused of heresy, and an image of Baphomet was allegedly found among their possessions; a claim many believed was fabricated. In the 1960s, Anton LaVey adopted Baphomet as the emblem of the Church of Satan, further entrenching its dark reputation. But this image of Baphomet is a distortion. It is not a symbol of evil—it is a symbol of balance.

In the 60's, Anton LaVey adopted the Baphomet as a symbol for the church of Satan, cementing Baphomet's evil legacy.

What is true religion?

I’ve come to see two dominant models of organized religion. One emphasizes ritual as a means of becoming “worthy” of God’s approval, like Catholicism with its sacraments. The other, common in Protestant traditions, emphasizes moral obedience to stay “right” with God. Both are rooted in relationships, but relationships shaped by fear of failure, guilt, or damnation.

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and this idea has long been used to demand submission. But true religion, I believe—like Levi did—is something else entirely. It’s not about earning divine favor. It’s about appreciation. It’s gratitude for life and creation. A communion with the divine born not of fear, but of joy.

True religion, to me, is like the love between a parent and child. A good parent doesn’t love their child because they behave perfectly. They love them for who they are. They guide, correct, and protect—but the love is unconditional.

Now imagine a perfect parent; one beyond ego, control, or dysfunction. A parent who lets their child learn through life’s natural consequences, offering wisdom and compassion without judgment. That, to me, is God. That is the meaning of “love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

God doesn’t interfere, punish, or reward. God is the ground of our being, supporting us through all things, accepting us as we are. Disease and disaster don’t come from God—they emerge from the physical laws of the universe. The cosmos runs on a kind of autopilot, full of both wonder and danger. We’ve been given tools like creativity, intelligence, and resilience to make our way through it.

Think of what we are: biological systems powered by electrochemistry, yet somehow capable of love, art, and awareness. No one fully understands how consciousness arises, but it exists—and that spark, I believe, is divine. I believe the statement that consciousness arises from brain activity is insufficient.

My story

I’ve been through a lot. A traumatic brain injury plunged me into a long, dark chapter filled with dangerous choices, toxic people, and what I can only describe as demonic influence. I lost touch with the part of myself that connects to the divine. It took 26 years to find my way back. In 2014, after the death of my last mentor, I experienced a deep peace—a sense of unity with the divine, like what Levi described.

I don’t believe in sin. I believe in mistakes and learning. Life is a cycle of falling and rising, and above. We grow stronger in spirit and character. I see God as energy. Everything vibrates. God’s will is embedded in the laws of physics, and everything flows from that source.

I believe the Astral Light expanded into the void, carrying divine will like data through fiber optics, forming the fabric of the universe. That may sound like the Big Bang, and perhaps it is. We don’t need dogma or ritual. What we need is gratitude for breath, for love, for the chance to create and witness beauty; not through obedience, but through awe.

There is no dualism

I don’t believe in good and evil as separate forces. Things simply are. No devil is plotting your downfall. No God is rewarding or punishing you for your behavior. That idea contradicts free will. Why would a benevolent creator give us emotions and then punish us for feeling them?

Sometimes life blesses us. Sometimes it wounds us. That’s the journey. Embrace it. Learn from it.

I once debated an atheist who rejected the idea of a benevolent universe because natural disasters kill people. But volcanoes aren’t malevolent. Tsunamis aren’t vindictive. These are natural forces, not evil, just movement. He also claimed people only do good to feel good. And I thought, “So what? If helping others brings joy, isn’t that beautiful? I sometimes give jewelry to children just to see them smile. Their joy brings me joy. That’s not selfishness. That’s empathy.

God as the body of the universe

I see God as the body of the cosmos, with a quiet nervous system humming in the background. The laws of physics are like the autonomic nervous system: constant, self-regulating. From galaxies to atoms, everything unfolds in natural order. Both the spiritual and the material matter. If you focus too much on spirit, you lose your grounding. That’s why monks retreat to monasteries to learn and then return to the world to live in balance.

Balance is everything. Jean Piaget spoke of concrete and formal operational reasoning. Others speak of divergent and convergent thinking. Whatever the terms, we need both: vision and execution, imagination and structure. Levi noted that transcendental magic is grounded in Eastern thought. Kabbalah is sometimes called the yoga of the West. The Vedas speak of Brahman (universal being) and Atman (individual soul). I see God in the same way.

Before anything existed, there was darkness and a void. Then came the light. Levi’s Astral Light, like fiber optics, carried divine will into the ether, shaping energy into form. The universe is that expression. We are that expression. Everything is part of God. Everything has consciousness in some measure. Plants turn toward sunlight. Water responds to sound and emotion. Masaru Emoto’s water crystal experiments and cymatics, the study of how vibration shapes matter, suggesting that frequency can give form to the formless.

The takeaway

There is no single path. Be yourself. Care for your body and mind so you can care for others. Live with wonder. Love deeply. Think clearly. Dream freely. Be kind. Let go of judgment. And above all—seek balance.

Baphomet