n Europe, many followers of the Cathar
heresy joined the Knights Templars just because of their willingness to
accommodate unorthodox thinking in the Order. The Cathar influence brought
skeins of Gnostic thinking into the Order, and it goes without saying that
such heretic thinking had to be done in secret. As is the case with all human
secrets, leaks did occur, and from thereon rumors became extant and impossible
to fight against. Again, bad blood arose by the bucket.
et us jump to the present day and
welcome Dr. Hugh Schonfield. This scholar was one of the original researchers
of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and he became interested in the alleged blasphemous
practices the Templars were charged with. In fact, the legend of Baphomet
struck him as curious, and he figured the name Baphomet, an odd construction
to say the least, was actually written in cipher. He applied the ancient
Atbash Cipher to the name, in the belief that the Templars might have been
privy to the cipher in their time.
most interesting thing surfaced. If
one writes the name 'Baphomet' in Hebrew letters (read from right to left),
the result is
which in the Atbash Cipher can be unraveled to
which is 'Sophia', Greek for Wisdom. Considering the erudite state of the Order (by Medieval standards at least) this is not far-fetched at all.
n to the image of the head. In Hebrew
folklore, there is a bearded male figure called Adam Kadmon (the Sky Man).
His bearded head is called Chokmah, or, Wisdom. On the other hand, the Greek
goddess Sophia is a most female one indeed, so the gilded image of a woman's
head mentioned in Philip's inventory of the Paris Temple is not inexplicable
at all. Furthermore, the Templars appear to have been privy to to even more
ancient information, dating all the way back to Egypt where the goddess Isis
was in some sources called Sophia. In a Cristian interpretation, Sophia is
identified with Mary Magdalene. More on the material above can be found in
Appendix A of The Essene Odyssey by Dr. Schonfield
n conclusion, the Templars held Sophia in
high reverence. They were fully aware of her mystical and cosmological
properties. But in those times, to worship such a controversial, nay, heretical
figure openly would have been tantamount to placing one's head in a vice
and turning the handle clockwise a dozen times. From this arose the
secretiveness, and ultimately, the accusations of heresy.