Previously, I have already addressed a "magical head" that the Knights Templar had in their possession. The basis for my reflections is the book on the Templars by the French author A. Demurger, who, however, did not comment on the properties of the object.
According to rumors, it was already located in northern Syria 100 years before the dissolution of the order. It is said to have been a bearded male head, which the Templars named "Baphomet." The radical apostasy of this Christian order is strange:
As part of the initiation, crucifixes were defiled with urine or saliva, among other things; additionally, it was claimed that Jesus was rightfully condemned and crucified for his "crimes." Whether there is a connection between the knights' turning away from the true faith and the "head" is currently not clear to me.
Alchemical Traditions and the Legacy of Hermes
What is interesting, however, is that alchemists of a much later era were convinced that a relationship existed between the "talking" heads and an authorship of these by Thoth or Hermes Trismegistus!
Let us take a step back historically, leave the Templars and the era of the Crusades behind, and stroll into the time of the Roman Empire to acquire a certain foundational knowledge before we move even closer to the secret of the head in an article yet to be written!
The Star Cult Under Septimius Severus
An exceptionally interesting Roman emperor was Lucius Septimius Severus (frequently confused with his son Geta), who was born in 146 AD in what is now Libya, more precisely in a city called Leptis Magna.
The cognomen "Severus," the strict or severe, was only bestowed upon him later. As a lawyer and soldier, he had made it to the top of the state:
He was devoted to the gods and stars throughout his life and assumed that said gods were the masters of the universe, determining everything.
He had a palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, not far from the Via Appia. Displayed prominently on it were the seven gods of the known planets, while his own countenance was placed beneath the sun.
Inside the palace itself, he had also dedicated a special room to the stars. In choosing his wife, he also relied on the firmament; he chose her based on her horoscope.
The Syrian Heritage: Emesa and the Sun God
Her homeland lay in Syrian Emesa, where the god Baal was worshipped. In the city itself, there was a black stone that had fallen from the sky, which was revered as the embodiment of the sun god Helios (Sol Elagabal).
One must not forget that pantheism prevailed in the Roman Empire until the Christians put an end to it with blood, sword, and fire. Baal and Helios did not interfere with one another, and their followers did not enter into feuds either.
The black stone lay safely preserved in the midst of gold, silver, and diamonds. "Baal" means "the lord," "the high one," or "possessor of supremacy" in Old Syrian.
Once, he fought with a god named Mot, the god of death, which did not go well for the earth, as all life was extinguished and had to be created anew!
Pagan Roots of Christian Holidays
It is revealing that one of the holidays of Baal was December 25th! Had the Christians "adopted" the date for Christ's birth, which, as is well known, did not take place on this day in the "Holy Land"?
Do we give honor to Baal on this day, sitting under the "Baal tree"? Christianity has absorbed and distorted so much that is pagan that it is itself permeated by paganism!
The Fusion of Thoth and Hermes
It is revealing that a downright fusion of two gods occurred in the Roman Empire, which leads us back to the heads:
On one hand, we have the "Greek" Hermes, the messenger of the gods, who operated as a psychopomp, among other things, meaning he accompanied the souls of the deceased into the realm of the dead.
On the other hand, there is the "Egyptian" Thoth, who, according to some traditions, was already active 18,000 years before the start of Egyptian culture and had left behind over 20,000 books containing knowledge of the world and the superworld, as well as a virtual instruction manual for the universe.
According to the alchemists of the modern era, they obtained the "construction plans" for the "magical heads" from his writings, and said books of Thoth are alleged to have been located in Alexandria!
Thoth and Hermes became "Hermes Trismegistus," meaning the "thrice greatest" Hermes, whereby Thoth's name was lost.
Since Hermes was active as a psychopomp, contents regarding the afterlife were also attributed to Thoth's books, which would fit when looking at the cult of the dead of the Egyptians.
I have already addressed the primordial Egyptian religion in a separate post, in which the view existed that the soul would journey into the universe, back to its source!
Severus lived in interesting times when connections to the ancient knowledge of the primordial gods still existed, so that today one wonders why much of Rome's world of ideas appears pre-astronautic.
Even if the gods of Rome were certainly not "astronauts," they were much more cosmic creators with good relations to the realm of the dead!
Alexandria as the starting point for the writings of Thoth and the resulting "production" of technically-seeming "heads" is a very good starting point for further research!
The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire by Michael Grant; The Life and Reign of the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus by Maurice Platnauer; Septimius Severus: The African Emperor by Anthony R. Birley; The African Emperor: The Life of Septimius Severus by Simon Elliott; Emperor Septimius Severus by Ilkka Syvänne; The Knights of Christian Chivalry by Alain Demurger