Babalon

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The deity herself

Babalon is the active feminine principle in the Thelemic cosmology. Her godform is that of a sacred whore. She is described in various places in the Thelemic texts, principally in The Vision and the Voice, but also in The Book of Lies.

The concept of a sacred or holy whore is not unique to Thelema.

Biblical origins

Principally, the godform of Babalon seems to be derived from a scene in the Revelations, a source of much inspiration in Crowley's cosmology. In Revelations, we find this passage:

"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (Revelations 17: 3-6)

The text goes on to identify her as the female complement of the Beast, an image also transported into Thelema.

Etymology

The name Babalon may derive from several sources. Firstly, there is the obvious resemblance to Babylon. Babylon was a major city in Mesopotamia, part of the Sumerian culture. Coincidentally, the Sumerian deity Ishtar bears an uncanny resemblance to the Crowleyan Babalon. Babylon itself is a city that is referred to in several places in the Bible, usually as an image of a once-glorious paradise that has fallen into ruin, a warning against the evils of decadence:

"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Revelations 18: 1-5)

A second possibility is from the Enochian word BABALOND, which is translated a harlot.

Crowley probably chose the spelling of Babalon for its Qabalistic significance. By replacing the letter 'y' with an 'a', the word 'AL' appears in the centre. The whole then naturally breaks into Bab-al-on. 'Bab' is Arabic for a door, or gate. 'AL' is the Key of Liber Legis, and is also a Qabalistic title of God, meaning 'The One' in Hebrew. 'On' is the name of the Egyptian city that the Greeks called Heliopolis, the City of the Pyramids.

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