Tarot of the Abyss.

Baphomet and the Devil:

Living the Shadows.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

Baphomet and the Devil.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

Baphomet and the Devil.Please note that the figure on the front cover has been falsely attributed to the Judeo-Christian Devil for centuries. The "horned god" has represented the power of life and wisdom on all continents for millennia before Jesus-Christ. Even the Hebrew people often represented Moses (prophet of their sacred law) with horns to signify his contact with God.Baphomet is a concept that can be retraced to before the Sumerians and Zoroastrianism. It has known its greatest glory with the Knights Templar (sent by the Pope to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land during the crusades) and with the Free-Masons.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

Baphomet and the Devil.It represents, among other things, the truth of the unknown, the power of repressed impulses and animal instinct as a root for the Divine Light which shines between its horns.Refer to the bibliography to know more about this figure which remains, through the prejudice of ignorant complacency, the symbol of all the marginalized world's sin and the object of as much violence by those who fight, say they, in the name of truth and peace.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

On Witches and Goths.From the Dawn of humanity, there are people who

suffer, who wail and attempt to meet their desires while checking or disrobing their neighbors of their freedoms. The fear of losing life, forgetting the continuity of existence and amplified by all kinds of pain has atrophied humanity's hopes and ability to dream. We always seek happiness and beauty, but we forget it as soon as we loose sight of it. Why do we not forget ugliness and sadness just as quickly?

Historically and mythologically, witchcraft was revealed precisely to reclaim control over one's own life and destiny within a society of repression. Up to this day, youth and adults turn to it and magick for vengeance, to affirm their identity and/or realign with natural currents (opposing them to industrial progress).

In modern society, the "Gothic" fashion attracts youth who also believe themselves rejected by family and/or friends.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

On Witches and Goths.They revolt in styles of clothing and decor aesthetic

which is black and rather macabre. On the one hand, this testifies to their melancholy, and on the other hand, it is sometimes also meant to purposely shock social standards which purportedly set them aside.

Youth from more or less 12 to 22 years of age are particularly sensitive to acceptance from their milieu. Pressures are accentuated by the rise of sexual impulses and an acute sense of justice. Rejection from the milieu or by peers can cause bedlam in a person poorly supported. Betrayal is the most devastating event possible and can result in a complete breakdown of the youth's sense of self and action.

The people mentioned take refuge in practices perceived as "obscure" and "evil" by a society that they in turn perceive as "oppressive" and "destructive". It doesn't help that psychic perceptions are a human faculty, therefore subject and sensitive to psychological or hormonal imbalances.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

On Witches and Goths.If normal senses, too acute, can make someone

crazy, imagine how marginalized a person can become who is sensitive to psychic impressions (ghosts, premonitions etc.) when no one else can perceive nor understand them!

There moral, then, lies in understanding that everyone, somehow, is trying to better their lot and their world. Under the greatest harm hides a pain that cries to be soothed. When "normal" methods fail, the frustrated person often has little other outlet than violence or else to channel their energies toward the development of abilities which society does not recognize. You who observe, you who wander or you who wish to embark upon the path of Shadows, understand this: the path itself is neither good nor bad but pain is to be found at every corner and at every crossroads.

© Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001

On Witches and Goths.Craze, illness and outright malicious intent do exist

as such independently of any consideration; but appearances are often misleading and a considerable margin of people offer themselves relief by pointing the finger rather than looking deeper. Even many who promote openness of mind appear to select that towards which poeple must be open, ignoring the rest. The Tarot of the Abyss conveys the ultimate message to provide care in understanding to what at first glance may appear shocking and grant the purpose hidden inside rather than to close the door with puritanistic inflexibility or even to abandon oneself blindly to it in anarchy. All that is missing in the world is a little kindness in order to realize that, once the masks of pain, revolt and misleading appearances are removed, we are all the same. What fundamental differences remain only emphassize that we all want the same things. This is true on both sides of the coin!