Babalon Blossom
The Scarlet Woman has been an important figure for magicians for some time now. Most of what I've read has credited Crowley for the continuing interest, with mentions of Jack Parsons, Marjorie Cameron, and Joel Biroco. Just recently, it seems interest in the so-called "Whore of Babylon" has increased. Why is this enigmatic woman so important to magicians of the West? What does she represent?
She's been on my mind for weeks as I've tried to decipher the meanings for her appearance, her syncretizations with other goddess figures, her elevation from despised Biblical whore to a symbol of feminine power and sexuality. The thought has occurred to me more than once that we are at a phase in our evolution in which we are primed for the breakdown of Abrahamic faiths and doctrines that exist only to imprison, subjugate, oppress, silence and sequester women.
(If, at this point, you catch yourself thinking "oh great, another femi-nazi," you are part of the problem!)
From the Biblical Revelation, we know that the Scarlet Woman is a sign or manifestation of the coming apocalypse. She rides a beast of many heads. Holy men and Biblical scholars have long thought of her as the very incarnation of the most deviant sins a woman could commit. Her presence is thought to denote a general moral degradation among women of the common era, and the Beast is her consort.
In my own mythology, the Whore as the conqueror of the evils represented by the "Beast with many heads". She is the incarnation of feminine power that the Abrahamic faiths (and others) have tried for centuries to quell. She is the fully realized woman, aware of her own power to bend and create reality, regardless of what the structures of man have tried to say of the weaknesses of her gender.
I feel we have come a long way in the West, but there is still work to be done. It is happening slowly, but it is happening. We are no longer considered incapable, weak, evil, naive as we once were. Women in other areas of the world as not so lucky. In India, brides are set on fire by their in-laws if their families are too poor to pay the wedding dowry. Women can still be stoned to death in Africa if it is suspected they are involved in witchcraft, and many are still in danger of having their clitorises gouged out with unclean tools to prevent them from enjoying sex enough to cheat on their husbands. Women are still not respected in many areas of life. Barring women from the priesthood is one major example. Why should men have the monopoly on spirituality?
Even in the occult and pagan communities, there is a great deal of latent dismissal and malice aimed at the spiritual practices of women. As magicians, women are generally humored, seen as less effective, less innovative, less serious than male practitioners. Women's spirituality has become the butt of many jokes. Women who honor other women are often seen as "dykes" or "femi-nazis" even if they do not discuss feelings of hatred or animosity towards men or patriarchy.
Why should this still be so? Why should any woman anywhere in the world feel afraid to express her thoughts, feelings, opinions or sexuality? Why should anyone condone this oppression with excuses about the traditions of her culture? We think we have come so far because our technology is progressing, but social evolution is slow. We are still living in a very sexist and racist world, despite all our wonderful progress.
For me, Babalon is all about the coming empowerment of women worldwide; something that is one of the greatest threats to the foundations of Abrahamic faiths. When women refuse to be subjugated, the thin arguments about feminine morality and virtue will fall away and be revealed as the ugly expressions of sexism that they are. Babalon is manifesting in women all over the world who are rising up and fighting oppression by male religious and political leaders.
I'm not saying men are the problem. I'm saying the traditions are the problem. The latent subconscious associations that some of us still have are a problem. Babalon is a key. Babalon is a sign that we recognize the problem and are working to strengthen the current.
I am an avatar of the Babalon current, and I have thousands of sisters; many who have not yet realized their inate power and many who never will.
