Babalon

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Babalon
Mother of Abominations
Seal of Babalon
Consort	Chaos

Part of a series on
Thelema
Unicursal hexagram
Holy Books and Stele The Book of the Law The Holy Books of Thelema The Stele of Revealing
Key figures Ankh-af-na-Khonsu François Rabelais Aleister Crowley Jane Wolfe Karl Germer Wilfred Talbot Smith Helen Parsons Smith Jack Parsons Phyllis Seckler Grady McMurtry Marjorie Cameron Sara Northrup Kenneth Grant Kenneth Anger Marcelo Ramos Motta James Lees Nema Andahadna Christopher Hyatt
Core concepts Abrahadabra Great Work True Will The Abyss Magick Qabalah Holy Guardian Angel Thoth Tarot Yoga Gnostic Mass The Aeon
Methods Banishing Body of light Bornless Ritual Cake of Light English Qaballa Enochian magic Goetia Mass of the Phoenix Night of Pan Sex magic Tree of life
Thelemic texts Aleister Crowley bibliography Kenneth Grant bibliography Marcelo Motta bibliography Thelemic texts
Organizations A∴A∴ O∴A∴A∴ Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC) Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) Society Ordo Templi Orientis (SOTO) Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn Typhonian Order (TOTO)
Deities Nuit Hadit Heru-ra-ha Aiwass Therion Babalon Baphomet Chaos Ma'at
Related topics Abbey of Thelema Abramelin oil Agape Lodge Boleskine House Choronzon Dianism Eroto-comatose lucidity Magical formulae Number of the beast Obeah and wanga Solar Lodge Stellar wisdom Table of magical correspondences The Beast & Whore of Babylon
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Babalon /ˈbæbælən/^{[citation needed]} (also known as the Scarlet Woman, Great Mother or Mother of Abominations) is a goddess found in the occult system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with the writing of The Book of the Law by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley. The spelling of the name as "Babalon" was revealed to Crowley in The Vision and the Voice. Her name and imagery feature prominently in Crowley's "Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni".^[1]

In her most abstract form, Babalon represents the female sexual impulse and the liberated woman. In the creed of the Gnostic Mass she is also identified with Mother Earth, in her most fertile sense.^[2] Along with her status as an archetype or goddess, Crowley believed that Babalon had an earthly aspect or avatar; a living woman who occupied the spiritual office of the "Scarlet Woman". This office, first identified in The Book of the Law is usually described as a counterpart to his own identification as "To Mega Therion" (The Great Beast). The role of the Scarlet Woman was to help manifest the energies of the Aeon of Horus. Crowley believed that several women in his life occupied the office of Scarlet Woman, for which see the list below.

Babalon's consort is Chaos, called the "Father of Life" in the Gnostic Mass, being the male form of the creative principle. Chaos appears in The Vision and the Voice and later in Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni. Separate from her relationship with her consort, Babalon is usually depicted as riding the Beast. She is often referred to as a sacred whore, and her primary symbol is the chalice or graal.

As Crowley wrote in his The Book of Thoth, "she rides astride the Beast; in her left hand she holds the reins, representing the passion which unites them. In her right she holds aloft the cup, the Holy Grail aflame with love and death. In this cup are mingled the elements of the sacrament of the Aeon".