Someone asked me about Baphomet. I thought the rest of the list might want to read my response and perhaps let us know what your experiences with the Old Goat have been:
Probably everyone's experience with Baphomet is different. I have, on my altar, Anton La Vey's representation of Baphomet (with Leviathan in Hebrew in between the arms of the pentagram) which FireClown stole from a bar (with the bartender's approval who stated she was constantly freaked out by it) and gave to me.
Fireclown would give Baphomet blood and come. I tend to stick to blood. Since I m not currently in a phase of my life where I will sacrifice animals (which I would have to be if I became, as I might, a palero) I use my own blood. Needle sticks by the box are quite cheap and available, sterile, and it does not seem to be the quantity as much as the quality (we assume that a drop of sorcerer's blood is worth a gallon of one of the dumbfounded dipshits who stumble through life without availing themselves of the maps provided by magick, relgion, science, or psychology. Also the actual piercing of a major organ (like the skin) is a powerful act, in terms of magickal devotion.
Baphomet does seem to like incense, though I have not worked with a god that didn't (but then I have not worked with the Eldar Gods who probably prefer the stench of slightly charred but still beating human hearts). FireClown preferred funky incense, but then he always has had a tendency to the funkier (though he apparently has undergone a sea-change).
My relationship with Baphomet is quite similar to the Setians' relationship with Set, where they see Set (a Baphomet variant) as a Companion (yes, quite close to Earth:Final Conflict's Aliens). I chat with him, plead, rant, whine. Much of the time he just ignores me. It's not that he's senile, though at his age he should be...he outlived so many other Gods, the Gods of civilization... just not that interested unless the situation works towards his agenda. For example, he was very helpful to me during the Co$ conflict but rarely gives me financial help or helps my parlous state of health. He does, however, give off such massive confidence in me that I do get the feelings that most ofthe shit that I camplain about is truly transient, irrelevant, and, actually, none of my fucking business.
In terms of secret teaching, Baphomet is a glyph for the force that creates the probability matrices that comprise the phenomenal universe. Consequently he is exceedingly powerful, but not as powerful as (I hesitate to designate forces that are essentially nameless with names) those that exist outside the probability matrices. In a Buddhist metaphor we could explain Mara as a a manifesation of Baphomet, and Shakyamuni Buddha as a manifestation of the Stainless Wisdom Deities that exist outside the phenomenal universe but nevertheless interact with it. (I just love that "Stainless", which is a translation from the Tibetan...it always reminds of cutlery). So Baphomet is very similar to many of the other Gods that first stream out of Chaos, such as Ganesh, the Vajra Yogini, Typhon, etc., etc.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Leo Ruickbie - Walpurgisnacht
Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - The Hermit
Robert Anton Wilson - Prometheus Rising