A sermon given at Church of the Morningstar on 7/18/2020.

⁶ And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house. ⁷ And he shall take the two goats, and set them before Jehovah at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for Jehovah, and the other lot for ^[b]Azazel. ⁹ And Aaron shall present the goat upon which the lot fell for Jehovah, and offer him for a sin-offering. ¹⁰ But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before Jehovah, to make atonement ^[c]for him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.

This passage from Leviticus 16 describes a ‘sin offering’—two goats are given to atone for the sins of the community. This is the source of the term “scapegoat.” One goat is offered to Jehovah. The second is given to someone named Azazel.

But who is Azazel? This question has puzzled scholars, occultists, and religious leaders for centuries.

Breaking down the name offers some clues. “Az” can be “she-goat,” and “azal” can mean “to leave” or to go away. Thus, “Azazel” can mean “goat escapes.” This is appropriate, since the goat for Azazel is allowed to run off alive into the wilderness—unlike the goat for Jehovah, which is bloodily slaughtered.

In the Bible, goats are contrasted with sheep, and no wonder. Sheep are thought of as docile and obedient. Goats, by contrast, are cantankerous and unruly. Thus goats are symbols of headstrong rebellion.

The name Azazel can be split in a different place to render a totally different meaning. “Azaz” can mean “strong.” It can also mean “rebellion,” further emphasizing the nature of the goat.

“Az” and “Azaz” are played on by Aleister Crowley in his short pamphlet Liber Oz—Az meaning, as we have said, “she-goat.” He refers in this pamphlet to “the law of the strong”—Azaz. Thus, the “law of the strong” means “the law of the goat,” of the rebel. What is this “law?” “Do what thou wilt!”

So we have “Azaz”—strong or rebellion. “El” means “God.” Thus, “Azazel” is “strong God” or “rebel God.” What God could this be?

In the Book of Enoch, Azazel is a leader of the Watcher angels who rebel against God to have sex with human women, possibly after being seduced by Na’amah. In this legend, Azazel taught humans the secrets of metalsmithing for jewelry and weaponry. Sometimes Azazel is referred to as Azael or just Aza. Aza can mean “to heat” so we have “Heating God.” This makes sense for a god of metalwork! (We can also think, of course, of the furnaces of hell.)

Azazel is associated with goats, of course, but he is also tied to another animal: the peacock. The Yazidi people of Iraq worship called Melek Taus, who is known as the Peacock Angel. This being is also known as Aiwass, which happens to be the name of the entity from whom Aleister Crowley received the dictation of The Book of the Law. Melek Taus or Aiwass has yet another name, too: Azazel.

Just as the goat symbolizes rebellion, the peacock symbolizes pride. The peacock, with its ostentatious masculine beauty, its horrible screeching voice, and its abrasive personality, has been considered a demonic animal since practically the dawn of the concept of demons. In Zoroastrian legend, it is said that the evil god, Ahriman, created peacocks. This was because somebody said that Ahriman never created anything good or beautiful. So Ahriman made a peacock to prove that he could create beauty, he just didn’t feel like it.

Both the peacock and the goat are attributed to Lucifer—the peacock symbolizing his original “sin” or virtue of Pride, and the goat representing his rebellion and his lust. Satan is notorious as the goat of the Witch’s sabbath, although this is usually very much a he-goat rather than a she-goat.

The feminine side of Azazel, of the goat, is restored in Baphomet, the most holy symbol of androgyny, the queerest and most compelling image of Satan. Here Lucifer and Eisheth Zenunim, Samael and Lilith, are united in masculine and feminine aspects. The human is also united with the animal, the angelic with the infernal. Baphomet is, in fact, not merely an image of androgyny, but of liminality, borderlessness, and lawlessness of all types. To me, fallen angels are the most fascinating of all beings because they pass through all realms, from heaven to hell and then up to earth again. They break all boundaries, all conventions, following only the law of the strong, the law of the goat: Do What Thou Wilt.

Baphomet is not identical with Pan—I dislike soft polytheism, and refuse to equate one goat god with another. However, they do have something in common beyond horns and hooves. Pan means “all” and Baphomet is a symbol of all, of chaotic everything-ness: pan-demonium if you will, all demons.

Like the wayward goat that rushes off into the wilderness, we seem to have wandered far astray of the original question: who is Azazel? But the point of Azazel is the wildness and the wandering. Azazel is the forging of words and metals into strange shapes, the heating of iron for the hammer, of flesh for lust, and of tempers for rebellion. Azazel is the goat and the peacock, lawlessness and pride. Azazel is Lucifer and also Lilith, the she-goat “Az” concealed in the name of a male angel, the feminine lurking in the masculine. Azazel is creative chaos and cathartic destruction.

And Azazel is all of us who are goats and not sheep.