Smarra is a name given to a powerful ethereal spirit, for some a goddess, for others a demon, to which different sorcerers and occultists throughout history have worshiped, resorting to the same in search of apocalyptic prophecies or arcane secrets.
History[]
The first references to this figure date back to classical Greece, where witches, including the infamous Medea, perform ritual orgies in her honor. Another great worshiper of the dark goddess was the 18th century German ghost visionary, Count Von Ost, as well as the Spanish occultist Don Alvarez, who conducted a series of prohibited activities in an attempt to contact the goddess.
In 1904, the black magician Oliver Haddo first made contact with Smarra, during their honeymoon in Cairo. Isolating himself in a cabinet, Haddo began to interpret the signals sent by the spirits, with which he could compose his magnum opus, the cabalistic Book of the Law, which is theorized to have been the basis for the future eschatological beliefs of his cult.[1]
The figure of this Goddess of Magic is associated with the highly sexualized Biblical entity known as the Whore of Babylon, as well as the Babylonian Mother Goddess Isthar. According to Haddo, the numerology of the name Smarra corresponds to five hundred and two, which has the meaning of ''welcome'' and ''a flesh'', while in Pythagorean geometry, the number results in the numerical value of four hundred and forty and two, number with obvious apocalyptic association.
Source material.[]
Smarra is an entity mentioned in the Spanish anthology Smarra, ou les démons de la nuit, by Charles Nodier. Within the League universe, Smarra assumes the position of Babalon, a central goddess of Theleme religious philosophy, who was created by the occultist Aleister Crowley, to whom Oliver Haddo is analogous.