Headless and unborn, or the Baphomet restored: interfering with Bataille and Masson’s image of the Acephale

At a certain period in European intellectual history, a comparatively large number of artists and intel- lectuals – arguably the most important thinkers and artists of the times – were all involved to a greater or lesser degree in the envisioning of a new myth that might lead European civilization out of the gathering darkness of fascism, a myth they hoped would pro- voke the total and radical transformation of society and culture.