Character: baphomet (deity)
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Baphomet is a goat-headed diety associated with mysticism, the occult, and Satanism. Though the deity is first mentioned in the 14th century persecution of the Knights Templar, Baphomet's caprine appearance originated in Éliphas Lévi's 1856 illustration, "The Sabbatic Goat" (The first image). The pentagram is a symbol closely associated with Baphomet and, although most depictions will have the star upside-down, Lévi's description (in "Dogme et rituel de la haute magie") states that is is meant to be pointing up, as it is a sign of intelligence uniting the four elemental powers.
Description of the engraving, from "Dogme et rituel de la haute magie", own translation
Tome 2, Fig 1 (frontispiece): Sabbatic Goat - Baphomet and Mendes
Pantheistic and magical figure of the absolute. The torch placed between the horns represents the balancing intelligence of the ternary; the head of the goat -a synthetic head that mixes together traits of a dog, a bull and a donkey- represents the liability of matter alone and atonement, though flesh, of corporal sins. The hands are human, to show the sanctity of labour, they (sic) are making the sign of esoterism both above and below, to advocate the unknown to initiates, and point towards two moon crescents, a white one above and a black one below, to explain the interplay of good and of evil, of mercy and of justice. The bottom half is robed, an image of the mysteries of universal generation, expressed solely by the symbol of the caduceus. The belly of the goat is scaled, and must be coloured green; the half-circle above must be blue; the feathers, rising up to the the chest, must be varied in colour. The goat has a woman's bosom, and thus bears the signs of motherhood and labour as its only human traits, which is to say the redemptive ones. On its forehead, between the horns and below the torch, can be seen the sign of the microcosm or the pentagram pointing up, symbol of human intelligence, which, placed below the torch, makes it a sign of divine revelation. This pantheum must seat upon a cube, and as a step either a single ball, or a ball and a triangular step-ladder. In our drawing, we have merely shown the ball, as to not overcomplicate the figure.
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