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{{Short description|Occult deity and symbol}}
{{for|the real-life inspiration|Muhammad}}
{{other uses}}
{{distinguish|Bahamut|Behemoth}}
[[File:Baphomet by Éliphas Lévi.jpg|thumb|An 1856 depiction of the Sabbatic Goat from {{lang|fr|[[Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie]]}} by [[Éliphas Lévi]].<ref name=Strube>{{harvnb|Strube|2017}}.</ref><ref name=Introvigne>{{harvnb|Introvigne|2016|pp=105–109}}.</ref> The arms bear the [[Latin]] words {{lang|la|SOLVE}} (dissolve) and {{lang|la|COAGULA}} (coagulate), reflecting the spiritual [[alchemy]] of Lévi's work.]]

'''Baphomet''' is a figure rooted in the [[occult]] and [[Western esotericism|Western esoteric]] traditions. The name first emerged in the 14th century during the [[Trials of the Knights Templar]], when the order was accused of [[heresy]] for worshipping Baphomet as a [[Demon|demonic]] [[Cult image|idol]].<ref name="Stahuljak2">{{harvnb|Stahuljak|2013|pp=71–82}}</ref><ref name="Field 2016">{{cite journal |author-last=Field |author-first=Sean L. |date=April 2016 |title=Torture and Confession in the Templar Interrogations at Caen, 28–29 October 1307 |editor-last=Jansen |editor-first=Katherine L. |editor-link=Katherine Jansen |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies]] |location=[[Chicago]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] on behalf of the [[Medieval Academy of America]] |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=297–327 |doi=10.1086/684916 |issn=2040-8072 |jstor=43883958 |lccn=27015446 |oclc=35801878 |s2cid=159457836}}</ref> Baphomet was reimagined by 19th century occultists amidst renewed debate over the suppression of the Templars.<ref name="Stahuljak2" /><ref name="Field 2016"/>

The modern popular image of Baphomet was established by [[Éliphas Lévi]] in his 1856 work ''[[Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie]]''.<ref name=Strube/><ref name=Introvigne/> His '''Sabbatic Goat''' illustration depicts a winged, [[Androgyny|androgynous]] human-goat [[Human–animal hybrid|hybrid]], a deliberate [[Unity of opposites|synthesis of binary opposites]] designed to represent the concept of perfect equilibrium.<ref name="Strube" /> This Baphomet is a recurring symbol of occultism, widely adapted to represent the reconciliation of opposites, esoteric knowledge, and the summation of the [[universe]].

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Knights Templar|Trials of the Knights Templar}}
{{Further|Christianity in the Middle Ages|Knights Templar legends|Medieval Inquisition}}

The name ''Baphomet'' appeared in July 1098 in a letter about the [[siege of Antioch]] by the French [[Crusades|Crusader]] [[Anselm of Ribemont]]:

{{verse translation|lang=la|Sequenti die aurora apparente, altis vocibus '''Baphometh''' invocaverunt; et nos Deum nostrum in cordibus nostris deprecantes, impetum facientes in eos, de muris civitatis omnes expulimus.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cIUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA475|title=Godefridi Bullonii epistolae et diplomata; accedunt appendices |first=Godfrey |last=Bullonii (of Bouillon) |date=30 March 2018 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
|As the next day dawned, they [i.e. ''the inhabitants of Antioch''] called loudly upon '''Baphometh'''; and we prayed silently in our hearts to God, then we attacked and forced all of them outside the city walls.{{sfn|Barber|Bate|2010|p=29}} }}

[[Raymond of Aguilers]], a chronicler of the [[First Crusade]], reports that the [[troubadour]]s used the term ''Bafomet'' for [[Muhammad]], and ''Bafumaria'' for a mosque.<ref>{{harvnb|Michaud|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mAcMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA497 497]}}: "Raimundus de Agiles says of the Mahometans: {{lang|la|In ecclesiis autem magnis '''Bafumarias''' faciebant ... habebant monticulum ubi duæ erant '''Bafumariæ'''}}. The troubadours employ Baformaria for mosque, and Bafomet for Mahomet."</ref> The name ''Bafometz'' later appeared around 1195 in the [[Occitan language|Provençal]] poems {{lang|oc|Senhors, per los nostres peccatz}} by the troubadour Gavaudan.<ref name=Gavaudan>{{cite book |author-first=Michael |author-last=Routledge |year=1999 |contribution=The Later Troubadours |title=The Troubadours: An Introduction |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Gaunt |editor-link1=Simon Gaunt |editor-first2=Sarah |editor-last2=Kay |editor-link2=Sarah Kay |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |postscript=none |page=112 }}:
<poem>
{{lang|oc|Ab Luy venseretz totz los cas
Cuy '''Bafometz''' a escarnitz
e·ls renegatz outrasalhitz}}
("with his [i.e. Jesus'] help you will defeat all the
dogs whom '''Mahomet''' has led astray
and the impudent renegades").
</poem></ref> Around 1250, a Provençal poem by [[Austorc d'Aorlhac]] bewailing the defeat of the [[Seventh Crusade]] again uses the name ''Bafomet'' for Muhammad.<ref>Austorc, Pillet-Carstens 40, 1, quoted in Jaye Puckett, "''Reconmenciez novele estoire'': The Troubadours and the Rhetoric of the Later Crusades", ''[[Modern Language Notes]]'', '''116'''.4, French Issue (September 2001:844–889), p. 878, note 59. He is also quoted in Kurt Lewent, "Old Provençal ''Lai'', ''Lai on'', and ''on''," ''Modern Language Notes'', '''79'''.3, French Issue (May 1964:296–308), p. 302.</ref> {{lang|oc|De Bafomet}} is also the title of one of four surviving chapters of an Occitan translation of [[Ramon Llull]]'s earliest known work, the {{lang|ca|Libre de la doctrina pueril}}.<ref>The other chapters are {{lang|oc|De la ley nova}}, {{lang|oc|De caritat}}, and {{lang|oc|De iustitia}}. The three folios of the Occitan fragment were reunited on 21&nbsp;April 1887, and the work was then "discovered". Today it can be found in [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|BnF]] fr.&nbsp;6182. [[Clovis Brunel]] dated it to the 13th century, and it was probably made in the [[Quercy]]. The work was originally written in [[Medieval Latin|Latin]], but medieval [[Catalan language|Catalan]] translation exists, as does a complete Occitan one. The Occitan fragment has been translated by {{cite journal |first=Diego |last=Zorzi |title=Un frammento provenzale della ''Doctrina Pueril'' di Raimondo Lull |journal=Aevum |volume=28 |issue=4 |year=1954 |pages=345–349}}</ref>

Baphomet was allegedly worshipped as a deity by the medieval order of the [[Knights Templar]].<ref name=Stahuljak2/> King [[Philip IV of France]] had many French Templars simultaneously arrested, and then tortured into confessions in October 1307.<ref name="Field 2016"/><ref name="Michelet" /> The name ''Baphomet'' appeared in trial transcripts for the [[Trials of the Knights Templar|Inquisition of the Knights Templar]] that same year.<ref name=Michelet/> Over 100 different charges had been leveled against the Templars, including [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]], [[Homosexuality in medieval Europe|homosexual relations]], spitting and urinating on the cross, and [[sodomy]].<ref name=Stahuljak2/> Most of them were dubious, as they were the same charges that were leveled against the [[Catharism|Cathars]]{{sfn|Barber|2006|p=204}} and many of King Philip's enemies; he had earlier kidnapped [[Pope Boniface VIII]] and charged him with nearly identical offenses. Yet [[Malcolm Barber]] observes that historians "find it difficult to accept that an affair of such enormity rests upon total fabrication".{{sfn|Barber|2006|p=306}} The "[[Chinon Parchment]] suggests that the Templars did indeed spit on the cross", says Sean Martin, and that these acts were intended to simulate the kind of humiliation and torture that a Crusader might be subjected to if captured by the [[Saracen]]s, where they were taught how to commit [[Apostasy in Christianity|apostasy]] "with the mind only and not with the heart".{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=138}} Similarly, Michael Haag suggests that the simulated worship of Baphomet did indeed form part of a Templar [[initiation rite]]:<ref>{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Haag |title=Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's temple to the Freemasons |publisher=Profile Books |year=2009}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The indictment ({{lang|fr|acte d'accusation}}) published by the [[Medieval Inquisition|court of Rome]] set forth ... "that in all the provinces they had idols, that is to say, heads, some of which had three faces, others but one; sometimes, it was a human skull ... That in their assemblies, and especially in their grand chapters, they worshipped the idol as a god, as their saviour, saying that this head could save them, that it bestowed on the order all its wealth, made the trees flower, and the plants of the earth to sprout forth."|source=[[Jules Michelet]], ''History of France'' (1860)<ref name="Michelet">{{harvnb|Michelet|1860|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=drQMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA375 375]}}.</ref> }}

[[Image:Templars Burning.jpg|thumb|right|Two Templars [[Death by burning|burned at the stake]]; illustration from a 15th–century French manuscript]]

The name ''Baphomet'' comes up in several of these dubious confessions.<ref name=Stahuljak2/> Peter Partner states in his 1987 book ''The Knights Templar and their Myth'': "In the trial of the Templars one of their main charges was their supposed worship of a heathen idol-head known as a ''Baphomet'' (Baphomet = [[Muhammad|Mahomet]])."<ref name=partner>{{harvnb|Partner|1987|pages=34–35}}.</ref> The description of the object changed from confession to confession; some Templars denied any knowledge of it, while others, who [[Forced confession|confessed under torture]], described it as being either a severed head, a cat, or a head with three faces.{{sfn|Read|1999|p=266}} The Templars did possess several silver-gilt heads as [[Reliquary|reliquaries]],{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=139}} including one marked {{lang|la|capud {{smallcaps|lviii}}<sup>m</sup>}},<ref>{{harvnb| Michelet|1851|p=218}}: {{lang|la|"Per quem allatum fuit eis quoddam magnum capud argenteum deauratum pulcrum, figuram muliebrem habens, intra quod erant ossa unius capitis, involuta et consuta in quodam panno lineo albo, syndone rubea superposita, et erat ibi quedam cedula consuta in qua erat scriptum capud {{smallcaps|lviii}}<sup>m</sup>, et dicta ossa assimilabantur ossibus capitis parvi muliebris, et dicebatur ab aliquibus quod erat capud unius undecim millium virginum."}}</ref> another said to be [[Euphemia|St. Euphemia]],{{sfn|Barber|2006|p=244}} and possibly the actual head of [[Hugues de Payens]].<ref>{{harvnb|Barber|2006|p=331}}: "It is possible that the head mentioned was in fact a reliquary of Hugh of Payns, containing his actual head."</ref> The claims of an idol named ''Baphomet'' were unique to the Inquisition of the Templars.<ref name=Ngeo>{{cite AV media |publisher=[[National Geographic Channel]] |title=Knights Templar |date=22 February 2006 |medium=video documentary |author=Jesse Evans}}</ref>{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=119}} Karen Ralls, author of the ''Knights Templar Encyclopedia'', argues that it is significant that "no specific evidence [of Baphomet] appears in either the Templar Rule or in other medieval period Templar documents."{{sfn|Ralls|2007|page=154}}

{{blockquote|Gauserand de Montpesant, a knight of Provence, said that their superior showed him an idol made in the form of Baffomet; another, named Raymond Rubei, described it as a wooden head, on which the figure of Baphomet was painted, and adds, "that he worshipped it by kissing its feet, and exclaiming, 'Yalla', which was", he says, {{lang|la|"verbum Saracenorum"}}, a word taken from the Saracens. A templar of Florence declared that, in the secret chapters of the order, one brother said to the other, showing the idol, "Adore this head—this head is your god and your Mahomet." |source=[[Thomas Wright (antiquarian)|Thomas Wright]], ''The Worship of the Generative Powers'' (1865){{sfn|Wright|1865|p=138}} }}

[[File:Pentagrams from La Clef de la Magie Noire.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Drawings of upright and inverted pentagrams representing Spirit over matter (holiness) and matter over Spirit (evil), respectively, from {{lang|fr|La Clef de la magie noire}} (1897) by French occultist [[Stanislas de Guaita]].<ref name=Strube/><ref name="Guaita">{{harvnb|De Guaita|1897|p=[https://archive.org/details/essaisdescience00guaigoog/page/n403 387]}}.</ref> Note the names [[Adam]], [[Eve]], [[Samael]], and [[Lilith]].]]

The name ''Baphomet'' came into popular English usage in the 19th century during debate and speculation on the reasons for the suppression of the Templars. Modern scholars agree that the name of Baphomet was an Old French corruption of the name "Mohammed",<ref name="Stahuljak2" /> with the interpretation being that some of the Templars, through their long military occupation of the [[Outremer]], had begun incorporating Islamic ideas into their belief system, and that this was seen and documented by the [[Inquisitors]] as heresy.<ref name="barber">{{harvnb|Barber|1994|page=321}}.</ref> [[Alain Demurger]], however, rejects the idea that the Templars could have adopted the doctrines of their enemies.<ref name="BarberTale">{{harvnb|Barber|2006|p=305}}.</ref> [[Helen Nicholson (historian)|Helen Nicholson]] writes that the charges were essentially "manipulative"—the Templars "were accused of becoming fairy-tale Muslims".<ref name="BarberTale" /> [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|Medieval Christians]] believed that Muslims were [[Idolatry|idolatrous]] and worshipped [[Muhammad]] as a god,<ref name="Stahuljak2" /> with ''mahomet'' becoming ''[[wikt:mammet|mammet]]'' in English, meaning an [[cult image|idol]] or false god{{sfn|Games|Coren|2007|pages=143–144}} (see also [[Medieval Christian views on Muhammad]]). This idol-worship is attributed to Muslims in several {{lang|fro|[[Chanson de geste|chansons de geste]]}}. For example, one finds the gods {{lang|oc|Bafum e [[Termagant|Travagan]]}} in a Provençal poem on the life of [[Honoratus|St. Honorat]], completed in 1300.{{sfn|Féraud|1858|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ctc5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} In the {{lang|fr|Chanson de Simon Pouille}}, written before 1235, a Saracen idol is called ''Bafumetz''.{{sfn|Pouille|1968|p=153}}

==Alternative etymologies==
While modern scholars and the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''<ref>The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]]'' reports "Baphomet" as a medieval form of Mahomet, but does not find a first appearance in English until [[Henry Hallam]], ''The View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages'', which also appeared in 1818.</ref> state that the origin of the name Baphomet was a probable Old French version of "Mahomet",<ref name=partner/><ref name=barber/> alternative etymologies have also been proposed.

[[Image:Abraxas Artistic representationi.jpg|thumb|[[Seal of the grand master of the Knights Templar|Knights Templar seal]] representing the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] figure [[Abraxas]]{{sfn|Ralls|2007|pages=184–185}}]]

In the 18th century, speculative theories arose that sought to tie the Knights Templar with the origins of [[Freemasonry]].<ref name="knighttemplars">{{harvnb|Hodapp|2005|pages=203–208}}.</ref> Bookseller, Freemason and [[Illuminati|Illuminatus]]<ref>{{Cite web |last = McKeown |first = Trevor W. |title = A Bavarian Illuminati Primer |access-date = 2011-04-21 |url = http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/illuminati.html}}</ref> [[Christoph Friedrich Nicolai]] (1733–1811), in {{lang|de|Versuch über die Beschuldigungen welche dem Tempelherrenorden gemacht worden, und über dessen Geheimniß}} (1782), was the first to claim that the Templars were [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]], and that "Baphomet" was formed from the Greek words {{lang|grc|βαφη μητȢς}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|baphe metous}}, to mean {{lang|de|Taufe der Weisheit}}, "Baptism of Wisdom".<ref>{{harvnb|Nicolai|1782|loc=vol. I, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-3A31ED-VFgC&pg=RA1-PA136 p. 136ff]}}. Nicolai's theories are discussed by [[Thomas De Quincey]] in {{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhaaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA444 |title=Historico-Critical Inquiry into the Origin of the Rosicrucians and the Free-Masons |journal=London Magazine |date=1824|last1=Quincey |first1=Thomas De }} See also Partner, p. 129: "The German Masonic bookseller, Friedrich Nicolai, produced an idea that the Templar Masons, through the medieval Templars, were the eventual heirs of an heretical doctrine which originated with the early Gnostics. He supported this belief by a farrago of learned references to the writings of early Fathers of the Church on heresy, and by impressive-looking citations from the Syriac. Nicolai based his theory on false etymology and wild surmise, but it was destined to be very influential. He was also most probably familiar with [[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]]'s claim, made in the early sixteenth century, that the medieval Templars had been wizards."</ref> Nicolai "attached to it the idea of the image of the supreme God, in the state of quietude attributed to him by the [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] Gnostics", according to F.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;M. Raynouard, and "supposed that the Templars had a secret doctrine and initiations of several grades", which "the Saracens had communicated&nbsp;... to them".{{sfn|Michaud|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mAcMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA496 496]}} He further connected the ''figura Baffometi'' with the [[pentagram of Pythagoras|Pythagorean pentacle]]:

{{Blockquote|
What properly was the sign of the Baffomet, {{lang|la|italic=no|"figura Baffometi"}}, which was depicted on the breast of the bust representing the Creator, cannot be exactly determined&nbsp;... I believe it to have been the Pythagorean pentagon ({{lang|de|Fünfeck}}) of health and prosperity:&nbsp;... It is well known how holy this figure was considered, and that the Gnostics had much in common with the Pythagoreans. From the prayers which the soul shall recite, according to the [[Ophite Diagrams|diagram of the Ophite-worshippers]], when they on their return to God are stopped by the Archons, and their purity has to be examined, it appears that these serpent-worshippers believed they must produce a token that they had been clean on earth. I believe that this token was also the holy pentagon, the sign of their initiation ({{lang|el|τελειας βαφης μετεος}}).
|source="Symbols and Symbolism" in ''Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine'', 1854<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFgDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA284 |title=Symbols and Symbolism |journal=Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine |volume=1 |location=London |year=1854 |pages=275–292}} p. 284.</ref>}}

[[Émile Littré]] (1801–1881) in {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire de la langue francaise}} asserted that the word was [[Kabbalah|cabalistically]] formed by writing backward ''tem. o. h. p. ab'', an abbreviation of {{lang|la|templi omnium hominum pacis abbas}}, "abbot, or father of the temple of peace of all men". His source is the "Abbé Constant", which is to say, Alphonse-Louis Constant, the real name of Eliphas Lévi.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.23021 |doi-access=free |title=Additions au dictionnaire de Littré (Lexicologie botanique) d'apres le de compositione medicamentorum de Bernard Dessen (1556) |date=1881 |last1=Boucherie |first1=Anatole |last2=Dessen |first2=Bernard |last3=Littré |first3=Emile }}{{pn|date=February 2024}}</ref>

[[Hugh J. Schonfield]] (1901–1988),<ref>{{cite book |first=Hugh J. |last=Schonfield |year=1984 |title=The Essene Odyssey |location=Longmead, Dorset |publisher=Element |edition=1998 paperback |page=164}}</ref> one of the scholars who worked on the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], argued in his book ''The Essene Odyssey'' that the word "Baphomet" was created with knowledge of the [[Atbash]] substitution cipher, which substitutes the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the last, the second for the second last, and so on. "Baphomet" rendered in Hebrew is {{Script/Hebrew|בפומת}} (''bpwmt''); interpreted using Atbash, it becomes {{Script/Hebrew|שופיא}} (''šwpy‘'', "Shofya'"), which can be interpreted as the Greek word ''[[Sophia (wisdom)|Sophia]]'', meaning "wisdom". This theory appears as an important plot point in the novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'', although it was recently questioned by the French historian Thierry Murcia, who challenges the method of calculation used by Schonfield.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Thierry |last=Murcia |title=Dan Brown, Hugh J. Schonfield, and the Hebrew transliteration of 'Sophia' |url=https://www.academia.edu/101826933 |magazine=Templarkey |issue=7 |year=2023 |pages=54–55}}</ref>

==Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall==
[[File:Mysterium Baphometis Revelatum - Tab I, Fig 7-8.png|thumb|right|upright|[[Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall]] (1774–1856) associated a series of carved or engraved figures found on a number of supposed 13th-century Templar artifacts (such as cups, bowls and coffers) with the Baphometic idol.]]

In 1818, the name Baphomet appeared in the essay by the Viennese Orientalist [[Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall|Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall]], {{lang|la|Mysterium Baphometis revelatum, seu Fratres Militiæ Templi, qua Gnostici et quidem Ophiani, Apostasiæ, Idoloduliæ et Impuritatis convicti, per ipsa eorum Monumenta}}<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrFEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1 |author=Hammer-Purgstall |title=Mysterium Baphometis revelatum |journal=Fundgruben des Orients |volume=6 |location=Vienna |year=1818 |pages=1–120; 445–499}}</ref> ("Discovery of the Mystery of Baphomet, by which the Knights Templars, like the [[Gnostics]] and [[Ophites]], are convicted of Apostasy, of Idolatry and of moral Impurity, by their own Monuments"), which presented an elaborate pseudohistory constructed to discredit [[Knights Templar (Freemasonry)|Templarist Masonry]] and, by extension, Freemasonry.{{sfn|Partner|1987|p=140}} Following Nicolai, he argued, using as archaeological evidence "Baphomets" faked by earlier scholars and literary evidence such as the Grail romances, that the Templars were Gnostics and the "Templars' head" was a Gnostic idol called ''Baphomet:''

{{blockquote|
His chief subject is the images which are called Baphomet&nbsp;... found in several museums and collections of antiquities, as in Weimar&nbsp;... and in the imperial cabinet in Vienna. These little images are of stone, partly hermaphrodites, having, generally, two heads or two faces, with a beard, but, in other respects, female figures, most of them accompanied by serpents, the sun and moon, and other strange emblems, and bearing many inscriptions, mostly in Arabic&nbsp;... The inscriptions he reduces almost all to ''Mete''[, which]&nbsp;... is, according to him, not the Μητις of the Greeks, but the ''[[Sophia (Gnosticism)|Sophia]], [[Sophia (Gnosticism)#Achamōth|Achamot]] [[Sophia (Gnosticism)#Prunikos|Prunikos]]'' of the Ophites, which was represented half man, half woman, as the symbol of wisdom, unnatural voluptuousness and the principle of sensuality&nbsp;... He asserts that those small figures are such as the Templars, according to the statement of a witness, carried with them in their coffers. ''Baphomet'' signifies {{lang|grc|Βαφη Μητεος}}, ''baptism of Metis, baptism of fire'',<ref>''Sic''; {{lang|grc|Μητις}} is lit. 'wisdom, craft, or skill'.</ref> or the ''Gnostic baptism'', an ''enlightening of the mind'', which, however, was interpreted by the Ophites, in an obscene sense, as ''fleshly union''&nbsp;... the fundamental assertion, that those idols and cups came from the Templars, has been considered as unfounded, especially as the images known to have existed among the Templars seem rather to be images of saints.
|source="Baphomet" in ''Encyclopedia Americana'', 1851<ref>[http://www.agepedia.org/wiki/BAPHOMET "Baphomet"]. {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120723145303/http://www.agepedia.org/wiki/BAPHOMET |date=2012-07-23 }}, ''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'', 1851.</ref>
}}

Hammer's essay did not pass unchallenged, and F.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;M. Raynouard published an {{lang|fr|Étude sur 'Mysterium Baphometi revelatum'}} in {{lang|fr|[[Journal des sçavans|Journal des savants]]}} the following year.<ref>In {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/journaldessavant1819acaduoft |title=Journal des savants |language=fr |year=1819 |pages=151–161; 221–229|publisher=Paris C. Klincksieck }} (Noted by Barber 1994, p. 393, note 13.) An abridged English translation appears in Michaud, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_mAcMAAAAYAAJ/page/n506 "Raynouard's note on Hammer's 'Mysterium Baphometi Revelatum{{'"}}], pp. 494–500.</ref> [[Charles William King]] criticized Hammer, saying that he had been deceived by "the paraphernalia of&nbsp;... Rosicrucian or alchemical quacks",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar60.htm |title=The Gnostics and Their Remains: Part V. Templars, Rosicrucians, Freemasons: The Templars |website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref> and [[Peter Partner]] agreed that the images "may have been forgeries from the occultist workshops".{{sfn|Partner|1987|p=141}} At the very least, there was little evidence to tie them to the Knights Templar—in the 19th century some European museums acquired such pseudo-Egyptian objects,{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} which were cataloged as "Baphomets" and credulously thought to have been idols of the Templars.<ref>Hans Tietze illustrated one, in the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], Vienna, in {{cite journal |title=The Psychology and Aesthetics of Forgery in Art |journal=Metropolitan Museum Studies |volume=5 |issue=1 |date=August 1934 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.2307/1522815 |jstor=1522815|last1=Tietze |first1=Hans }} p. 1.</ref>

==Éliphas Lévi==
[[File:Eliphas Levi.png|upright|thumb|left|Éliphas Lévi]]
Later in the 19th century, the name of Baphomet became further associated with the [[occult]]. [[Éliphas Lévi]] published {{lang|fr|[[Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie]]}} (''Dogma and Rituals of High Magic'') as two volumes ({{lang|la|Dogme}} 1854, {{lang|la|Rituel}} 1856), in which he included an image he had drawn himself, which he described as Baphomet and "The Sabbatic Goat", showing a winged humanoid goat with a pair of breasts and a torch on its head between its horns (see the illustration). This image has become the best-known representation of Baphomet. Lévi considered the Baphomet to be a depiction of the absolute in symbolic form and explicated in detail his symbolism in the drawing that served as the frontispiece:

{{blockquote|
The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the [[pentagram]] on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of occultism, the one pointing up to the white moon of [[Chesed]], the other pointing down to the black one of [[Gevurah|Geburah]]. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyne of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it. The beast's head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales: the water, the semi-circle above it: the atmosphere, the feathers following above: the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.
|source=Éliphas Lévi, {{lang|fr|Dogme et rituel de la haute magie}}<ref>{{harvnb|Lévi|1861|p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KFOi-CfETNIC/page/n230 211]}}: {{lang|fr|Le bouc qui est représenté dans notre frontispice porte sur le front le signe du pentagramme, la pointe en haut, ce qui suffit pour en faire un symbole de lumière; il fait des deux mains le signe de l'occultisme, et montre en haut la lune blanche de Chesed, et en bas la lune noire de Géburah. Ce signe exprime le parfait accord de la miséricorde avec la justice. L'un des ses bras est féminin, l'autre masculin, comme dans l'androgyne de Khunrath dont nous avons dû réunir les attributs à ceux de notre bouc, puisque c'est un seul et même symbole. Le flambeau de l'intelligence qui brille entre ses cornes, est la lumière magique de l'équilibre universel; c'est aussi la figure de l'âme élevée au-dessus de la matière, bien que tenant à la matière même, comme la flamme tient au flambeau. La tête hideuse de l'animal exprime l'horreur du péché, dont l'agent matériel, seul responsable, doit seul à jamais porter la peine: car l'âme est impassible de sa nature, et n'arrive à souffrir qu'en se matérialisant. Le caducée, qui tient lieu de l'organe générateur, représente la vie éternelle; le ventre couvert d'écailles c'est l'eau; le cercle qui est au-dessus, c'est l'atmosphère; les plumes qui viennent ensuite sont l'emblème du volatile; puis l'humanité est représentée par les deux mamelles et les bras androgynes de ce sphinx des sciences occultes.}}</ref>}}

===Witches' Sabbath===
Lévi's depiction of Baphomet is similar to that of [[The Devil (Tarot card)|The Devil]] in the early [[Tarot]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lévi|1861|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KFOi-CfETNIC&pg=RA1-PA352 352]}}: "{{script|Hebr|ס}} {{lang|fr|Le ciel de Mercure, science occulte, magie, commerce, éloquence, mystère, force morale. Hiéroglyphe, {{smallcaps|le diable}}, le bouc de Mendès ou le Baphomet du temple avec tous ses attributs panthéistiques.}}"</ref> Lévi, working with correspondences different from those later used by [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers|S.&nbsp;L. MacGregor Mathers]], "equated the Devil Tarot key with [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]", giving "his figure Mercury's [[caduceus]], rising like a phallus from his groin".{{sfn|Place|2005|p=85}} The symbol is said to have originated when Mercury / Hermes once attempted to stop a fight between two snakes by throwing his rod at them, whereupon they twined themselves around the rod. The word Caduceus is from the Greek root meaning "herald's wand" and was also a badge of diplomatic ambassadors and became associated with commerce, eloquence, alchemy, thievery, and lying. The etymology of Caduceus is from [[Doric Greek]] {{lang|grc|κᾱρύκειον}} {{lang|grc-Latn|karukeion}}, from the Greek {{lang|grc|κῆρυξ}} {{lang|grc-Latn|kērux}} meaning "herald".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bohigian |first1=George |title=The Caduceus vs. Staff of Aesculapius – One Snake or Two? |journal=Missouri Medicine |date=2019 |volume=116 |issue=6 |pages=476–477 |pmid=31911724 |pmc=6913859 }}</ref>

[[File:Jean Dodal Tarot trump 15.jpg|thumb|upright|{{lang|fr|Le Diable}}, from the early 18th-century [[Tarot of Marseilles]] by Jean Dodal]]

Lévi believed that the alleged devil worship of the medieval [[Witches' Sabbath]] was a perpetuation of ancient pagan rites. A goat with a candle between its horns appears in medieval witchcraft records,<ref>In {{harvnb|Murray|1921}}, the devil was said to appear as "a great ''Black Goat'' with a ''Candle'' between his Horns". Murray, p. 145. For the devil as a goat, see pp. 63, 65, 68–69, 70, 144–146, 159, 160, 180, 182, 183, 233, 247, 248.</ref> and other pieces of lore are cited in {{lang|fr|Dogme et Rituel}}:

{{blockquote|
Below this figure we read a frank and simple inscription—THE DEVIL. Yes, we confront here that phantom of all terrors, the dragon of all theogonies, the Ahriman of the Persians, the Typhon of the Egyptians, the Python of the Greeks, the old serpent of the Hebrews, the fantastic monster, the nightmare, the Croquemitaine, the gargoyle, the great beast of the Middle Ages, and—worse than all these—the Baphomet of the Templars, the bearded idol of the alchemist, the obscene deity of Mendes, the goat of the Sabbath. The frontispiece to this 'Ritual' reproduces the exact figure of the terrible emperor of night, with all his attributes and all his characters ... Yes, in our profound conviction, the Grand Masters of the Order of Templars worshipped the Baphomet, and caused it to be worshipped by their initiates; yes, there existed in the past, and there may be still in the present, assemblies which are presided over by this figure, seated on a throne and having a flaming torch between the horns. But the adorers of this sign do not consider, as do we, that it is a representation of the devil; on the contrary, for them it is that of the god Pan, the god of our modern schools of philosophy, the god of the Alexandrian theurgic school and of our own mystical Neoplatonists, the god of Lamartine and Victor Cousin, the god of Spinoza and Plato, the god of the primitive Gnostic schools; the Christ also of the dissident priesthood ... The mysteries of the Sabbath have been variously described, but they figure always in grimoires and in magical trials; the revelations made on the subject may be classified under three heads—1. those referring to a fantastic and imaginary Sabbath; 2. those which betray the secrets of the occult assemblies of veritable adepts; 3. revelations of foolish and criminal gatherings, having for their object the operations of black magic.
|source=Lévi, "The Sabbath of the Sorcerers"{{sfn|Lévi|1896|loc="The Sabbath of the Sorcerers"|pp=288–292}}
}}

Lévi's Baphomet may have been partly inspired by [[grotesque]] carvings on the Templar churches of Lanleff in [[Brittany]] and Saint-Merri in Paris, which depict squatting bearded men with bat wings, female breasts, horns and the shaggy hindquarters of a beast.<ref>Jackson, Nigel, & Howard, Michael (2003). ''The Pillars of Tubal Cain''. Milverton, Somerset: Capall Bann. p. 223.</ref>

===Socialism, romanticism, and magnetism===
Lévi's references to the [[Catechetical School of Alexandria|School of Alexandria]] and the Templars can be explained against the background of debates about the origins and character of true Christianity. It has been pointed out that these debates included contemporary forms of [[Romanticism|Romantic]] [[socialism]], or [[Utopian socialism]], which were seen as the heirs of the Gnostics, Templars, and other mystics. Lévi, being himself an adherent of these schools since the 1840s, regarded the socialists and Romantics (such as [[Alphonse de Lamartine]]) as the successors of this alleged tradition of true religion. In fact, his narrative mirrors historiographies of socialism, including the {{lang|fr|Histoire des Montagnards}} (1847) by his best friend and political comrade [[Alphonse Esquiros]]. Consequently, the Baphomet is depicted by Lévi as the symbol of a revolutionary heretical tradition that would soon lead to the "emancipation of humanity" and the establishment of a perfect social order.<ref name=Strube/>

In Lévi's writings, the Baphomet does not only express a historical-political tradition, but also occult natural forces that are explained by his magical theory of the Astral Light. He developed this notion in the context of what has been called "spiritualist magnetism": theories that stressed the religious implications of magnetism. Often, their representatives were socialists that believed in the social consequences of a "synthesis" of religion and science that was to be achieved by the means of magnetism.<ref name=Strube/> Spiritualist magnetists with a socialist background include the [[Baron du Potet]] and Henri Delaage, who served as main sources for Lévi. At the same time, Lévi polemicized against famed Catholic authors such as Jules-Eudes de Mirville and [[Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux]], who regarded magnetism as the workings of demons and other infernal powers.<ref name=Strube/> The paragraph just before the passage cited in the previous section has to be seen against this background:

{{blockquote|Let us state now for the edification of the vulgar, for the satisfaction of M. le Comte de Mirville, for the justification of the demonologist Bodin, for the greater glory of the Church, which persecuted Templars, burnt magicians, excommunicated Freemasons, &c. let us state boldly and precisely that all the inferior initiates of the occult sciences and profaners of the great arcanum, not only did in the past, but do now, and will ever, adore what is signified by this alarming symbol.{{sfn|Lévi|1896|loc="The Sabbath of the Sorcerers"|p=288}} }}

===Goat of Mendes===
{{redirect|Goat of Mendes|the album by Akercocke|The Goat of Mendes}}
{{Multiple image
|image1=Khnum.svg
|caption1=The Egyptian god [[Khnum]] ([[Upper Egypt]]) was usually depicted with the head of a spiral-horned ram
|width1=108
|image2= Banebdjedet.svg
|caption2=The Egyptian god [[Banebdjedet]] ([[Lower Egypt]]) was sometimes depicted with four ram heads.
|width2=100
}}
[[Mendes]] is the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet. Lévi equates his image with "The Goat of Mendes", possibly following the account by [[Herodotus]]<ref name=Herodotus>{{cite book |author=Herodotus |author-link=Herodotus |title=Histories |at=ii. 42, 46 and 166}}</ref> that the god of Mendes was depicted with a goat's face and legs. Herodotus relates how all male goats were held in great reverence by the Mendesians, and how in his time a woman publicly [[zoophilia|copulated with a goat]].<ref name=Herodotus/><ref>Plutarch specifically associates [[Osiris]] with the "goat at Mendes". {{cite book |author=Plutarch |author-link=Plutarch |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/th1/th140.htm |title=De Iside et Osiride |page=lxxiii}}</ref> The chief [[Deity|deities]] of Mendes were the [[Sheep|ram]] deity [[Banebdjedet]] (lit. ''Ba of the Lord of Djedet''), who was the [[Egyptian soul|Ba]] of [[Osiris]], and his consort, the fish goddess [[Hatmehit]], with both deities being worshipped in [[Lower Egypt]].<ref>Herodotus, History, Book II, 42 ([[Robin Waterfield]] translation)</ref><ref>Volokhine, Youri, {{lang|fr|italic=no|"Pan en Egypte et le «bouc» de Mendès"}}, in Francesca Prescendi and Youri Volokhine, {{lang|fr|Dans le laboratoire de l'historien des religions: Mélanges offerts à Philippe Borgeaud}}. Editions Labor et Fides, 2011, pp. 637–642, 646–647.</ref> [[Khnum]] was the equivalent god in [[Upper Egypt]].<ref name="pinch">{{cite book|title=Handbook of Egyptian mythology|first=Geraldine| last=Pinch|pages=114–115|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| date=2004 |isbn=0-19-517024-5| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-mTqRTrimgC| via=[[Google Books]]| url-access=limited}}</ref>

Khnum was typically portrayed with the horns of a [[Ram (sheep)|ram]], one of the sacred animals worshiped in [[Ancient Egypt]], representing aspects such as [[fertility]], rebirth, regeneration, and [[resurrection]]. He was originally illustrated with horizontally spiraled horns (based on the [[Ancient Egyptian corkscrew-horned sheep]], an extinct subspecies of the [[barbary sheep]]), but his representation later evolved to feature the down-turned horns of [[Horns of Ammon|Ammon]] in the New Kingdom (based on the extinct sheep subspecies ''Ovis platyra palaeoaegyptiacus'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ali |first=Mona Ezz |date=2020 |title=God Heryshef |url=https://journals.ekb.eg/article_94946_8d4c80161800403237fbbcd71888b68f.pdf |journal=Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=27}}</ref>

[[E. A. Wallis Budge]] writes:

{{blockquote|At several places in the Delta, e.g. Hermopolis, Lycopolis, and Mendes, the god Pan and a goat were worshipped; Strabo, quoting (xvii. 1, 19) Pindar, says that in these places goats had intercourse with women, and Herodotus (ii. 46) instances a case which was said to have taken place in the open day. The Mendisians, according to this last writer, paid reverence to all goats, and more to the males than to the females, and particularly to one he-goat, on the death of which public mourning is observed throughout the whole Mendesian district; they call both Pan and the goat Mendes, and both were worshipped as gods of generation and fecundity. Diodorus compares the cult of the goat of Mendes with that of [[Priapus]], and groups the god with the Pans and the Satyrs.{{sfn|Budge|1904|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6SBLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA353 353]}}}}

The link between Baphomet and the [[Pan (god)|pagan god Pan]] was also observed by [[Aleister Crowley]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Aleister Crowley |title=777 and Other Qabalistic Correspondences 1970}}</ref> as well as [[Anton LaVey]]:

{{blockquote|Many pleasures revered before the advent of Christianity were condemned by the new religion. It required little change-over to transform the horns and cloven hooves of Pan into a most convincing devil! Pan's attributes could neatly be changed into charged-with-punishment sins, and so the metamorphosis was complete.<ref>{{cite book |author=Anton LaVey |title=The Satanic Bible 1969}}</ref>}}

==Aleister Crowley==
{{Thelema|expand=Deities}}
The Baphomet of Lévi was to become an important figure within the cosmology of [[Thelema]], the mystical system and religion established by [[Aleister Crowley]] in the early 20th century. Baphomet features in the Creed of the Gnostic Catholic Church recited by the congregation in ''[[Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass|The Gnostic Mass]]'', in the sentence: "And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mysteries, in His name BAPHOMET."<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Helena |author2=Tau Apiryon |website=The Invisible Basilica of Sabazius |title=The Creed of the Gnostic Catholic Church: An Examination |access-date=2022-12-05 |url = https://sabazius.oto-usa.org/the-creed-of-the-gnostic-catholic-church-an-examination/}}</ref>

In ''[[Magick (Book 4)]]'', Crowley asserted that Baphomet was a divine androgyne and "the hieroglyph of arcane perfection", seen as that which reflects: "What occurs above so reflects below, or As above so below":

{{blockquote|The Devil does not exist. It is a false name invented by the Black Brothers to imply a Unity in their ignorant muddle of dispersions. A devil who had unity would be a God... "The Devil" is, historically, the God of any people that one personally dislikes&nbsp;... This serpent, SATAN, is not the enemy of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade "Know Thyself!" and taught Initiation. He is "The Devil" of [[The Book of Thoth (Crowley)|The Book of Thoth]], and His emblem is {{sc|BAPHOMET}}, the Androgyne who is the hieroglyph of arcane perfection&nbsp;... He is therefore Life, and Love. But moreover his letter is ''ayin'', the Eye, so that he is Light; and his Zodiacal image is Capricornus, that leaping goat whose attribute is Liberty.
|source=''Magick: Liber ABA'', Book Four, Parts I–IV{{sfn|Crowley|Desti|Waddell|2004|p={{pn|date=March 2024}}}} }}

For Crowley, Baphomet is further a representative of the spiritual nature of the [[Spermatozoon]], while also being symbolic of the "magical child" produced as a result of [[sex magic]].<ref>{{Cite book |publisher = Feral House |last = Carter |first = John |title = Sex and Rockets: the Occult Life of Jack Parsons |location = USA |year = 2005 |isbn = 9780922915972 |pages = 151–153}}</ref> As such, Baphomet represents the Union of Opposites, especially as mystically personified in [[Chaos (cosmogony)|Chaos]] and [[Babalon]] combined and biologically manifested with the sperm and egg united in the zygote.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

Crowley proposed that Baphomet was derived from "Father [[Mithras]]". In his ''Confessions'' he describes the circumstances that led to this etymology:<ref>{{Cite book |publisher = Mandrake Press |last = Crowley |first = Aleister |title = The Spirit of Solitude: an autohagiography: subsequently re-Antichristened The Confessions of Aleister Crowley |location = London |year = 1929}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I had taken the name Baphomet as my motto in the O.T.O. For six years and more I had tried to discover the proper way to spell this name. I knew that it must have eight letters, and also that the numerical and literal correspondences must be such as to express the meaning of the name in such a way as to confirm what scholarship had found out about it, and also to clear up those problems which archaeologists had so far failed to solve&nbsp;... One theory of the name is that it represents the words βαφὴ μήτεος, the baptism of wisdom; another, that it is a corruption of a title meaning "Father Mithras". Needless to say, the suffix R supported the latter theory. I added up the word as spelt by the Wizard. It totalled 729. This number had never appeared in my Cabbalistic working and therefore meant nothing to me. It however justified itself as being the cube of nine. The word {{lang|grc|κηφας}}, the mystic title given by Christ to Peter as the cornerstone of the Church, has this same value. So far, the Wizard had shown great qualities! He had cleared up the etymological problem and shown why the Templars should have given the name Baphomet to their so-called idol. Baphomet was Father Mithras, the cubical stone which was the corner of the Temple.}}

==Modern interpretations and usage==
[[File:RWS Tarot 15 Devil.jpg|upright|thumb|[[The Devil (Tarot card)|The Devil]] in the [[Rider–Waite tarot deck]]]]

Lévi's Baphomet is the source of the later [[tarot]] image of the Devil in the [[Rider–Waite Tarot|Rider–Waite design]].<ref name="Waite">{{harvnb|Waite|1911|loc=[http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/pkt0102.htm Class I, §2]}}: "Since 1856 the influence of Eliphas Lévi and his doctrine of occultism has changed the face of this card, and it now appears as a pseudo-Baphometic figure with the head of a goat and a great torch between the horns; it is seated instead of erect, and in place of the generative organs there is the Hermetic caduceus."</ref> The concept of a downward-pointing pentagram on its forehead was enlarged upon by Lévi in his discussion (without illustration) of the Goat of Mendes arranged within such a pentagram, which he contrasted with the [[Microcosm–macrocosm analogy|microcosmic man]] arranged within a similar but upright pentagram.<ref>{{harvnb|Lévi|1861|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KFOi-CfETNIC&pg=RA1-PA93 93–98]}}: {{lang|fr|"Le pentagramme élevant en l'air deux de ses pointes représente Satan ou le bouc du sabbat, et il représente le Sauveur lorsqu'il élève en l'air un seul de ses rayons&nbsp;... En le disposant de manière que deux de ses pointes soient en haut et une seule pointe en bas, on peut y voir les cornes, les oreilles et la barbe du bouc hiératique de Mendès, et il devient le signe des évocations infernales."}}</ref> The actual image of a goat in a downward-pointing [[pentagram]] first appeared in the 1897 book {{lang|fr|La Clef de la Magie Noire}}, written by the French occultist [[Stanislas de Guaita]].<ref name="Strube" /><ref name="Guaita" /> It was this image that was later adopted as the official symbol—called the [[Sigil of Baphomet]]—of the [[Church of Satan]], and continues to be used among Satanists.<ref name="churchofsatan.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/BaphometSigil.html |title=Sigil of Baphomet |first=Peter H. |last=Gilmore |publisher=Church of Satan}}</ref>

Baphomet, as Lévi's illustration suggests, has occasionally been portrayed as a synonym of [[Satan]] or a [[demon]], a member of the hierarchy of Hell. Baphomet appears in that guise as a character in [[James Blish]]'s ''[[The Day After Judgment]]''.<ref>Ketterer, David (1987). ''Imprisoned in a tesseract: The Life and Work of James Blish''. Kent State University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-87338-334-9}}.</ref> Christian evangelist [[Jack T. Chick]] claimed that Baphomet is a demon worshipped by [[Freemasons]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1074/1074_01.asp |title=That's Baphomet? |website=www.chick.com}}</ref> a claim that apparently originated with the [[Taxil hoax]]. Lévi's Baphomet was depicted on the cover of {{lang|fr|Les Mystères de la franc-maçonnerie dévoilés}}, [[Léo Taxil]]'s lurid paperback "exposé" of Freemasonry, which, in 1897, he revealed as a hoax intended to ridicule the Catholic Church and its anti-Masonic propaganda.<ref>[http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/taxilconfession.html "Leo Taxil's confession"]. Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/taxil_confessed.html |title=Leo Taxil's confession |first=Trevor W. |last=McKeown |publisher=Grand Moshe of British Columbia and Yukon}}</ref>

In 2014, [[The Satanic Temple]] commissioned an {{cvt|8.5|ft}} [[statue of Baphomet]] to stand alongside a [[Ten Commandments Monument (Oklahoma City)|monument of the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma State Capitol]], citing "respect for diversity and religious minorities" as reasons for the monument.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/02/satanic-temples-7ft-baphomet-demon-pictures_n_5253153.html |title=First Look: The 7ft Satanic 'Baphomet' Demon Statue Is Coming Along Nicely (PICTURES) |work=Huffington Post |date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/09/satanists-we-want-a-monument-in-oklahoma/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140501212156/http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/09/satanists-we-want-a-monument-in-oklahoma/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 1, 2014 |title=Satanists want statue next to 10 Commandments |work=CNN Blogs}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/25/suspect-in-ten-commandments-monument-vandalism-case-taken-to-mental-health-facility/ |title=Suspect in Ten Commandments Monument Vandalism Case Taken to Mental Health Facility |first=Friendly |last=Atheist |work=Patheos}}</ref> (The [[Oklahoma Supreme Court]] ultimately declared religious displays illegal.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/07/25/baphomet-satanic-temple-detroit-preachers-prayers/30682409/ |title=Protesters: Don't turn Detroit over to Satanists |work=Detroit Free Press}}</ref> The Baphomet statue was unveiled in Detroit on 25 July 2015, as a symbol of the modern Satanist movement.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/3972713/detroit-satanic-statue-baphomet/ |title=Hundreds Gather for Unveiling of Satanic Statue in Detroit |magazine=Time}}</ref><ref name=statue2>{{cite news |last1=Daniels |first1=Serena Maria |title=Satanic Temple Unveils Baphomet Sculpture In Detroit |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/satanic-temple-unveils-sculpture-in-detroit_55b63881e4b0224d8832b687 |access-date=27 July 2015 |work=Huffington Post |date=Jul 27, 2015}}</ref> The Satanic Temple transported the Baphomet statue to Little Rock, Arkansas, where another 10 Commandments monument had been recently installed; the statue was publicly displayed during a Temple demonstration on 16 August 2018.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/arkansas/articles/2018-08-16/satanic-temple-unveils-baphomet-statue-at-arkansas-capitol |title=Satanic Temple Unveils Baphomet Statue at Arkansas Capitol |date=16 August 2018 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
[[Image:LeoTaxilmysteres.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Promotional poster for [[Léo Taxil]]'s {{lang|fr|Les Mystères de la franc-maçonnerie dévoilés}} (1886) adapted Lévi's invention]]

In ''[[Sartor Resartus]]'' (1833–34) by [[Thomas Carlyle]], protagonist Diogenes Teufelsdröckh describes his spiritual rebirth as a "Baphometic Fire-baptism".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sartor Resartus |first=Thomas |last=Carlyle |url=https://gutenberg.org/files/1051/1051-h/1051-h.htm |access-date=2023-02-07 |via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> [[Clive Barker]]'s novel ''[[Cabal (novella)|Cabal]]'' (1988) and its film adaption, ''[[Nightbreed]]'' (1990), Baphomet is depicted as the god worshipped by the Night Breed creatures.<ref>{{Cite book |publisher = Fontana|last1= Salisbury |first1= Mark |last2= Gilbert |first2= John |title = Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Making of the Film |location = London |year = 1990 |isbn = 9780006381365 |pages = 24}}</ref>

Baphomet appears as a recurring antagonist in the long-running German novel series ''[[John Sinclair (German fiction)|Geisterjäger John Sinclair]]'', in which he is the master of Vincent van Akkeren and his cult of renegade Knights Templar. The horror novels by author [[Jason Dark]] portray Baphomet as one of the three entities that form the unholy trinity of [[Lucifer]], with the other two being [[Asmodeus|Asmodis]] and [[Beelzebub]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hilleberg|first=Florian|title=Dunkle Legenden. Fakten, Mythen, Hintergründe – 50 Jahre Geisterjäger John Sinclair|year=2023|publisher=Bastei Lübbe|location=Cologne|isbn=978-3-404-61746-3|pages=148–151|language=de}}</ref>

The 2016 audio drama ''[[Robin of Sherwood: The Knights Of The Apocalypse]]'' (based on the TV show ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]''), has Robin and his companions come into conflict with the titular Knights. The Knights of the Apocalypse are depicted as a cult which worships Baphomet; the Knights are also depicted as a splinter group from the Knights Templar.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36323768|title=Robin of Sherwood: Cult show returns with fan-funded drama |date=30 June 2016 |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=16 January 2022}}</ref>

Baphomet is depicted in the 2018 horror film ''[[Antrum (film)|Antrum]]'' as an iron device used as a [[brazen bull]] by cannibals.

==See also==
* [[Sigil of Baphomet]]
* [[Statue of Baphomet]]
* [[Azazel]]
* [[Beelzebub]]
* [[Behemoth]]
* [[Left-hand path and right-hand path]]
* [[Mahound]]
* [[Pazuzu]]
* [[Termagant]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Barber |given=Malcolm|author-link=Malcolm Barber |year=1994 |title=The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple |publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-42041-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Barber |given=Malcolm|year=2006 |title= The Trial of the Templars|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-67236-8|edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book|last1=Barber|first1=Malcolm|last2=Bate|first2=Keith|title= Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=978-0-7546-6356-0|year=2010}}
* {{cite book |last=Budge |first=Ernest Alfred Wallis |title=The Gods of the Egyptians: or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology |year=1904 |publisher=Methuen & Co |location=London |volume=II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SBLAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Crowley |first1=Aleister |author1-link=Aleister Crowley |first2=Mary |last2=Desti |author3-link=Leila Waddell |first3=Leila |last3=Waddell | editor=[[William Breeze|Hymenaeus Beta]] |year=2004 |title=Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4, Parts I–IV |title-link=Magick (Book 4) |location=[[York Beach, Maine]] |publisher=Samuel Weiser |isbn=978-0-87728-919-7}}
* {{cite book |title=Essais de sciences mandites |volume=III: La Clef de la magie noire |first=Stanislas |last=De Guaita |publisher=Chamuel |year=1897 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JeYNAAAAYAAJ |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |title=La vida de Sant Honorat (La vie de Saint Honorat) |first=Raymond |last=Féraud |editor1-first=A. L. |editor1-last=Sardou |publisher=P. Janet, Dezobry, E. Magdeleine & Co. |year=1858 |location=Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ctc5AAAAcAAJ |language=fr}}
* {{cite book|first1=Alex|last1=Games|first2=Victoria|last2=Coren|title=Balderdash and Piffle, One Sandwich Short of a Dog's Dinner|year=2007|isbn=978-1846072352|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/balderdashpiffle0000game}}
* {{cite book|first=Christopher|last=Hodapp|chapter=A crash course in Templar history|title=Freemasons for Dummies|location=Indianapolis|publisher=Wiley Publishing|year=2005}}
* {{cite book |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |year=2016 |title=Satanism: A Social History |chapter=Éliphas Lévi and the Baphomet |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nt8zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism |volume=21 |isbn=978-90-04-28828-7 |oclc=1030572947 |pages=105–109 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lévi |first=Eliphas |author-link=Eliphas Levi |title=Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie |trans-title=Dogma and Rituals of High Magic |volume=II |edition=2nd |year=1861 |location=Paris |publisher=Hippolyte Baillière |orig-year=1854–1856 |language=fr |title-link=Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie}}
* {{cite book |last=Lévi |first=Eliphas |author-link=Eliphas Levi |translator=Arthur Edward Waite |title=Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual |year=1896 |url=https://archive.org/details/transcendentalma00leviuoft |location=London |publisher=George Redway}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Sean Martin (filmmaker)|last=Martin|first=Sean|year=2005|title=The Knights Templar: The History & Myths of the Legendary Military Order|publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-1-56025-645-8|url=https://archive.org/details/knightstemplarhi00mart}}
* {{cite book |first=Joseph Francois |last=Michaud |title=The History of the Crusades |volume=III |year=1853 |translator=W. Robson |publisher=Redfield |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |title=Le procès des Templiers |editor1-last= Michelet |editor1-first=Jules |volume=II |year=1851 |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie Nationale |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22919 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |title=History of France |volume=I |first=Jules |last=Michelet |publisher=D. Appleton |location=New York |year=1860 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drQMAQAAMAAJ |translator=G. H. Smith}}
* {{cite book |first=Margaret |last=Murray |title=The Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology |year=1921 |publisher= Oxford University Press |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20411}}
* {{cite book|title=Versuch über die Beschuldigungen welche dem Tempelherrenorden gemacht worden, und über dessen Geheimniß; Nebst einem Anhange über das Entstehen der Freymaurergesellschaft|first=Friedrich|last=Nicolai|author-link=Christoph Friedrich Nicolai|volume=II volumes|year=1782|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dsFAAAAQAAJ|location= Berlin und Stettin|language=de}}
* {{cite book|first=Peter|last=Partner|title=The Knights Templar and Their Myth|year=1987|isbn=978-0-89281-273-8|url=https://archive.org/details/knightstemplarth00part}} (Previously titled ''The Murdered Magicians''.)
* {{cite book|last=Place|first=Robert M.|title=The Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination|year=2005|publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin|location=New York|isbn=978-1-58542-349-1|url=https://archive.org/details/tarothistorysymb00plac}}
* {{cite book|first=Simon de|last=Pouille|title= Simon de Pouille: Chanson de Geste|editor1-first=Jeanne|editor1-last=Baroin|year=1968|location=Geneva|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=978-2-600-02428-0|language=fr}}
* {{cite book|title=Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple|first=Karen|last=Ralls|publisher=Career Press|year=2007|isbn=9781564149268}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Piers Paul Read|last=Read|first=Piers Paul|year=1999|title=The Templars|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|isbn=978-0-306-81071-8|url=https://archive.org/details/templars00read}}
* {{cite book |last=Stahuljak |first=Zrinka |year=2013 |chapter=Symbolic Archaeology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhjewlXH4gcC&pg=PA71 |title=Pornographic Archaeology: Medicine, Medievalism, and the Invention of the French Nation |location=[[Philadelphia]] |publisher=[[De Gruyter]]/[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |pages=71–98 |doi=10.9783/9780812207316.71 |isbn=978-0-8122-4447-2 |jstor=j.ctt3fhd6c.7}}
*{{cite journal |last=Strube |first=Julian |date=14 February 2017 |title=The "Baphomet" of Eliphas Lévi: Its Meaning and Historical Context |url=http://correspondencesjournal.com/15303-2/ |journal=Correspondences |volume=4 |pages=37–79}}
* {{cite book|last=Waite|first=Arthur|author-link=A. E. Waite|title=The Pictorial Key to the Tarot|year=1911|location=London|publisher=W. Rider|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm}}
* {{cite book|last=Wright|first=Thomas|editor-first=Richard Payne|editor-last=Knight|year=1865|title=A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus|chapter=The Worship of the Generative Powers During the Middle Ages of Western Europe|location=London|publisher=J. C. Hotten|chapter-url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/wgp/index.htm}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |author-link=Aleister Crowley |year=1944 |title=The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians, being the Equinox, Volume III, No. V |title-link=The Book of Thoth (Crowley) |location= London |publisher=[[Ordo Templi Orientis]] |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |year=1991 |title=The Equinox of the Gods |place=Scottsdale, AZ |publisher=New Falcon Publications |isbn=978-1-56184-028-1 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Finke |first=Heinrich |year=2009 |orig-year=1907 |title=Papsttum und untergang des Templerordens: Quellen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kITUAAAAMAAJ |language=de |volume=II |edition=Digitized |location=Muenster |publisher=Druck und verlag der Aschendorffschen buchhandlung |isbn=978-0-8370-6900-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hedenborg-White |first=Manon |year=2013 |title=To Him the Winged Secret Flame, to Her the Stooping Starlight: The Social Construction of Gender in Contemporary Ordo Templi Orientis |journal=Pomegranate |volume=15 |number=1–2 |pages=102–121 |doi=10.1558/pome.v15i1-2.102 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7956171 |via=Academia.edu |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=King |first=C. W. |year=1887 |orig-year=1864 |title=The Gnostics and Their Remains |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/index.htm |publisher=David Nutt |location=London |via=Sacred-texts.com |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=Godefridi Bullonii epistolae et diplomata; accedunt appendices |year=1854 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cIUAAAAQAAJ |first=Jacques Paul |last=Migne |language=la |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=Monuments historiques relatifs à la condamnation des chevaliers des temples et à l'abolition de leur ordre |first=François |last= Raynouard |author-link=François Just Marie Raynouard |publisher=Égron |year=1813 |language=fr |location=Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rKaEgbAMNwC |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |first=Franz |last=Spunda |year=2007 |title=Baphomet: Der geheime Gott der Templer: ein alchimistischer Roman |language=de |isbn=978-3-86552-073-9 |publisher=Festa |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons and category|Baphomet|Baphomet}}
* {{Cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Myth of the Baphomet |url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/baphomet.html |date=2 May 2015 |publisher=[[Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon]] |access-date=13 February 2020}} 

{{Thelema series}}
{{LaVeyan Satanism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Baphomet| ]]
[[Category:Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities]]
[[Category:Demons in Christianity]]
[[Category:Fakelore]]
[[Category:Horned deities]]
[[Category:Individual goats]]
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[[Category:Knights Templar]]
[[Category:Left-Hand Path]]
[[Category:Magic symbols]]
[[Category:Muhammad]]
[[Category:Mythological caprids]]
[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]]
[[Category:New religious movement deities]]
[[Category:Tarot]]
[[Category:Thelema]]