Baphomet

A composite goat-headed creation, symbolic of alchemical realization through the union of opposite forces found in several instance in the history of occultism (from the Knights Templar of the Middle-Ages and the Freemasons of the 19th century to modern currents of occultism). Eliphas Levi, a French occultist who drew the most famous depiction of Baphomet in his book Dogmas and Rituals of High Magic, argued that the name had been derived from Kabbalistic coding. The monstrous goat head represents man’s animal and sinful nature; his one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyn of Khunrath and forming the “sign of Hermetism” which is a visual representation of the Hermetic axiom “As Above, So Below”; female breasts and a rod (Hermes’ Caduceus) representing the erect phallus, a flame of intelligence shining between his horns, etc. Read more…