On the occasion of the recent publication of the academic study of the professor of the University of Heidelberg, Julian Strube, on Baphomet (published by Daidaleos publications) – the only research in the Greek literature on this subject – there were not a few who searched for the roots of this so strange symbol. The origins of which are essentially in 19th century Franceth century…
Inspired by the horned gargoyle squatting like another Celtic Cernunnos on the roof of a knight's command at Saint Bris le Vineux, Alphonse Louis Constant (better known by the pseudonym Eliphas Levi) decorated his famous book Dogma et Ritual de la Haute Magic (1861) with a hermaphrodite, dragon-like figure who christened her Baphomet ή Goat of Mendes.
In the same book, Levi commented on the figure's gestures and the presence of a pentacle on the goat's forehead with the following words...
... the goat on the frontispiece of the book has the sign of the pentagram on its forehead with one end at the top, a symbol of light, its two arms forming the sign of Hermitism, one pointing up to the white moon of Hesed, the other to turn low to the black moon of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy and justice.
One of his hands is female, the other male like the androgynes of Khunrath, whose qualities we should unite with those of our own goat, for it is the same symbol. The flame of intelligence that shines between its horns is the magical light of universal balance, the image of the soul raised beyond matter, like the flame, which though bound to matter, shines beyond it. The monster's ugly face expresses the horror of the sinner, who, acting materialistically, becomes responsible and as such should be punished. Because the soul is sensitive according to its nature and can only be tormented when it deals with material things. The rod standing upright instead of the genitals, symbolizes eternal life…
Humanity is represented by those two breasts and the androgynous hands of this sphinx of the occult sciences.
This last characterization, as the sphinx of the occult sciences, fits perfectly into the image sketched by Levi, as it essentially constitutes a new Hieroglyphic Unit, an entirely new symbol, which seeks to enclose within itself all the wisdom of Hermitism, of the Kabbalah , of Paganism but also of Alchemy.
This image is entirely an invention of Levi's, and undoubtedly - although it is an amazing conception - is not in the least related to the Baphomet that the Knights Templar are said to have worshipped!
Of the 231 captive Knights Templar examined in Paris by church authorities in 1307, most confessed—clearly not without pressure—that they had denied Christ. Several again admitted that they had trampled the crucified one. Twelve whispered certain words about a certain figura Baffometi, while a Templar from Montpezzat in Provence confessed that he worshiped "una image baphometique."
This name does not explain anything by itself, as it could well be a clerical error. Besides, the name Baphomet (Baphomet) is nowhere to be found in the original texts drawn up by King Philip of France against the Knights Templar.
So in an effort to unravel this enigma, several scholars today turn their attention to the etymology of the word, which seems to derive from the Old French Mahomed used in Provence from the 12th century, when they wanted to name the prophet of Allah, the Muhammad. However, as Peter Partner also writes in The Murdered Magicians (1982), it seems paradoxical if not impossible that an entire Christian brotherhood, whose purpose was to protect its co-religionists from the Mohammedans, finally accepted the Oriental prophet, even worshiping him in the form of a idol, at a time when no image of Muhammad was allowed to be made in the whole of Islam!
The same author encounters the word bafometz in a 13th-century French troubadour poem, a word used to describe a person with miraculous powers and special spiritual abilities. This means that this particular word not only existed per se in the French language but was also used by people who were not related to the Templars.
As you can see, Levi's newer use of the term Baphomet has little if anything to do with the Templar idol. But the connection was also made in the consciousness of at least the youngest of the seekers of our time, the baphometic figure became synonymous with the cult of opposition and the cosmocrator Devil! Of course, you owe a lot to the work of Anton Szandor LaVey. But this is a completely different story...
giorgos Ioannidis
Learn more about the Baphomet symbol in Julian Strube's book BAPHOMET