More Witch
StuffCoven of Cythrawl
POSTINGS
(Number 33)
Some more answers (and "Is the Wiccan God Baphomet or Hecate?")
Greetings,
Sorry it took a couple of days to get back to you, but one of Covens'
Priestesses is leaving for a job in Hong Kong and of course
everyone is sad to see her go. She will be able to get back for some
of the major festivals we hope. It also gave me time to think about one of
the questions that Charlie posted and thought it deserved a little
more time to prepare and write, along with a cutting from the
internet. for those of you brave enough to read it all (sorry about
the length of it - like War and Peace).
Anyway Charlie, in answer to some of your questions. How do we
select who to invite to the chat group. Actually nothing is cast in
stone and it is usually in answer to a few back and forth emails
between people, which I can see that they're serious and usually
knowledgeable and are truly interested in making this Research Group
(+) work out. It is important to have a few views, but be serious in
what we discuss and eventually do, as it will affect us all. I'm
trying to sift out sensationalists and people who appear to be too
flippant. (Of course we don't have to be stony serious all the
time, but not to trivial and silly in others). I've actually had
people who wanted to just take video of a Coven in action, to put on
the media, while another wanted to do the same for a school project.
This, believe it or not, only came to light after my having discussed
with them in four or five, what I thought serious emails back and
forth, and then found out the ulterior motive. Therefore, the group
is by invite only and only after a few emails to study character and
seriousness, so to speak.
Your other question regarding various ingredients, I believe that
Armon has answered that question very succinctly indeed. He also
answered the question: "Is the wiccan god Baphomet or Hecate?"
I thought I'd dig in a little more and start off by saying that
Hecate is the Greek Triple Goddess of the Underworld and of Witches,
associated with crossroads. It is true that most Wiccans believe in
the Goddess and God aspects, many viewing Them as being one and the
same and embrace it rather like the Taoists consider Yin and Yang.
Other groups however, draw great distinctions of various Gods and
Goddesses as being separate entities and powers and manifest from
the greater God and Goddess, but are individuals in Their own right.
The OAM definitely believes in this and treats each as totally
different Ancient Powers. The names you mostly come across are
Cernunnos and Aradia, Bridgid or Bride, Cerridwen and of course
Frya. The Earth Mother and the Moon Goddess are also favourites.
It threw me a little, when you mentioned Baphomet though and is one
of the greater reasons why many Christians have misunderstandings
about Wicca today. It is true what Armon says also, but let me try
and go into the matter in a little more depth, because it still
intrigues and directs anti-masons and fundamentalist Christians to
such a degree that everyone is cast in the same mold to them.
Sooner or later every student of either the esoteric, or even the
history of the Crusades encounters the name of this allegedly
sinister entity known as "Baphomet".
Baphomet was said to be the "god" or "idol" of the Knights
Templar,
but has also been described as "the goat of Mendes", "the god of
the
witches", a latter-day version of the Greek god Pan, a symbol of an
alchemical principal, and even Satan himself. And while each of these
has a following of sorts, there is evidence suggesting the
possibility that Baphomet's origins are not only not sinister, but
human rather than supernatural.
The "mystery" of Baphomet begins in 1307 with the demise of the
Knights Templar. The military order of "warrior monks" which was
founded in 1118 in France after the First Crusade to protect European
pilgrims on their way to and from the Holy Land. For nearly two
centuries the Templars grew in size, strength, political clout,
reputation (good at first, but some say bad towards the end), but
most of all in wealth, (they even had a banking system for people to
travel to the Holy land without having to carry their money and
jewels) and this great wealth would prove to be their undoing.
In the early fourteenth century King Philip IV of France, who was
deeply in debt to the Templars, decided to not only cancel that debt
but seize their wealth and property for himself and having his puppet
pontiff Clement V dissolve the order. To do this, Philip would have
to have the Templars convicted of heresy. With "evidence" gathered
from agents who infiltrated the Templars, along with a sworn
deposition from a disgruntled ex-Templar on whose testimony his
prosecutors could build a case.
Philip made his move. Acting on sealed orders they were not to open
until the previous midnight, Philip's officials arrested every
Templar they could during the dawning hours of Friday, October 13,
1307. While some of the charges, such as sodomy and desecration of
Christian symbols, were obviously silly even to many people at the
time, other allegations, such as the chanting of "Yallah!" sounded
like descriptions of documented Sufi Muslim practices. But it is the
charge of worshipping an idol called "Baphomet" that has inspired the
most controversy.
Don't forget the old Celtic story of Bran the head and is extremely
old, but in the time of Christian fervor, all gets twisted as usual
and finally coming out in their favour. At first, "Baphomet" was
simply a head, and presumably a human one, but under the duress of
torture, Baphomet's descriptions became progressively elaborate and
fantastic. Nearly every historian who has written on the subject has
dismissed the "Baphomet" issue as patently false, just one more
trumped-up charge against the Templars. However, after studying both
the hypothetical and more plausible connections between the Templars,
Sufism, and Freemasonry, I have come to the tentative conclusion that
the "Baphomet" matter may have contained a sizable element of truth --
one which the inquisitors certainly distorted, but perhaps true
nonetheless.
Most of us who have heard of Baphomet first encountered the name in
either a history book or the works of Anton Szandor LaVey, whose
goat's - head - in - the - inverted - pentagram illustration is
supposed to be Baphomet, (check out the Devil card in the Tarot
Charlie for a picture you can relate to), or else in the works of
Aleister Crowley, who equated Baphomet with the Greek god Pan.
Crowley even adopted the name "Baphomet" as his own motto when he
joined Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Oriental Temple, or
O.T.O.) Other occult writers who have discussed Baphomet include
nineteenth century authors Eliphaz Levi and Albert Pike, and as I
said just now, Baphomet is the model for "The Devil" in the Waite-
Rider and Case-B.O.T.A. tarot decks.
Many historians have claimed that the name "Baphomet" was Old French
for Muhammad, whose name is sometimes spelled Mahomet, although
Crowley presented an interesting, but probably coincidental, claim
that the name came from a Greek phrase for "baptism of wisdom". The
problem with Crowley's case is it overlooks two basic facts about the
Templars: 1) as Roman Catholics, Greek names were not that important
to them (and to Catholics at the time, the Greek Orthodox Christians
were in some ways just as much "infidels" as the Muslims), and 2) the
Templars who lived in the Holy Land, along with the masons they
employed, had to deal with the local population on a regular basis,
often became fluent in Arabic, and for a European in the Holy Land --
Templars included -- to "go native" was not particularly unusual. But
it was in the pop-history book _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_ that I first
came across the idea that "Baphomet" was derived from an Arabic term,
_abufihamet_, meaning "Father of Understanding", rather than from an
Old French name for the founder of Islam. Since that book, although
a "good read", is not one scholars take seriously due to its highly
speculative theses, I decided to check their source for this, Idries
Shah's _The Sufis_, which contains additional relevant information
discussed below.
For now I tend to favor the Arabic origins over the Old French for
the following reasons: first, as an iconoclastic religion, Islam
strictly forbids images, either painted or sculpted, of either God or
Muhammad, so the idea of even unorthodox Muslims worshipping an idol
is simply ludicrous. Second, of those authors I have read who claim
that "any expert on Old French" will say that Baphomet was another
name for Muhammad never actually cite any such Old French experts to
document this assertion. One such writer was Peter Partner, who even
found a French troubadour ballad from the late thirteenth century and
published an English translation, showing parenthetically
that "Bafometz" had appeared in the original French (he had rendered
it as "Mohammed" as if this had somehow proved his point). What
Partner had inadvertently done was prove that a) Baphomet was a known
entity before the demise of the Templars, and most likely a person
with spiritual power, capable of working miracles (although Islam
never credits Muhammad with any "miracle" other than receiving the
Qu'ran), and b) that Baphomet was known among non-Templars (although
Partner believed the ballad's author was an ex-Templar, that
troubadour's audience certainly had non-Templars among them), and if
Shah is correct in his assertions about Sufic influences on the
troubadours, then we have in the ballad Partner quoted possible proof
of a link between Sufism and Baphomet. (As for the Templars and the
Sufis, not only were there many documented contacts between Templars
and Sufis [as well as other unorthodox Muslims such as the Ismailis]
during their time in the Middle East, but there were also
opportunities for contacts in Europe. France, after all, borders
Spain, and during the Crusades Sufism flourished in Muslim-ruled
Spain and influenced the early Qabalistic Jews and other mystics on
both sides of the border; Robert Graves, in his introduction to
Shah's book, even claimed that Templars fought alongside Sufi
warriors in Spain. And many Masonic trappings, such as the checkered
floor and the tolerance of all monotheistic religions, are at least
Islamic in origin if not specifically Sufic.) But in my opinion the
strongest support for Baphomet as abufihamet is the number of Arabic
sobriquets which begin with abu which belonged to historical
individuals rather than esoteric principles.
Deep breath everyone......OK continue...
One such individual was the tenth century Sufi martyr Husayn ibn
Mansur al-Hallaj, who died in 922CE. A pantheist, an alleged miracle
worker, and a most definitely unorthodox Muslim, Hallaj was
imprisoned and tried for blasphemy for his public descriptions of his
mystical union with God. Finally convicted after a nine year
inquiry, Hallaj was maimed, crucified, beheaded, and his torso was
cremated. (Just to make sure I guess and very over the top as was
habit in those dasys). Some of the stories surrounding his death
include an account of the Caliph's Queen Mother having Hallaj's head
preserved as a relic. Various Sufi sects have rituals commemorating
Hallaj's death, and Shah claimed that Hallaj was the model for
the "Hiram Abiff" character in the Master Mason initiation ritual.
(That's another story though and can be found in another book I've
got to read one of these days, called "The Hiram Key"). Although
Shah cited other reasons connecting Hallaj to Hiram Abiff and the
sect of Sufis known as "the Builders" (who built the Al Aqsa Mosque
and the Dome of the Rock on the site of Solomon's Temple in
Jerusalem, which was the Holy Land headquarters for the Templars and
the mythical scene of Masonic initiations), Hallaj bore some
interesting parallels to the Old Testament's descriptions of Hiram
the artificer: first, both men were sons of widows; second, both men
had "sons of David" play key roles in their lives (Hiram worked for
Solomon, and one of Hallaj's prosecutors was named Ibn Daud, which is
Arabic for "Son of David"), and third, the Old Testament Hebrew
for "Abiff" is abyu.
So, as I prattle on here, not quite knowing where I'm going and
really where I've been in explaining this, so I'll try to bring it to
an end. Having already encountered writers who hypothesized a
connection between the Templars and Freemasonry (which, although
plausible, is nowhere near as romantic or fantastic as some, such as
John J. Robinson in _Born in Blood_, have claimed), I had already
found the first two most interesting, and further investigation of
Hallaj, who, according to the medieval Islamic poet and historian
Farid al-Din Attar, turns out to have been known by several titles
beginning with abu-, brought the third coincidence to my attention.
And since, as noted above, some of the Templars may indeed have been
participants in documented Sufi practices, could the charge that the
Templars "worshipped a head called Baphomet" not have had some
factual basis, namely the commemoration of a decapitated Sufi martyr
whose head became a relic and who had been given the sobriquet
abufihamet?
The only problem here is that despite all the other abu- titles
belonging to Hallaj, there is no known documentation linking him to
abufihamet. Perhaps this documentation does exist (it would be
useless to hypothesis that "perhaps it once existed, but no longer
does"), but has not yet come to my attention, and should someone who
knows of it ever read this essay, I would be most appreciative to
hear of it. Until then, the above thesis, although plausible in my
opinion, and hopefully interesting to Charlie, remains purely
speculative. But if it does turn up, then at last we will have proof
positive that the Templars possessed a body of knowledge that would
later become known to the Freemasons, regardless of how Freemasonry
came to be.
In a final desperation guys.....Here's some stuff I grabbed from the
internet to add to the already long verbiage I have just suffered you
all to read. It might be interesting, on the other hand though, but
I droned on enough to give you an idea Charlie – and the short and
sweet answer is that I do not and I don't know of anyone else who
does have anything to do with what is termed 'Baphomet' within Wicca!
So here goes with the interesting vut from the internet...
Baphomet - what was the connection of this strange sounding name to
the Templars if any? Over the years since the fall of the Knights
Templar many scholars have tried to ascertain the etymology of the
word, with little success. Below we present some of those
etymological theories for the readers further edification into this
the greatest of the Templar mysteries:
A Corruption Of The Name Mahomet (Mohammed)
Some scholars hold that Baphomet is Old French for Mohammed, the
Islamic prophet. Others contend that Baphomet is merely a corruption
or mispronunciation of the same name. In either case if the Templars
admitted to following Mohammed or Mahomet, then they would clearly be
heretics in the eyes of the inquisition. It is almost certain that at
least some members of the order adopted Islamic practices from their
involvement with them in Outremer. This still does not explain the
connection with Baphomet as an idol.
It is held that the Baphomet was an idol of one sort or another
venerated by the order. If we take this as fact, then the word
Baphomet as a corruption of Mahomet doesn't hold. Islamic faith
forbids all idols. If the Templars converted to Islam as some
suggest, then an idol of Mohammed would not have been likely at all.
A Corruption Of The Arabic Term, Abufihamat
The meaning of the word is "Father of Understanding" or "Father
of
Wisdom." It is a term used to refer to a Sufi Master. In Arabic,
father is taken to mean source. If this is the case, this could imply
God. The Templars were quite likely to have come in contact with
Sufism while in the Holy Land and many believe they absorbed some of
their practices into the Templar rituals.
For an interesting theory on The Abufihamet connection you must read
Baphomet: A Mystery Solved At Last? by Frater Baraka IV O.T.O. which
is available on this web site.
From The Greek Words, Baph and Metis
This theory claims that the word Baphomet is derived from two Greek
words Baph and Metis meaning "Baptism of Wisdom." The Templars are
said to have worshipped a head. One of the theories stands that this
head was none other than the head of John the Baptist. If this were
true, then some support could be laid towards the Greek origin
etymology.
Atbash Cipher For The Goddess Sophia
Dr. Hugh Schonsfield, one of the scholars who worked on the Dead Sea
Scrolls believed the Word Baphomet was applied with the Knowledge of
the Atbash Cipher. The Atbash Cipher is a Hebrew code which
substitues the first letter of the alphabet for the last and the
second letter for the second last and so on. When Baphomet is applied
to this code, it generates the Greek word Sophia which is translated
in English as "Wisdom." The Greek Goddess Sophia is brought to mind
here.
A Latin Code For Solomon's Temple.
Eliphas Levi believed the name could be reversed, fleshed out and
formed into a phrase that made a reference to King Solomon's Temple.
For more information on this, see the page on Eliphas Levi's
connection to the Baphomet Mythos.
Alphonse Louis Constant was born the son of a shoemaker in 1810. At
an early age he caught the attentions of a Parish Priest who arranged
for Alphonse to be sent to the seminary of Saint Nichols du
Chardonnet and latterly to Saint Sulpice. It was here that he studied
Roman Catholicism with the intent of joining the Priesthood.
He gave up the collar of Catholicism to become an Occultist in the
nineteenth century. Some claim he was thrown out of the Church for
his heretical views or as the story goes for "preaching doctrines
contrary to the Church." Before his death in 1875 Lévi is said to
have reconciled with the Catholic Church and died having received
last rites.
While alive he followed the esoteric path and adopted the Jewish
pseudonym of Eliphas Lévi, which he claimed was a Hebrew version of
his, own name. Although known for many books on ritual Magic, Lévi is
perhaps best known for his work regarding the alleged deity of the
Knights Templar, the Baphomet.
Lévi considered the Baphomet to be a depiction of the absolute in
symbolic form. His treatment of the Baphomet Mythos is best seen in
his illustration of the Baphomet shown below, which he used as a
front piece to one of his many books. According to the author Michael
Howard, he [Lévi] based the illustration on a Gargoyle that appears
on a building owned by the Templars; the Commandry of Saint Bris le
Vineux
"The Gargoyle is in the form of a bearded horned figure with
pendulous female breasts, wings and cloven feet. It sits in a crossed-
legged position which resembles statues of the Celtic stag god,
Cernnunnus or the Horned One, found in Gaul (France) before the Roman
occupation."
It is believed that within Lévi's Baphomet, are contained the
dualistic nature of life and the male female aspects of creation. The
image combines both male and female qualities; one arm masculine, one
feminine; the breasts of a woman with a phallic object on its lap;
one arm pointing skyward while one pointing down, perhaps a
representation of the Hermetic axiom "As Above...So Below". The
illustration also shows one arm points toward a white crescent moon
the other towards a dark crescent moon, perhaps a representation of
the waxing and waning phases of the moon but it could also represent
the duality of good and evil. On the right arm is written "Solve"
Solution and on the Left "Coagula" Coagulation. These are references
found in alchemy a study that Lévi not only undertook but wrote about
in his books.
Here is what Eliphas Lévi had to say about the Baphomet image he
drew. My thanks go to Christian Joachim Hartmann for providing me
with this translation from Lévi's book (shown right):
"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 hermetism, the one pointing up to the white
moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah.
This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His
one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyn 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 ugly beast's head
expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely
reponsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because 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 androgyn
arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences."
Lévi's Baphomet Sigil
Not commonly know, is that Eliphas Lévi was the first to separate the
pentagram into good and evil applications. It was Lévi who first
incorporated his goat headed Baphomet into the inverted pentagram
attributing the qualities of evil to the new symbol. For the complete
story on this and the history of the pentagram, see the link on the
related links section of this page.
Eliphas Lévi On The Baphomet
According to the controversial author, Nesta Webster, Eliphas Lévi
held the conviction that not only did the Templars adore the Baphomet
but anyone embracing the Occult sciences did also. We see this in an
alleged quote of his own words taken from the works of Nesta Webster,
who may well have taken it out of context as so many such writers are
want to do. Note the … usage which we have dealt with on another
page. A common tactic for misquoting:
"Let us declare for the edification of the vulgar....and for the
greater glory of the Church which has persecuted the Templars, burned
the magicians and excommunicated the Freemasons, etc., let us say
boldly and loudly, that all the initiates of the occult sciences...
have adored do and always will adore that which is signified by this
frightful symbol [The Sabbatic Goat]. Yes, in our profound
conviction, the Grand Masters of the order of The Templars adored
Baphomet and caused him to be adored by their initiates."
Secret Societies and Subversive Movements
Nesta H. Webster
1924 by The Christian Book Club
The above quotation does not seem to make sense in light of Lévi's
theory on the etymology of Baphomet. Lévi believed that if one
rearranged the letters in Baphomet by reversing them you would get an
abbreviated Latin phrase:
TEM OHP AB
He further believed that this would represent the Latin "Templi
omnivm hominum pacis abbas" or in English "The Father Of The Temple
Of Peace Of All Men". This he felt to be a reference to King
Solomon's Temple, which Eliphas believed had the sole purpose of
bringing peace to the world.
Eliphas Lévi died on May 31st, 1875 and his books remain in print
well over 100 years after his death. It is however, his illustrative
representation of Baphomet that found its way into Waite's Tarot deck
as the Devil card and has in the process added another page to the
Baphomet Mythos and perhaps added to demonizing something that may
have had a more innocent interpretation.
In order to understand the Atbash Cipher theory, as it relates to the
Baphomet mythos, it is first important to examine the origins of the
code. As early as 500 BC Scribes writing the book of Jeremiah used
what we now know to be the ATBASH cipher. This cipher is one of the
few used in the Hebrew language. The cipher itself, ATBASH, is very
similar to the substitution cipher.
A substitution cipher is one where each letter of the alphabet
actually represents another letter. In the case of the Atbash cipher,
the first letter of the alphabet is substituted for the last, the
second for the second last and so on. The letter A becomes "Z", the
letter "B" becomes "Y" and so on.
Dr. Hugh Schonfield was one of the original researchers working on
the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran and is the author of many books
on Biblical history, most notably "The Passover Plot."
While working on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Schonfield used the cipher to
translate some words that were undetectable to the scholars. For
example applying the Atbash cipher to the word "hagu," he got the
Hebrew word, "tsaraph," which means "test." The "hagu"
passages are
important for they deal with "The Teacher of Righteousness," which
some scholars believe to have been Jesus.
Latterly, Schonfield became very interested in the charges of heresy
leveled against the Knights Templar and particularly the etymology of
the Baphomet. It was decided by Schonfield that he would apply the
Atbash cipher, which he was convinced the Templars were aware of, to
the Baphomet.
If one writes the word Baphomet in Hebrew and remember Hebrew letters
read from right to left, the result is as shown below:
There have been many rumors and claims regarding this symbol, and
here we recount the truth concerning the Church of Satan's use of
this powerful image.
Prior to the worldwide press given the Church of Satan—and later the
publication of The Satanic Bible— the now familiar goat /
pentagram / "Leviathan" graphic had not been used as THE symbol for
Satanism. Our younger readers may find this hard to believe, but it
is a fact.
Look at the literature and imagery predating the founding of the
Church of Satan in 1966: Satanism is denoted by inverted crosses or
crucifixes and blasphemous parodies of Christian art. There are also
images of goats and devils, and demons—along with their sigils from
grimoires—all used to represent the "satanic." However, the complete
graphic which we call the "Sigil of Baphomet" only became associated
as the foremost symbol of Satanism in the public and media
consciousness after the founding of the Church of Satan and Dr.
LaVey's use of it. From its inception, the Church of Satan has been
constantly spotlighted in print, film, and television media all over
the globe, so this was to be expected.
The word "Baphomet" dates back to records of Templar trials,
and
there are ongoing discussions concerning its derivation and meaning.
However, there is no clear evidence that the SYMBOL which we in the
Church of Satan call "Baphomet" is derived similarly; it might be, it
might not—the evidence, if any, has not yet been released in ANY
public forum.
As far as we now know, the first artwork for an image of a goat face
in a five-pointed star appeared in Paul Jagot's Science Occulte et
Magie Pratique (Paris: Editions Drouin, 1924, page #172). As can be
seen below, it is figure number 24 and is labeled "the pentagram
espressive of subversion." How the author came by this image is
unknown to us. Note as well that the star itself is "open."
During his years of research into the "Black Arts," Anton LaVey had
come across this book and added it to his collection. So when he
chose to metamorphose his magic circle, "The Order of the Trapezoid,"
into the Church of Satan, he decided that this particular symbol was
the one which most fully embodied the principles which were the
bedrock of the first aboveground Satanic church.
The pentagram (pentalpha) comes from the Pythagorean tradition. The
goat's or ram's head within it refers to the Goat of Mendes, a symbol
of the Egyptian Neter Amon, who was called "the hidden one, he who
abides in all things, the soul of all phenomena" and is thus the
closest Neter to the Dark Force which permeates and motivates all
nature. The two concentric circles which contain the word "Leviathan"
written in Hebrew (starting at the lowermost point and moving
counterclockwise) stem from the traditions of the Ophite (serpent)
Jews, and this is the essence of the Dragon of the Abyss, sometimes
symbolized as an ouroboros (serpent biting its own tail forming a
circle). Thus, in one sigil, we find a confluence of several
cultures' approach to embodying what we call Satan.
It is this cover art, which was enlarged and placed above the altar
in the ritual chamber (as well as in a lower level altar) in the
infamous Black House.
That the original source for this symbol was the Maurice Bessy book
was well-known among the members who attended rituals at the Black
House during our formative years. The book was constantly being
perused by them, and was often used as a prop in photo shoots (minus
the dust jacket which did not include this symbol). Anton LaVey never
claimed to have designed the Bessy version of this symbol (as falsely
stated by some of our detractors).
In its early days, the Church of Satan used the version seen on the
cover of the Bessy book on its membership cards and stationery as
well as on the medallions which were created both by hand and by
professional manufacturers. Indeed, there were many variations, based
on the skill of the renderers as well as on the resolution for detail
of the means used to create the final product.
While The Satanic Bible was being written, it was decided that a
unique version of this symbol must be rendered to be identified
exclusively with the Church of Satan. The pentagram was made
geometrically precise, the two circles perfect, the Hebrew characters
were distorted to make them look more sharply serpentine
and "corrupted with time," while the goat face was redrawn with
particular attention paid toward the eyes. The original highly-
detailed artwork was first used to create altar plaques which were
available only to local Church of Satan members (later, in February
of 1970, they were made available to the general membership). This
new version was then used on the cover of the groundbreaking LP, The
Satanic Mass (©1968), produced by the Church of Satan. In addition to
a recorded Satanic Mass, this LP included the "Prologue" and
"Books
of Satan: Verses I through V" from the then-unreleased book, The
Satanic Bible. The album's cover design was credited to "Hugo
Zorilla," a pseudonym used by Anton LaVey for some of his artwork.
The liner notes, attributed to Franklin Kincaid, say that "the
Satanic symbol, Baphomet," was adopted from the Knights Templar. This
symbol was finally widely-released to the general public in December
of 1969 with the publication of The Satanic Bible, where it adorned
the cover and appeared on the interior page introducing the section
detailing the Satanic Ritual. And, significantly, here in this book
was the very first time that this sigil was referred to as
the "symbol of Baphomet" in any publication available to a mass
audience. It was this version which the Church of Satan then had made
into cloisonné medallions (which were only available to members) and
it became the standard logo for all Church of Satan materials. We
began calling it more precisely the "Sigil of Baphomet" and so it was
named in print in The Satanic Rituals (released in December of 1972).
It should be noted that this version is a copyrighted graphic which
belongs to the Church of Satan alone. We have the legal right to
place the © symbol next to this rendering, should we care to do so.
BB
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With Thanks
