Sigil of Baphomet

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The Sigil of Baphomet

The Sigil of Baphomet is the official insignia for the Church of Satan, chosen by Anton Szandor LaVey. Satanists who follow the philosophies of LaVey often adorn themselves with the sigil.

The Hebrew letters at each of the points of the pentagram read "לִוְיָתָן" starting from the lowest point and reading counter-clockwise. Translated, this is Leviathan (LVYTN), a sea creature figuring in Judaic mythology. Leviathan has many complex meanings, many of which apply to its use in the Sigil of Baphomet. Leviathan is commonly associated with Satan, and the fourth book of the Satanic Bible is named the Book of Leviathan.

Although versions of the Sigil of Baphomet appear as early as the 1897 book “La Clef de la Magie Noire” by Stanislas de Guaita, the variant in common use today was designed for use by the Church of Satan, and is known as the Hell's Kitchen Baphomet. This variant is copyrighted by the Church of Satan and cannot legally be reproduced without permission. Historic variants are in the public domain.

In an interview with Wikinews, High Priest Peter H. Gilmore described the meaning of the symbol:

“

The goat face represents carnality. In ancient Egypt goats were considered representations as god symbols of lust, and we think lust is an important factor of biology that keeps humanity going so we value that. The five-pointed star really comes from the Pythagoreans. That is the one figure in which every element is within the golden mean of each other. It’s this wonderful mathematical symbol of perfection, organic perfection specifically. Since we are organic life and enjoy the idea of perfecting ourselves, that star is right for us in there and it perfectly fits the goat head inside. Now around it are two circles, one at the tip of the points of the star and one outside. In that are Hebrew characters starting at the bottom and going counter-clockwise spelling Leviathan. In Hebrew mythology, Leviathan was the great dragon of the abyss, this powerful Earth figure that even Yahweh was afraid of. So all these things taken together creates a symbol that Anton LaVey identified with Satanism specifically. When he started the Church of Satan, usually upside down crosses were considered Satanic, and he saw that these different elements and felt this was a positive symbol you could tie to the Satanism he was creating. ^[1]

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