Baphomet
Intention: Reflect on the union of opposites and balanced wholeness
Offerings & Symbols
- A black and white candle together
- A torch image
- Something representing two united opposites
Culture: 19th-century occult symbolism (Eliphas Lévi), with a much older, unrelated name
Baphomet as commonly pictured today, a horned, winged, torch-bearing figure with both male and female features, was created by the 19th-century occultist Eliphas Lévi as a deliberate symbol of balanced opposites: light and dark, male and female, material and spiritual, united in one form. The name itself is far older and historically unrelated, having appeared under torture-extracted confessions during the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar, a genuinely dark historical episode worth understanding separately from Lévi's later symbolic reinvention.
Associations
Union of opposites, balanced wholeness, deliberately constructed modern symbolism.
Ways people honor him (modern)
- Reflect on integrating two seemingly opposed parts of yourself into a working whole
- Research Eliphas Lévi's original 1854 illustration and his stated intended meaning
- Separately, research the medieval Templar persecution, a real historical injustice unrelated to Lévi's later symbol
- Approach this figure with genuine historical literacy about both distinct contexts
Approach any deity with respect and do your own research. Practices vary widely between traditions, and modern devotional practice often goes beyond what survives in ancient sources.
