Sigil of Baphomet Meaning: Decoding the Symbol of Satanism

One of the most striking and recognizable symbols in alternative spirituality is the Sigil of Baphomet – the encircled inverted pentagram often emblazoned with the goat’s head and mysterious letters. If you’ve delved into Satanic or occult imagery, you’ve surely encountered it. But what does it actually mean? Far from being a random “evil logo,” the Sigil of Baphomet is rich with history and symbolism. It’s the  and broadly the symbol of Satanism worldwide. In this article, we’ll break down its components – the inverted pentagram, the goat head (often identified with the deity Baphomet), and the Hebrew letters spelling “Leviathan.” We’ll explore the origins of this symbol (hint: it doesn’t originate with Anton LaVey, but he popularized it), and explain what it represents to Satanists: carnality, material existence, anti-dogma, and the triumph of the individual will over arbitrary authority. By decoding the Sigil of Baphomet, you’ll gain insight into the philosophy behind it and why it’s so powerful to those who wear or display it. So, let’s put aside the superstition and examine the Sigil of Baphomet piece by piece.

Origins of the Sigil of Baphomet

The Sigil of Baphomet didn’t appear out of thin air in the 20th century – it has occult roots dating back over a century:

• Eliphas Lévi and the Sabbatic Goat (1850s): French occultist Éliphas Lévi famously illustrated “Baphomet” as a goat-headed, hermaphroditic figure in his 1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. Lévi’s Baphomet was depicted sitting, with one hand pointing up, one down (“as above, so below”), and various alchemical symbols. Though Lévi himself didn’t draw a pentagram on that goat’s forehead, he did discuss upright vs inverted pentagrams: he associated the inverted pentagram (one point down, two up) with subversion and the goat’s head shape. He wrote that an inverted pentagram is a symbol of evil and attracts “sinister forces” (he, writing as a Christian mystic, meant it negatively). This was an important foundation: the idea that the pentagram inversion relates to a goat or “evil” became part of occult lore.

• Stanislas de Guaita’s Diagram (1897): The specific image of a goat’s head within an inverted pentagram first appeared in 1897 in a book by French occultist Stanislas de Guaita, La Clef de la Magie Noire (The Key of Black Magic). De Guaita’s illustration showed a detailed goat face perfectly fitting into a star, along with Hebrew letters at each point spelling out “לִוְיָתָן” (Leviathan) and the words “Samael” (the venom of God) and “Lilith” (Adam’s legendary demon wife) around it. Leviathan is a monstrous sea serpent in the Bible, often associated with Satan or the chaos of the deep. In this design:

  • The inverted pentagram symbolized spirit overthrown by matter (because an upright pentagram in classical occultism symbolized spirit over matter, so inverse meant the opposite).

  • The Hebrew letters at the five points spelled Leviathan when starting at the lower point and reading counter-clockwise. Leviathan in occult terms can represent the abyss, the primal chaos or even carnal force.

  • The addition of “Samael” (often a name for Satan or his accuser aspect) and “Lilith” tied it explicitly to demonic lore of Judeo-Christian tradition.

  • De Guaita was presenting this as a “black magic” symbol, contrasted with an upright pentagram he also showed with Hebrew for Yahweh (יהוה) on it (representing Jesus). So, he conceptualized this goat pentagram as the emblem of the Devil, with matter triumphing over spirit.

• Maurice Bessy’s Book and Anton LaVey (1960s): Fast forward to the 1960s. Anton LaVey, in the process of codifying his new Church of Satan, was searching for powerful iconography. He found the goat-in-pentagram image in a French book A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural by Maurice Bessy (1961). LaVey was impressed and adopted it. He removed the “Samael” and “Lilith” text from the image, simplifying it to just the pentagram, goat, and letters. LaVey himself drew an iteration of it (attributed to the pseudonym “Hugo Zorilla” in some places, which was actually LaVey). This refined version first publicly appeared on The Satanic Mass LP album cover in 1968 and then famously on the cover of The Satanic Bible in 1969. In 1972, in LaVey’s The Satanic Rituals, it was formally named the “Sigil of Baphomet.”. From that point on, it became the official seal of the Church of Satan, trademarked and all, and by extension, the symbol of Satanism at large.

So, the symbol’s pedigree goes: 19th-century occultists associated goats and inverted pentagrams; an illustration combined them with Leviathan; LaVey revived and popularized it as the embodiment of his Satanic philosophy.

Breaking Down the Symbol

The Sigil of Baphomet is comprised of several elements, each loaded with meaning:

• The Inverted Pentagram: A five-pointed star turned upside-down (one point down, two up). In occultism, the pentagram (point-up) can symbolize the five elements (earth, air, fire, water, and spirit) with spirit on top; inverted, it implies the elevation of the material (or carnal) over the spiritual. As LaVey’s Satanism is materialistic (no belief in supernatural or afterlife), this perfectly symbolizes that stance: no soul above body – rather, “the soul is the body,” you might say. The Church of Satan describes the Sigil as a “sigil of the material world, representing carnality and earthly principles”. Also, historically as Levi wrote, some saw the inverted pentagram as a sign of rebellion and anti-establishment, as it was contrasted with the upright star (used in Freemasonry, etc.). By turning it, Satanists proclaim they invert societal norms and religious dogmas. It’s an apt “anti-symbol” for an adversarial philosophy.

• The Goat’s Head (Baphomet): The goat has long been associated with paganism and ungodliness – goats were offerings for sin (“scapegoats”), and in medieval imagery, the Devil was often part-goat (cloven hooves, horns). Why goat? Possibly because goats were seen as lascivious, stubborn, and independent (qualities the Church frowned on but Satanists celebrate). The goat in the Sigil is specifically identified with Baphomet, though note: Baphomet as a figure has various interpretations. To Satanists, the goat face is the embodiment of Satanic qualities: the goat has horns (representing virility, nature), a beard (wisdom), and an unapologetically piercing stare. He’s often thought to represent the All (Lévi’s Baphomet had Solve/Coagula on arms, as he was an alchemical symbol of joining opposites). But in the Sigil of Baphomet, the goat simply and strongly says: we align with the carnal beast, not the celestial divine. It faces forward, confronting the viewer, almost challenging. This goat is “Baphomet of Mendes” (Mendes being an ancient city where goats were sacred, associated with fertility). For Satanists, it’s not an object of worship but a representation of the self – each person has that goat within, so to speak, that primal nature and wisdom-of-the-earth that they reclaim.

• The Hebrew Letters (לִוְיָתָן – Leviathan): Around the circle, at each point of the star, there’s a Hebrew letter: starting from the bottom point and going counterclockwise, they are Lamed, Vav, Yod, Tav, Nun – together spelling Leviathan. Leviathan is originally a monstrous sea serpent from Canaanite and Hebrew mythology – an embodiment of chaos, enemy of the Creator deity. In Christianity, Leviathan got equated with the Devil or with one of the crown princes of Hell (some demonologies name Leviathan as the demon of the sea or of envy). Anton LaVey assigned Leviathan to the element of Water and to the West in his elemental system, perhaps because of its watery nature. The presence of Leviathan’s name on the Sigil symbolizes the forces of the abyss, the deep subconscious, and the untamed nature that Satanism aligns with over the structured heavens. Leviathan also evokes the idea of an all-encompassing beast that cannot be tamed by God (in the Book of Job, Leviathan is described as virtually unstoppable by man or God). That resonates with Satanism’s ethos of the unstoppable will of the individual or the indomitable spirit of Satan against the tyranny of God. So, the letters basically spell out a big "Hell serpent" around the goat – an encircling power of Hell protecting or empowering the goat. It can be seen as each point of the pentagram is “charged” with this infernal force.

• The Circle: The entire pentagram and letters are enclosed in a circle. The circle can represent multiple things: unity of the symbol, the "All" of the natural world, or a ritual circle drawing in energy. A circle around a pentagram is often called a pentacle. By encircling the inverted pentagram, it’s like saying this is a set, complete symbol, a sigil – the term Sigil itself implies a sealed sign. It’s a statement of identity: within this circle lies the icon of our philosophy; outside is everything else. You could even see the circle as the Ouroboros (the serpent biting its tail, though that’s not drawn here) which is another symbol of continuity and wholeness in chaos. If the letters spell Leviathan, one might imagine Leviathan itself encircling the pentagram (Leviathan often depicted as a serpent eating its tail in occult circles – sometimes equated to Ouroboros).

In summary, the Sigil of Baphomet conveys:

• Rebellion and Reversal of the Status Quo: The inverted star and goat (often an animal seen as stubborn or “capricious,” a term meaning both goat-like and unpredictable) shows a turning of the tables – embracing what Christian culture rejects, celebrating the "left-hand path".

• Carnal Human Nature: The goat and earth-focused pentagram stand for the earthly, carnal aspect of existence over spiritual fantasies. Satanism declares man as just another animal, sometimes better, often worse, but an animal nonetheless (that’s one of LaVey’s Nine Statements). The Sigil’s goat literally has the literal features of certain sexual traits (the inverted star’s lower point is often said to resemble the goat’s beard or perhaps the phallic aspect downward, and the two upper points align with horns – horns in many cultures also have fertility connotations). It’s a highly natural symbol, not supernatural – a beast within a star rather than an angel within a star.

• Opposition (Adversary): Since the star is inverse, it’s like an anti-symbol to the upright pentagram (which Wiccans or other pagans might use positively). It's confrontational – which suits Satan (the Adversary) and Satanists who often relish being the devil’s advocate in society. It tacitly says “We stand opposite to what you consider divine or good – because we question it.”

• Iconoclastic Pride: The Church of Satan once described it as "the epitome of biting, blasphemous laughter at traditional holy symbols." It takes a symbol (the pentagram) that was sometimes used in esoteric Christianity (some say the pentagram can symbolize the five wounds of Christ when upright), flips it, inserts the image of what historically was labeled as idolatrous pagan devil (the goat), and adds Leviathan (the chaos monster from the Bible). It’s a combined sneer and statement of empowerment. It’s telling the viewer: Everything you fear or revile, I embrace – and I make it my own power. That’s powerful psychologically. No wonder LaVey called it the visual distillation of Satanism’s philosophy.

What It Means to Satanists

For someone who identifies as a Satanist (especially in LaVey’s tradition), the Sigil of Baphomet is more than decoration – it’s a badge of identity and belief:

• Visual Statement of Belief: Displaying the Sigil (whether on jewelry, tattoos, clothing, or an altar) is a way to say “I am a Satanist” without words. It’s akin to a crucifix for a Christian or a Star of David for a Jew, albeit with more shock value to the uninformed. It’s automatically polarizing – which to Satanists is fine, because they aren’t about winning a popularity contest. In fact, wearing it often invites curiosity or weans out who can accept you. Many first adopt wearing a Baphomet pendant as a personal empowerment step; it’s private enough to tuck in shirt around judgmental company, but there if they feel like coming out more.

• Carnal and Earthly Focus: Satanists see it and remember that they champion the here-and-now, not the hereafter. The goat’s penetrating gaze reminds them not to fall for spiritual delusions or false moralism. It affirms indulgence (enjoying life’s pleasures) and vital existence. Essentially, the Sigil encapsulates the first two of the Nine Satanic Statements: “Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!” and “Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!”. Looking at the symbol can evoke those principles on a gut level, which is why it’s effective.

• Empowerment and Self-Deification: When a Satanist performs a ritual, the Sigil of Baphomet is typically present (on an altar cloth, on a backdrop, etc.). During Greater Magic (ritual), it serves as a focal point to project desires and draw on symbolic forces. While atheistic Satanists don’t believe an actual demon inhabits it, they understand the power of symbol to the psyche. Staring into the goat’s face while uttering an invocation can stir one’s inner “Satan” – the bold, uninhibited aspect of themselves. If a theistic Satanist, they might see it as literally calling upon Satan’s presence.

• Anti-Hypocrisy and Reality Check: The inverted pentagram with Leviathan indicates “we acknowledge man’s animal nature and don’t try to sugarcoat it with ‘spirit above all’.” If a Satanist ever finds themselves being hypocritical or denying their own needs out of some leftover guilt, a glance at the Sigil might remind them, “No, we don’t do that here.” It’s a symbol of honesty about human nature and the rejection of what LaVey called “spiritual pipe dreams”. It says: keep it real, keep it earthly.

• The Unity of Opposites: Some interpret it a bit deeper – with Leviathan encircling and Baphomet being historically an amalgam of male/female, human/animal, etc., the Sigil of Baphomet can be seen as a representation of the union of polarities (life/death, dark/light, creation/destruction). Thus to a more esoterically minded Satanist or Setian, it might represent the Totality of existence, accepted as-is, rather than half “good” half “bad.” It's the all-in-one symbol. The goat’s horns (pointing up to two star points) could be positive desires, ears (pointing down to two lower points) could be negatives or humility to carnal need, and the chin (downward point) could be the occult or hidden knowledge – one can spin many correspondences. But overall, it’s holistic: man is both god and beast – the Sigil visually communicates that philosophy (one point down – perhaps the spirit being dragged down into beasts, or conversely, the beast enthroned).

• Fearless Rebellion: Let’s not forget the cultural significance: wearing or displaying the Sigil of Baphomet openly still can shock or offend some. For the Satanist, this often is a feature, not a bug – it’s a way to challenge people’s assumptions. However, Church of Satan doesn’t encourage pointless provocation (Lesser Magic says sometimes you hide your power level). But in chosen contexts (like a metal concert, a private meetup, etc.), flying the Baphomet flag is a proud rebellious act. It’s an “I dare you to deal with this” to society’s norms. The fact that this symbol was once exclusively associated with evil and now a group proudly waves it saying “We stand for personal freedom and reason” is in itself an act of rebellion – turning a tool of fear into one of empowerment. It’s quite poetic: the Church of Satan describes it as an “emblem of the triumph of matter and earthly intellect over pallid spiritual illusions”.

Misinterpretations: It's worth noting, to outsiders, the Sigil of Baphomet is often grossly misinterpreted:

• Some think it implies devil worship in the Christian sense – that Satanists are literally aligning with Biblical Satan to do evil. Actually, since most Satanists are atheists, they don't believe in a literal Satan at all. The symbol is metaphorical for them. Even theistic ones don’t see Satan as the cartoonish all-evil being; they see a complex deity or force often embodying knowledge, rebellion, strength.

• Some worry it’s a sign of criminal or dangerous behavior. But as explained, the symbol, if anything, stands for rational self-interest, not lawless violence (LaVey’s rules explicitly forbid harming children/animals and emphasize respecting laws unless those laws hinder you unfairly).

• Some might view it as “cursing” symbol – like if a neighbor draws one on your door, you’re cursed. That’s old superstition; Satanists don’t generally randomly hex people for fun. If one did mark your property, they’re likely edgy kids or have a specific vendetta (and you likely would know why).

By demystifying it as we’re doing, one sees it’s just a powerful emblem – not an active force of evil by itself.

The Legacy of the Sigil

The Sigil of Baphomet has come to encapsulate modern Satanism’s identity perhaps more succinctly than any paragraph could. It’s visually striking, historically grounded, and philosophically dense. To the Satanist, it’s a reminder to be true to one’s nature, to challenge arbitrary authority, and to carve one’s own path free of spiritual delusions. To the onlooker, it might be provocative or intriguing – it certainly invites questions.

From its 19th-century esoteric origins, through Anton LaVey’s adoption and refinement, to its present status on t-shirts, heavy metal albums, and personal altars across the world, the Sigil of Baphomet has traveled an interesting road. It went from an occult illustration representing “Black Magic” to a secular philosophy’s coat-of-arms representing pride, liberty, and individualism.

Whenever someone asks a Satanist, “Do you worship that goat symbol?”, a thoughtful Satanist can answer: “No. We don’t worship the symbol any more than an American worships their flag. We revere what it stands for: the Satanic values of self-determination, earthly wisdom, and opposition to tyrannical lies. The goat does not bow, and neither do we.”

In essence, the Sigil of Baphomet meaning is the victory of the self and the flesh over imposed external ideals, a statement that the so-called “dark” side is actually a wellspring of strength and authenticity. It is truly the “preeminent visual distillation” of Satanism, as the Church of Satan describes it. Next time you see this symbol, you’ll know it’s not about devils with pitchforks – it’s about a philosophy that champions the rebel, the free thinker, and the carnal human in a world that often tries to deny all of those.

Hail the Sigil of Baphomet – and hail what it represents: the untamed spirit of Satanic freedom.