The Knights Templar were falsely accused by the Unholy Inquisition in 1307 of worshipping an idol called Baphomet, a potential mistranslation of Mohammat or Muhammad, prophet of Islam. Did the Templar’s include Islamic ideology in their beliefs which later gave rise to the acknowledgement of other religions as equals in Freemasonry? 

Philosophers in the 19th century questioned the reason why the Knights were burned at the stake for heresy, an unproven accusation. Occultist Éliphas Lévi created his own impression of Baphomet in 1856, the Sabbatic Goat, as a symbol of equilibrium. Half animal half human, half man half woman, half good half evil. As can be seen he placed the upright pentagram on the forehead of the goat, position of the third eye in mysticism, the occult and western esoteric tradition. 

The goat archetype can be found in early Tarot cards as a symbol of the Devil, creating a direct link between the Nature God Pan, and Satan. The Bible never refers to the Devil as resembling a goat, although the scapegoat took on the collective sins of the Hebrews. 

Women were accused of participating in the Witches Sabbath and fornicating with demons and the Devil by the ‘Holy’ Inquisition. Thousands were tortured and murdered based on heresay, rumours, and a general fear of the unknown. The Scientific Revolution was a direct consequence of this obsession with the supernatural and the supposed ability of witches/women to cast spells, control nature, and engage with demons in the flesh. 

The pentagram has for millennia been associated with the Goddess Venus because of the scientific fact that the planet creates a giant pentagram in the sky once every eight years, THE VENUS ROSE. To confuse matters even further, both Lucifer in the Old Testament, and Jesus in the New are called the Bright Morning Star, generally accepted to be Venus, the Lightbringer, herald of the Sun.

SIGIL OF BAPHOMET: Insignia of the Church of Satan created by Anton LaVey, the Black Pope, in 1966. The sigil comes from La Clef de la Magie Noire, written by Stanislas de Guaita in 1897. The association of the downward pointing pentagram with the goat is a modern invention. Just the mere exercise of drawing an upright pentagram automatically creates a downward pointing pentagon and pentagram in the process. The Amiens Rose being the perfect example. This can be repeated indefinitely and has no negative association as it is pure geometry, uncorrupted. People are responsible for labelling the upright pentagram this, and the downward pentagram that. The Satanic Temple should not be confused with the Church of Satan. They are an atheistic group that does not believe in a supernatural Satan.

MARKTKIRCHE: Medieval Lutheran Church in Hannover, Germany.

AMIENS CATHEDRAL FRANCE.

KAARMA KIRK, ESTONIA, 1260

OUR LADY OF VICTORY: Catholic Church, Ohio. Notice the cross inside of the downward pointing pentagram. The pentagram represents the five wounds of Christ.